Hello,
I am about 2 months old with Sonar Professional. I am having a great time getting acquainted with the digital world of audio. ( I am from the old days of cutting tape on 1/4'' and 1/2" tape machines with razor blades.  Tracking on 3'' tape was a luxury and having 4 - 6 DBx 165 compressors was the best thing ever) So after 25 years I am back at it.  Thanks for reading that part.
 
Now, my question is - what is your best practice to manage all the sound files residing in the Cakewalk Project folder in the Audio file area? For example I have multiple instances of Chorus (bounced ####) With a series of numbers identifying the bounce(?).  I am quickly running our of computer memory as the song gathers more tracks.  I can't imagine that Sonar is needing to access all of these tracks. I assume they are held as part of the non-destructive tracking/ editing of Sonar. Try that non-destructive way with a razor blade... nerve racking!
 
Would you suggest deleting all of the sound files except those that are represented in the actual 'clip' of the tracks? Each has a number associated with the clip that is being used.
 
I appreciate any guidance in this area! I'd love to be able to work on a couple of project simultaneously but hard drive space seems to go quickly!
 
Thanks again.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm not sure it's still bundled, but from past releases I use a utility written by one of the Bakers... (Jamie O.?)

I have a momentary memory lapse but I believe it is called CWAF and the program should be in your Sonar folder.

I keep a shortcut on my desktop...

Try using "Save As" and save the project under a new name and location. After you set the new folder path it should ask you if you want to create the Audio sub-folder and will fill in that path automatically when you click yes. Select Copy all audio with project and Create one file per clip options.
 
Open up the new project and see if it did what you needed. It should only have saved audio that is being used in the project so if you have recorded many takes that have since been deleted you should see a significant reduction in the size of the audio folder.

Thanks for the suggestions - I will try each path. The CWAF tool was located with SONAR running but it seems concerned that SONAR is running prior to using the CWAF. I could not find the tool within the SONAR folder on my C: drive.  Is there a likely / common place it would be found?
 
Thanks again
 

I strongly recommend against using CWAF unless you have everything backed up. It is slow, for one thing. Moreover, I once ended up with ALL my audio files deleted (my error, perhaps; who knows?).
 
The method rcklin describes works safely.

Thanks to each of you. I went the 'save as' route. I couldn't quite understand the CWAF tool.  The most I got from it was it identified what .wav files were associated with what project.
 
 

Hmmmm a tag along question - What is the significant difference between the Audio folder and Audio DATA folder that resides with the Cakewalk Projects folder?
 
Thanks again.
 
 

what I do is bounce to tracks / all my little fragments of clips in each track are combined to one wave file.
this not only makes it easier to re edit but it leaves your folder much cleaner, you know what is what.
after I have bounced all my clips I then use that audio folder cleaner tool.
it works. the CWAF works better but I still haven't figured out some small details about it.
clean audio folder is easy, it takes for ever and a day to complete but it does work well.
 
but remember, bounce to clips is key in organizing your folders, im retentive about my project folders.
I like to be able to look in one and know what every file is.
I began a system labeling tracks a few years ago and with BTC, everything is neat and in place.
labeling drum tracks
1.kick
2.snare
3.hihat
exc. exc. exc
 
this way not only is everything organized by name, but its also organized by number, this way if I send my projects to per say" producer, he looks at the folder with big enjoyment. its as easy as dragging + dropping.
its also great for future versioning of the same song / different project. just drag the tracks in.
 
I also recommend saving your midi files this way. normally sonar saves midi files in the project file, not in the audio folder. so if your project becomes corrupt, you've lost all your midi tracks.
after I bounce to clips and label my midi tracks, I put them in a separate folder in the project.
 
building a good midi library of your own is another great habit all on its own.
many midi files you make yourself can be re used on other projects to shave time off.
 
 
 
 

CWAF simply wants to be run while Sonar is closed...

After it searches your drive , I go through and select only orphaned files (not attached to a ong file)
Then in the lower right I verify I only have orphaned files selected...

Using this for decades without a problem...

Slow? If you have a lot of songs it can take a bit when it searches, yes... I then remove folders from the scan list after they are finished so it doesn't need to scan those folders anymore and remove them from the ignore lust when I remove them from the drive...

20music...
I could not figure out if you are using per Project folders or not.
If you do not use per project all your audio from ALL your projects will be in one folder.