Hi all
 
Lesson learnt here! Hopefully there's a solution out there 
 
Programmed my drum track through PRV and assigned to BFD2. Bounced (what I thought) was each part down to audio and subsequently deleted the MIDI track, saved and went no my merry way. Returned to the project a few saves and days later and realise I had not bounced my Toms, d'oh!!
 
I've looked in the Audio folder, and unsurprisingly, as it's not audio, it's not there. Would a MIDI file get saved anywhere do you know? I had created saves after inputting the MIDI, but saved over them each time.
 
Lessons learnt, file versioning and DON'T DELETE STUFF!!!!!
 
Thanks 

MIDI is stored within the project. If you delete a MIDI track with its data it will be gone for good. If a mistake was made you might try undo right after the fact but not so long after and with a save and reload.
 

This is why I Archive all my midi tracks. After bouncing to audio, just click the "A" button to archive it and move it to a folder. I usually also remove the synths from the project as well, just to reduce the load on the computer and speed up load times. One other recommendation I would give it to save each synth's settings as a preset stored along with the project. That way, you can quickly get back to where you were if you need to.
 
Some will say just freeze the track so you keep the synth and midi intact, but I like to mix using plain old audio. It's just one less variable in an already complex process.
 
Regards,
Dan

Regardless of whether you archive midi tracks or leave them in the project, make backups of the project. I make backups at each stage of a project's lifecycle and it just saved my bacon (again) last week. I don't like the idea of deleting midi data without a backup. I always want to be able to access the midi data just in case something is uncovered that needs tweaking.

I tend to also export midi - which you can do by simply dragging a midi track onto your desktop, just so that you have a version maintained outside of Sonar.
 
I additionally ALWAYS create a complete copy of a project folder, prior to beginning an edit session on the associated project.   It's just something I learned eons ago as a systems programmer and database administrator - always leave a trail of bread crumbs, so that you always have a way back from some spectacular uh-oh moment.
 
Bob Bone

That's an excellent idea Bob.

Being medium-long in the tooth and a synth/keyboardist i view midi as the master file, not the audio... This may seem strange however its the midi track that captured my performance so i never, ever delete a midi track that is required to recreate a project...
 
Archive em, make a midi track folder and hide them (my choice) but unless you are at 100's of tracks having a bunch of midi tracks unassigned sitting there doing nothing is not going to affect your CPU load.

I mute, archive, hide all MIDI and sound sources tracks then I save as the song using a different name like songtitle-1, songtitle-2 etc.  That way if I need to rework the MIDI track it is saved with the song.  Also for mixing I only use wav tracks.  This works for me but YMMV.

All of the above!

I freeze the synth tracks, archive and hide the midi tracks, and save as a new song version.

I then rename the previously saved folder on my storage drive, then copy the new project folder there. So I continuously have two copies of each project on my storage drive. The current one and the one from the previous session... And of course a copy of the most current on my regular audio drive.

All of these contain the current project file as well as any versions previously saved.

When freezing the synth tracks, the midi tracks are auto-hidden and as the synths are unloaded, the midi tracks feed nowhere and use no cpu that I've been able to see...

This way I can easily go back in many ways to many previous sessions as needed and continually maintain a backup regimen...

Keni

[edit]

Btw...

I use a simple naming convention on the backup drive. The new/current version is the same name as the working project and the older folder has had the word "old" affixed... Next time around I delete the old, rename the stored folder as old, then copy the new/latest version...

For example:
Song Title
Becomes
Old Song Title

Sorry this doesn't help the OP in his situation, but maybe it will help for the future along with all the other excellent suggestions...

[end edit]

Thanks for all the replies and great ideas in how to get round my naiveness going forward, will definitely incorporate some of these into the way I work.
 
Now I just hope this was a blessing in disguise