The way Sonar handles project audio feels really outdated. The only way of getting rid of "missing audio" in a project is (afaik) by using Clean Audio Folder. This tool is useless for just cleaning up the project you're currently working on. It feels more like a remnant from the time before Per-Project Audio was introduced.
 
Pressing the find button starts a search for audio on the entire computer and on today's huge systems it takes a ridiculous amount of time searching through all drives.. Especially if you just want to clean up the current project. .. The Clean Audio Folder window actually has a folder path, but even if this path points to the audio folder of the open project, the tool still searches the whole computer when pressing the Find button.. :/
 
What I'd really like to see in a coming update is a better way of managing audio for projects. Maybe just by throwing in some functionality to the Project -> Project Files window? Or why not implement a default shortcut to the local audio folder in the media browser that also brings up some useful tools for managing the audio?

• Why not let the user select files in this list and delete them if he/she desires?
• Another column that shows if the audio file is currently used in the project or not would also be nice. The user then could choose to delete old takes that just takes unnecessary disk space in the audio folder.
• A column with the date and time an audio file was added or recorded would also be nice, to let the user get a feel of the importance/relevance of  a clip.
• Color coded list, to separate for example frozen audio, bounced audio, recorded audio, imported audio, comped audio (takes not used at the moment, but still exists in the project's take lanes) ..and so on.
• A column that (for the frozen and bounced audio) shows the name of the original data (if any, for the frozen data).

The main point I'm trying to make is just that it's 2014 for god's sake and Sonar's tools for managing audio feel ancient and suck big time.. :P ..No offence dear Cakes! Try and see it as constructive criticism.. :)

Loptec
Or why not implement a default shortcut to the local audio folder in the media browser that also brings up some useful tools for managing the audio?

Actually that capability already exists...Sonar added the per-project audio folder to the Media Browser list in a recent update (X3e maybe) so it hasn't always been there. I'm not at my music computer now, but will elaborate later. Meanwhile, you might find post #23 in my Tip of the Day thread to be helpful in terms of getting the most out of the Media Browser.
 
There's no need to use the clean audio folder if you save per-project. You can clean out any audio that's not used in the project with Save As to a different folder, as well as save out trimmed audio (which really cuts down on project size for archiving) if you select Create One File Per Clip when you Save As. That way the only audio in the folder is audio that's actually used in the project. A normal save as saves the file to which clips point to, which is handy if you think you may want to roll out something later.

When I want to get rid of all the unused audio clips left over in a project, I do a Save As, to a new project folder, and check the Copy All Audio box.  It then immediately brings over the project file and only referenced audio in the project, to the new location (in the audio sub-folder of the new project folder).
 
Then, you can delete the old folder, and the no longer used audio clips will simply go away.
 
I find the above WAY faster than using the Clean Audio functionality.
 
Bob Bone
 

Anderton

Loptec
Or why not implement a default shortcut to the local audio folder in the media browser that also brings up some useful tools for managing the audio?

Actually that capability already exists...Sonar added the per-project audio folder to the Media Browser list in a recent update (X3e maybe) so it hasn't always been there. I'm not at my music computer now, but will elaborate later. Meanwhile, you might find post #23 in my Tip of the Day thread to be helpful in terms of getting the most out of the Media Browser.
 
There's no need to use the clean audio folder if you save per-project. You can clean out any audio that's not used in the project with Save As to a different folder, as well as save out trimmed audio (which really cuts down on project size for archiving) if you select Create One File Per Clip when you Save As. That way the only audio in the folder is audio that's actually used in the project. A normal save as saves the file to which clips point to, which is handy if you think you may want to roll out something later.

Wow! Thanks, Craig!! :D
I had no idea!! ..Guess I should have done some exploring before complaining ;)
 
Yeah, saving to another folder is an option. It would be nice not having to do that though..
 
I really like the implementation of this in the media browser, however! :) Nice that you can sort the files in different ways too! :) I'll try this out for a bit and see if this wish of mine maybe already is reality..
 
Thanks again! :)

As Bob has said it's never been an issue for people who organize their project folders. This is no different than say digital cameras that will fill your hard drive with 10 copies of the same pictures if you don't manage properly. A computer will do all sorts of stuff with a mind of it's own but a few simple habits will keep things tidy. 
And as it is I don't worry about extra unwanted files anymore. Those days are well behind us when a 2 TB external drive sells for under $100. 

Loptec
 
Wow! Thanks, Craig!! :D
I had no idea!! ..Guess I should have done some exploring before complaining ;)
 
Yeah, saving to another folder is an option. It would be nice not having to do that though..
 
I really like the implementation of this in the media browser, however! :) Nice that you can sort the files in different ways too! :) I'll try this out for a bit and see if this wish of mine maybe already is reality..
 
Thanks again! :)

Don't forget that the Browser does bi-directional drag and drop, too. That comes in really handy. I've sometime pulled loop files out of one project into another one without having to export, import, etc.

Here's my recent system to keep things tidy. 
As most I have 3 hard drives in my DAW. 
My 1 TB C drive is Partitioned into C= 178 GB and a G = 780 
My working Sonar and Wave Lab files are all on G , audio storage only nothing else. 
For Sonar projects there is a main folder for each "album"  
Inside those albums are the individual folders for each song, therefore the CWP and Audio. 
 
Then I have an F drive where copies of these same folders are stored. 
I routinely back up the entire "Album" folders and date them. I keep at least 3 copies of each album until the smoke has cleared. I also routinely perform "save as"to these locations as I work. 
Then there is a H drive where when a song is finished I will perform a "save as" so that copy will be clean and only have the exact data needed. These files are then archived to a external drive and my H drives are removed from time to time and put on a shelf. 
 
I will also back up the album folders and date them to an external drive when I have time at least once a month. 
 

sock monkey
As Bob has said it's never been an issue for people who organize their project folders. This is no different than say digital cameras that will fill your hard drive with 10 copies of the same pictures if you don't manage properly.

I do have all my projects very nicely organized in their own folders. When I've opened a project I always start by saving a new copy of it and putting the current date at the beginning of the file name. I'm really really studious when it comes to organizing and keeping track of everything.
 
However.. I'm currently working with vocal lines for a video game. I'm up at 180 tracks with 1 to 5 lines on each track. New versions/takes of the monologue/dialoge have been recorded and added to the project many times. There are thousands of audio clips.
 
It's really important that everything is in order and that the right ones/best ones get exported and named right, so I can take them to the next stage and implement them into the game.
 
When working with the clips, I sometimes go back to older takes and cut words (or whatever) I like better from these and merge them with the newer recordings. To have a better overview of all projects audio clips would make things much easier for me, no matter what issues others may or may not have had.

I have lost more work to the automated organizing features of various applications over the years than to any hardware failure. About the time that you get to trust the application knows where it is keeping its files and versions you find that it has broken, and have to delve much more deeply into the documentation (assuming there is any) about how stuff is supposed to be automatically saved or accessed than you ever wanted to know. Sometimes an ambiguously labeled folder or file has been deleted because no one knew what it contained. A little more human intervention is not always a bad thing when it comes to file management.