Hello all. I am in a jam with my Sonar 8.5.3 projects. I have projects that will not open (even in recovery mode), probably because of pilot error. I checked the Options/Global/ and my path for audio data is C://Cakewalk Projects, but this folder is empty! I have data strewn all over my hard drive, and need to consolidate it into proper folders.
  I am obviously not saving correctly. I save each project as both a .CWP and a .CWB, usually into a folder on my hard drive marked WIP. When I try to reopen the files, Sonar cannot find them. Shouldn't the audio data have been saved into the "Cakewalk Projects" folder, since that was the setting in the Global options? How do I unravel all of this and get my files in the right folders?

Thanks.


Bob 

Its best to use Per Project Folders. That way you keep all of your project and audio files in the same folder. Then you can back up the folder and have everything in one place. CWB (Bundle) files are too big to be reliable so if you use Per Project folders, you don't need to save as a CWB. 

If have my project files set to go to e:\cakewalk\project files and if I don't use a Per Project folder, the audio goes into e:\cakewalk\project files\audio not where the preferences say Wave Files go so yours may be in c:\wip\audio.

Thanks for the reply. I will look in that location. What I don't understand is that I did have the global options set for Per Project folders. Good to k now about the CWP files too. I thought I was protecting my files by saving them as .CWB's.

Thanks.

Regards,,


Bob

Ya the bundle files are known to cause issues. 

What you can try and do is use windows search and use the names you tagged your audio tracks- example " Lead Guitar 1" or " Vox 1 " 
You'll soon find were they are all hiding.  

I had to stop using Sonar's pathways along time ago as for me they didn't always seem to work. 

The safest way I have found to NEVER loose tracks is to use windows to create the folder where you will store the album. Within this folder once again create a folder for each song. 

Open a template that you will use, and do a "save as CWP" and browse to the song folder you just created and name the song. Cakewalk will create an Audio folder inside that folder. Now everything is where it belongs. Forever.  

Now you can start recording the song, But make sure you give each audio track a title that is easily identified. There no point in having a million track 1 , 2 and 3's. 

For back up you can drag and drop the album or song folder to a second drive or do another "save as" and direct to a second drive... make sure you check copy audio with folder. I always have at least 3 copies of any given song stored.  I use a folder with the date in the second and third drives.    

What I don't understand is that I did have the global options set for Per Project folders.

Yes, but the first time you save the project, you have to tell it what folder to create or use or it will put them all in the default folder. 

Thanks guys. Lot of work ahead of me.

There is no option called Per Project Folder.
The misinformation that the project file gets saved in such a folder, (and thus the entire project is in the same folder for easy backup etc.), has been repeatedly given here. I'm sure it confuses many.

As mentioned by Daveny5, even if you use Per Project AUDIO folders, the actual project file is saved in the Cakewalk Projects-file on C-drive (or where the program is installed) as default. During the first "Save as..." you need to save inside the Project Audio Folder. That way all the stuff is in the same folder.

There is no option called Per Project Folder.

OK, well what do you call it in Preferences-File-Audio Data (in X2, but I'm sure it was in 8.5) there is a checkbox that says "Use Per-Project Audio Folders"? Sounds like an option to me. 

daveny5

There is no option called Per Project Folder.

OK, well what do you call it in Preferences-File-Audio Data (in X2, but I'm sure it was in 8.5) there is a checkbox that says "Use Per-Project Audio Folders"? Sounds like an option to me. 

Yes, an option it is. It's called Per Project Audio Folder, which contains only audio as default. There is nothing called Per Project Folder, that would, for example, include both audio and the project file as default.

It's called Per Project Audio Folder, which contains only audio as default. There is nothing called Per Project Folder, that would, for example, include both audio and the project file as default.

If you have that option selected, it actually creates 2 folders: since my default project folder is set to e:\Cakewalk\Project Files it creates the following: 

Project Path: e:\Cakewalk\Project Files\Project Name
Audio Path: e:\Cakewalk\Project Files\Project Name\Audio

and I select the "Copy all audio with project option". 

Obviously you can change those paths to anything you want, but the default behavior is to make the Audio folder a subfolder of the Project Path and thereby putting all of the project information under the one folder.