"Safe mode" project open

My biggest projects take about 10 seconds to load. Those might have 8 VST's and a 20 plug ins. I can see if I doubled that it might take 20 seconds. So you have 100's VST loaded?? Possibly a very slow hard drive that needs de fragging? 

8 GB of RAM might not be enough for large, sample-based projects. Even instruments that stream from the hard drive need enough RAM to store at least the attacks for instant playback. 

no its not you AT. I couldn't remember either (as you can tell by my first post )

If you open in safe mode, edit the project and save, what happens?
Do the original VSTs remain in the project, or is it just the opened version that is saved, or does SONAR automatically save a special "safe-version"??

If you open in safe mode, edit the project and save, what happens?
Do the original VSTs remain in the project, or is it just the opened version that is saved, or does SONAR automatically save a special "safe-version"??
 
i think that you will loose  the fx that you not load in safe-mode
 
martin
 
 

A work around might be to -open in safe mode -Work on your midi -export your midi tracks to the browser.
 
I always, ALWAYS back up midi when saving projects for the simple fact that if a project goes corrupt, you can always salvage the audio tracks (they are in the work folder) but the Midi is saved with the project.
If something goes array and Project Ducky wont open.. "Poof" there goes the midi !
 

Thanks!
 
So here's a feature request: If you go to save a project you opened in File Recovery Mode, Sonar should warn us of this "You opened this project in File Recovery Mode. If you save it you may lose stuff permanently. Are you sure?"

Interesting. It has never even occurred to me to save a project I've opened in safe mode. That's always a troubleshooting step, to see if a problem is being caused by a plugin or not. And because the next step is usually to remove plugins one-by-one, I always start by saving the project under a new name.
 
At any rate, safe mode isn't your best solution. If projects are taking a long time to load, first make sure you're not doing an automatic plugin scan - that can add an extra minute right there. More likely, it's just large sample libraries that are slowing you down.
 
I do have some large projects that take up to two minutes to load. 5-6 minutes is pretty extreme, and might indicate memory exhaustion. I say might because 8 GB will hold a bunch of medium-sized libraries and a couple monster ones. After they've completely loaded, check your memory usage. If they're Kontakt instruments, it'll show you right there in the header how many mega/gigabytes each instrument has loaded. Other samplers have other ways to show you how much RAM they're consuming, and each has its own tricks for deferring loading or minimizing memory usage.
 
If you've got one or two monster libraries (e.g. OTS Rick Bass, the reason I was compelled to give up XP and go 64-bit in the first place), consider freezing them. Then they'll pop right up, no loading required. Even if your template has no MIDI data you can still freeze the tracks to avoid loading the library on start up. Un-freezing is a one-click operation. Freeze them all and save that as your template. When you start a new project, just un-freeze the ones you want to use.
 
It works for food, too.

Just create a copy of the project before you open it in safe mode if you're going to save that file.

mudgel
Just create a copy of the project before you open it in safe mode if you're going to save that file.

I can imagine a situation:
You open a problem project in safe mode > are glad to see it's operable and editable > You go through the track view to check things > " yeeh, everything looks OK,  oh, there's an off time MIDI note, I just nudge it a bit" > "How does it sound without the FX?...Hmmm well, I boost track 3 a little" > you forget you're in Safe Mode and do a reflex Ctrl+S :o/
 

Thanks for posting this.  I came looking for how to load a VST after having opened a project in safe mode and then having saved it.    Good warning that all your effects plugins disappear!   
 
For other searchers:  instead of looking for the words load VST or load VSTi or reload VST or reload VSTi or undo safe mode for VST or any of the other plausible search strings:
 
you go into the browser window, synth section, select one of your VSti's (very difficult to tell it's selected with my colors but the gray changes a tiny bit), then click the little down arrow at the top of the browser window and check 'VST connected'.    Do this one at a time for each one (can't seem to select them as a group, afaik).    Then save the project and you'll be back to a working set of VST instruments.   This does not fix the loss of other plugins, of course, but at least recovers the very time consuming process of reloading a set of instruments. 
 
As to whether it can take a long time to load a project, even with a powerful computer: yes, of course it can.    Loading all those samples can take quite awhile, even with SSDs and fast memory.   Plenty of time to make a cup of coffee, anyway. 

Interesting.   I always have it docked "at the right" and the power buttons are never visible:  so I never even knew there were power buttons!      Thanks.  

chuckebaby
I always, ALWAYS back up midi when saving projects for the simple fact that if a project goes corrupt, you can always salvage the audio tracks (they are in the work folder) but the Midi is saved with the project.
If something goes array and Project Ducky wont open.. "Poof" there goes the midi !

Maybe that should be a feature request! An option in the global preferences to export/save midi files externally upon saveing a project.
Same as 'copy all audio' -> copy all midi

As long as there are no mix ups regarding newer/older versions. (Especially with versioning option active)