Hi Guys,
When I drag a bunch of audio into a montage and I need to sample rate convert one file, this normally ends up in a ‘DATA’ folder located on my desktop. Where can I change this so it ends up in the same source folder?
Normally when you change sample rate importing a file, Wavelab create the converted file into audio folder inside the project montage folder. You get a prompt for that.
I usually create a montage folder and “save as” before importing files.
1 Like
yep. that makes sense.
I beg to differ. When I import a file with a mismatching Fs, or a non-WAV file, with the option to copy the file into the Audio folder enabled, WL (12, on Windows, to be specific) does just that: creates an exact copy of the original in the data folder. In my case, I often import FLAC files. The sample-rate or otherwise converted file is placed by WL into the system.mon/edits subfolder, and this file becomes referenced by the montage.
With the option to copy to Audio turned off, the converted file still ends up in system.mon/edits, and the original is left alone where it has been. No other differences: the option seems to do exactly what’s written on the tin. Here’s one imported with copy to Audio enabled last Friday. Note where the original FLAC and the converted WAV ended up (looks Unix-ey because I run soxi in the Windows’ bash prompt, provided by Windows’ own WSL2):
/[redacted]/WaveLabMasters/[redacted]/audio$ soxi *The*
Input File : '[redacted]The [redacted].flac'
Channels : 2
Sample Rate : 44100
Precision : 16-bit
Duration : 00:04:43.99 = 12523812 samples = 21299 CDDA sectors
File Size : 23.6M
Bit Rate : 666k
Sample Encoding: 16-bit FLAC
/[redacted]/WaveLabMasters/[redacted]/audio$ cd ../system.mon/edits/
/[redacted]/WaveLabMasters/[redacted]/system.mon/edits$ soxi *The*
Input File : '[redacted]The [redacted].wav'
Channels : 2
Sample Rate : 88200
Precision : 25-bit
Duration : 00:04:43.99 = 25047624 samples ~ 21299 CDDA sectors
File Size : 200M
Bit Rate : 5.64M
Sample Encoding: 32-bit Floating Point PCM
If you save the montage, move files and then re-open it, you’ll get a dialogue box letting you find the converted files. The only caveat is that WL might not store absolute paths to the file, but a relative one (when it does which, I didn’t figure out, mainly because I didn’t care), which means you may get the same lost file dialogue again if you move the montage folder.
For project archival and consistency, I never include files not under the montage/project directory (i.e always have the copy imported audio enabled). Matching WAV files are copied to ./audio and referenced; mismatching files and non-WAVs are copied, converted, and the conversion result is placed into ./system.mon/edits and referenced.
YMMV, of course; just be extremely judicious about the implications of referencing out-of-montage files directly. If you edit the clip file destructively, in the Audio Editor, you’ll be editing the original file, wherever it lives. It’s fine, as long as you’re always very careful not to edit the file itself or when it’s okay for your use case, and also you always back up these files together, in a single backup (e.g., as a disk or at least selected partition(s) image). Otherwise, you’ll get either damaged originals or inconsistent, unrestoreable filesystem backups, if the montage and the files live in different filesystem volumes, and you find, in the exactly disastrous moment, that your restored volume has the montage but no files or the other way around (you sure DO run scheduled filesystem backups, right? RIGHT??? Modern NVMe “drives” fail not like the HDDs of old — they are much faster in all aspects, including this one, and usually die very fast, and as a single unit with no data recoverable from them; the last one I replaced became a totally unreadable, unmountable brick 19 hours after the very first SMART warning — and I was on the lucky side to even have received the warning, so I ordered a replacement with an overnight postage from Amazon). I have no idea what you’re trying to achieve — it may be the best use case given the purpose of your work; just always keep in mind possible unintended consequences of the compromises that you’re accepting.
— With a wish your data always be safe, and cheers, Cy
The original file will remain where it is, so basically it will end with 2 files:
-
the original file (e.g. 44.1 kHz 24 bit) original directory
-
the one converted (e.g. 48 kHz 24 bit) into the audio folder inside the montage folder.
Where’s the difference? Basically the converted files end into the montage folder leaving the original in the original directory. 
The user Joseph_Carra probably is working using the same directory (desktop) for all of his montages. This can lead to a mess.
If you care about the quality and integrity of the sample rate conversion and location of the file(s), do this yourself manually.
The only time I let WaveLab do it automatically and put the file(s) in the data/edits folder is for reference material that isn’t essential to the final result.
Justin, what do you mean with “Do yourself manually”? When wavelab prompt for a conversion and where to save it, isn’t the same thing? I mean when I “save as” a montage I choose the directory and so the subfolders will go there. Same thing for a converted file. Am I wrong? My converted files go to the audio folder inside the saved montage folder.