Disappearing file's driving me crazy!!

Cubase
#1

Hi, I had a project that refused to open, so I opened a new empty project and dragged the wav files from the audio folder of the project that will not open and started working on this new project…no problem…yet, I saved this project in the normal way…

next day I open the project to find that all the wav files have gone…of course, I can find them again because they’re in the audio folder of the old project…

but why did they disappear?
I never moved anything!

any help please?
I’m spending more time buggering about trying to make Cubase work than making music…maybe I should start looking for one of those 24 track tape things… :laughing: :laughing:

cheers, for any info :slight_smile:

best, Kevin

#2

Hi,

I would always recommend to enable the option to copy the WAV file to the Audio folder of the current project. This is safe for me.

Would it be interesting to know the path, what Cubase shows, where these files are. What is in this path?

#3

It “sounds” to me like you have a loose Pacman running around in your system, eating your files ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶

#4

this sounds like a good solution…where is that option please?

#5

Hi,

this is in the Import Option dialog, which appears when you import the WAV file.

#6

There are two more actions which might help you avoid this in the future.

First is Media>Prepare Archive

This looks at the files in your project and if they are located anywhere other than the project folder, they will be copied so that the project contains all of the audio it needs to open correctly.

Second is File>Backup Project

This is intended to copy the entire project to a new folder. It is useful because in the process of doing this, all the files needed will be copied regardless of their location, but usefully, any unused takes will be dumped, often making the project smaller in Mbytes.

One word of warning is that if you run Backup Project, Cubase will start using the new folder for any subsequent edits and recording, so if you just want to make a safe backup, but continue working in the original project you must close the project and re-open it from its original location. This sounds complicated, but it is just a matter of keeping an eye on the location of your projects and understanding the file structure.

#7

I always use the File>backup project when backing up…and i’ve always assumed that if I then deleted the original project ( I don’t of course) the backup project would have all the files I needed to continue with the project…somehow this is not happening…

#8

I never import wav files to a project…( 'cept for this one time) this must be why I have not come across this option…

#9

IMO

Steinberg should do something about this.
Cubase should always save audio files in an “audio” folder in the project folder. ALWAYS !
I dont get why there is an option to enable this. This should always be by default for every projects, and i’ll go further :

there should be no way to have audio files in a Cubase session that dont belong to the audio folder of the current Cubase project. This would prevent problems like the author of the topic has…and honestly, does somebody need to have audio files outside of the Cubase project folder??? I dont know anybody who likes this behavior.


Logic X automatically put every audio files in its respecting audio subfolder.
Same thing for Protools.

Cubase should do this too.

#10

Hi,

This a big advantage of Cubase. You can store files from different tracks to the different folders. So you can spread it to different HDDs (if it’s too slow) or SSD (if it’s too small).

If you take care about it, you can clearly define, what you want to do. The result could be exactly the same, as it is in Logic/Pro Tools. But it also could be much more advantage. Pro Tools/Logic is just a entry level, here.

#11

I see, so you always record all of the audio files, right?

Could you describe, how do you crating a new project, please? Do you use Steinberg Hub? Do you use prompt (Cubase pre-defined) folder, or a custom folder?

#12

+1

#13

I get your point totally :slight_smile:

The thing is, I think not so many people do what you’re describing : spreading audio files on different hard drive.
With the SSD being bigger and bigger ( look at those samsung 2 TB , plenty of space for audio editing ) :slight_smile:

I agree there should be an option , to do that. But this shouldnt be enabled by default.
I know so many friends ( and they’re great Cubase users ) who had so many issues by having audio files stored in a different folders… folders that they accidentally deleted.

#14

By default, Cubase always stores recorded WAV file to the Audio folder. As I already asked you, could you describe the way, how do you create a new empty project, please?

The common way is:

  • File > New Project (Steinberg Hub appears).
  • Keep the default (and important) settings: Use default location:.
  • In the Project folder, set the name of your project.
  • Click Create Empty.

This ensure, all of your recorded WAV files will be stored in the “ProjectName”/Audio folder.