Wave files referred to but NOT used or in project

[Pathfinder]

EDIT: I know I messed things up years ago by just deleting files\tracks
 

Trying to thing how best to ask this. I have so many files, some wav and some just dates an numbers. I don't claim to understand but where\how does CW keep track of all these files. IOW, when I open a project it plays fine but I get the warning this file is missing, etc, etc. There are over 20 wav files in the audio folder but their is NO AUDIO in the project-example would be an old vocal recording from 2013? Obviously these are old recordings. I would truly like to get rid of all this crap but of course just deleting them gives me the missing files when I open the project, audio will be replaced with silence, blah, blah . But of course the project has NO audio and plays and sound fine???
I mean is this info stored in the register? is that it? 

Apologize for the confusing post. Best I could do.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Pathfinder

[A Tolerable Quietude]

I'm not sure I understand your question. 

Are you trying to recover audio that you may have deleted from old projects from 10 years ago?  If so, you're probably out of luck, unless you have old backups.

Or are you asking how to determine which Cakewalk-generated files you can safely delete, like old audio files that are not used in any current projects?

[David Baay]

4 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

But of course the project has NO audio and plays and sound fine???

I gather this means there are remaining MIDI/Instrument tracks that are playing fine; is that right?

Audio file associations are stored in the project. If CbB is reporting a file missing, there's likely either a hidden track that's referencing it or possibly you incompletely selected  a clip(s) when deleting it, and there's a sliver of a clip remaining in the timeline somewhere that's keeping the reference alive (don't ask me how I know this). Shift+H to show all tracks, then selecting the track numbers of all audio tracks and hitting Delete should take care of it. If you have Instrument tracks that might have had audio recorded or frozen at some point, you might need to split them so you can select and delete synth audio without deleting MIDI.

If you can't figure it out, post one of the projects here for us to take a look.

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by David Baay

[Bristol_Jonesey]

You can eliminate the wav files "referred to but nor used" in a project by doing a "save as" with a new name to a new location.

Make sure "Copy all Audio with project" is checked. This new verion will now only reference those files currently used in the project.

[David Baay]

5 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

You can eliminate the wav files "referred to but nor used" in a project by doing a "save as" with a new name to a new location.

Make sure "Copy all Audio with project" is checked. This new verion will now only reference those files currently used in the project.

That will get rid of files that aren't referenced, but it won't get rid of references to missing files.

But if normal-sized dummy clips are being created, another solution would be to actually 'feed' it an audio fiile for each of the 'missing file' prompts, and after it opens, select them all, delete, and re-save the project. That will get rid of the file associations.

But I'm guessing the clips are there, just hidden or down to 1-tick long or something.

 

[John Vere]

Use the Project/ Audio Data to see the complete list of audio in any projects. 
But the first thing I would do is exactly what @Bristol_Jonesey said and do a save as to a new location.  Alway check the Copy Audio box. 
Back in 2013 it was more common to have audio go into the messy global audio folder. Save as / Copy Audio will make sure it’s now in the project folder. 
Open the project folder in the Browser and see if you can correlate the files with your tracks. 
The Track Manager and the Audio Data list are also good tools for sorting out messy projects. 

Edited November 3, 2023 by John Vere

[Pathfinder]

12 hours ago, A Tolerable Quietude said:

I'm not sure I understand your question. 

Are you trying to recover audio that you may have deleted from old projects from 10 years ago?  If so, you're probably out of luck, unless you have old backups.

Or are you asking how to determine which Cakewalk-generated files you can safely delete, like old audio files that are not used in any current projects?

The files are gone only the reference to them exists. This was done way back when I knew enough to be dangerous!

[Pathfinder]

OK- Here is a screenshot of ONE project. 2nd one is of the Project folder itself and the 1st one is the Audio folder in the project folder. There is NO AUDIO in this project-all MIDI-VSTS, nothing bounced-all midi...Project also plays back perfectly.

Some others, not this one, but some give me the missing file window. I know I have in the past deleted files the wrong way..............

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Pathfinder

[David Baay]

One of the autosave versions may be referencing those files. If yoyu run Clean Audio Folder from the Utilities menu, it will identify any files that are not referenced by any project. If nothing shows up, on of those backups is referencing them.

But that's different from projects with missing files reported. Can you share one of those?

[Pathfinder]

OK

[Pathfinder]

I have 2 versions of that same song in different folders with different names. The audio folder is empty (even when showing hidden files and folder is checked)

The project folder is also empty except for the midi file with the vsts?

 

[Pathfinder]

I know I should only have one folder-that was an accident. Both cwp files with the vsts play perfectly.....

I actually found the file so can I put it back and delete it legally? It's a wav file of a vocal take. Which is NOT in the projects-or not suppose to be anyway.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Pathfinder

[David Baay]

Will need to look at the project file that warns of missing files. You can delete all the MIDI content from a copy if you don't want to share it.

[Pathfinder]

8 minutes ago, David Baay said:

Will need to look at the project file that warns of missing files. You can delete all the MIDI content from a copy if you don't want to share it.

You mean upload the project? I have no problem with that. But I did replace the file that was missing. Guess I could leave it in there.

I totally screwed up. BTW, the midi file is just one I downloaded for free and edited-no biggie. 

I could start all over the right way-like NOT delete files in a project nilly willy. 

example: I used to (way back also) record a vocal or guitar track and did a whole lot of UNDO RECORDING (a whole lot) Could that have caused this alo-besides deleting tracks?

Edited November 4, 2023 by Pathfinder

[Pathfinder]

11 minutes ago, David Baay said:

Will need to look at the project file that warns of missing files. You can delete all the MIDI content from a copy if you don't want to share it.

David

The 2 screenshots I posted earlier in the thread are the ones that really bug. There are so many like that. But I sure don't want to delete them. Those screenshots earlier are with hidden files hidden so I don't get the zillion files in a project with 5 tracks?that's kind of what I mean.

[Pathfinder]

Just wanted to say thanks for helping this old vet. I know it must be frustrating. 

So the asset file thing is this according to CW ( in 2014):

This file is used by Gobbler to know what files/videos and paths are referenced in your project for properly backing it up. It cannot be turned off. There's an options in preferences to turn it off, I totally forget we added that since we first added the feature.
 You can ignore it if you want when backing up your projects, but it will be re-created on the next save.

My issue is, these files are NOT referenced in the project. Why not just keep track of things that are actually IN the project when the project is saved? confusing, oh well. 

 

I do need to try Bristols suggestion. Tried once but screwed it up. I will try again.

[Pathfinder]

18 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

You can eliminate the wav files "referred to but nor used" in a project by doing a "save as" with a new name to a new location.

Make sure "Copy all Audio with project" is checked. This new verion will now only reference those files currently used in the project.

Bristol

Thank You for this suggestion. I have many project folders not only with the audio file crap but also with 7 or 8 versions of the pretty much the same file, I add whatever I changed to the title-dumb-This also cleans up that garbage also-and quickly!

[mettelus]

On 11/2/2023 at 11:13 PM, Pathfinder said:

But of course the project has NO audio and plays and sound fine???

I totally forget when this was implemented now, but Cakewalk used to use a Global Audio folder (what a mess that was), and you could actually carry that setting forward if you chose. If there is an audio file you think is "missing," yet it plays, right click on it and choose "Associated Audio File..." at the bottom. The "Path" that it pops up could very well be the Global Audio directory, which will match the Preferences->Files->Audio Data setting (defaults to "Cakewalk Projects\Audio Data"). Also, there is nothing preventing a cwp from referencing an audio file anywhere on your machine (even from a previous cwp in another project folder), so the Associated Audio File... will let you see what directory that file is really in.

 

[David Baay]

Unused files can also be cleaned up by Utilities > Clean Audio Folder which operates only on the currently open project or by Utilities > Cakewalk Audio Finder (CWAF) which can scan all projects, show you what's used where, what's missing and and what's not used anywhere ("orphaned"), and let you remove all orphaned audio in one go. But it takes a little setup and understanding to use it properly. I've posted a usage tips a few time over the years; here's one:

https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/topic/50614-files-have-become-disassociated/&do=findComment&comment=386320

 

[Pathfinder]

Just wanted to post back and say Thanks to all for the great help I rec'd here  - really paid off. Cleaned up all my projects & project folders, etc.
No more loose or missing audio files......So glad.....
Thanks so very much!

Frank

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Pathfinder