Internal error mystery when exporting a track

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Hi all,

I'm trying to export a backing track as an MP3 for my iPad,  done dozens with no problem but today I got an error message ( see my screenshot) saying " an internal error occurred while processing the mixdown"

So I mustered my huge technical skills and tried;

renaming and exporting...nope

closing CW and restarting; nope

doing it all again; nope.

 

I was basically adding an audio file of an extra vocal ( track 8 on the screenshot) to the backing track in MP4 format, don't know if that confused the DAW?

 

Ideas welcome, I'm a bit stumped here. ( Doesn't take much)

[msmcleod]

The most common reason for this is that the encoder can't write to the file, either because it's on a read-only drive, or something else has got it open.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Thanks for replying, I appreciate it,  but that doesn't mean much to me I'm afraid. I'm a Complete novice with tech stuff, despite my best efforts to learn.

So,  What do you mean by "Something else?"  Something else has  got what open? 

[timboalogo]

I get that message when I try to mixdown to a file that already exists, and is already open in another application. That's what Mark was trying to tell you. If you can't figure out what has it open, then reboot and immediately mixdown and tell us if that doesn't work.

Tim

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Could be. Sometimes I mix to a file and replace the original and even if the name of the file is slightly different eg song and song1 CW cakewalk tells me that file already exists, even though the name is slightly different. Maybe part of the same problem, I'll try this thanks

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Yep that worked, gave it completely different name and location. Now need to go back and rename with a more sensible file name and put it on the right folder.

[timboalogo]

Excellent Simpson!

[Canopus]

On 11/13/2023 at 6:49 PM, msmcleod said:

The most common reason for this is that the encoder can't write to the file, either because it's on a read-only drive, or something else has got it open.

Maybe it would be a good idea to add that in some form to the error message. It's more descriptive than "Can't save" and would probably give most users enough ideas to understand what needs to be done.

[user 905133]

10 hours ago, Canopus said:

Maybe it would be a good idea to add that in some form to the error message. It's more descriptive than "Can't save" and would probably give most users enough ideas to understand what needs to be done.

Does windows consistently pass on those kinds of details to software in an easy to use (and update) form?

[Canopus]

1 hour ago, User 905133 said:

Does windows consistently pass on those kinds of details to software in an easy to use (and update) form?

Considering the vague error message, this error is probably thrown by Windows, or the Lame encoder, using a numeric code that simply states an unspecified error occurred when trying to save the file. Of course, if the error code doesn’t exactly explain why the file couldn’t be saved, it’s impossible for Cakewalk to forward any such details to the user when the error is catched (well, at least without adding its own time-consuming sleuthing).

But adding a few examples of possible reasons when the "Can't save" message is about to be displayed by Cakewalk, I imagine might not only be possible, but also useful.

Just my two euros (yes, inflation).