pingcat Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 (edited) I'm trying out the new cakewalk sonar free tier. When I export to a wav file, and then attempt to run mp3tag against that wav file, mp3tag says it can't access the file. The wav file plays with no problems. And so I switched back to the final version of cakewalk by bandlab, loaded the same project, and exported using the same settings. Then mp3tag works against the wav file. Switching back to cakewalk sonar free, export the wav again and mp3tag fails again. Anyone else have this issue? Edited July 14 by pingcat Discovered mp3tag is not related to the problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutrageProductions Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 Have you tried to completely quit the DAW before editing the metadata header of the wave file, or is it still running in the background? CW/Sonar have always had a tendency to hold flags on files & folders of a project even after they are closed in the DAW, and only releases the most recent after the entire application is shut down. My other DAWs don't have this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 12 Author Share Posted July 12 (edited) For some reason something is adding an underscore to the end of the exported file name. So I have mp3tag looking for the file name without the underscore, and of course it fails. I will experiment to see where the underscore is coming from. Edited July 19 by pingcat Clarity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 14 Author Share Posted July 14 Yeah, I have fully shut down cakewalk sonar free, and even restarted my laptop. But export still results in my specified file having an underscore added. And if I then load the same project into Cakewalk by Bandlab, the exported file name is correct, with no underscore. Anyone know why the new cakewalk sonar could be adding an underscore (apparently just for me)? Or could it be OS related? I am using windows 11 home edition. Searches for "underscore" turned up only one reference, it is on this forum. But there is no solution. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Nicholls Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 Is it adding an underscore even when you provide an override to the preset name template in the Export Audio dialog? In other words, how exactly are you doing this? Quote When I export to a wav file, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 14 Author Share Posted July 14 I select Export, and then Advanced. That brings up the Export Audio dialog. Under FILENAME I select the 3 dots (Choose Export Filename). Then I select the wav file on my drive (a previously saved file). The filename has no underscore. And the filename now showing on the dialog has no underscore. I select Export and say OK to overwrite the existing file. And it starts mixing down audio. Once completed, the file on my drive has an underscore just before the .wav and the original correctly named file is gone. I rename the file by removing the underscore and continue onward. This doesn't happen using the Cakewalk by Bandlab daw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Nicholls Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 1 hour ago, pingcat said: I select Export, and then Advanced. [..] Once completed, the file on my drive has an underscore just before the .wav and the original correctly named file is gone. Thanks for writing out those instructions. I followed them as exactly as I could, and - you guessed it - could not reproduce the issue. IN my case, I copied a random .wav file into D:\TEMP\ and used that in the filename picker dialog. I can confirm it overwrote the existing file with the new export, and didn't append an underscore. If you enter a filename that doesn't already exist on disk; export to it; then re-export picking the existing file, does the behavior still happen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 16 Author Share Posted July 16 Thanks Colin for your thoughts. I tried the scenario you described and many others, but still there is that pesky underscore. I feel like I have seen this once before but can't recall the details. I wonder if there is a setting in Cakewalk Sonar, or maybe even in windows 11 related to this. But the fact that export works perfectly in Cakewalk by Bandlab makes this all confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Nicholls Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 There's no chance your filename includes pesky higher-order ascii (or unicode) characters is there? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 or restricted characters will also result in replacement with an underscore. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/naming-a-file Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 17 Author Share Posted July 17 My typical names are like: 02 - Loon - The Loons Live - The Loons.wav Is getting changed to: 02 - Loon - The Loons Live - The Loons_.wav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57Gregy Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 32 minutes ago, pingcat said: My typical names are like: 02 - Loon - The Loons Live - The Loons.wav Is getting changed to: 02 - Loon - The Loons Live - The Loons_.wav With the spaces before and after the dashes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 17 Author Share Posted July 17 1 hour ago, 57Gregy said: With the spaces before and after the dashes? Yes, spaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 (edited) and in the export naming, you haven't inadvertantly left an underscore? perhaps where you meant to have a dash? Edited July 17 by Glenn Stanton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Morgon-Shaw Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 I have had the same issue, I brought it up months ago but still happening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Nicholls Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 Is there any chance you guys can post a short video showing the problem? This is intriguing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57Gregy Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 On 7/16/2025 at 9:58 PM, pingcat said: Yes, spaces. 18 hours ago, Mark Morgon-Shaw said: I have had the same issue, I brought it up months ago but still happening Are either of you running your programs as Administrator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 18 Author Share Posted July 18 Yes, I ran as administrator, still had the underscore. I have a video, and I will post it once I get it to a size acceptable for upload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingcat Posted July 18 Author Share Posted July 18 20250718_000951.mp4 Attached vid shows me exporting to the file test.wav but it ends up as test_.wav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 i tried to reproduce - nada. no underscore. maybe submit it as a bug for the free tier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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