Duplicate/random files appearing in project Audio folder after export

[Simon Wilkinson]

I'm a long-time Sonar/CWbB user and never seen this issue before but I've just noticed that after exporting a mix to my desktop (or any other location) I'm also gettiing duplicate mixdowns with weird filenames appearing in the project's Audio folder.

For example I just exported a mix to my desktop and then after it had finished exporting I also saw there were 2 new files created in the project's Audio folder with these filenames:

406b97a3-8529-45a2-9bb3-3ff7397ec802-e17b6c85781823cac722e8cd83a3fbd7.wav
406b97a3-8529-45a2-9bb3-3ff7397ec802.wav

Both these files are identical to the exported 'actual' file (which has the correct filename). I took a look in the project Audio folders of other things I've been working on recently and noticed they also have them e.g:

072ead31-7850-4d48-8b86-0c0f4950c897-c17cc9b5ef9cfd8a0b0b90f2908a60d0.wav
072ead31-7850-4d48-8b86-0c0f4950c897.wav

What's going on here?

[David Baay]

These files are created and used by the Project Preview function:

https://legacy.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=CakewalkSonar&language=3&help=NewFeatures.14.html

I do think the Bakers should add some options to manage when these are created/updated and how long they are.

[Simon Wilkinson]

5 minutes ago, David Baay said:

These files are created and used by the Project Preview function:

https://legacy.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=CakewalkSonar&language=3&help=NewFeatures.14.html

I do think the Bakers should add some options to manage when these are created/updated and how long they are.

But I always ensure I have preview unticked yet it's still creating them.

And in each project Audio folder it creates 2 of these files with slightly different filenames (e.g. 072ead31-7850-4d48-8b86-0c0f4950c897-c17cc9b5ef9cfd8a0b0b90f2908a60d0.wav and 
072ead31-7850-4d48-8b86-0c0f4950c897.wav) but the contents are exactly the same as the finished exported file. I often work with large projects so these 2 unasked for previews are often around 200Mb each,

[David Baay]

59 minutes ago, Simon Wilkinson said:

But I always ensure I have preview unticked yet it's still creating them.

I believe the documentation I linked clarifies that an initial preview file is created on the first export regardless of whether the box is checked or not.

[Simon Wilkinson]

48 minutes ago, David Baay said:

I believe the documentation I linked clarifies that an initial preview file is created on the first export regardless of whether the box is checked or not.

OK thanks David, well that partly explains it but it begs the question why even have a preview option to tick/untick if it always creates a preview regardless.

And it's not just on the first export because even if I delete the preview from the Audio folder it creates it again on the next export. In fact I just checked on another project I'm working on and it put 3 similarly labelled 'preview' files in the folder and they were each identical and exactly 153.05mb. 

It's not even clearly labelled as preview but just gibberish names like 'f638aebd-dc3d-4172-81ce-7f562fea7781-6d585c807b58bc317a4f13dd3188d68c.wav'. Guess I'll have to report it as a bug when I get a moment.

[Bass Guitar]

29 minutes ago, Simon Wilkinson said:

I'll have to report it as a bug when I get a moment.

It’s not a bug but it’s a badly executed feature. 
I also found it very annoying. 

[Glenn Stanton]

what's weird for me - no matter how i start a project - from my custom templates, from the supplied templates, or simply no template at, doing something simple like dragging some audio into a track and then "exporting audio", the preview box is never checked and is  in fact, greyed out. and i've realizied now that i haven't had any previews created since i turned off the option, what? two years?...

maybe it's dependent on the type of export. since i only use busses and check the tracks to include, maybe it does something different if you are doing "entire mix"? 

[David Baay]

3 hours ago, Simon Wilkinson said:

And it's not just on the first export because even if I delete the preview from the Audio folder it creates it again on the next export. In fact I just checked on another project I'm working on and it put 3 similarly labelled 'preview' files in the folder and they were each identical and exactly 153.05mb. 

I think "first export" basically means "if there isn't already a preview file".  So if you delete all preview files, it will automatically create one on the next export. And it's been previously determined that bouncing any track in a project that doesn't yet have a preview will also generate one. My projects often have two preview files, one with a shorter name than the other; I'm not sure what that's about. If a project folder contains multiple versions of a project there may be additional project-specific preview files.

Both the implementation and the documentation could use some refinement.

 

Edited October 13 by David Baay

[Bass Guitar]

Might be true come to think about it.

For me it was only certain projects that showed the preview arrow on the start screen.  
I think I used Sonar for 5 months before I even noticed this feature.
It was the day I went to open a project and it scared the heck out me when the unexpected music started playing full blast!! 

I quickly learned how to disable it. 
 

I did about 150 projects last fall where all I did was open them and save as midi and then export stems of all tracks including vst instruments. These are my future proofs and none of them ever got the preview arrow. 
 

But that’s when I started finding all the weird audio files in the audio folder. 
 

[Glenn Stanton]

looks like it created a wav file using a guid in the audio folder - but never updates it after the first run...