The session saving process and its subtleties...
I’ve got a question about the saving process (of the sessions and the banks). When I see my project weighs 550 Mo and some samples are saved twice, one in the bank samples folder and another one in the session samples folder, I think I must be doing something wrong.
My goal is to save everything in the session folder, so I use the “save as” function and select all the options (save banks and samples within session). But what is the difference between the session samples folder and the banks samples folder, and why do I find the same sample saved in both folders ? Every time I import a new sample inside one of my banks, do I have to make a “save as” again (because I want to have all my audio material inside my session folder), or just “save” ?
One thing is sure, my project shouldn’t weigh 550 Mo. So what process are you using and what would you recommend?
Comments
I use save/Save as immediately at new session before doing any work and don’t collect samples or banks unless I’m sharing/archiving/building bank presets. Bank saving with samples puts the samples reference point in its own folder. It is ideal to use save/save as immediately to create the reference folder structure for a saved session.. This way resampling will create a recordings folder automatically and all sample saves and chopping are self contained. And I don’t collect samples at all and just let BM3 reference them wherever I choose. This also makes autosaves get stored in the saved sessions folder as well.
I save immediately, then close the session, go in to the browser and create the project file structure "I" want, not what Beatmaker tells me i am going to have, it is the worst part of Beatmaker right now, saving and autosaving, really really annoying.
Agreed. At least we can make our own directories and BM3 will behave with them.
Here's another little handy tip for users wanting to work with their own directory:
When you save banks with/without samples, they will go into the bank presets folder. If you move them to any folder structure you like, BM3 is no longer referencing the banks themselves. Just the unsaved ones in your sessions. Now you can open a saved session, reload those same banks from your new folder structure and the reference point for that saved session's banks and samples will be permanently attached to the new directories location. This allows you to save your banks along with your project. Very helpful.
However, changing the bank name and resaving will make a new bank preset in the Bank Presets folder. If BM3 would create Bank preset folders for wherever your session is placed pre-saving banks, we'd be golden.
@cyril777 if you don't want to build your own directory. You could use the forum resource autobuilder made by @5pinlink
The folders are prebuilt for you.
https://intua.net/forums/index.php?p=/discussion/5699/resource-folder-autobuilder#latest
Sessions dont need banks saved, just to be clear on that, you can happily create a session (song) and never ever save a bank, in fact i personally would suggest that unless you plan on reusing something in a bank, that you should never ever save banks, it is pointless extra files, whatever you create in your session (song) will be saved in the session file, this includes any sequence events (notes/scenes/patterns) however, this does not include audio files such as audio tracks and samples, those will always be referenced to the audio file you have stored and never save as part of the session file.
I save banks all the time. But that's because most of my banks are tools and templates for different workflows. And to save CPU/mem resources. It's not for everybody I guess.
I save banks when I'm creating a bank I want to use in more than just one session, but that's typically via the bank itself, not in the save-as dialog. I have a session going right now for a remix of a tune, but I'm not going to save the bank I created from their drum stem separately. I mean the bank is pretty much saved, it's just only accessible in the session, and doesn't show up in the browser as a bank to select and drop into another session. I can always decide to go back into a previous session to save a bank out for re-use if necessary. I feel like the "save banks separately" feature in the save-as dialog is when you want to get everything in the project pulled out so you can back it up or send it to someone else. In the example of my forum battle 05 session, I'm using several banks that I got in packs, so there's no need to save those banks separately again, and it would use up extra space.
I already build a folder structure which is almost the same. I have also created a folder named “my project” and I followed the tips from 5pinlink, immediately saving a new project, closing it and moved it in “my project” folder. But I must have done something wrong because BM3 created a saved session in the current session folder. I will try again for my next project.
I think not saving banks is a good advice and I will follow it from now on. The only thing I want is to have the samples I import in BM3 for my project in this project folder directory, not in the main samples folder or the Import folder. I work a lot with “loop launcher” type of banks, so I import a lot of samples in BM3, a lot of zipped files (from BlocsWave for example), and I don’t want all these imported samples placed in different places, but stored with the session they belong to. That’s why I thought saving banks with samples would be the solution.
https://intua.net/forums/index.php?p=/discussion/6249/its-time-for-robust-save-unsaved-autosave#latest
that feature request is what is needed
A bank can be anything you want and either specific to single session or useable across all sessions. If I'm a pack designer I'm going to save a bank. If I want a scales outside of scales mode I'm going to save the bank. Pattern storage for grooves. I'm saving the bank. Etc.
right, but those are all things you're doing when you intentionally want to save a bank for a reason, which is not what @cyril777 is doing, when he's like "why is my session so huge?". you can run one session specifically to build banks, or you might decide you're building a bank while in a session, and you just need to use the save bank function in the bank menu - no need to tap the save banks separately option when saving your session, in "normal" "I'm just making a song" type situations. I love that BM3 has these options, though.
@ronji @cyril777 so is your session so huge because he saved banks with samples? If so, yeah don’t do that.
@mefisme yeah, in his first post "I use the “save as” function and select all the options (save banks and samples within session)" so that's gotta be why haha.
Oh my. Not user error IMO. file system is so young and confusing.