Alternative _New Session.bm3

edited March 2019 in Resources

Hey all!

There was some discussion in the BM3 discord chat about file management and it’s current implementation causing issues for some users such as samples missing, corrupt projects, etc.

There are excellent tutorial videos providing best practices on how to manage files in BM3 (part one here & part two here). Highly suggest these they will help!

However,

I thought I would add to this by providing my alternative _ New Session.bm3 file and _ Sessions folder.

What is it?

At first glance, this is nothing more than an empty project folder & file. I simply pretend there is ** NOT ** a New Session at BM3 startup and ** NEVER ** use the New Session built into BM3. I work out of custom folders as many others do!

Why use this?

You don’t have to, but by using this prebuilt folder and .bm3 file, it bypasses any auto saving to the Unsaved Sessions folder (where most will lose their files).

The folder acts as one master unsaved session. It collects recordings from audio tracks/resampling just like any other unsaved session. It will also collect any edited samples just like any other unsaved session. The folder will always have only one unsaved (autosave) .bm3 file if you forget to save. No messy dated folders!

You can build templates to use for different types of projects. There’s a couple tools to build dummy macros/modulations rather than loading samples and then building these. This is just a dummy WAV file.

The empty bank included is actually an custom Beatmaker 2 bank in disguise. More on this later...

It’s named with an underscore at the beginning for organization purposes. Mainly so you know your using it, not the built in folders. It will also act as a top hierarchy folder in BM3.

Enough me rambling....if you want to use it just import and move the entire folder to the main directory in BM3.

Download link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wuueeiog57gr921/_Sessions.zip?dl=0

Comments

  • Nice @mefisme

    Anything that bypasses the Unsaved sessions folder is a godsend, as far as I'm concerned.

  • Same old stuff as before, just there for anyone who might just be starting or having these issues. Thanks @tk32

  • Always a great help. Thanks

  • 👍🏻

  • I am somewhat new to BM3, may I ask what the Unsaved sessions folder issue is?

  • edited April 2019

    @elgrayso said:
    I am somewhat new to BM3, may I ask what the Unsaved sessions folder issue is?

    Hi @elgrayso

    It goes a little like this...

    1. If you start a new project and either (a) record any audio, or (b) load a sample and start to make edits... BM3 saves the new audio files inside the 'Unsaved Sessions' folder
    2. When you later save your project with a carefully chosen session name (eg "My best BM3 track"), it still contains references to all the various audio files that were created in Unsaved Sessions
    3. At some later date, users will eventually think it's OK to delete the folders and files in Unsaved Sessions - which they suspect are using up storage space for no valid reason.
    4. BUT.... the next time they try to open their precious project (eg "My Best BM3 track"), they will see an error saying "sample not found"
  • @tk32 Ah that does sound very annoying. And it sounds like thats just for recorded or edited audio correct? Essentially, any new audio file it has to create.

    @mefisme i am trying to understand your alternative new session solution.
    Are you saying that you want to always load this blank session instead of starting a "new" session (which uses the unsaved folder). That way, later in your project, you can "save as" and it will retain all of your samples?

  • @elgrayso - this diagram helps illustrate the problem

  • @tk32 thats an easy to understand diagram. From your book I'm guessing? (looking forward to it).
    What solves this issue, saving your session before you start bringing in sounds?
    I still dont think I understand this alternative new session file

  • @elgrayso said:
    @tk32 thats an easy to understand diagram. From your book I'm guessing? (looking forward to it).
    What solves this issue, saving your session before you start bringing in sounds?
    I still dont think I understand this alternative new session file

    I’ve been away from the forums. My apologies. To answer your question...

    Developing a habit of loading a saved session (in this case, an empty one) rather than using the one built-in to BM3 prevents lost files.

    This is all that is happening with a pre-saved session. (btw @tk32 thanks for that beautiful imagery)

    Hope that helps for any clarification! :smile:

  • @mefisme

    @mefisme said:

    Developing a habit of loading a saved session (in this case, an empty one) rather than using the one built-in to BM3 prevents lost files.

    This is all that is happening with a pre-saved session. (btw @tk32 thanks for that beautiful imagery)

    So just to confirm;
    A. if you make a new Default session and drag in samples or record audio, then save the session with a new name..
    Any samples you brought into the session and audio you recorded BEFORE saving it with a name, will be stored in the Unsaved folder. Thus separating the linked samples/audio from the project itself.

    B. But if you Open a project (a blank template in this case ), and bring in sounds and audio, Then resave it with a New name, all the sounds Are stored with the actual project because since it has always been a “real” project folder in BeatMaker’s eyes.

    Do I have it right?
    If so that makes sense to do. I would just be worried about hitting “save” out of habit and saving over the template on accident.

    Ps: is there an easy way to retroactively “fix” the old sessions I’ve made and get their linked samples back? Maybe save them as “my session 2” and in that copy set it to include all samples. There may be a less clunky way than that though?

    Thanks guys for getting me up to speed on this

  • A. if you make a new Default session and drag in samples or record audio, then save the session with a new name..
    Any samples you brought into the session and audio you recorded BEFORE saving it with a name, will be stored in the Unsaved folder. Thus separating the linked samples/audio from the project itself.

    Partially Correct. Only samples that physically have processing done to them such as chopping a sample, normalization, fades, etc get stored in an Unsaved Sessions folder. Samples dragged to any type of session (saved or unsaved) and unprocessed are referenced from wherever you dragged them from (their location in the file manager).

    B. But if you Open a project (a blank template in this case ), and bring in sounds and audio, Then resave it with a New name, all the sounds Are stored with the actual project because since it has always been a “real” project folder in BeatMaker’s eyes.

    Only if you were to choose “Copy Samples” under the “Save As” menu then would it collect all samples in the project and include them in the new named project’s folder. Samples are always referenced from wherever your samples are located. If edits were done, they would be in the template sessions folder, but much easier to recover the work.

    Do I have it right?
    If so that makes sense to do. I would just be worried about hitting “save” out of habit and saving over the template on accident.

    I feel you on this. Can’t help you much with the habit other than to say try to build a new habit by using “Save As...” and name sessions accordingly. Worst case, could just recreate/redownload the template if you do overwrite it.

    Ps: is there an easy way to retroactively “fix” the old sessions I’ve made and get their linked samples back? Maybe save them as “my session 2” and in that copy set it to include all samples. There may be a less clunky way than that though?

    Do the missing samples still exist somewhere in BM3? If not, I’m afraid you are out of luck.

  • Thanks for the clarification !
    Hopefully they make that simpler in the actual software at some point

  • edited April 2019

    Here is the information about where BM3 stores referenced audio files (eg samples and recordings) in a grid layout

    Hope it one day helps you avoid the dreaded “samples not found” error message

  • edited April 2019

    @tk32 said:
    Here is the information about where BM3 stores referenced audio files (eg samples and recordings) in a grid layout

    Hope it one day helps you avoid the dreaded “samples not found” error message

    Too elaborate on this for anyone..the image above is stating the following:

    ROW 1 -edits/audio recordings before saving a session are referenced in the DATED unsaved sessions folder under samples/recordings sub-folders. Samples brought in are referenced at original location.

    ROW 2 - If the session is saved, post-save edits/recordings will store in NAMED saved sessions samples and recordings sub-folders. You may still have samples referenced in unsaved sessions. Samples brought in are referenced at original location.

    ROW 3 -. Collect everything to NAMED session folders. Duplicates in previous locations may be carefully deleted!

  • hmm might be best to just always save/copy samples if they are only a few mbs

  • @elgrayso said:
    hmm might be best to just always save/copy samples if they are only a few mbs

    That's what i do and I never have to worry about it. It adds up after a while but I backup completed projects to gain the space back.

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