Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Support and feedback for Acoustica's Mixcraft audio mixing software.

Moderators: Acoustica Greg, Acoustica Eric, Acoustica Dan, rsaintjohn

MikeDVI
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:23 pm

Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by MikeDVI »

Hi all.

If I use the "Copy Project files to" option, does EVERYTHING copy into a new folder, as in ALL saved mixes, backups, recorded tracks etc., or just the "current mix' that I am working in?

Just verifying what i think is happening before I move 50+ songs (long story)

Thanks - Mike
MX10.5 Pro Studio B 586. Presonus 1818vsl AI, Dell XPS 8930 Core I9-9900 3.10 GHz, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, 64-GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 2060, 1 and 2 TB SSD’s + 1 and 2 TB spinner sata’s, cookies and coffee.
Anorax
Posts: 1082
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:58 pm

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by Anorax »

I've not used the Copy Project To... Option in a long time, so I'm not sure if it includes the backups folder, but it will include all audio files used within your project.
User avatar
Acoustica Greg
Posts: 24556
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:30 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

It just copies the files used in the project, but its magic power is that it finds all the project’s files, even those that aren’t in the project folder.

If you want the backup folder and any alternate takes, just copy them manually to the new location.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
MikeDVI
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:23 pm

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by MikeDVI »

Acoustica Greg wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:01 pm If you want the backup folder and any alternate takes, just copy them manually to the new location.
Thanks Greg,

So, for example if I copy project files for "Song A" to a new location using the Mixcraft ...Copy project files...option (note the recorded tracks and saved mixes; say, 5 or 6 .mx* files were from an old computer in with a different location path).

Now, once I copy everything manually as well to the new folder, then Mixcraft is pointed to the new location across the board for that particular song, is that correct?

Man I hope this makes sense...

Sorry, just have alot of work ahead moving songs it helps to have somewhat of a clue in advance. Or in my case, very little clue lol

Appreciate it!

Mike
MX10.5 Pro Studio B 586. Presonus 1818vsl AI, Dell XPS 8930 Core I9-9900 3.10 GHz, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, 64-GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 2060, 1 and 2 TB SSD’s + 1 and 2 TB spinner sata’s, cookies and coffee.
User avatar
Acoustica Greg
Posts: 24556
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:30 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

Yes, there's actually a dialog that pops up asking if you want to make the new location the project folder. You would click Yes.

People who were just archiving projects, and not moving them, would click No.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
MikeDVI
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:23 pm

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by MikeDVI »

Thanks again Greg, I have learned a valuable lesson here...

If anyone else is interested in the “why” of all this nonsense and to avoid learning the hard way as I have, I bought a new computer, WIN-10.

My old machine was WIN-7 upgraded to WIN-10, MX song folders were in C:\users\MIKE\desktop\etc…

New machine, WIN-10 setup set my user folder as the first 5 of my email, so now we have c:\users\MYEMAIL\desktop\etc… I am reading where there is little option on this as it links to the Microsoft account. Knowing what I do now I probably could have setup offline?

You can imagine what this is causing in Mixcraft loading up songs! Yes, I should have known better but in my defense when I loaded the new hard drive from my backups it did not even hit me. I normally place everything in the desktop for ease of backup and did not even consider this possibility. I did add an additional user account c:\users\MIKE\etc… on the new machine, but when I placed the songs folder there I noted only a slight improvement in loading and more so did not feel to good about it, at any rate.

Side note, I battled with an upgraded version of Melodyne, (a ONE TIME upgrade means just that!). Yes, it was upgraded on the old machine and refused the license on the new one, even when I went to my license page and deactivated the old machine. Three days with their tech support and we got it though. They were extremely helpful BTW

Off to grab some extra coffee for my song moving project LOL. From what I have researched this will be better than changing the user ID which likely would also affect the myriad other programs on this new machine.

Mike
MX10.5 Pro Studio B 586. Presonus 1818vsl AI, Dell XPS 8930 Core I9-9900 3.10 GHz, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, 64-GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 2060, 1 and 2 TB SSD’s + 1 and 2 TB spinner sata’s, cookies and coffee.
User avatar
Acoustica Greg
Posts: 24556
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:30 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

For anybody perusing this topic, here's an easy way to see where any files you might record would be stored for the current project you're working on:

Image


Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
ron-e-g
Posts: 261
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:03 pm

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by ron-e-g »

Good stuff! Thanks
"The Older I Get The Better I Was!"
aj113
Posts: 1455
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 3:06 pm
Contact:

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by aj113 »

In my opinion this feature should not exist and can end up in tears.

1. It ignores all backups
2. It only copies files that happen to be in the project at that time. It does not copy all the raw data files, so even if you copied the backups manually they would not work.

It is best to get into good practice:

1.Any files that you add to a new project (as opposed to making recordings in the project itself), put them in the project folder first.

2. When you want to move a project, simply copy the entire project folder and the paste it to its new location. When you want to open the project in the new location, open the project folder, double-click the project MC file and it will automatically find all the files. All the backups will work too.
User avatar
Acoustica Greg
Posts: 24556
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:30 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by Acoustica Greg »

aj113 wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:35 pm In my opinion this feature should not exist and can end up in tears.

1. It ignores all backups
2. It only copies files that happen to be in the project at that time. It does not copy all the raw data files, so even if you copied the backups manually they would not work.

It is best to get into good practice:

1.Any files that you add to a new project (as opposed to making recordings in the project itself), put them in the project folder first.

2. When you want to move a project, simply copy the entire project folder and the paste it to its new location. When you want to open the project in the new location, open the project folder, double-click the project MC file and it will automatically find all the files. All the backups will work too.
Hi,

This option exists because many people quickly add audio or video files from other folders to their projects without thinking about it.

For them, this option is a live-saver!

For people like you, who want to preserve every unused audio file and backup file, they can use this option (thereby insuring that files from other folders are gathered together), then copy the rest of the contents of the folder to the new project folder.

A lot of people also use this option to consolidate projects.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
MikeDVI
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:23 pm

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by MikeDVI »

2. When you want to move a project, simply copy the entire project folder and the paste it to its new location. When you want to open the project in the new location, open the project folder, double-click the project MC file and it will automatically find all the files. All the backups will work too.
AJ113 / Greg:

Assuming I tried this method as described by AJ113 >> once every file and all backups, etc. are in the song folder, and I open only one saved project file (IE .mx9 file) will the other saved .mx* files then point to the new location as well?

Thanks, at any rate I am going to test this out to see. FWIW as a rule I work out of one song folder per song anyway with out scattering stuff around my system drives.

I appreciate everyone's time on this!

Mike
MX10.5 Pro Studio B 586. Presonus 1818vsl AI, Dell XPS 8930 Core I9-9900 3.10 GHz, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, 64-GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 2060, 1 and 2 TB SSD’s + 1 and 2 TB spinner sata’s, cookies and coffee.
aj113
Posts: 1455
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 3:06 pm
Contact:

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by aj113 »

MikeDVI wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:59 am ...once every file and all backups, etc. are in the song folder, and I open only one saved project file (IE .mx9 file) will the other saved .mx* files then point to the new location as well?
Almost. The mx file won't 'point' to the correct folder, The MC project will look first in the original location, which it will not find of course. Then by default it moves to looking in its own folder - where it will, of course, find the files. You don't really see any of this happening, you just see the project opening.
User avatar
Acoustica Greg
Posts: 24556
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:30 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by Acoustica Greg »

MikeDVI wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:59 amAJ113 / Greg:

Assuming I tried this method as described by AJ113 >> once every file and all backups, etc. are in the song folder, and I open only one saved project file (IE .mx9 file) will the other saved .mx* files then point to the new location as well?

Thanks, at any rate I am going to test this out to see. FWIW as a rule I work out of one song folder per song anyway with out scattering stuff around my system drives.

I appreciate everyone's time on this!

Mike
Hi,

When you use the Copy Project Files option, it will ask if you want to make the new folder the project folder. If you click Yes, this will cause the new project file to use the new folder. The old project file would still use the old location.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
MikeDVI
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:23 pm

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by MikeDVI »

OK, many thanks....very helpful information.

Like I said 587 posts ago, valuable lesson learned, maybe I can partially blame ignorance of a Windows 10 install procedure and coddle myself while I fix this mess lol.

Mike
MX10.5 Pro Studio B 586. Presonus 1818vsl AI, Dell XPS 8930 Core I9-9900 3.10 GHz, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, 64-GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 2060, 1 and 2 TB SSD’s + 1 and 2 TB spinner sata’s, cookies and coffee.
Crimsonsunaudio
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:12 am

Re: Clarification for the "Copy project files to" option

Post by Crimsonsunaudio »

Hi, new user here. Very impressed with Mixcraft overall so far. The thing that is confusing me (and perhaps frustrating me a little) is the way this function appears to work. I'm used to the way Reaper works - you get an option in the save dialogue 'copy all media into project directory'. This works as expected - any media in the project gets copied into the project folder - job done. Mixcraft appears to want to create an entirely new project file upon initiating this action (instead of simply overwriting the existing project file) which results in a new project file with ~1 after the name you gave it. How do I prevent this from happening? I simply want to carry on working with the project name I gave it - not project name plus ~1 on the end.

Thanks, Loz at Crimson Sun Audio
Post Reply