Can't find the logic behind Maschine +'s SD card folders structure.

Derrikk · 2023-09-09T13:33:26+00:00

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Derrikk

Hello,

I want to backup a Maschine + project to prevent from a possible failure from the SD card card.

I plugged my SD card to my computer to parse the folders and copy paste the project files I want to backup. I easily find the "Project" folder and inside, the "ProjectName Samples" folder and the project itself (.mxprj).

But when I look inside the "ProjectName Samples" folder, there is only a re-edited version of the sample I use in the project, not the original one I use either. If the SD card crash, I won't have a backup of the full original sample. Maybe it is contained inside the .mxprj project but I doubt about that so I look around.

Before the main "Projects" folder, I find another 2 folders "Recording" & "samples" containing samples of different projects put together in the same place and finally find the original sample.

So now, I'm a bit puzzled.

How can I be sure to backup all the files attached to one precise project and avoid to look around and listen to every single audio file in the "Recording" & "samples" folders to recognize the good ones (not named) to be sure to have them all?

And why some samples are stored in "ProjectName Samples" and others in "Recording" & "samples" folders?

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Accepted answers

D-One

Maschine handles files in quite a messy inconsistent way, it treats Samples/Recordings differently from destructive Sample edits after saving a project... So finding a logic might be impossible.

On a fresh new project:

Everything you record goes to /Recordings, destructive sample edits go there aswell (with an extra number in the end of the file name).
All of it gets copied to the project sub-folder once you do "Save With Samples".
After that, if you close and re-open the project again and do more destructive edits then the sample-edit goes to the /Samples folder instead (No idea why, it can go there in other scenarios too).

Issues:

A - After step #3 to consolidate your sample locations, you will have to use "Save With Samples" again or your new edit will stay only in /Samples instead of the sub-folder only.

B - It also means you will have 2/3 duplicates, samples for step-1 will remain in /Recordings, samples for step-2 will remain in /Samples and both will also be in the Project subfolder. -- So, depending on how you browse, some stuff will show up 2/3 times, if you don't name your files that means quite the messy browser after a while, after years it's a nightmare.

C - I'm not with my M+ at the moment to check if it also has this option but on the desktop version there's a preference toggle to "Prefer Project Folder - When Recording Audio", with this active newly recorded samples go directly to the project sub-folder which is better but edits still go to the /Samples folder 🤷‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

Also, after re-opening a project where I previously used "Save With Samples" if I record some more samples and use that save again it places the new sample in a new sub-sub-folder inside the project subfolder (no idea why), if I run the save command multiple times it creates multiple dupe folders... There's so much wrong with all of this that it's hard to tell what is bad design or an oversight and what is actually a bug but this last one is def the latter IMO.

After testing all this I am left with this mess:

Using the "delete unused samples" toggle with "Save With Samples" gets rid of the .wavs inside the sub-sub-folders, but leaves the actual folders there.

All comments

darkwaves

How can I be sure to backup all the files attached to one precise project and avoid to look around...

Save project with samples. It will copy all samples to the project folder.

It does mean you'll end up with samples from expansions copied over too (using up extra space), but it will save you the headache you're describing.

I've just gotten into the habit of saving my project before I even start doing anything significant. The moment I think, "I might actually want to keep this"; save with samples.

ozon

Sample management in Maschine is a major PITA, IMO. Samples being named with a timestamp, every edit duplicating the sample and extending the file name with a counter, projects just referencing the last edited version, all leads to Samples andRecordings containing an ever growing unmanageable swamp of files.

If you want to be sure not to lose the original sample, AFAIK you have to either

always backup the whole Maschine 2 folder, or
keep one Group in the Project which references all the original Sample versions and use Save Project With Samples as proposed by @darkwaves.

D-One

Maschine handles files in quite a messy inconsistent way, it treats Samples/Recordings differently from destructive Sample edits after saving a project... So finding a logic might be impossible.

On a fresh new project:

Everything you record goes to /Recordings, destructive sample edits go there aswell (with an extra number in the end of the file name).
All of it gets copied to the project sub-folder once you do "Save With Samples".
After that, if you close and re-open the project again and do more destructive edits then the sample-edit goes to the /Samples folder instead (No idea why, it can go there in other scenarios too).

Issues:

A - After step #3 to consolidate your sample locations, you will have to use "Save With Samples" again or your new edit will stay only in /Samples instead of the sub-folder only.

After testing all this I am left with this mess:

Using the "delete unused samples" toggle with "Save With Samples" gets rid of the .wavs inside the sub-sub-folders, but leaves the actual folders there.

Derrikk

Thanks for the answers.

It seems hard to find a perfect solution to this mess.

Please NI, make an update! ;)

I will test some solution you give me but for now copying the whole Maschine2 folder sadly seems to be the easiest way.

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