[QLab] auto relink missing files in Qlab2?

[Loar, Joshua]

Hello,

I am working with a sound designer who tells me that Qlab 2 has unlinked a bunch of his audio files, even though he has not moved them from their original directory. Is there a way to auto relink these files (which are still in their original location)? When I've moved files around on my own system, Qlab 2 has always tracked my moves, so I've never run into this problem, and can't find any mention of it in the product documentation.

If anyone can offer clarification on this subject, I would most appreciate it! Is this a bug anyone else has experienced? When my designer manually re-drags the files into placec, it erases all the automation and levels, and he's worked for days on that info and would love to avoid needing to reset all of it.

Thanks,
_______________________________
Josh Loar
Sound Supervisor
Yale School of Drama/Yale Rep
Office: 203-432-1577
Cell: 203-927-6663
________________________________________________________
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[Christopher Ashworth]

Hi Josh,

I don't suppose you happen to know with confidence the exact steps the
designer took to transfer the show? Aside from the audio files
staying in their bundled location, did the workspace file itself stay
in its bundled location for the initial launch of the workspace?

Because of the removal of the (highly confusing) working directory,
currently v2 doesn't offer much in the way of recovery plans if the
bundle+transfer process goes awry. Because of sporadic reports in
problems with bundling, I do believe there is a bug or two in there,
but I've had great difficulty in recreating them myself.

best,
Chris

On Sep 13, 2009, at 4:09 PM, Loar, Joshua wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am working with a sound designer who tells me that Qlab 2 has
> unlinked a bunch of his audio files, even though he has not moved
> them from their original directory. Is there a way to auto relink
> these files (which are still in their original location)? When I've
> moved files around on my own system, Qlab 2 has always tracked my
> moves, so I've never run into this problem, and can't find any
> mention of it in the product documentation.
>
> If anyone can offer clarification on this subject, I would most
> appreciate it! Is this a bug anyone else has experienced? When my
> designer manually re-drags the files into placec, it erases all the
> automation and levels, and he's worked for days on that info and
> would love to avoid needing to reset all of it.

________________________________________________________

[Scott Nielsen]

Hi Chris and Josh,

I'm the sound designer that experienced the problem! It was the
weirdest thing and I've been trying to figure out how it might have
happened so I may avoid its recurrence. After a day of tech, I saved
and quit QLab 2. (I have the show folder bundled on the desktop) I
powered down the computer (mac mini). Unplugged the firewire interface
(m-audio pro-fire light bridge). Powered on the computer and then
plugged in my external drive to backup the show files. I then ejected
the drive, powered down the computer, and reconnected the interface.
The next day, when I opened the files, a number of audio cues had been
unlinked from their audio files AND all level and routing information
had been reset. It was very strange. What's even weirder, is that it
didn't happen to all the audio cues. The cues that were still intact
were seeing their files in the bundled folder on the desktop. I ended
up having to re-build all of those cues because I couldn't find a way
to easily relink the audio files. Also, the level info was gone
anyway. I've been trying to figure out what could have possibly gone
wrong in this process to avoid its happening again. Previously, I had
been backing up over an ethernet network to my laptop at my tech
table. It seems that unplugging the interface was probably where the
problem occurred, but I'm still not totally certain. I hope that
helps. Let me know if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions about
this.

Thanks,

Scott

[Jeremy Lee]

Chris-

I for one love the whole method of all of this. But I do wish that
QLab did not initialize levels when a sound file goes missing (you
rename it, etc) and then drag a new one onto it. It should retain
it's level settings, but just indicate that the sound file is missing.

Thanks,

Jeremy

On Sep 13, 2009, at 8:29 PM, Christopher Ashworth wrote:

> Because of the removal of the (highly confusing) working directory,
> currently v2 doesn't offer much in the way of recovery plans if the
> bundle+transfer process goes awry. Because of sporadic reports in
> problems with bundling, I do believe there is a bug or two in there,
> but I've had great difficulty in recreating them myself.

--
Jeremy Lee
Sound Designer, NYC - USA 829
http://www.jjlee.com

[Jeremy Lee]

Is it possible that your laptop was mounted on the Mini's desktop when
you created the affected cues? Is it possible that QLab was
referencing the audio files on the laptop rather than the Minis? Was
the laptop connected and mounted when you booted up the next day?

The only times I've had this kind of thing happen to me was via user
error. Did you bundle the show to the external drive, or simply copy
the files over?

Best,

Jeremy

--

Jeremy Lee
Sound Designer, NYC - USA 829
http://www.jjlee.com

[Scott Nielsen]

All my audio files were on the mac mini and were still there when I
reconnected them. I had been working on my laptop and controlling the
mac mini via ethernet network and the sharing screens options in
Leopard. As far as I can tell, there's no way the files were actually
on my laptop and not the mini. That said, I still may have made an
error in some other way. If I did, I'd like to figure it out so I
don't repeat it. I bundled the files to the external, and the missing
file problem occurred on the files on the mini and the back up on the
external drive.

Cheers,

Scott

[Jeremy Lee]

That's not actually the question I was asking. It's entirely possible
(I've done it myself) to have the laptop mounted on the show
computer's desktop, drag the files into the show mini's drive, then
accidentally drag the file from the laptop's window into QLab. The
file *does* exist on the show computer, but QLab is looking for the
networked drive.

[Scott Nielsen]

Hi Jeremy,

I understand what you're saying, however, I find that using the target
arrow method helps to get the right file, from the right place, in the
cue. I guess I should have mentioned that. The way my laptop and the
show computer are networked does not require mounting to the mini's
desktop. I'm quite certain that is not where things went wrong.

Cheers,

Scott

[Jeremy Lee]

Cool- it's just quite an easy mistake to make when you have servers
mounted. Very curious what happened there.