Hi Brad, what about a function to make a FULL BACKUP of a Session and/or Set List?
This would assure that all files - including Cantabile Settings - are safely collected into a folder (e.g. USB stick or on the cloud) without loosing any files (e.g. media player files, settings, etc.).
The BACKUP function will be very useful when copying/transferring an entire Set List to another computer, as I’m doing right now… at the moment, I need to collect all the files manually: sessions, recordings, audio files, midifiles, settings.
I get around this by having all my Cantabile-related files in sub-folders of a single folder that lives in my Dropbox, including my config/settings and even my customised Cantabile themes. I need this because I routinely run the same Cantabile songs on three different machines.
I find it a little nicer than having a backup function, primarily because if I back up stuff from machine A, load it onto machine B, then make changes, I lose track of what versions I have on machine A unless I make point of carefully managing it. And if I forget, and make changes on A first, it quickly becomes an omnishambles. Dropbox (or other cloud storage/sync services) handles this itself nicely
I really like the idea of a bundle file (like Cakewalk) that holds a single Song with all the media, racks … etc to transfer from one machine to another. It was brought up by Neil long ago and put on the back burner. Maybe there is a chance it could get done now!
My friends, I know any other work-around such as that options you suggested (saving all files in single folder, backing up on the cloud, etc.) but sometime just having a direct backup function can make things quicker. That’s all.
For example how to you backup Cantabile settings? There are no other ways then open the folder and copy manually it… if you forget to do it time-by-time, you don’t have that backup saved…
If you look in your Cantabile installation folder (generally in Program Files etc), you’ll find a text file called config.json. In there you can specify a folder for Cantabile to read/write its settings, which you can simply redirect to a folder in Dropbox (or wherever). My config.json looks like this:
Do bear in mind that you’ll need to copy your settings to that location first, before launching Cantabile.
Some kind of bundle/backup system could be useful though, especially if it could also optionally bring across actual plugins, so you can install on a clean machine, drop the bundle in, and be up and running. Although of course that gets complicated if the plugin is more than a straight DLL, with sample libraries in certain places etc.
Perhaps I didn’t make it clear - you make a small change to that file once, and from then on, all your settings are stored in your synced Dropbox folder, for all your computers to use/share. So you never again need to worry about making manual backups or anything. The only way it could be made simpler is if Brad made it possible to set that folder from within Cantabile’s options.
In fact, Dropbox even allows you to step back through undo history, so if you make a mistake and mess something up in Cantabile, you can go back to the previous working version without ever consciously having to have made any backup. This has saved me on several occasions.
I’m not saying a good, simple backup feature wouldn’t be useful. I’m just suggesting how you might do it until some future time when Cantabile may have such a feature.
Thanks a lot Neil. Got it better now. Yes, sure that’s a great trick indeed! I’ll try to set it up … Maybe Brad can implement it as “Cloud backup” option too?
To those who have not tried the Dropbox approach, you owe it to yourself to try it.
In fact, a free google drive account with 15gb of storage can get you a long, long, way with Cantabile material, just for starters. (Grab the desktop version, it works like Dropbox.) Worth testing this approach out when it costs nothing. I use DB only because I have an account there anyway.
I would not risk chancing plugins to this way of doing things. Installation can require authorizations and other bits and pieces. You really need to know that the plugins are working cross platform and not being compromised cross platform.
For Cantabile files, media files, accessible anytime, anyplace, sync’ing via the cloud is simple and requires no intervention once you’ve set it up. It just works.
I actually see issues with a closed backup file. The issue is - you have to keep updating it. Update an audio file in your setlist? Now you have to chase the backup too.
With an approach which ensures that whatever the last edit was, from any computer, is reflected as the current version on any computer there is never a question.
I’m not opposed to adding some sort of backup feature however it’s a very low priority because there are available (and imo better) options available with things like dropbox.
Backing up just one song or set list is complex because there’s the linked files which could be anywhere on the drive - where do you put them back if you open the backed up song and once decided what happens if the file is already there, do you replace it, overwrite it, prompt the user etc… Also if the files are put back in a different location, all the references to those files need to be updated.
Basically it’s a bit of a can of worms for a solution that doesn’t work as well as something that’s already available.
Hi Brad, thanks and I understand your point of view.
But, one practical and required info here: I really need to copy the settings from laptop A to laptop B. I copied the settings folder A and pasted on B. The problem is that, for ex., the Background Rack looks at an absolute path (C:\xxx\yyy\zzz…) and this does not allow to load it on the laptop B.
What’s the exact way to copy settings from A to B ? Thanks!
Have you manually selected a background rack file in Cantabile’s Options?
If you leave Cantabile using the default background rack it’ll always load it from the same folder as the settings file. If you choose a specific file it’ll always use it’s absolute path.
I think what you’re suggesting is for the background rack file to be saved related to the settings file?
I’ve used the default background rack, the problem is that Cantabile settings are saved into an aboslute path, it means Cantabile is looking exactly at the full path, not on, for ex., just Program Files\Cantabile, but C:… which includes the Windows’ username which is different on the two laptops.
Just to be clear, you can use Dropbox for the background rack and any computer which has a Cantabile pointing to that Dropbox location, with its options menu set correctly, will always auto- load and be able to update, that background rack.
It doesn’t matter about the absolute path as long as you set this:
C:\Users\YourComputer\Dropbox\Your Folder\Background Rack.cantabileRack
And in the Options menu - you see something like this:
I love the modular structure of the files. And all editable. The way it should be, power over your content.
I’m using sync back, it’s free and backups to my hard drive. Good idea dough about cloud syncing.
Maybe cantabile should be setup as portable? So that all files are in 1 folder?
Is that possible?
Portable should be possible so long as you can get the same drive letter each time you plug in the drive. You just need to manually move the installation folder and the settings folder.
Well, I set the file folders to “Google Drive” so they are synced on the cloud. But now… Is there a way to copy Cantabile’s Settings from computer A to B? Such as: MIDI ports, program preferences, keyboard & controls, etc.?
For example: importing the Background Rack created on the computer A, the computer B shows all missing MIDI ports. So should I create/set the MIDI ports copying them from the computer A?
Tried to copy the file settings.json but it always refers to some absolute path and the attempt fails again… Is it something possible or such settings must be set manually on each computer?
On each computer you should configure the file paths manually - pointing each computer to its Google Drive.
I name the MIDI ports manually on each computer. Cantabile’s system of aliases makes it possible to have different source port names while the project is looking to match the alias names.
Once this is set, you can forget it.
Every project component you save will be available, and load perfectly, on all your computers.
Thanks!
