4 Projects

A project is one song: its playlist, patterns, mixer, effects and settings, saved in a project file with the extension .dawesome. Recordings and other audio Dawesome makes for the project are kept in folders beside it.

4-1 Starting a new project

Choose File ▸ New Project (⌘N (Ctrl+N)).

The playlist, Pattern Sequencer and mixer are cleared, and the window's title shows Untitled — Dawesome.

If the current project has unsaved changes (see 4-7), Dawesome asks Replace the current project? before it clears anything.

4-2 Opening a project

1. Choose File ▸ Open… (⌘O (Ctrl+O)).
2. If the current project has unsaved changes, Dawesome asks Replace the current project?. Confirm to carry on.
3. In the Open project dialog, choose a .dawesome file.

When the project opens, the notice bar lists anything it couldn't find:

• Samples — Clips whose sample couldn't be loaded are left out of the playlist. Each missing file is listed with the reason.

• Plugins — Effects whose plugin isn't installed pass sound straight through. Their settings are kept, and saved again with the project.

Click × to dismiss the notice.

NOTE

A project saved by a newer version of Dawesome, in a format this version doesn't read, is refused. The notice bar says so.

4-2-1 Open Recent

File ▸ Open Recent lists the eight projects you opened or saved most recently, newest first. Each is listed by name; when two projects share a name, the folder each is in is added.

• Choose a project to open it. As with Open…, Dawesome asks first if the current project has unsaved changes.
• A project that can't be opened (moved, deleted or damaged) is taken off the list.
• Clear Recent empties the list. With nothing in it, the submenu shows No Recent Projects.

The list is kept between launches (see 2-5).

4-3 Saving a project

4-3-1 Save

Choose File ▸ Save (⌘S (Ctrl+S)).

• A project that has been saved before is saved to the same file.
• A project that has never been saved opens the Save project dialog, as Save As… does.

The project file is written in one go, so a save that fails part-way never leaves a half-written file in its place.

4-3-2 Save As

1. Choose File ▸ Save As… (⇧⌘S (Ctrl+Shift+S)).
2. In the Save project dialog, type a name and choose where to save. The first time, the dialog starts in your Documents folder, named Untitled.
3. Click Save.

Dawesome makes a folder named after the project, and saves the project file inside it (4-5). If you choose a folder that already has the project's name, it saves into that folder rather than making another.

After Save As…, you are working in the new project. The project you saved from keeps its file and its folders as they were: its recordings and clips are copied into the new project's folder, not moved.

NOTE

If some recordings couldn't be brought into the project's folder, the notice bar says Saved, but some takes are still outside the project's folder. The project still uses them from where they are.

4-4 Renaming a project from the cassette

You can name the project on the Transport tab's cassette.

1. Double-click the cassette (or press Enter on it).
2. Type a name, then press Enter or click away. Esc cancels.

• If the project has never been saved, the Save project dialog opens with the name filled in.
• If it has, Dawesome asks Save as "name"?, then saves a copy under the new name in a folder next to the old one, and carries on in the copy. The old project stays as it was. If a project of that name is already there, the question says it will be replaced.

4-5 The project folder

A saved project is a folder named after it:

my_song/
  my_song.dawesome
  recordings/
    my_song_11092026_0.wav
    my_song_11092026_1.wav
  clips/
    kick_copy_1.wav

• my_song.dawesome — The project file.
• recordings/ — Takes you record. Each is named after the project, the date it was recorded (month, day, year) and its number that day. You can file takes into folders of your own from the Recordings browser.
• clips/ — Audio files Dawesome writes itself, with Deep copy and Join. The folder is made the first time you use one of them.

These folders appear in the sidebar's Recordings and Clips browsers (see 3-4).

4-5-1 Recording before you save

You can record into a project that has never been saved. Its takes are kept in a folder in Dawesome's application data folder (on macOS, ~/Library/Application Support/dawesome/unsaved/). When you first save the project, they are moved into its recordings/ folder and renamed after the project.

NOTE

If you start a new project or open another one without saving, takes recorded into the unsaved project stay in a dated folder inside dawesome/unsaved/. No browser shows them; find them there in your file manager.

Deep copy and Join need a saved project, so their files have somewhere to go. Save the project first.

4-5-2 Samples and moving a project

Samples you add from the samples browser are not copied into the project. The project file stores where each one is:

• a sample inside the project's folder is stored relative to the folder, so the folder can be moved or shared;
• any other sample is stored by its full path.

CAUTION

If you move a project folder to another computer, samples from outside the folder won't be found there. Their clips are left out when the project opens, and listed in the notice bar.

4-5-3 Projects from older versions

A project saved as a single .dawesome file, without a folder of its own, still opens. Save writes it back where it is, with its recordings in a recordings folder next to the file. Save As… gives it a folder.

A project with patterns from an earlier version of Dawesome opens with its drum and note patterns turned into one kind of pattern, and its pattern folders in one tree (see 7-8 Patterns from older versions). Opening it doesn't change the file. Saving it writes the new format.

CAUTION

A project with patterns, once saved by this version, can't be opened by older versions of Dawesome: they say it was saved by a newer version. To keep the original for an older version, copy the project's folder before you save, or save the opened project under a new name with Save As… (the original file is left as it was).

Moving or renaming a take the project uses, in the Recordings browser, also updates the saved project file, and so saves it in the new format too.

NOTE

The first time an older project is written over in the new format, whether by Save or by moving a take, Dawesome keeps a copy of the original file beside it, named for its format: song.dawesome becomes song.v3.dawesome (v1 or v2 for the oldest formats). The copy is made once. If a copy of that name is already there, it is left as it is. An older version of Dawesome opens the copy. If the copy can't be made, the project isn't saved and stays open; save it elsewhere with Save As….

4-6 What is saved

Saved with the project	Not saved
Tempo, time signature, metronome, loop, loop region and loop end, snap and snap length, count-in	The undo history (it starts again with each project)
Playlist clips and pattern clips, with their trims and settings	The playlist's mouse tool (a project opens with the select tool)
Pattern Sequencer rows, patterns and pattern folders	Mixdown settings
Mixer settings of changed or named tracks	Audio settings and preferences (see 2-5)
Armed tracks and their input channels	The Pattern Sequencer's Used only setting
Each channel's effects and their settings

4-7 Closing Dawesome

Quitting Dawesome (Dawesome ▸ Quit, the Dock's Quit) or closing its window quits straight away if the project has no unsaved changes. If it has, Dawesome asks Save changes to "name" before quitting?:

• Save — Saves the project, then quits. A project that has never been saved opens the Save project dialog first; if you cancel it, or the save fails, Dawesome stays open.
• Don't Save — Quits, losing the changes.
• Cancel — Stays open.

While the project has unsaved changes, the window's title shows a * after its name (my_song* — Dawesome). It goes away when you save, or undo back to how the project was saved.

A change is anything that would be saved differently (see 4-6), including effect settings and plugin window positions. Undoing back to how the project was saved counts as no change. A new project you haven't touched quits without asking.