Shutdown / Autosave

[Brent Evans]

I started using the shutdown and autosave functionality recently, and I noticed two things:

First, the shutdown save does not always seem to remember channel order. I can't put my finger on what breaks this, as it's intermittent.

Also, is there any way to have SAC auto-save on shutdown, but NOT recall it automatically? It seems that the options are linked.

[Bob L]

The idea of the auto-save on shutdown is to bring the machine back to where it was when it was shutdown correctly... so the auto-load is linked...

But... after the auto-load... if you want to load some other mix session... just go ahead.

You can also just do it all manually... in that the last thing you do with a session before shutdown is save and update... then when you come back into the session it will be where you left-off.

You might also want a session to start at a certain point different from the condition it is at the end of a show... in this case use a starting scene and an ending scene... then you can get directly to one end or the other anytime.

Don't forget about the background auto-save option as well... you can set the delay (I recommend at least 2 mins or more so you have time to open the auto-save file if needed before it overwrites with a new background save. This saves in the background and you pick the time when you want to load the last saved state.

Bob L

[Nathan P]

Regarding the Background Autosave Delay Time option - What file name does it save to?

Does it save in the background to the last "Save Session As..." file name I've been saving the session I've been mixing; or does it save in the background to the Shutdown file; or does it save to a third and separate Autosave file name? If it autosaves under the background the Shutdown file name, I might understand why one would need to give SAC 2 min. to prevent it from immediately overwriting the Shutdown file with the last successful SAC program shutdown upon reopening.

My preference I think would be to save the Background Autosave to a file that uses our last successful manually saved file name and just adds the word "...Autosaved" to differentiate it from accidental immediate future overwriting either the Shutdown file or the session that was saved under a filename that for me personally includes the date & time of day to help me quickly open up the most recent service or event session.

Sometimes after a manual save I want to experiment with a mix settings and so I wouldn't want the auto save to overwrite my deliberate save, but I'd like to have changes be autosaved if I'm experimenting with setting up an internal or external effect that could crash, or simply experience a power loss, etc. and I'd want the Auto save to be made sooner than 2 minutes into making changes. Sometimes I've had a crash or power loss happen right after a new group of voices were just EQ'd but not saved and the only recall from a power loss, etc. was to recall an old session with bad EQ setting for the currently on stage group.

I think I'd like upon reopening the autoloaded Shutdown file to have SAC start immediately saving a "Shutdown - Autosaved" file every 10 seconds and if a crash or power loss of SAC while mixing a "070817 7am file" (deliberately saved session) I'd like there to be an option to recall a state that can be found when browsing "Open Mix Session" or "Recent Mix Session FileList" as "070817 7am - Autosaved" which would have captured a very recent, last mix state, within 10 seconds of an undesired system crash or power loss in a complex live and evolving mix that I may not have remembered to hit Ctrl+S in the last 30 min. etc.

I guess that in the file naming scheme I just recommended upon opening my example "070817 7am - Autosaved" file after a power loss scenario, SAC would immediately begin Background Autosaving this recovered mix to "070817 7am - Autosaved -Autosaved" and we could potentially loose the least amount of our mix work while always having access to a deliberate and known good save point.

I'd much rather have an extra number of "autosaved" files in my mix folder than lose my hard work.

I'd love to see some more options in the Autosaving department if someone can't tell me how to do what I want currently within SAC 4.2 or later now.

[mr_es335]

Nathan P,

Regarding the Background Autosave Delay Time option - What file name does it save to?

The SAC HelpFile states:

"Background AutoSave Delay Time
This option allows you to set a delay time from 0 to 300 secs which will auto save the current session settings to a background AutoSave.mxs file located in the SAC\Mix folder."

Therefore, the filename is "AutoSave.mxs".

I gather that there is no option to rename the AutoSave file at the time it is AutoSaved...but you could do that in the interim. For example, you could rename the file to whatever name you want.

It would appear that the "Background AutoSave Delay Time" is always enabled - but, as stated, "The option is turned off if the value is set to zero." - which it is by default.

I guess you could consider this option as an automatic "FileSave" function as well. Once this AutoSave session has been loaded, you could then rename that session to whatever you want - just ensure that if there are Scene files that you create a new folder for that Session as well.

Note: It does re-create a Scenes folder as well - which is to be expected. What would seem to be important to note is that the existing Scene files are not removed if the naming scheme is not the default - Scene 00#.scn). So, the AutoSave Scenes folder just might get a bit large after a time.

Hope this is of assistance?

Note: How different is the "AutoSave" functionality over MS Office's "AutoRecover" feature? Just curious?

Attachment 2634

[Nathan P]

mr_es335 , Thank You.

I was looking in the PDF, SAC User Manual - 4.1 and not getting much info on the Background Autosave option. I did not see anywhere in that document about the filename being "Autosave" which I believe is much better than I was expecting with the lack detail there. That should work for me now that I know what and where to look to recover a crashed session.

I guess the improvement or option I think I'd like is to have SAC open and load the "Autosave" file and not the "Shutdown" file. If there is a way to accomplish that, that I'm missing, please let me know.

Sorry, Brent Evans if I pulled guys off your topic in this older thread for a moment.

Thanks Guys!

[Bob L]

The File menu has an option to open the last autosave file at any time... then you can save and rename it as anything you want.

Bob L