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  1. #1

    Default Help! Hoping to save an EDL

    Well, I thought I was now a master troubleshooter following my corrupt WAV file experience a couple weeks back, but...

    Having several hours into a film auto-post project, today, I was working along, closing in on finishing the project, when SAW crashed. I'd been trying some region boundary edits, moving a left boundary back and forth to find a good scene transition from a region on another track, using SoftEdges on both. Then I decided I liked it how it was, originally, so I did a couple of undo keystrokes to take me back. Or maybe it was redo keystrokes to take me forward. (That last redo coming forward always takes a little longer and stresses me out, because...) Then I saw the dreaded processing-spinning-circle windows-hang for a few seconds, and then SAW disappeared.

    I'd been working with the same VSTs and WAVs in the session for a long while, so I didn't know what it might be. I changed SAW's VST_Plugins folder name to take all the VSTs out of the equation. Then I moved all the session WAVs and AVI into a temp folder. Opened the EDL, cleared all the missing-WAV and -AVI prompts, and SAW crashed. I went back and tried the most-recent undo file; crashed. I tried several other undos going back in time; crashed.

    The only idea I have is that when I first created the session, I tried it with the MP4 video file that was sent to me by the video editor. I tried loading it directly into SAW, but got a "no can do" prompt of some kind. I then created an AVI from the MP4 using QuickTime. And that's what I've been using. But I wonder if SAW baked into the EDL some kind of reference to the incompatible MP4.

    I suppose all this points to a corrupt EDL, but what I've never understood is how, suddenly, all the EDLs (undos) that used to be fine are suddenly now crashing SAW? Rebooting hasn't helped. Maybe I should try reinstalling SAW?

    Any ideas would be most welcome.

    Thanks.

    ****************

    UPDATE: just did a fresh install of SAWStudio64 to a new folder. Same results. Can't open the EDL or any of its undos even with no available VSTs and no available WAVs or AVI.
    Last edited by Dave Labrecque; 04-01-2021 at 01:25 PM.
    Dave "it aint the heat, it's the humidity" Labrecque
    Becket, Massachusetts

  2. #2

    Default Re: Help! Hoping to save an EDL

    I don't know about behavior with video, if you move the path will saw invite you to find it or go on to load the session as best it can without it, as it does with audio?

    I also would suspect a plugin - maybe you could temporarily move vsts you used and open the session with the filter pins message?

  3. #3

    Default Re: Help! Hoping to save an EDL

    Quote Originally Posted by jmh View Post
    I don't know about behavior with video, if you move the path will saw invite you to find it or go on to load the session as best it can without it, as it does with audio?

    I also would suspect a plugin - maybe you could temporarily move vsts you used and open the session with the filter pins message?
    It wasn't the AVI or a VST (good guesses), I eliminated those, and the session still wouldn't open.

    Big thanks to Bob, who spent time with me on the phone trying different stuff out. I then sent him the session and all the undos, he put the EDL through his magic machine, and he saw that, as far as my Cro-Magnon brain understands it, there was automation on one track that was interacting with a VST on that track in some way that caused an invalid value. Do I at least sound like I know what I'm talking about? It's some kind of freak alignment of things that appears not to have happened in nearly two decades of SAWStudio.

    Bob fixed the code, trapping for this happening, sent me a new EXE, and my problem EDL opened fine. Yessssssss!

    The crash happened when I was stepping through undos (actually redos) back to the most-current version of the session. Each undo is it's own EDL file, so SAW is literally opening a new session with each undo/redo step. One thing I've noticed in recent months, maybe years, is that returning back, redoing back to the most-current session state often/usually produces the Windows-is-thinking spinning circle for a second or so (and sometimes crashes SAW), whereas movement between all the other undos is essentially instantaneous and uneventful. Bob couldn't say why this might be. Maybe it's unique to my system? Or a plugin I use a lot? Does anyone else experience this?

    I'm not sure if it's related to my crash, but I'm gonna keep an eye on that.

    Updated SAW version being released at some point containing this fix. Much appreciation to Bob for doing that Bob thing, helping me to avoid tragedy and get back to work--all within a few hours of my very novel crash.
    Last edited by Dave Labrecque; 04-01-2021 at 06:06 PM.
    Dave "it aint the heat, it's the humidity" Labrecque
    Becket, Massachusetts

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Help! Hoping to save an EDL

    Dave,

    Great new! Bob is the best!

    "...all within a few hours of my very novel crash..." ...Hmmm...novel...huh! Tell me, was it the 19th undo that caused the problem? Heh...Heh!!

  5. #5

    Default Re: Help! Hoping to save an EDL

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Labrecque View Post
    One thing I've noticed in recent months, maybe years, is that returning back, redoing back to the most-current session state often/usually produces the Windows-is-thinking spinning circle for a second or so (and sometimes crashes SAW), whereas movement between all the other undos is essentially instantaneous and uneventful. Bob couldn't say why this might be. Maybe it's unique to my system? Or a plugin I use a lot? Does anyone else experience this?
    This is what I have been complaining about ever since I installed the waves plugin pack. I expect that other plugins could cause the same issue. That delay was a whole new experience for me - so I think it's external to saw. I'm going to be try to be more judicious about the plugins I buy or use in the future. For now I think I will write the processed tracks that use those plugins to disk on any project that is going to take a while to finish.

    My machine stays off-line, so the license is on a usb stick - which makes it slower still for the plugin to find the license. I find that if you get impatient and click on something while the search is conducted, windows may throw a message, or it may induce a crash.
    Last edited by jmh; 04-01-2021 at 07:27 PM.

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