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-   -   Compact selected not working for me!! (https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=406281)

Felix 09-12-2019 11:36 AM

Compact selected not working for me!!
 
I've never been able to get this feature to work! It seems like a great idea and I've always wished it would work.
For example, I have a 3g file. I'm using about 30mb of the file in clips. I select the clips on the track that I'm using. I select compact. It does nothing. The original 3g file is still there, unaltered. The clips still exist as clips, not new audio files on the hard drive. What am I doing wrong?
I've tried selecting unused and deleting. I've tried additionally selecting the source audio file in the clips bin.
But really, as I understand, simply selecting the clips I'm using, it should make audio files for the clips in use, and then delete the original audio file. It doesn't do this for me. I've tried various times in various sessions over the years.

albee1952 09-12-2019 12:43 PM

Re: Compact selected not working for me!!
 
Hmmm, maybe showing my ignorance, but why do you feel the need to use this function? Assuming you want to clean out excess "junk" audio clips before archiving a session, my method would be to remove all unused, followed by Save Session Copy(check the box to include audio files/clips) and send this copy to a drive that holds my archived projects. I would not use Compact, as I just hate to mess with the audio files(in case the compact function won't un-compress a few years from now). With storage space as cheap and plentiful, I would leave things as they are(though I would compress/zip for uploading to someone else).

If none of this addresses your concerns, maybe giving more detail on your end goal will get better advice:o

Last thing to remember re backups, if it doesn't exist in 3 places, its not backed up...

Felix 09-12-2019 01:34 PM

Re: Compact selected not working for me!!
 
I don't have any use for 2.9 gigs of that file. Add in another bunch of huge files I only need some of and... it's a 30 gig archive that only needs to be a few gig or less.
I can consolidate, and delete original files. Using the the Compact feature seems to be a much faster way that also maintains the fades and keeps some of the original audio at the ends of the files just in case. Really great feature if I could get it to work!

The Weed 09-13-2019 10:50 AM

Re: Compact selected not working for me!!
 
From the Reference Manual:

"The Compact Selected command also deletes any audio files for which there are no clips on tracks referencing those files."

Could it be that the audio files that aren't being deleted are being referenced by clips on tracks?

I just usually Clear any Unused files using keyboard shortcuts.

Felix 09-17-2019 02:03 PM

Re: Compact selected not working for me!!
 
I could be misunderstanding how it works.
As I understood, "Compact" would make the selected clips into audio files from the original large file. And then delete the large file. So the large file would need to be there to start with.
I did a clear all unused clips and files. And double checked for hidden and inactive tracks, etc.

Felix 10-10-2019 09:11 AM

Re: Compact selected not working for me!!
 
I was able to get it to work finally. Not sure how and why... It's still a little weird. Sometimes it leaves the source file and creates a new one. Which makes matters worse in terms of storage space. I found that I could delete the source file manually and link the new file to the clips when the session is closed and relaunched without the original file in the audio folder.
I'm glad it for the most part seems to do the trimming task albeit something that needs to be carefully monitored and finessed to be sure it works properly. I feel this feature could be much more smart, powerful, and efficient with a little more enhancements in the user interface and programing...
There's a bit of unreliable mixed results as it is currently.


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