Folders and scanning

DAWTER reads project files in the folders you point it at. It never writes to them.

Which DAWs

Six, by their project files:

  • Ableton Live — .als
  • Logic Pro — .logicx
  • REAPER — .rpp
  • Cubase — .cpr
  • FL Studio — .flp
  • Pro Tools — .ptx

For most of these DAWTER reads inside the file for tempo, key and length. How much it can tell you varies by format — some store more than others — so a song from one DAW may show more detail than a song from another, and that is the file rather than DAWTER being inconsistent.

Where projects can live

Anywhere that looks like a folder to your Mac:

  • This Mac, including your Music folder and anywhere else.
  • An external drive. DAWTER remembers which drive a song was on, so a song on an unplugged drive is still listed — it just cannot be played until the drive is back. This is the case DAWTER was built for: ten years of sessions on a drive in a cupboard.
  • Dropbox, as the folder on disk. Connecting your Dropbox account as well lets a bounce stream from it when you share, so nothing has to be uploaded.
  • Google Drive, through Google's own Drive for Desktop, which makes Drive look like a folder. DAWTER reads that folder like any other. There is no Drive connection to set up inside DAWTER.

Excluding things

Folders you do not want read — bounced-stems archives, sample libraries, a backup of a backup — can be excluded in Settings. Exclusions are cheaper than a messy library: a project found in a Time Machine folder is a duplicate of a song you already have, and DAWTER cannot always tell which is the real one.

Rescanning, and the watcher

After the first scan, DAWTER watches your folders: save a project, bounce a mix, and it appears without you asking. A full rescan is for when something changed while DAWTER was closed, or when you have added a folder.

A rescan does not lose anything you have typed. Notes, tags, custom names and progress all live against the song rather than the file, and survive the file being re-read, moved, or renamed.

Nested projects

DAWTER handles a project folder inside another project folder, which Logic and Ableton both produce if you save a version into a session folder. It takes the outermost thing that looks like a project rather than listing both, so one song does not become three.