This function on the Audio Pool File pop-up menu takes all the audio files used in the Song (or, if you wish, all the audio files in the Audio Pool, regardless of whether they are used or not) and puts them in a new folder that you specify. This folder can then easily be backed up to another disk or other media, using normal copy commands or any backup utility program.
1. Select Prepare Archive from the Audio Pool’s File pop-up menu.A file dialog appears where you can navigate to the folder where you want to store the files.
2. In the new dialog that appears, specify if you want to include All the files in the Audio Pool, or only those that are Referenced (actually used in the Song).
All the sound files are now copied to the selected folder, and the Song is automatically saved in the new folder.
This option takes all the audio files used in the Song, extracts only the used bits of each audio file and stores this into new files. The result is a new set of files that play back the Song just as before, but now only contains the portions of audio which actually appears in the song. The Song is also updated to play the new “trimmed” files. In a sense, the function is a composite of other Cubase VST operations, those being “Purge Segments”, “Erase Unused”, and “Prepare Archive”.
The Prepare Master operation is entirely non-destructive, in that no audio files will be erased from your hard disk, new files are created for all the material. Please note the following:
• Since new files are created, it requires that you have sufficient space on your destination hard disk.
You will be warned should there be insufficient free space to complete the operation.
1. Make sure your Song is saved.
After the operation, the Song is altered, so this is an important step if you also want to save the Song as it is now.
A dialog box appears, telling you that this operation is not undoable.
3. A new dialog box appears informing you that you need to create a new folder. Use the file selector that appears after this to do so.
4. Open the folder you have just created and click Select.
The software now examines your use of the audio material in the Audio Pool, discards anything which is not used, and then proceeds to create new audio files which corresponds to the sections of the existing material. All the new files which are created are named automatically. The software also creates new segments which play these new files, and swaps these in automatically. Finally, the Song in its new state is saved in the selected folder.