An application or a script to clean up the audio folder?

[Notawiz]

Hi!

 

I have a bit of a problem - mainly it's about me being lazy, but all in all I think there should also be another kind of answer.

 

I'm looking for the easiest possible way to clean up all my project audio folders - and I think the easiest way to do that would be with an application of some sort. Hear my lament:

 

I know that it's fairly easy to clean up the audio folder of a single project. Go to the bin, select unused, delete files, select unused, press delete, select all, optimize files. There. With that, I usually free 20-100 MB of space on my hard drive - per project! So a pretty important and useful thing to do.

 

Now the problem is, I only learned this recently. I know, I should have read the thousand pages of boring and barely comprehensible text also known as the manual - but that's the first instance where my laziness comes in.

 

Since I started using Logic, I think I've created something like 1800 projects. Not all of them have audio, but that still leaves over a thousand that do. Here again, the laziness strikes. With all the Kontakt, ProjectSAM and other big plugins, effects and so on, many of the project files it can take several minutes to open.

 

Furthermore, I have done something I perhaps shouldn't have: very, very often I've created several .logic-files in the same project folder, to use the contents of the same audio folder. Smart at first, perhaps, but now when I want to clean it all up - a pain in the butt. If I have understood this correctly, I would need to consolidate each of the .logic-files (sub-projects) into their own project folders, because otherwise optimizing one project file might delete audio files used by the other sub-projects. That too can be done, yes, but - uhm, yes, the laziness.

 

Now, my question is this: is there - or shouldn't there be - an application or a script that you can command to clean up a Logic audio folder? An application that would simply go through (all) the project(s) in the project folder and delete everything that the projects don't use?

 

That would really be a treat. But am I hoping too much?

 

How are you guys doing with your audio folders? Nice and trimmed, each and every one of you? No fellow sufferers, companions in misfortune? Am I alone with this curse of laziness?

[David Nahmani]

No such app that I know of, I would buy it in a heartbeat if there was one but IMO it should be made by Apple, or even be a part of Logic's Project Cleanup feature.

 

I know exactly how you feel, and it can be a headache. The only solution I've found is to be very very meticulous with the way you label everything: audio files, and project versions. And to keep track of everything yourself, anyway you can. If a project starts having too many versions and it becomes nearly impossible to keep track of all the files that are used by one version or another, I sometimes just stop cleaning up unless I know for a FACT that this particular audio file isn't used by any of the versions: an outtake, for example.

 

I would say, however, the best solution is, when possible, to clean up as you go, so you don't end up in that situation of having dozens of project versions and not knowing whether or not a particular audio file may be used by one of them.

 

I'm afraid I don't have good news for you - other than, that you're not alone.

[Notawiz]

Alright. Thanks for the answer. At least I now know the situation. I'd better go and write some feedback to Apple about this.