How do I solve this issue? "[ERROR]: Filesource: start time is already set for existing file"

Getting Stuff Done How do I .... ?
#1

Hi,

when I open one of my projects I see some errors like this:

[ERROR]: Filesource: start time is already set for existing file (/home/mario/…/T0001-DrumsM%L.wav): Cannot change start time.

As a side effect I am unable to move the start marker. Every try will produce tons of errors like the one shown above and moves the regions of that track to the very beginning. I have no clue why this error pops up. Don’t know how to solve it either.

Any ideas?

#2

Thank you for your contribution, seablade. I didn’t mean “evil” exactly. I was exaggerating.

I’m going to try your solution when I’m back home, keeping in mind that backups are always a good idea ;-).

#3
Strange thing is that the error points to a track that never had anything to do with tape tracks. This is the track mentioned above where the regions move to the start when I try to drag the start marker.

Yes but the region you mentioned obviously came from a tape track from the naming, thus the problems you are having.

The best way to tidy the session you are having… record everything you did on a tape track to regions on a normal track. Then get rid of the tape track and all regions from it.

Tape tracks aren’t necessarily evil, just misunderstood. Even I have problems with them on occasion and I do use them depending on what the project I am working on is. But for at least 95% of people, they likely aren’t the right solution and a regular track should be used.

      Seablade
#4

Hi Ben,

thanks for your clarification. I use a relatively fresh build of Ardour 3 from source under Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (last build must be from last week or so).

To answer your question: Yes, I am using a single tape track (together with one MIDI track and five tracks in normal mode). To probably make it worse I recorded some pieces in tape mode and dragged the pieces I wanted to keep into a “normal mode track”.

Strange thing is that the error points to a track that never had anything to do with tape tracks. This is the track mentioned above where the regions move to the start when I try to drag the start marker.

So, I understand that tape tracks are marked as “evil” and I won’t use them in the future. But how should I tidy up the current project? I don’t want to make it worse.

#5

Hi Mario,

Are you using “tape” (destructive) tracks in your session? Tape-mode tracks are intended to create only a single audio wavefile for the entire track. At the time of creation, the wavefile is created at the “Start” time of the session, and timestamped with that information. After that, it is not (currently) allowable to move the start time or the wavefile start time.

“moving the tracks to the very beginning” sounds like a bug, but again it is likely caused by using tape tracks.

Tape tracks are intended to serve a very specific purpose/workflow and should probably be avoided by most users. If you aren’t using tape tracks then it suggests you have a very messed-up build. You don’t say what platform you are using, what version of ardour, whether it is built from source, or any other details about your setup, so it’s hard to guess what might be wrong.

Best,
Ben