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Confused about song files, storage and AUM
I have an AUM session that I use on both my iPad (9G) and iPhone SE 2016. Normally when I make edits on one of those devices, I airdrop the revised session file to the other and it works great except for one thing: I have several AUM channels that are file players for mp3 backing tracks, and I always have to manually reload those mp3s everytime I transfer. The mp3 files are in a folder I made in my iCloud drive, so easily accessible but there are a lot of them and this takes time!
Once I reload all the files, I save the session file and from then on everytime I open the session all the mp3s are there and everything is great. It's only the first time I open a session that I've airdropped from my other device that I have to reload all the mp3s.
I assume all the mp3s are stored on each device since I can open the AUM session with the i-device in airplane mode (with wifi and bluetooth off as well) and the mp3s are there. My question is, why am I seeing this behavior, and more importantly, what's the correct procedure (if there is one) to correct this? I am essentially airdropping the same AUM session file between devices, with only a few new edits, none having to do with the channels playing the mp3s. Thanks in advance for anyone that can educate me!
Comments
Crickets, huh. I guess I'll figure it out eventually!
This is an interesting one. I’m not certain but if I had to guess it would be something about the airdrop process and the AUM preset sharing. It’s like it’s losing that info somewhere in the process of moving it.
you should try sharing the AUM preset by emailing it to yourself, and opening it on the other device. That could at least narrow down to see if its something with airdrop, or AUM, or whatever…
You know… I’m taking a stab at this… AUM does not save the audio file that you load into each file player node when you save an AUM preset. Just the name, format, location, (maybe other things I’m not certain, but it’s at least those 3) so it can recall that same Audio file when a AUM patch is loaded, saved, shared, etc…
Maybe it can’t find the files because you originally loaded them from somewhere else, ie audioshare, then moved to iCloud? Throwing darts here…
Did you try to share the preset a different way then airdrop? Definitely so some troubleshooting to start eliminating causes might help you narrow it down to where the error is
Thank you guys for trying to help me!
I just had a theory to test - what if each device's AUM file player pointed to the exact same mp3 files? The only way to do that (that I could think of) would be to store them in iCloud instead of locally on each device. I copied the folder containing the mp3s to my iCloud drive, then went through my iPad's file player channels and changed all them to point to the files there. Then I airdropped the AUM session to my iPhone but when I opened it in AUM there, the file players' channels were all empty, as before.
What's really strange to me is that when I went back to my iPad , I saw that these mp3s – which I had definitely reloaded from my iCloud drive – were showing their location as being "On My iPad." I don't understand this.
Reading up on the Files app, it seems I'm mistaken about the "On My iPad" and "iCloud Drive" being two completely separate storage entities. An Apple support page says "On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can manage your files in the Files app. When you make changes to your files on one device, your edits are automatically updated on every device using iCloud Drive." That suggests that Apple's cloud is always keeping everything in sync but you can choose to make some of the files local, in case you need to access one and you don't have an internet connection. At least that's my current guess!
It seems to me that if AUM is referencing an mp3 file in Apple's cloud, whether it's "On My iPad" or "iCloud Drive", and if both devices have the identical AUM session file, they should both always be able to find & load those files and not force me to reload them everytime I transfer the session file.
PS - I am gonna try emailing instead of airdropping, just haven't gotten around to it yet... tomorrow!
Files stored in iCloud are always download to the device when accessed and synced with the remote version as it is changed. But even though the data is actually local when being used, it is different from being in the On My iPad directory tree.
Thanks for explaining this. I remember copying the folder with my mp3s so they're in both directory trees. I'm pretty sure switching my AUM session's file players to point to the mp3s in either directory didn't fix my issue. Gonna look into this more!
Something worth understanding about iCloud is that if the OS thinks it needs to free up space, it deletes the local copy to free-up storage. In Files app, you can long-press to pop up a menu with a Download option which will make sure that it is on the device. It is probably the case that if it is no longer local that AUM won't be able to play it. If you make sure that it is in the downloaded state first that might help.
I just did a test and AUM is having no trouble playing files I have on iCloud even after a device reboot.
There are a couple of possibilities as to why you might have problems.
One is that maybe your file had been offloaded and wasn't local any more. In files browser, there will be a cloud icon next to it to indicate that.
The other possibility is that maybe AUM remembers file by file IDs or file locator IDs rather than file name. (This seems likely as it ensures the file can be found even if you rename it). If you are replacing the files, they would get new IDs even if the name was the same as the file it was replacing. So, if you were replacing the files, AUM wouldn't find them. This is speculation on my part and I don't have the time to test it out.
I was composing a long-ish reply relating what I'm seeing on my iPad, but things just aren't making sense and I need to gain a better understanding of iCloud vs local storage as displayed by the Files app. At this point however, I'm not sure how all this relates to the issue I originally posted about. More research and experimentation needed on my end, I think. Your speculation regarding the file IDs sounds very plausible though.
Thanks for trying to help!
I think you need to clarify to yourself what you mean by local storage. "On my Ipad" is a directory that is strictly local. iCloud is a separate directory structure. Files in iCloud Drive may be local (downloaded) or still "in the cloud" (non-local). Apps can only actually open iCloud Drives that are in the downloaded state. You can tell what state a file is in in the Files app and usually in file browser windows. If a file has a cloud icon next to it, it means it isn't local and needs downloading which you can accomplish by tapping on the cloud icon.
Thanks again for explaining. I am aware of the cloud icons showing what is and isn't local. So, if I'm understanding right (a big if, I know!), the iCloud directory shows files in the cloud, but they could also be on your device if you choose to have them there as well. "On My iPad" files are strictly on the device itself, and have no connection to what's in your iCloud drive, correct? The thing I'm confused about is that Apple's description says "On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can manage your files in the Files app. When you make changes to your files on one device, your edits are automatically updated on every device using iCloud Drive." They don't seem to be making a distinction between the two directories - so this means that both directories will be synced across all devices signed into the same Apple ID? (The elevator is getting to the top floor as I type this!)
You are misinterpreting that text. Files that appear in "On my Iphone/iPad" are strictly local. They don't proliferate through the cloud -- only the iCloud drive files proliferate through the cloud. They just mean that you can manage your iCloud files through Files app (in addition to the files that are in the On my iPhone) --- they are not saying that changes made to files in the "On My iPhone/iPad" directory sync across devices.
Perhaps, the wording is imprecise.
Definitely not. That's just sloppy marketing wording in whatever "Apple description" you're reading. The syncing feature relates to files stored in iCloud Drive only, and then only to files you've already pulled down on the other device. It does not mean that files "On My iPad" are automatically synced.
I prefer to change the storage option for every app that has one from the default iCloud to On my iPad, since I don't use iCloud for general storage. For most apps, that means their data is stored in a hidden folder, not in the visible Documents folder visible to Files (in On my iPad).
That would be Apple's own description - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206481
I do appreciate everyone's input here! Thanks.