Projects, saving and templates

Blazar Core keeps each piece of work in a project: one folder with the session, its recordings and its exports. This chapter covers everything about starting, saving and reusing your work.

The start screen#

When Blazar Core starts, the start screen offers:

• New project: type a name to start a new project.
• Open project...: open any session file.
• Your recent sessions.
• All projects: every project in your projects folder, by name. Each opens at its newest version.
• Template: the setup a new project starts from (see Templates).

Press Esc to continue without a project. New in the top bar, or Ctrl+N, brings the start screen back. Ctrl+O opens a project.

Create a project#

1. On the start screen, type a name for the new project.
2. If you want, pick a template in the Template list.
3. Create it. Blazar Core makes a folder with that name in your projects folder.

Your projects folder is Documents\Blazar Core Projects unless you choose another with Change... (on the start screen, or in Settings > General). The project folder holds:

• Name.blazar: the session.
• Media: the project's own audio and MIDI files. Recorded takes land here, along with glued audio and MIDI copies. Every saved version of the session shares this folder, so audio is never duplicated.
• Mixdown: your exports.
• Autosave: the autosave copies (see below).
• Time.json: the time you spent on the project, kept by Aevum.

To move a project, move the whole folder.

Save your work#

New, Open and Save sit beside the logo in the top bar. The menu beside Save holds the other ways to save.

• Save (Ctrl+S) writes into the current session file.
• Save new version (Ctrl+Alt+S) writes Name-01.blazar, then -02, and so on, and continues from the newest.
• Continuous saving (in the menu beside Save, and in Settings > General) makes every save a new version.
• Save as... (Ctrl+Shift+S) saves the session anywhere you like.

A session saved outside a project keeps its audio in a <session name> Media folder beside it. Keep the session and that folder together when you move them.

Before you open another session or close Blazar Core, it asks what to do with unsaved changes.

Takes recorded before you save#

If you record before saving the session, the takes are written under Documents/Blazar Core/Recordings/<date and time> so nothing is lost. Save the session to keep the arrangement, plugins and mixer settings that go with them.

Autosave and crash recovery#

Every 3 minutes, if something has changed and the song is stopped, Blazar Core keeps a copy of the session in the project's Autosave folder. It keeps the ten newest copies and never overwrites your project.

• To go back to one, choose Open an autosave in the menu beside Save.
• After a crash, Blazar Core offers the newest autosave when it starts.
• Autosave can be switched off in Settings > General.

Open sessions#

• Use Open project... on the start screen, Open in the top bar or Ctrl+O.
• Drag a .blazar file from Explorer or the Finder onto the window.
• If you chose it in the Windows installer, double-click a .blazar file. If Blazar Core is already open, the session opens in that window, after asking about unsaved changes.

Sessions saved by older versions (.aurion and .gbdaw files) still open, and projects saved as .aurion list and count their versions as before.

When plugins are missing#

Blazar Core checks a session's media before it replaces the open tracks. Plugins that are not installed on this computer are reported after the rest of the session has opened. If you need to keep the missing plugins' settings (to open the session later on the computer that has them), don't save over the original session: use Save as... or Save new version.

The same plugins, and the sound libraries they use, must be installed to restore a session as it was.

Start from a template#

A template is a whole setup you can start new projects from, such as your orchestral template.

Save a template#

1. Set up the session the way you want new projects to start.
2. Choose Save as template... in the menu beside Save and give it a name.

A template keeps the tracks and folders, the instruments and effects with their settings, the mixer (including Morph effects and the orb's position), track delays and the tempo. Recorded audio, notes and containers are left out. Volume automation modes are kept, but not the curves.

Use a template#

On the start screen, pick the template in the Template list when you create a new project. Each tile shows the template's tracks, instruments, effects and tempo. The project starts with that setup, and Blazar Core remembers your choice for next time.

Templates are files in Documents\Blazar Core\Templates. To remove one, delete its file there. Settings > General shows the folder (Show) and lets you move it (Change...).

Save and load track presets#

A track preset is one track's whole setup, ready to add to any session: your favourite string patch with its effects and mixer settings, for example.

Save a track as a preset#

1. Click the save icon beneath the track's power button. On compact track rows it sits at the end of the controls.
2. Type a name and confirm.

If a preset with that name exists, Blazar Core asks before it replaces it (Replace or Cancel).

A preset includes:

• the instrument and plugin states, inserts and their bypass settings,
• the Morph effects and the orb's position,
• fader, pan, mute and solo,
• input, arm and monitoring,
• the colour and the track delay.

It leaves out notes, audio clips, containers, recorded automation and membership in a folder.

Add a track from a preset#

The browser's Presets tab (F7) lists your presets. Type in its search field to filter them by name. Then:

• double-click a preset, or select it and press Return, or
• drag it into the arrangement.

A new track appears with the saved setup. Loading a preset never changes the project's tempo, master or loop settings, and adding it is one undo step. You can also drag a preset file in from Explorer or the Finder.

To add several at once, choose them with Ctrl+click or Shift+click and press Return or click Import in the footer.

Manage presets#

Right-click a preset (or several chosen with Ctrl or Shift) for its menu: add it as a new track, show it in Explorer, or Delete.... You can also press Delete. After you confirm, deleted presets go to the Recycle Bin (the Trash on the Mac).

Presets are .blazarpreset files in Documents\Blazar Core\Track Presets. Presets saved as .aurionpreset by older versions still load. A preset needs the same plugins, and their sound libraries, on the computer that loads it.