Opening older projects
Old files open against today's instruments, with a report of what changed.
Instruments and effects grow new controls and lose old ones, so a project saved months ago may not describe exactly what exists today. When you open one, the app reads what it can against the current definitions, fills in defaults where a setting is missing, and tells you precisely what it adjusted. The file itself is never modified, and whatever could not be interpreted is kept inert inside the project so nothing is silently thrown away.
When to use it
You do not choose it; it runs on every open and only speaks up when there is something to say. Read the report when an old project comes back sounding different: it points at the instrument or effect in question. Because the engines themselves move on, a successful open does not promise the sound you heard the day you saved. Keep a mixdown of anything you need to hear again exactly.
Controls
The import report
It opens above the timeline and can be collapsed and reopened. Attention items, things you should look at, are separated from plain adjustments such as a default filled in. For each entry you can inspect the original settings on demand.
Effects
A missing setting takes the current default; an unsupported one is ignored and reported; an invalid number resets. An effect that cannot be rebuilt at all becomes an unavailable placeholder: it keeps its position in the rack and passes audio through, but cannot be enabled. Remove it and add a replacement from the normal picker.
Instruments
A known instrument with an outdated set of controls is rebuilt against the current engine: valid values are kept, new controls take their defaults, retired ones are dropped, and its saved presets come along. An instrument that no longer exists keeps its track and its MIDI with an explicitly silent engine; the panel offers replacements, and choosing one makes the part play again.
Automation
A lane that no longer matches a parameter is removed from playback and kept, with all its points, in the archive. Automation is never redirected to a different control on your behalf.
Tips
- Open the old project, listen with the report beside you, then Save as a new file; the original stays as it was.
- An unavailable effect still shows its original settings, so you can set up its replacement by hand.
- Files that are structurally damaged, missing their media or saved by a much older container are still refused rather than half-opened.