Help needed

[micksedan]

I'd love the option to start mixbus without needing to have, create, or load a session,
just get on with courting the muse. If a new tune is worth keeping, I put
the files in their own named folder anyway. I'd prefer creating session folders as an option,
rather than a decree that must be followed.
Cheers

[jiff 41]

I'd love the option to start mixbus without needing to have, create, or load a session,
just get on with courting the muse. If a new tune is worth keeping, I put
the files in their own named folder anyway. I'd prefer creating session folders as an option,
rather than a decree that must be followed.
Cheers

So Basically the same as Reaper?

[x42]

I'd love the option to start mixbus without needing to have, create, or load a session,

It sounds like you're thinking of a session of session-files/folders.
A Mixbus Session is collection of information: sample-rate, tracks/busses, routing information, hardware I/O + port-connections. You cannot use Mixbus without a Session.

As side-note: "Cannot create session" can mean that setting up either of those things failed. e.g See the first post: soundcard connection failed due to "audio group" permissions. Granted the error report in this case is far from great.

As for keeping a Session only in memory or a temporary location on disk, the problem with that is the worst-case scenario: Accidental power loss and it's gone.
Then one could come up with a whole schema to recover temporary sessions, still the "what could possibly go wrong" list is a very long.

A "Close and delete session" (with confirmation) strikes me a better solution (and simpler as well: no need to configure temp dirs, set up disks for temporary audio file storage etc).
Creating a session is what? 2 clicks! The "problem" that most uses have at that point is coming up with an initial name, but since there's Session > Rename that's not much of an issue, is it?

I'd prefer creating session folders as an option, rather than a decree that must be followed.

A major design goal was to keep sessions self-contained. If everything was spread out all over the place it'd be a mess: audio here, midi there, plugin-states & analysis info elsewhere.

As opposed to some other DAWs Mixbus does not keep the session information in a "binary file" which contains everything (e.g. pro-tools keeps midi and plugin-data in a single encoded file). Mixbus uses standard MIDI Files, and text-files for the complete session information.

Other OSes have the option to make a folders a "bundle" the directory looks like a single file to the user in the file-browser. But even without that, you can think of the session-directory as a "file".
you can freely copy/move/delete it.

[micksedan]

the worst-case scenario: Accidental power loss and it's gone.

A major design goal was to keep sessions self-contained. If everything was spread out all over the place it'd be a mess:

For me, I start playing/experimenting, and when I discover something I like,
I'll practice it a few minutes, rather than embarass myself with a
daft recording. Then the new song starts as a single track,
with an instrument of some sort, and maybe an effect added,
if there is proof of life, so I don't start out fresh pressing the record button...
better musicians, and some engineers may do that, some secretly,
to catch a performers warmup lightning in a bottle.

By the very nature of the first track being...the first track,
there isn't a whole lot to lose or spread out everywhere,
and even I can remember that one instrument I was just playing
should an intervention be needed. I'd rather not need
yet another subfolder, until I want it. I suppose I could
always call my session hope&change, since it doesn't really exist...yet
...and likely won't stay the same once it does.

I love the color coding in your EQ plugin(s) it really helps
keep track of things, especially as gui fatigue could otherwise
settle in, and chill the festivities. Don't let my nitpicking fool you,
I really like Mixbus, and hope I drive it hard enough
to need new tires on a regular basis.
Cheers