New computer: Spark 2 not loading custom kits and projects.

[Gothboy]

How do I migrate custom made kits and projects to a new computer? Installed Spark 2 software on a newer Mac Pro 3.1 running Mountain Lion.  I put all my custom programs in the Spark library folder.  All the factory sound banks and projects play and load fine but when I load one of my own edited projects I get file not found errors such as "Can not find ?Volumes/Samples @ Audio/wa_free_synth_drums/wasd_snare_jp8_noise-hit_s_p.wav"

What do I have to do to get my custom kits to load?  Must be a way to just import these which I tried but the finder wouldn't see the file.  I've looked over the forums and there seems to be no info in the manual....pretty frustrating. I hope I don't have to remake all those custom kits!?

Apple Mac Pro 2008 2x2.8 GHz. 3.1 and 1.1 2006 Intel Xeon Quad-Core
16GB 667Mhz DDR2 FB DIMM RAM, 5 SATA HDs internal
ATi Radeon HD2600 XT256MB Graphics/2 Allegro USB PCIe cards
Mountain Lion/El Capitan

[CC4]

Inside the Spark Library Folder, did you place your custom kits in the User folder?

[Gothboy]

Yes I did…tried doing it both ways…first manually putting them there then when that didn't work I exported them from Spark on the old drive then imported them into Spark on the Mountain Lion drive.  These don't have samples just custom kits I made out of existing kits.

All the custom folders are there in the library what is supposed to be in those folders?  Should I just export the kits or Banks?

This should be a simple 123 process...Arturia is almost useless in helping me with this issue...there like "Did you export your kits" Durrrrrrrrr

[CC4]

Well, I'm on a PC... but in the Spark Library there should be a Factory and a User folder.  In the User folder there would be the named project folder and inside that folder you should at least have a .dat file of the same name.  You may also have a .png or .jpg image file, and if you chose "Save a copy of audio samples in library" in the preferences tab then you will also have an Audio folder.  When I upgraded from Windows 7 to 8, it was as simple as just copying the same folder structure on the new machine.  The only other thing I could say is to make sure that the Library path is also set correctly in the preferences tab.

If you create a brand new project/kit, are you able to reload it?

You could also export each project on the old machine and import them on the new.

[Gothboy]

Well, I'm on a PC... but in the Spark Library there should be a Factory and a User folder.  In the User folder there would be the named project folder and inside that folder you should at least have a .dat file of the same name.

Yes I know I have all that...I moved the entire user folder from the 1st machine and replaced the empty one on the new machine.

 

You may also have a .png or .jpg image file, and if you chose "Save a copy of audio samples in library" in the preferences tab then you will also have an Audio folder.  When I upgraded from Windows 7 to 8, it was as simple as just copying the same folder structure on the new machine.  The only other thing I could say is to make sure that the Library path is also set correctly in the preferences tab.

I re-set the path to the Library>Arturia>Spark sounds folder.

"Save a copy of audio samples in library" this I didn't do and maybe I should have when I was making up custom kits...I just didn't want all these redundant audio files in there.  I guess I thought as long as the original file was in it's original folder there would be a pointer/pathway to it.  Anyway I tried re-saving the kits and answering "Yes" to save the audio files but there are no audio samples in the folder. 
   
 Wow I enjoyed making beats with this but the file structure is NOT fun! What is the file that you need to import INTO Spark?  I even found a project that I started but it's not among my saved kits yet I can't import it back in.

You could also export each project on the old machine and import them on the new.

Tried this and it didn't work what is the file to import the .dat file?

[CC4]

I don't understand the point of having the redundant audio files either, so I have that option set to never.  But you mentioned having errors such as "Can not find ?Volumes/Samples @ Audio/wa_free_synth_drums/wasd_snare_jp8_noise-hit_s_p.wav" which means Spark is looking for the wasd_snare_jp8_noise-hit_s_p.wav file in the mentioned directory.  If you have your Factory and Spark folders in the same Library>Arturia>Spark folder, then your user projects should haven been seen.

You can't import a .dat file. You didn't mention if you were able to create a new project and successfully reload it.  So you still have your old machine and the projects on it?  On that machine you can click the export icon in the Spark's top toolbar.  It will give you the option to export for Spark (and iSpark). Export for Spark and it will save a *.spk file.  That's the file that you would import on the new machine, just as if you were importing any project from the Spark Presets Zone forum.  Sucks as you'll have to do each one at a time, but a little better than recreating all of them.

[Gothboy]

I will try making and exporting a new project.  I'm starting over with a blank user folder and going from there.

[Gothboy]

 Downloaded logicaldreams' TR-80.spk and Electron MD1.spk unzipped and imported them in.  Worked fine it brought in all the audio samples to the user folder however it won't let me re-save the TR kit to get the png picture in there….click to choose image not working.

[CC4]

Yeah, that's one of the unfixed bugs.  If you just move the image file to the folder with the .dat file, it will show up.  The .png or .jpg filename just needs to match with the .dat filename.

Sounds like you should be able to export your projects from your old machine and import them to the new one though...

[Gothboy]

Yes success in making a new project and importing it back in no problem there and I did copy the audio files just this once to make sure.   Thanks for the Help!

[Gothboy]

I'm opening up this issue thread again as the initial problem still remains.  I can't open up Sparkle 2.1 presets I made on Lion 10.7 drive on my other OS Mountain Lion HD running Spark 2.3.  I get Can not find ? Volumes/Samples @ Audio/wa_free_synth_drums/wasd_snare_jp8_noise-hit_s_p.wav" even though when I initially saved them using preferences setting "Always" for sample save the audio samples weren't saved along with the preset.

Do I have to rebuild all these kits again?  Should I do a reinstall?