Projects, Edits, and the Library

Projects

A project is a local folder you own — there is no upload, no cloud project store.

• New (⌘N) — opens instantly as Untitled under your project root (Preferences ▸ Files & Updates ▸ New projects in), no dialog.
• Open (⌘O) — pick a project folder; a saved session reloads, or a folder of loose audio files imports as tracks.
• Save (⌘S). If the project cannot be written — the disk is full, the folder was moved or is read-only — you are told (save failed: can't write …), and nothing that would discard your work goes ahead on the strength of that save: switching to another edit is refused, and "Save" at quit or before an update shows Could not save and leaves the project open. Auto-save (default every 20 s while there are unsaved changes) writes a separate recovery snapshot without touching your saved file — Off/10 s/20 s/ 30 s/1 min/5 min in Preferences. An unclean exit offers Recover unsaved work on the next launch; the snapshot is validated first so a truncated file can never clobber a good save. (It waits in the project folder as a hidden recovery file until you answer.)
• Import DAWproject… — open a .dawproject from another DAW. DAWproject is an open interchange format that several DAWs write: unlike a pile of stems it carries the structure — tracks, every clip's position, fader and pan values, the tempo map, markers and automation. Zammoth reads it into a new project folder beside the file, named after it, and opens that; the audio unpacks into Imported/. Your current project is untouched. The engineer can do it too, if you ask. There is no export counterpart, and that is deliberate: Zammoth's devices are built into its engine rather than being plug-ins another DAW could load, so an exported project would hand someone your arrangement with every EQ and compressor silently missing.
• Open Recent — the last eight projects; entries on unplugged drives stay listed as "(offline)" and come back when remounted.
• Missing audio — opening a project whose source files have moved lists them, with Locate Folder… or Ignore, and reports how many relinked. A copy of the file inside the project folder always wins; otherwise the chosen folder is searched (recursively, by exact name) and a file is linked only when it is the only match — a name found twice is left missing and the result says so, so pick the folder that holds just this project's audio. A relink never replaces a track's own .wav in the project folder.

Inside the folder you'll find: the session file (the song), your stem .wav files, bounces/ (exports), recordings/ (raw takes), Imported/ (audio materialised from other projects, and from an imported DAWproject), the media library, and the agent's session state. It's all files — back it up, sync it, zip it. A track's stem is usually <track name>.wav; a renamed track keeps its original file, so audio added later under a name another track's file already uses is written as <name> 2.wav rather than over it.

Edits (versions of the song)

A project can hold several Edits — alternate versions/arrangements sharing the project's media. Switch with the edit picker in the top bar; manage them in the browser's Library tab (EDITS): + New Edit…, Open, Rename, Duplicate, Delete (the open edit and the main edit refuse deletion). Rename changes the name you see, not the edit's file on disk, so a renamed open edit keeps saving where it always has. Each edit keeps its own chat sessions and mix state.

Several projects at once

Open projects stay resident together: switch with the project picker in the top bar (or Open Recent). The background project keeps all its state (nothing is closed or prompted); the audio device follows the focused project. Copy/paste and drag work across projects — tracks and clips materialise their audio into the destination project's folder automatically. The browser's Library tab can also peek another project read-only and drag its tracks (or just their device chains) in.

The media Library

The Library tab's MEDIA section is a per-project pool of audio independent of the timeline: add files from the Samples tab (right-click ▸ Add to Library), search by name/description, import to a track or Loop Deck slot by double-click or drag, remove without deleting the source file. The agent shares it (library.add/search/import/ remove).