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Project Discovery

The Home page is your starting point for browsing and organizing your Octatrack work.

Project discovery — Home page

Finding Your Projects​

When you open Octatrack Manager, the first step is to locate your projects. You can do this in two ways:

1. Automatic Scanning​

Click Scan for Projects to trigger a comprehensive search across your system. The app searches:

  • Removable Drives: All mounted CompactFlash (CF) cards and USB drives.
  • System Folders: Common locations like ~/Documents, ~/Music, ~/Downloads, and ~/Desktop.
  • Octatrack Folders: Any folder on your home directory named octatrack (in any capitalization).

2. Manual Browsing​

If your projects are stored in a non-standard location (e.g., a specific backup drive or a cloud-synced folder):

  1. Click Browse....
  2. Select the directory you want to scan.
  3. The app will search that directory recursively and add all found Sets and projects to the results.

Refreshing the Results​

If you insert a CF card or move files while the app is open, click the Refresh (↻) button in the header. The app will rescan all its known locations.

Results are organized by Location, which corresponds to a Set on your CF card or computer.

Locations (Sets)​

Each location card provides key information at a glance:

  • Device Type: Labeled as CF Card, USB, or Local Copy.
  • Audio Pool Status: A ✓ Audio Pool indicates that the AUDIO/ folder contains valid samples. An ✗ Audio Pool means it is missing or empty.
  • Project Count: Shows how many projects were found in that specific Set.

Click the ▶ arrow on a location card to expand it and see the individual projects within.

Individual Projects​

If projects are found outside of a Set (i.e., they are standalone .work or .strd files without a parent AUDIO/ folder), they are grouped in the Individual Projects section at the bottom.

These projects can still be opened and inspected, but they do not have a dedicated Audio Pool and some cross-project tools may have limitations.

Opening a Project​

To open a project and start working:

  1. Locate the project name in the expanded list.
  2. Click the project card.
  3. You will be taken to the Project Detail page.

Project Status Indicators​

Inside each project card, you will see two status markers:

MarkerWhat it means
✓ ProjectThe main project file (project.work) was found and is readable.
✓ BanksAll associated bank files (e.g., bank01.work) were found.

If a marker is ✗, it indicates a missing or corrupted file. This typically happens when projects are partially copied or moved manually in your computer's file manager.