Chapter 6. Starting a new session

The first step in so many pro applications is one that is most overlooked by new users: create and save a new session. Saving a session before actually doing any work in it seems counter-intuitive, but it's important to save first so that any and all files created or required for your work can be contained in a pre-determined location.

To create a new session in Qtractor:

Launch Qtractor for a fresh new session, otherwise go to the File menu and select New or use Ctrl+N to start a fresh session.
Go to the File menu again and select Save As (or Save if you've already been working in the opened session), or just hit Ctrl+S
In the Session dialogue box, name the session and provide a description as needed. Click the directory button on the right to enter a file chooser dialogue.
In the Session Directory dialogue, create a new folder in the directory of your choice; for example, you might make a myGreatSong folder for your session in your ~/music directory.
Click the OK button once you've created a directory for your session files.
Click the OK button in the Session dialogue box to proceed
A Save Session window will appear, which is a prompt for you to save the session file itself into the destination you've just created for it. Navigate to your new folder (in this example, myGreatSong in the ~/music directory)
Name your session file; by default it will already be named the same as the name of your session itself, but if you are versioning the file or have different notation you'd like to use, you can give it a customized name as well. The extension for Qtractor session files is .qtr
Click the Save button, and now your Qtractor session is saved in a self-contained, dedicated folder. This helps your project maintain its integrity and increases its portability