Projects and files

File commands

Command	macOS	Windows and Linux	Does
New	⌘N	Ctrl+N	Opens a new, empty project
Open…	⌘O	Ctrl+O	Opens a Prest project, a song, or a REAPER, Ableton Live, or DAWproject project
Open a recent one			Opens one of the last 12 projects and songs you opened or saved (toolbar)
Close	⌘W	Ctrl+W	Closes the project in front
Save	⌘S	Ctrl+S	Saves the project as a `.prest` file
Save As…	⇧⌘S	Shift+Ctrl+S	Saves it under another name or in another place, and saves there from then on
Export as REAPER Project…			Writes the project as a REAPER project (`.rpp`)
Export as Ableton Live Set…			Writes it as an Ableton Live set (`.als`), as Live 12 writes one
Export as DAWproject…			Writes it as a DAWproject file (`.dawproject`)
Export Lyrics…			Writes its lyrics as an LRC file (`.lrc`)

The toolbar has them on every system: New project, Open a project or a song, Open a recent one, Save, and the Save As, Export menu, where each export also names its file type, such as Export as REAPER Project (.rpp)…. On macOS they are also in the File menu. Each tab’s × closes its project. The recent list is also on the empty window.

You can also drop files on the window: a song or a project opens, and a MIDI file or a MusicXML score joins the project in front. On macOS, double-clicking a .prest file in Finder opens it in Prest.

Songs and projects

A song you open becomes a new project playing it, named after the song. Nothing is written until you save, and Save As offers <song>.prest beside the song.
Songs Prest opens: .wav, .wave, .aif, .aiff, .aifc, .mp3, .m4a, .aac, .flac, and .ogg (Ogg Vorbis). See What Prest opens.
MIDI files and MusicXML scores are added to the project in front, which needs a song first; otherwise Prest says open a song first; it is added to the project in front. See MIDI and Scores.
A Prest project keeps the paths in its folder relative to itself, so you can move the folder as a whole.
Opening a project that is already open brings it in front rather than opening it twice. A blank first tab is replaced by what you open.

A .prest file keeps the tracks, clips, and mix, the automation, the tempo map, the sections, chords, and lyrics, the song’s form and when its jumps are made, the loop range and whether it loops, whether the metronome is on, and the playhead and range. It does not keep the undo steps, or this computer’s settings: the audio device, the metronome’s outputs and volume, the count-in, and your MIDI ports’ options.

A clip whose file has been moved or deleted says The file isn’t there any more, with the path where it was.

Tabs and unsaved changes

Each open project has a tab once there are two. A dot marks a project with unsaved changes, and the window’s title marks it too: “— Edited” on macOS, a * before the name on Windows and Linux. See Several projects for playing projects side by side.

Closing a project, or quitting Prest, asks Do you want to save the changes you made to “…”? for each project with unsaved changes: Save, Don’t Save, or Cancel. Closing the last project leaves a new, empty one.

Recovery

While a project has unsaved changes, Prest writes a copy of it at most every 10 seconds into the Recovery folder in Prest’s own folder, never over the project’s file. If Prest did not quit normally, the next start asks Prest quit before … project(s) were saved. Restore them? Restore opens them with their changes, not yet saved, saving where they did; Discard drops them.

REAPER, Ableton Live, and DAWproject projects

REAPER projects (.rpp), Ableton Live sets (.als, from Live 10 to 12), and DAWproject files (.dawproject) open as new untitled projects. Prest reads them itself: the other app is not needed. The original is not changed; save the project as a .prest file to keep it.

They bring their tracks and folders (Live’s groups), clips and takes with the part of the file they play, reversed, at their rate and pitch, with their channels, fades, and stretch markers (Live’s warp markers), MIDI, lyrics and chords as PresTools writes them, markers and regions (Live’s locators), the tempo map with its ramps, volume, pan, and mute automation, sends and returns (as tracks that others send to), and the master.

When it opens one, Prest says what it changed or left out. The main things:

From	Left out
REAPER	FX (kept for a REAPER project written back, but not played), video and other sources Prest can’t play, automation items, envelopes of what Prest doesn’t play (width, play rate), MIDI outputs (set them again), and the project’s play rate
Ableton Live	Instruments and effects, the Session View (Prest plays the Arrangement), clips on take lanes, and automation other than the mixer’s; curved tempo ramps are read as straight ones, and a time-signature change inside a bar starts at the next bar line
DAWproject	Devices and plug-ins, clip launcher clips, automation of what Prest doesn’t play, note expressions, video clips, and VCAs

Files that are missing or can’t be played are named. A DAWproject file carries its audio inside it: Prest writes it out into a folder named <name> Media beside the file.

Export to another app

Export writes the project in front as a REAPER project, an Ableton Live set, or a DAWproject file, for another app to go on with. The project itself goes on saving where it did. Prest says Exported with the file’s path, and names what the other app has no place for.

REAPER project: every track with its mix, folders, sends, outputs, and envelopes; every clip with its takes, fades, and envelopes; markers and regions; the tempo map; and the master. FX that came from a REAPER project go back where they were.
Ableton Live set (Live 12): tracks as audio and MIDI tracks, folders as groups, tracks that only receive sends as returns, each mixer, the tempo map, markers and sections as locators, and the loop. Lyrics go on a +LYRICS track, as AbleSet has them, and chords on a Chordtrack. A clip Live has no place for (played backwards, or with its channels heard another way) is written as a file of what it plays, in a <set> Samples folder beside the set. Volumes above +6 dB are held at Live’s loudest.
DAWproject: tracks in their groups, each channel’s volume, pan, mute, solo, and sends, the master, audio and MIDI clips, the automation, the tempo map, and markers; sections become markers at their starts. The audio goes inside the file. A take’s pitch, volume, and pan, takes played backwards, lyrics, and outputs of the audio device are left out.
Lyrics (.lrc): the project’s timed lyrics. It needs lyrics.

None of these formats has a place for the song’s form: the timeline is written as it is.

To convert many projects without opening the window, see Convert projects.

Next: MIDI.