AUDACITY FOR DUMMIES

[Guest Yachtsman1]

The topic of expanding the sound manipulation facility of PTE has arisen again, with appetites once more being wetted for what may come, or bones start to shake in anticipation of yet another complexity. I've had a few hours to spare, so I've put together a dummies shortcut to using Audacity, which I hope will persuade those who haven't yet tried it to come out of the closet & give it a go. The official Audacity instruction I found too complex when I first tried it, other guides on it hadn't gone far enoughfor me. So this is intended for the absolute Audacity beginner and I apologise in advance for the term DUMMY which along with IDIOT seems to be the accepted vernacular for describing those who just dont know.

Yachtsman1

audacity for dummies.pdf

[8321]

Thanks Yachtsman for a useful contribution.

I wish I knew the secret to using the * option (multi-tool) because I find switching between the time-shift tool and the selection tool the long way around. Surely, that is what multi-tool is for. Couldn't find anything helpful in the official manual.

Regards, Jeff

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Thanks Yachtsman for a useful contribution.

I wish I knew the secret to using the * option (multi-tool) because I find switching between the time-shift tool and the selection tool the long way around. Surely, that is what multi-tool is for. Couldn't find anything helpful in the official manual.

Regards, Jeff

Hi Jeff

I haven't used the multi tool either, I think the official guide states it can be used as stated, to perform the functions of any of the other tools, but I haven't tried it.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1

[fh1805]

And for those who feel ready to move on to the next level after DUMMY, there is the Audacity User Guide for AV Workers that I posted on the forum a couple of years ago.

regards,

Peter

[8321]

Thanks Peter, another good one.

You also gloss over the multi-tool option. I am still in the dark. Intuitively, I think it should do what all the other tools do individually but I don't get it right.

Regards, Jeff

[fh1805]

Jeff,

The Audacity 1.3.9 beta User Guide is more forthcoming. I haven't tried this in v1.2 so I don't whether it behaves the same or not.

Start by selecting the multi-tool option then:

• hover the mouse over the blue "envelope" lines and the pointer should change to the double white arrow heads
  
• hover the mouse over any other part of the soundtrack and the Insertion point cursor should appear
  
• hover the mouse over the textured vertical bar at each end of the track and the timeshift double-ended arrow should appear
  

The first two behave pretty much as you would expect. The last isn't so obvious. With the double-ended arrow visible, do a left-click drag to move the selection.

Do NOT try and position the pointer over the item to be moved. This means that you can only move the track away from the end where you click.

To my mind, a better implementation would have been for the selection tool to work only on the inner band (nearest to the actual wave form) and the timeshift to have worked in the outer band, with the envelope working only on the outermost blue line.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

I am using the 1.3.9 Audacity. I have a question about the Keyboard preferences. The Keyboard Preferences show that to 'Skip to End', use the 'End' key; to 'Skip to Start' use the 'Home' key. Neither of these are working for me. Nor can I use the left and right arrow keys to move the index line (the vertical line). Is there something I have to do to get these Keyboard actions to work?

Thanks... Gary

[fh1805]

Gary,

This isn't intended to be an Audacity forum but I have just tried Home and End keys on both an Imported MP3 and on an Opened Audacity project file and they work fine for me; as do the Left/Right cursor keys.

regards,

Peter

P.S. In all cases these were the keys off the main keyboard and NOT off the numeric keypad; and off a fullsize desktop system keyboard and NOT off a laptop keyboard.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Gary

The HOME and END keys are usually located at the right hand end of your keyboard along with page up & page down. If you have a reduced keyboard you may have to use them in combination with a hot key FN + F????.

Peter I thought this section was for discussions about software associated with AV, I would put Audacity at the top of the list for interest factor.

Regards Eric

[goddi]

Peter...

It seems that since Audacity has been the 'recommended' sound editor for PTE, this sub-forum would be a great place for such questions. I don't see how it would be a negative thing.

Anyway, thanks for the response. You are correct. I have been blindly using the numeric keys...not even thinking of using the other keys on the main keyboard. I am using a new keyboard in my new Windows 7 PC with the new version of Audacity, so I thought it was my keyboard or Windows 7 that was not working correctly. Too many variables, I thought, but it was just me.

Thanks much...Gary

==============================

Gary,

This isn't intended to be an Audacity forum but I have just tried Home and End keys on both an Imported MP3 and on an Opened Audacity project file and they work fine for me; as do the Left/Right cursor keys.

regards,

Peter

P.S. In all cases these were the keys off the main keyboard and NOT off the numeric keypad; and off a fullsize desktop system keyboard and NOT off a laptop keyboard.

[fh1805]

Eric,

Audacity also has a very active and helpful forum, as you well know having used it yourself. I don't believe that this forum (the entire PTE forum) should ever attempt to replace existing active forums on specialist topics. Discussion about using other software in the context of creating an AV sequence is fine. Raising a subject which might turn out to be a bug in a beta level product should, more properly, be addressed to the appropriate forum for that software product.

That's my opinion for what it might be worth (not very much, usually!) I didn't intend to offend anyone. Obviously I've inadvertently offended you (even if only slightly); for that I apologise.

regards,

Peter

[jfa]

I was replying at the same time as you Peter saying much the same thing, so I have deleted my ramblings as you have made the point well.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Peter & Ifa

If you've ever used the Audacity forum, you'll know why people ask questions on here. For my self, I'll answer questions on anything other than my sex life

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1

[xahu34]

... I'll answer questions on anything other than my sex life

I don't think that your sex life will raise that much interest. On the other hand, this would really be a subject where you could regard yourself as a top level expert.

Best regards,

Xaver

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Have you been peeping through my keyhole again?

Yachtsman1

[xahu34]

Have you been peeping through my keyhole again?

No, actually not! I had a look at your PDF, and I would recommend to rewrite it, using the Audacity Envelope Tool in order to realize the cross-fading.

Regards,

Xaver

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Too deep for me I'm afraid.

Yachtsman1

[Freegle]

Never got on or liked audacity myself. I've used Goldwave for years and found it great for my needs. Obviously, it's not free like audacity is. I recommend anyone give it a try.

[cjdnzl]

Never got on or liked audacity myself. I've used Goldwave for years and found it great for my needs. Obviously, it's not free like audacity is. I recommend anyone give it a try.

I second that. Goldwave is not that expensive, about $US48 and like PTE it is a lifetime license. I have tried to use Audacity, but I find Goldwave is preferable, at least for me.

Colin

[xahu34]

Colin,

I agree, Goldwave is a nice tool. On the other hand, it has the disadvantage that it rather supports editing of single audio clips that building up a soundtrack from several inputs (which can be done in Audacity in a non-destructive way). In v6.5 PTE will provide audio tracks and (hopefully) the features needed for mixing a soundtrack. Then I may take Goldwave into consideration.

Regards,

Xaver

[8321]

I have used both Goldwave and Audacity. For me, the advantage of Audacity is that the 'sound wave' can be magnified more and better with the latter. A consideration for the aged, like me.

Regards, Jeff

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I'm in the middle of a new epic show which is to raise money for the Royal British Legion & Help for Heroes charities. This one looks like it will run for 75 minutes (don't tell BB) with an interval of course. The reason for the post, I have 65 minutes of music, sound effects & voice overs in the Audacity window and have been experiencing rough starts when running the sound. I thought either there was too much in the project, or my LT had finally said "no more". I've done all I knew to try to resolve the problem but up to this morning have been unsuccessful.

However, this morning I thought I would clean up the page & put all the sequences in the order they start (see screen shots). Low and behold, the stuttering starts stopped. Hope this helps others.

Yachtsman1

[Ken Cox]

make templates with different names in case the do do hits the fan -- hate see a grow man cry

ken

[xahu34]

Looking at post 22, it seems that Audacity v1.2.x has been used. I would like to call this version outdated. V1.3.11(Beta) seems to run quite stable, including a lot of useful features, in particular the possibility to reuse tracks (see attachment). In the attached example track 1 contains some sound, tracks 2 and 3 contain music (crossfading), while all voice clips are collected in track 4.

Regards,

Xaver

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Xaver

Yes I already have 1.3.11 waiting on my HD ready to install in my new PC, unfortunately I can't run both versions together and I have a number of works in progress that were started in 1.2 that would be a ball acher to re-do so they will have to be finished in 1.2.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1