Just missing the function to call up external audio editor

[RgaDawg]

Adding Audio is a no-brainer.
Preferences has settings for external Image, Video, and AUDIO editor

I have searched the manual, tutorials, they only show how to "add" but not to call up the "edit" for audio

I have an external editor set, but I am completely missing how to pull up the editing for audio ?

I quickly got it that one right clicks on the photo to bring up the external image editor, which works fine

but, where is the missing trick to call up the external audio editor

Thanks

[davegee]

Right click on the Audio File in the FILE LIST.

Edit File.

http://docs.picturestoexe.com/en/main_menu/preferences#system

http://docs.picturestoexe.com/en/main-window/main_window#terminology

DG

[RgaDawg]

Duhh. I could have thought of that.

What I am trying to say is that > Settings > Preferences > System .. shows (3) options to configure external editors.

One each for Image, Video, Audio.

When I am in the Timeline, right click my slide, there is an "Edit" function which calls up my external editor

There is no such function anywhere that I can see if I right click on the Audio track

Why would there need to be a settings to confi an external "Audio" editor if I need to navigate to the file system anyway ?

[Lin Evans]

Good question. I'll bring it up and see if it can be added to the choices in the drop-down menu..

Best regards,

Lin

[RgaDawg]

I just thought it was strange to have that option in the Preferences and it not work like the one for image editor works

Actually, being able to call an external image editor is kinda important, cause I have many formats of images.

I want to use PhotoShop, yet my Windows association for *.jpg files are a viewer

So, double click on a *.jpg and a viewer comes up.

It's nice to right click on the slide in timeline and bring up an editor

I also have the same issue with Audio files.

A double click on an audio file from the windows file system brings up my player

Where to edit audio I have to load up my editor, drop the audio file, then edit.

We're just talking about a few less key strokes.

- R

[davegee]

What sort of editing changes do you envisage?

Is it something that cannot be done within PicturesToExe?

DG

[RgaDawg]

I would think something like how you can right click on the slide in the Time Line and pull up the external image editor that is in Preferences > External Editors.

I sort of expected the right click menu for my audio track to have the same option, since there was an option to configure an external audio editor as well

- R

[davegee]

What sort of editing changes do you want to make to your WAV/mp3 files?

DG

[MUR]

Hi Dave

I often go to Audacity to change rhythm, tone, change the volume of one channel in stereos and do many things that can not be in PTE, which is not, nor should be, a sound editor.

MUR

[Lin Evans]

It seems to me that since both videos and still images can easily be opened from the PTE Timeline in the chosen external editor with a right click and choice from the drop-down menu that audio should also be accessed likewise. I often want to make small changes to audio such as editing out a "pop" or crackle and since my audio files rarely appear in the file list because I keep them in a separate folder, it's a bit awkward to navigate to them. I think it makes logical sense to have audio as well as video and still images open from a choice in the drop-down menu. It shouldn't be a major undertaking to add this feature.

Best regards,

Lin

[davegee]

Thanks Mur,

It is nice to know why someone feels the need for an external editor.

I have not experienced anything that I have wanted to do which could not be done in PTE in the Timeline.

I am sure that there are features in Audition etc which will never be possible in PTE but at this time I am quite happy with the envelope features and everything that can be done with a little ingenuity.

Listing the things which you feel cannot be done might give Igor some ideas for new features.

DG

[MUR]

Hi everybody

I do not keep installed previous versions of PTE, but as far as I remember that it was possible in the past.

MUR

[RgaDawg]

As a follow up thought, I would think this would be a programming nightmare ..

It's easy to pull up an external image editor, even something as powerful as Photoshop, do as much as you want to the image and simply save it back as *.jpg, because the image is static.

But, video and audio files are dynamic. They are moving, on a time line. And the duration and trim points can be altered.

For example, if I trim the audio track in PTE, then right click to bring up my audio "edit" software, the entire audio file will load in my editor. If all I want to do is edit the portion of the trimmed audio, then I have to seek those exact points in my audio editing software, then save the file. I'm talking about doing more here than just adjusting overall tone, etc. I'm talking about adding some effects, etc. But, you would only want the effects to adjust for the specific trimmed portion in my PTE timeline.

There is no way for PTE to tell my my audio editing software to show me only the trimmed parts and save that. And even if there was, and at a later place I wanted to extend the trimmed audio track in PTE, the entire audio file would be gone, and I would be left with only the trimmed portion.

I guess that sounds a little confusing, and I may not have it right.

I use Adobe for video editing, and they have a robust audio editor (Audtion) and a very robust compositing editor (After Effects) that are dynamically linked to the Premier software. But, I know that it took a very long time for Adobe to finally get this mastered. It was something that was requested many years before Adobe finally got it working correctly.

If I'm on track about my thinking here, then, as I said, I think it would be a programming nightmare.

I haven't tested using an external editor with PTE to see how it works, though.

PTE is very robust software but not really designed to be a full spectrum video or audio editing program, or even dynamically linked to external editors this way. It is a quick and feature rich slide show creator. Creating slide shows in Premier is a lot of work. That's why I like PTE. They can be done much faster. And I'm sure there are a lot of users that really don't want to invest the time and energy to overcome the learning curve with full fledged video editing software. That's why they use PTE

[davegee]

Thanks, you explained it very well.

The difficulty I see is that when you add an audio file, for instance in Project Options, and use the "trim" controls to set the start and end of the audio you are then "applying" those "trim" edits in the Timeline without saving as a new file. If the file used in the Timeline was a saved, new version of the original then it would be possible to send it from the Timeline to your external editor.

If you did the same thing in an external editor you would be unlikely to save over the original file - you would Save As a different named file or even a different type of file e.g. WAV > MP3

Compare this with the Video Converter which Trims and then saves a new avi file. It is then the converted avi which is added to the Timeline and not the original. So sending the converted, trimmed file from the Timeline is not an issue.

There is an ongoing discussion on this subject.

DG

[PGA]

Isn't a partial, but significant, solution here to allow an audio file to be replaced by another whilst preserving all the settings that have already been applied. In the analogous image situation, I can replace any image and all my animation keyframes are kept and applied to the new image. Why not the same with audio? Change the audio file but apply all the previous trims, fades, envelopes, etc.

[Igor]

"Edit file" command works only for files in the File list.

And this command is not available for audio clips in the Slide list or the Project options.

PicturesToExe locks audio files added to the project. Because the program doesn't load entire audio file and read audio data by small portions during playback.

You can only replace audio file.

We think that audio editing can be performed within PicturesToExe.

[RgaDawg]

I guess I just thought it was strange to see the option for external audio editor in

> preferences > System

when it actually didn't pull up the external editor

Isn't a partial, but significant, solution here to allow an audio file to be replaced by another whilst preserving all the settings that have already been applied. In the analogous image situation, I can replace any image and all my animation keyframes are kept and applied to the new image. Why not the same with audio? Change the audio file but apply all the previous trims, fades, envelopes, etc.

Yes, but again, as I have outlined, once the audio file is opened from PTE into my external editor.

I would have to manually note the exact trim points in the overall audio file and edit only that point

It's going to be simple to edit the entire audio file, then simply save it as your suggest, and all of PTE's modifications would still apply, just like editing images in an external editor.

[RgaDawg]

I think I just posted this topic without thinking it through.

I originally thought it strange that the option existed to use an "external" audio editor, when the funtion wasn't present anywhere

I'm going to have to agree with Igor. PTE is quite powerful, and as I stated it took Adobe at least 10 years to master a dynamic link between their various editors to the main video editing platform, and they have a bank of programmers