Re: [Audacity-devel] Standard rates listed in project rate box

[Gale A. <ga...@au...>]

| From Richard Ash <ri...@au...> 
| Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:03:47 +0000
| Subject: [Audacity-devel] Standard rates listed in project rate box
> On Fri, 2009-01-09 at 20:04 +0000, ga...@au... wrote:
> > Was there any reason to remove 11025 Hz from the standard 
> > rates we list?  A number of users have commented that this is 
> > missing, so you have to type it in (assuming you know that you 
> > can actually do that), yet it's in the Tracks > Resample... rate 
> > list. 
> 
> Hmm, it's not listed in AudioIO::StandardRates, so it's not guaranteed
> to be present, although it is in AudioIO::RatesToTry so if your sound
> hardware supports it should be added to the playback rates list.
> 
> What you have picked up is that Project Rate box in the UI only ever
> lists the values in AudioIO::StandardRates.
> 
> So very simply we could add 11025 Hz to AudioIO::StandardRates, however
> that is an ever-growing list. Alternatively, we can alter the Project
> Rate drop-down to include all the other supported sample rates probed
> from the sound card as well, which is what the behaviour used to be.
> This means all uses get the 6 rates in AudioIO::StandardRates, and then
> any of the other rates in AudioIO::RatesToTry that their hardware
> supports. In practise this gives most windows users 14 or so rates
> covering pretty much anything I could think of at the time.
> 
> This would be closer to the 1.2.6 behaviour where the only things listed
> in the project rate box are the items from a search list of possible
> rates that are supported by the current audio device. I'm inclined to go
> down this latter route, so that the "fixed" list remains short, but as
> many other supported rates (supported for playback and recording?) as
> possible are included.

I agree "where does it end" if we added 11025 Hz to the 
AudioIO::StandardRates, however I think there is quite a strong use 
case for it. It's a common rate required by audio upload sites,
especially for spoken word, so users want that rate irrespective
if it's a native rate for their sound device. Also, if it actually isn't
supported by their device, then our project rate list will still always 
match with the other fixed lists (track dropdown menu  > Set Rate 
and Tracks > Resample) in terms of including it. 

I think my vote is to add 11025 Hz to the AudioIO::StandardRates, plus 
possibly add 32000 Hz (for the reasons you mentioned in "All platforms
to consistently force Project Rate") to all the fixed lists (so they match).

I do like the idea of then adding any other rates that are supported
from the "rates to try" list, but is 14 items (15 here) manageable in
practical terms? I assume the list would wrap upwards as it does in 
Full Screen mode, however I miss the "Other" entry with the pop-up 
box. That makes it obvious you can type in anything that's not offered,
and makes a long list (however generated) less necessary.



Gale