Re: [Audacity-devel] Audacity - thanks, glitches and several 'it-would-be-nice-to-do's

[Matt Brubeck <mbrubeck@cs...>]

Thanks for your comments!  I'll answer some of your questions below.

> 1. Playback hopped twice. The recording was OK, no lags, but for the first
> two times it was discrete. Later there was no jerking , so, I guess there
> could be something wrong with my system memory. If you have already had
> similar messages - note this.

Yes, playback may be interrupted by system activity, especially on the first
playback as the computer has to load code from the disk into memory.

> 2. The second flaw is that one you have warned about - Noise Removal crash
> happened. Or, more exactly, it wasn't crash - but the application halted.

What version are you using?  This should be fixed in Audacity 0.98b for
Windows, available at <http://audacity.sf.net>;.  If you found a crash in Noise
Removal while using version 0.98b, please let us know.

> Finally, when I was closing the application, Windows produced a message with
> its usual shit about 'general fault' or 'illegal operation' or something

There are some known bugs in Audacity that cause it to crash on exit.  We
believe these may be fixed in the next version.

> 1. It is better if Echo is continuing beyond selected waveform, I guess, for
> more - er - realism. It is strange to hear echoed sound guillotined at the
> end. It is not flaw, I must say, for I could record some silence after the
> last sound, which would become a carrier for echoed sound, but - it would be
> nice to see it.

You can also use the "Insert Silence" command before using Echo.  In a future
version of Audacity, we may add this as an option to the Echo command.

> 2. It seems that Audacity for Windows is uncapable of using installed
> DirectX effects plugins - TC Native Reverb, for instance.

We would love to support DirectX plugins.  None of us are currently working on
this, but if anyone decides to add this feature, we will be glad to have it.
Audacity can load VST plugins on Windows:
  http://audacity.sourceforge.net/plugins.html

> 3. It remained unclear to me how Audacity deals with MIDI.

Audacity is able only to display MIDI files -- it cannot play or edit them.
The MIDI code is just an experiment now.  It may be extended in the future,
but we have no current plans for it.

> I could provide translation of Audacity docs and interface to Russian. Would
> you accept my help offer? :-)

Yes!  We are just starting to work on translation of Audacity.  Join the
audacity-translation mailing list, where we will be coordinating the effort:
  http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/audacity-translation

[Audacity-devel] Audacity - thanks, glitches and several 'it-would-be-nice-to-do's

[Yuri Ilyin <ilyin@co...>]

Gentlemen!

First, let me thank you for your work - I guess, 'twas not easy to construct
such slim, graceful and rather powerful system as Audacity. I've tested it
on a system twice as weaker than recommended - 166 MHz Pentium MMX, Windows
98 SE (we're gonna test it on Linux too, but a little later), and it has
done its job well, though not flawlessly. Still, there had been only two
bugs I've found:

1. Playback hopped twice. The recording was OK, no lags, but for the first
two times it was discrete. Later there was no jerking , so, I guess there
could be something wrong with my system memory. If you have already had
similar messages - note this.

2. The second flaw is that one you have warned about - Noise Removal crash
happened. Or, more exactly, it wasn't crash - but the application halted.
But the second attempt resulted in a fine noise cut-out. Windows is
suspected as much as Audacity itself (even more).

It's really great that this is 'kill-it-by-profile' noise reduction system,
not just suppressor which cuts the noise before the first and after the last
samples sometimes leaving it on its place within the recording.

Finally, when I was closing the application, Windows produced a message with
its usual shit about 'general fault' or 'illegal operation' or something (I
use the Russian version of Windows, so I don't really remember how it looks
in English version). Windows is the main suspect here, however.

In several weeks we're going to try it on Linux, so if more bugs would be
found, I'll e-mail about it.

Well, now some recommendations, or more exactly - 'desires' about program
features.

1. It is better if Echo is continuing beyond selected waveform, I guess, for
more - er - realism. It is strange to hear echoed sound guillotined at the
end. It is not flaw, I must say, for I could record some silence after the
last sound, which would become a carrier for echoed sound, but - it would be
nice to see it.

2. It seems that Audacity for Windows is uncapable of using installed
DirectX effects plugins - TC Native Reverb, for instance. I've tested
several audio editors (Cool Edit, SoundForge, n-Track and Cakewalk), and all
of them are able to use such components, as well as those packed with
Cubase. It would be nice to see either, though I'm not sure it is worth,
keeping in mind use of Audacity in Linux OS. Yet, DirectX plugins are not
free, and sometimes it is easier to obtain an adequate hardware, than to buy
TC Native plug-ins.

3. It remained unclear to me how Audacity deals (or, perhaps, doesn't) with
MIDI. It allows import of .MID files, but no playback is available, and
there are no preferences responsible for setting up MIDI ports and devices
in Audacity UI. Does it handles MIDI at all now, or it will be realized only
in the future versions? And how much MIDI editing would be allowed?

Still, I'm really impressed and thankful for such program. Windows and its
bugs along with 'dim' license status are tiresome, and so I and my band are
looking for the ways to get out from Windows and its costly items (besides,
they're far from perfection).

I could provide translation of Audacity docs and interface to Russian. Would
you accept my help offer? :-)

Thank you once more,

b.
'Lacklustre Mirror' band

Visit us at
http://www.planetezen.com/lacklustre

Re: [Audacity-devel] Some wishlist requests

[Shane Mueller <smueller@um...>]

> > And also, some presets like in Sound Forge and Cool Edit.  In the echo
> > feature for example, have some different settings like 'chamber' 'long
> > hallway' etc.  I know these effects are built by other people probably, but
> > never hurts to ask :).

This could be accomplished with an "Expression editor" like Goldwave has
(although I don't think Goldwave implements it very well.) Maybe other
sound editors have similar functions as well, but it basically allows
you to enter arbitrary mathematical expressions, and apply them to one
or more waveform channels.  I've used it in the past to write a special
smoother to hand-filter recordings of old 78 rpm records. 
The relevant part is that it also has an (under-utilized) library of
pre-set effects and sounds that are stored as pre-programmed
expressions, as well as the ability for you to save your own.  There
must be 30 or so (noise, sounds, filters, echoes, effects, etc.) It is
very powerful, but the interface and design make it intimidating to
access for people who are a little afraid of numbers. 

Anyway, I'm learning Lex/Flex and bison/yacc for a project I'm planning,
so I may implement such an expression evaluator as practice.  It could
be used as a basis for implementing multiple arbitrary preset effects,
user-specified effects, and possibly even command-line 'scripting'. 
But, this won't happen until August or later.


Stm...

p.s. Dominic, I think you forgot to check in the file gsmprivate.h to
cvs

Re: [Audacity-devel] Some wishlist requests

[Anthony Airon Oetzmann <Anthony.Oetzmann@ep...>]

On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 10:43:18 -0700, Dominic Mazzoni wrote:

>Chris,
>
>You'll be happy to know that we already have many of the features you
>requested finished, and we're polishing them off now.  We'll be
>releasing a new version as soon as we can!

I'm going to add some 'What is ...?' stuff to the FAQ section, namely for dB,
Resampling, Sample Rates and Bit Depths. I'll crosslink this stuff to the
glossary too.

Might as well drop a progress report.

Some work left to do in the tutorials. The most work is required in the effects
section and crosslinking stuff from the glossary.

Btw, Dominic, have you put up the snapshot I sent you ? If so, please reveal the
URL here, so people can point and talk about stuff that they think needs to be
added, changed or taken other places(like /dev/null).

After casual studies, I finally know what *blah means in the source, but I'm
still tackling classes and stuff. Nothing like actualy being able to read the
source.

 Take care
  Tony

Re: [Audacity-devel] Some wishlist requests

[Dominic Mazzoni <dominic@mi...>]

Chris,

You'll be happy to know that we already have many of the features you
requested finished, and we're polishing them off now.  We'll be
releasing a new version as soon as we can!

- Dominic


Chris McCarthy wrote:
> Hey guys,
> 
> Audacity is really killer.  Great job and only a few requests that would
> make it super sweet:
> 
> wishlist
> 
> When applying effects to sound samples, it would be great to have a
> 'preview' feature to hear the results before applying the effect.
> 
> A volume feature to push volume in a percentile.  For example, the interface
> might look like this:
> 
> Volume (slider from 0% - 1000%)
> 
> Sample rate converter, featuring common sound rates.  For example, the
> interface might look like this:
> 
> Resample (drop down selection containing)
> 8000
> 11025
> 16000
> 22050
> 44100
> 48000
> 
> Bit Rate
> 8 bits
> 16 bits
> 24 bits
> 
> The sample rate converter would also be great if it could pop up when you
> export as wav (i.e. it being the first window to pop up right when you hit
> 'export as wav'.
> 
> And also, some presets like in Sound Forge and Cool Edit.  In the echo
> feature for example, have some different settings like 'chamber' 'long
> hallway' etc.  I know these effects are built by other people probably, but
> never hurts to ask :).
> 
> Any ways, great work and keep it up.  I'm going to try to write some
> tutorials for you guys to include in the help documentation if you like.
> 
> Best Regards,
> -Chris (aka Dolby)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Audacity-devel mailing list
> Audacity-devel@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/audacity-devel
> 

[Audacity-devel] Some wishlist requests

[Chris McCarthy <chris.mccarthy@ma...>]

Hey guys,

Audacity is really killer.  Great job and only a few requests that would
make it super sweet:

wishlist

When applying effects to sound samples, it would be great to have a
'preview' feature to hear the results before applying the effect.

A volume feature to push volume in a percentile.  For example, the interface
might look like this:

Volume (slider from 0% - 1000%)

Sample rate converter, featuring common sound rates.  For example, the
interface might look like this:

Resample (drop down selection containing)
8000
11025
16000
22050
44100
48000

Bit Rate
8 bits
16 bits
24 bits

The sample rate converter would also be great if it could pop up when you
export as wav (i.e. it being the first window to pop up right when you hit
'export as wav'.

And also, some presets like in Sound Forge and Cool Edit.  In the echo
feature for example, have some different settings like 'chamber' 'long
hallway' etc.  I know these effects are built by other people probably, but
never hurts to ask :).

Any ways, great work and keep it up.  I'm going to try to write some
tutorials for you guys to include in the help documentation if you like.

Best Regards,
-Chris (aka Dolby)

Re: [Audacity-devel] Getting arround to command keys support

[Matt Brubeck <mbrubeck@cs...>]

On Apr 15, Brian G. wrote:

> Should I use menu shortcuts for everything? Do they work in Linux? (I
> know about the dynamic menu shortcut reassignment bug)

Use whatever you think is the best design.  If it doesn't work on Linux, we'll
figure out something.

[Audacity-devel] Getting arround to command keys support

[Brian G. <bmg300@ya...>]

If I don't encounter any major problems. I plan to get a simple command
key assigment working, this weekend.

Should I use menu shortcuts for everything? Do they work in Linux? (I
know about the dynamic menu shortcut reassignment bug)

Brian G.

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