I am using Audacity 2.0.1 on Windows 7 64.
This is probably a simple thing I’m overlooking, but whenever I attempt to use sync lock, it appears to lock ALL the tracks instead of only locking the ones I have selected. (The little stop-watch icon appears on all tracks instead of just the ones I’ve selected.)
How can I sync only selected tracks?
Gale,
That page in the manual does NOT convey the message that your post above implies. I quote the manual:
“Any selected audio track in Audacity can be in a group of one or more adjacent tracks that can be Sync-Locked with other tracks in that group.”
…and again:
“Label Tracks can be included in a group so that their labels are synchronised with the audio.”
That first quote indicates that it is, indeed, “selectedness” that determines participation in SyncLock. The second quote indicates that label tracks AND audio tracks can both participate.
I have never been able to figure out what use SyncLock is because, like the original poster, I cannot get it to work on just the tracks that I select. The manual clearly states it works on selected tracks but, in practice, it doesn’t seem to. If the way it works (on all tracks) is the way it is supposed to work, then the manual is wrong. Either the code, the manual or both are in need of a change so that the one accurately reflects the other.
Thanks, PGA.
I read that page of the manual, too (before I posted my question here), and I’m relieved to know I’m not the only person who found it confusing.
Can anyone give step-by-step instructions on how to sync lock only the desired tracks? The manual just doesn’t cut it.
I’m sorry if you found the Sync-Lock page confusing but you are the first two people who made this comment AFAIK (a few other people understand the Manual but think the Sync-Lock feature should behave in other ways than it does).
I added a note to consider tweaking the text (the Manual is frozen for 2.0.2 now).
However I think the main reason you found the Manual confusing is that you approached it with the assumption that selectedness defines groups. In the code, every track (even one track) is implicitly in a group. As the Manual says, Label Tracks can be used to demarcate groups. Selectedness only defines groups in the very limited sense that the Track Control Panel Sync-Lock icons are off if no tracks in the group are selected. Even that icon is misleading, because Time Shift Tool moves all tracks in a group even if the icons are off.
All the Manual says is that all or any tracks in a group can be selected (but selectedness does not define the group).
To prove what I am saying, set up
Audio Track 1
Audio Track 2
Label Track with one label
Audio Track 3
Click in the background to deselect all tracks. Enable Time Shift Tool then drag in audio track 1 or 2. Audio tracks 1, 2 and the label moves, audio track 3 does not.
So to Sync-Lock only desired tracks, add label tracks where needed. There is no way to sync-lock only tracks that have the selection, if other tracks in the group are not selected.
I will add two votes that Sync-Locked Tracks should be defined on selectedness, but I would not support that. I think it would be confusing because it is almost identical to “Sync-Lock off”.
I think there would be some consensus that groups should not be (only) definable by Label Tracks. The most intuitive method (IMO) would be to have a button and icon on the Tracks that toggled and displayed the track’s Sync-Locked state.
But for now, what are you ( Jellokittie ) trying to do? Can you do it now by selecting tracks with Sync-Lock off?
Gale
Alright, now I understand how it is supposed to work! I’ll need to experiment some more to see if I really think it is useful. I would suggest that the blue box at the top of that manual page should have an explanation about how to define a group of tracks that will then participate in the SyncLock activity. Even if this is covered elsewhere on that page, this is the critical piece of knowledge and needs to be up there at the top.
Hey guys,
I’m a bit confused on the sync lock function. I was playing with it the other day, and now I can’t seem to UN-sync tracks.
Example: I have a track at the top, stereo, song file.
Underneath that, I have a spoken track. I’m trying to fade out the music when I begin speaking, and it’s not allowing me to, as it’s making the group sync assumption on both tracks.
How do I undo this? I can live with NONE of the tracks being sync-locked, and I can’t seem to be able to undo it.