I have a new Mac Pro Quad Core 3.2 GHz with 6 GB RAM, using lastest Audacity 2.0.1
I am working on an AIFF file that is 10 songs strung together and I have to separate them into separate files and export out each one to MP3 format. Simple enough.
However I not that when I select each song from within the AIFF file of 10 songs, Audacity, or my computer, hangs and it takes about 30+ seconds before I regain use of my computer and can then copy the selection, create a new file, paste, and export to MP3.
I’ve checked Activity Monitor and note that during the selection, I have 4+ GBs of RAM free, so I’m thinking it is not a lack of RAM issue. Being a brand new computer using Lion OSX 10.7.4, I hope this is enough computer to do a simple select, copy, paste of an audio file. It is certainly not heavy rendering of any kind.
I have spoken with Audacity tech support who is admittedly baffled and AppleCare tech support too and suggest I bring it into a Genius Bar. UGH. If anyone wants to see the hang, and view Activity Monitor visible below the Audacity window, I made a .mov file here: http://www.sasnet.com/files/audacity.mov
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions what could possibly cause a hang on what I would assume to be a fairly non-intensive computer action? PS. this happened in 2.0, then I updated to 2.0.1 yesterday and got same result.
While you’re in there, see what the drive reads and writes are doing during the failure.
How big is your System Drive? Did you get one of the new 4TByte drives in your machine? It is the video people’s experience that putting OS-X on a small, fast System Drive and leaving the rock crusher large drive for data is many times a good idea – two different drives.
Koz
MORE: I think it’s a bug after all. Here are my observations and troubleshooting steps:
When I select a section from the file I’m working on from around… :30 to 0 like if I was going to apply “Fade In” for example, Audacity hangs for 30 seconds up to a minute before I re-gain use of my mouse/computer within Audacity. I can click to other applications and work so it is not systemic. While in hang, the cursor looks like a capitalized “I” When the hang stops, the cursor goes back to being a hand.
But if I select a section within the audio file, example at 4:00 to 4:30, no hang, or anywhere else. The hang seems specific to selecting a section at the beginning of a file.
I checked RAM and have 4+ GB free with Activity Monitor so it’s not a lack of RAM. Here are all the particulars. All of which produced the hang:
Tried launching Audacity first, then opening the .aup file I was have been working on. But this hang happens from the start like if opening Audacity, then opening the AIFF file and then saving to .aup.
I tried double clicking the .aup file to launch Audacity and the file I was working on
Computer: new Apple Quad-Core 3.2 GB processor, with 6 GB RAM
OSX Lion 10.7.4
Source file: AIFF file, 46 minutes, 494.2 MB.
Mouse: Wacom wireless from Bamboo Fun. The Wireless is not bluetooth. I believe it is magnet based as you must use the mouse on the Wacom drawing pad only or it doesn’t work.
But I A/B tested with the Apple wireless mouse that comes with my computer with no improvement or change.
I upgraded from Audacity 2.0 to 2.0.1 - no change/improvement.
PS. When I launch Audacity I get the beachball for about :20 seconds. Is that normal?
When I upgraded, and probably previous upgrades too, I don’t remember ever uninstalling or deleting any pref or Library files and wonder if any are corrupt?
The computer I’m using is a Mac Pro, as was the computer I replaced it with. All I did to switch over, was pull my hard drives from the old MP and inserted them into the new MP since the drive sleds were the same. Could I have permissions problem maybe?
That’s all I know… hope this is helpful.
Steven
So… for some reason, selecting a section at the beginning of the file I’m working on causes the hang. No where else in the audio file.
When I launch Audacity I get the beachball for about :20 seconds. Is that normal?
No, it’s not. If you open a Project which doesn’t have local sound, it should launch in seconds. I think I tested opening an hour off-air recording a while back and it appeared in four seconds.
Could I have permissions problem maybe?
Did you repair permissions?
Go > Utilities > Disk Utilities > Select Drive > Error Check, Repair Permissions.
I don’t know anybody who’s tried that swapping drives thing. It rings all sorts of bells with me, but I’m professionally paranoid. In the particular case of Apple, the OS can be wedded to the hardware and seriously magic things can happen if you mess with the relationship.
The computer I’m using is a Mac Pro, as was the computer I replaced it with. All I did to switch over, was pull my hard drives from the old MP and inserted them into the new MP since the drive sleds were the same.
Why did you do that? More memory? Faster Processor?
Koz
When OS-X starts a process, it publishes an expected time to completion. If the process unexpectedly takes longer than that, you get the SBBOD, Spinning Beach Ball Of Death. If the process is expected to take a long time, you get the crawling worm thermometer. So something very serous is wrong. I didn’t see where you watched the hard drive reads and writes during the error.
Koz
Hi Koz, Yes. got 2.0.1 there. Can’t remember where I got 2.0 from though. Do I need to remove any 2.0 pref or Library files now that I’ve upgraded to 2.0.1?
Koz,
What should I be looking for?
The Reads in: stay the same at: 40971, and the Writes out: increase slowly now up to 36223
Data read (1.72 GB): and written (970.7 MB) didn’t change.
Data read/sec and written/sec: go from 0 bytes/sec to around 24.0 KB/sec
Reads in/sec: stayed at 0
Writes out/sec: ranged from 0 then 1, 0, then 26, 0, 15.
In */Library/Preferences/audacity Preferences, if I do a Get Info, I see the file references version 1.2.5 and is dated 2009, so I seem to have legacy pref data. But the file you reference is 100% clear to me as a Mac user.
Is best procedure to delete both the entire folder: user/Library/Application Support/audacity
and: user/Library/Preferences/audacity Preferences (dated 3/20/2009)
When I opened audacity.cfg but double clicking it I got an error: “Syntax Error: Expected end of line, etc. but found real number” (but I note double clicking launched AppleScript Editor. Was that right?)
In the enclosing audacity folder in Application Support there is:
audacity.cfg
AutoSave
EQCurves.xml
Help
plugins.cfg
presets
NOTE: the >folders are all empty
And FYI, here’s the contents of the cfg file:
NewPrefsInitialized=1
Version=2.0.1
PrefsVersion=1.1.1r1
SnapTo=0
SelectionFormat=hh:mm:ss
DefaultOpenPath=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig
DefaultOpenType=All files
LastOpenType=
[Locale]
Language=en
[Directories]
TempDir=/var/folders/7z/g8p1f7f92jlffvvcph0m7ysm0000gn/T/audacity-shmerls
PresetsDir=/Users/shmerls/Library/Application Support/audacity/presets
AutoSaveEnabled=1
AutoSaveMinutes=2
CacheBlockFiles=0
CacheLowMem=16
[Prefs]
PrefsCategory=2
[AudioIO]
PlaybackDevice=Built-in Line Output
RecordingDevice=Built-in Line Input
RecordChannels=1
Duplex=0
Playthrough=0
SWPlaythrough=0
EffectsPreviewLen=3
CutPreviewBeforeLen=1
CutPreviewAfterLen=1
LatencyDuration=100
LatencyCorrection=-130
SeekShortPeriod=1
SeekLongPeriod=15
SoundActivatedRecord=0
SilenceLevel=-50
Host=Core Audio
RecordingSourceIndex=0
RecordingSource=
PlaybackSource=
[SamplingRate]
DefaultProjectSampleRate=44100
DefaultProjectSampleFormat=262159
[Quality]
LibresampleSampleRateConverter=1
DitherAlgorithm=0
LibresampleHQSampleRateConverter=1
HQDitherAlgorithm=0
[FileFormats]
CopyOrEditUncompressedData=edit
SaveProjectWithDependencies=ask
ExportDownMix=1
MP3RateMode=3
MP3Bitrate=192
MP3VarMode=0
MP3ChannelMode=1
AllegroStyle=1
MP3SetRate=2
MP3VbrRate=4
MP3AbrRate=128
MP3CbrRate=192
[AudioFiles]
NormalizeOnLoad=0
ShowId3Dialog=1
[GUI]
AutoScroll=1
QuitOnClose=0
AdjustSelectionEdges=1
ErgonomicTransportButtons=1
TracksFitVerticallyZoomed=0
CircularTrackNavigation=0
EditClipCanMove=1
SelectAllOnNone=1
BeepOnCompletion=0
EnableCutLines=0
WarnAboutTempFiles=1
EmptyCanBeDirty=1
ShowSplashScreen=0
EnvdBRange=60
DefaultViewMode=0
Help=Local
Solo=Standard
ShowTrackNameInWaveform=0
[GUI/ToolBars]
[GUI/ToolBars/Tools]
MultiToolActive=1
Dock=1
Order=2
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=94
H=55
[GUI/ToolBars/Control]
Dock=1
Order=1
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=255
H=55
[GUI/ToolBars/Meter]
Dock=1
Order=3
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=275
H=55
[GUI/ToolBars/Mixer]
Dock=1
Order=4
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=323
H=27
[GUI/ToolBars/Edit]
Dock=1
Order=5
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=377
H=27
[GUI/ToolBars/Transcription]
Dock=1
Order=6
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=140
H=27
[GUI/ToolBars/Selection]
Dock=2
Order=1
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=586
H=55
[GUI/ToolBars/Device]
Dock=1
Order=7
Show=1
X=-1
Y=-1
W=520
H=27
[Batch]
CleanSpeechMode=0
[Spectrum]
FFTSize=256
Grayscale=0
MinFreq=0
MaxFreq=8000
WindowType=3
Gain=20
Range=80
FrequencyGain=0
[Theme]
LoadAtStart=0
[Window]
X=112
Y=33
Width=2093
Height=594
Maximized=0
Normal_X=112
Normal_Y=33
Normal_Width=2093
Normal_Height=594
Iconized=0
[TagsEditor]
x=735
y=467
width=503
height=396
[Export]
Format=MP3
Path=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/The Young Ideas
[MP3]
MP3LibPath=/usr/local/lib/audacity/libmp3lame.dylib
[CsPresets]
NoiseGain=-24
NoiseFreqSmoothing=150
NoiseAttackDecayTime=0.15
EQFilterLength=4001
EQCurveName=custom
EQLin=0
EQdBMin=-30
EQdBMax=30
EQDrawMode=1
EQInterp=0
[Version]
Major=2
Minor=0
Micro=1
[FFmpeg]
Enabled=0
[ExtendedImport]
OverrideExtendedImportByOpenFileDialogChoice=1
[Warnings]
FirstProjectSave=1
DiskSpaceWarning=1
MixStereo=1
MixMono=1
CopyOrEditUncompressedDataAsk=1
CopyOrEditUncompressedDataFirstAsk=0
[AudioUnits]
Enable=1
GUI=1
[Ladspa]
Enable=1
[Nyquist]
Enable=1
[VAMP]
Enable=1
[VST]
Enable=1
GUI=1
Rescan=0
[RecentFiles]
file01=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig/12 More.aup
file02=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig/11 Get Back.aup
file03=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig/10 With These Hands.aup
file04=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/The Young Ideas/15 Does Anybody Know What Time It Is.aup
file05=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig/15 Does Anybody Know What Time It Is.aup
file06=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/The Young Ideas/16 Grazin' In The Grass.aup
file07=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/The Young Ideas/17 Acquarius.aup
file08=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/The Young Ideas/18 All My Tomorrows Are Gone.aup
file09=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/The Young Ideas/19 Listen To The Music.aup
file10=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig/1 Track 01.aup
file11=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig/2 Track 02.aup
file12=/Users/shmerls/Desktop/01 Young Idea Orig/1 Track 01a.aup