I want to build a macro with a 1st step to Stop Recording. Of course, I can always stop recording by pressing the space bar, but how can I add that to a macro? (I’ve tried adding the STOP command to a macro, but it has no effect when I’m actively recording.)
Why should a Macro need to stop a recording? Why is that convenient? It’s good if we can build your job in our heads to sort the tools.
Did the Macro start the recording?
Macros are not the brightest star in the heavens. They can’t make decisions. They can’t say “If this happens, then do that.”
Also, if you start the macro after the recording is already running, I can picture the Macro looking up and saying “what recording.”
Fill us in.
Koz
Excellent question: Here’s the rest of the story: 
(The macro doesn’t start the recording. It would be invoked only when recording is already in progress.)
The full macro would be
- Stop recording
- Put cursor at the point where you just stopped recording
- Initiate punch&roll.
The desired outcome: To be able to start all of this with a single keyboard input.
The advantages: No need to have a mouse and monitor in the recording booth!
The performer in the booth would need only a keyboard (or a Bluetooth foot pedal) (and playback monitoring headphones) to stop and re-record via punch&roll.
An important clarification: I’m not requesting a macro. I’m suggesting / requesting a new command that could be one step in a macro.
The command would be STOP RECORDING AND LEAVE CURSOR WHERE WE JUST STOPPED. (That’s a tad verbose, I know!)
The point would be to make it possible to build a macro that starts by stopping the current recording. Then the punch&roll command could do its thing…
In Audacity, macros are designed to automate a sequence of commands, but the STOP command (which stops playback or recording) does not function effectively within a macro when recording is active. This is because macros in Audacity are primarily intended for processing or playback tasks, and the recording state seems to interfere with the macro’s ability to execute the STOP command programmatically. As you noted, pressing the spacebar manually stops recording, but embedding this action in a macro doesn’t yield the desired result.
100%
Hence my request for a new command that DOES yield the desired result of stopping recording in a macro
Ding!
You don’t want to solve a personal production problem. You want to request a change/addition to the Audacity program.
Koz
There already is a Stop command, but it is not really useful in Macros because of how Macros work.
A Macro is a list of commands that Audacity runs in sequence, one after the other. The commands are run immediately, not scheduled for a later time.
In older versions of Audacity it was possible to record “within a selection”. If you wanted to record 1 hour and then stop, you would make a 1 hour track selection and start recording. The recording would stop at the end of the selection. Unfortunately this no longer works - at least, not for me - the recording just continues forever.
Agreed! Thanks for that Koz. Where / how do I submit a request to the Audacity program?
Thank you, Steve.
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