Audacity and Workspaces - Need Advice

Audacity 3 Help Forum GNU/Linux
1

First, some background. When I gig, I open up multiple backing tracks in Audacity… on average, 20-25 recordings. In Windows (XP) I use a program called Vistaswitcher which allows me to customize and change the behavior of the ALT-TAB function. This allows me to program my pedal with a custom keyboard shortcut, allowing me to bring up an on-screen menu and choose the backing track I need.

I haven’t been able to find a Linux based program like Vistaswitcher however, I discovered that once I have all the recordings open in one window, I can move each one to it’s own workspace. With a custom keyboard shortcut, I can use my pedal to move through each workspace. It works, but it’s a pain to set up. The way I’m doing it now, I have to open over 20 workspaces prior to moving the tracks. With so many empty workspaces open, it hard to see the names of the recordings that I’m moving.

Is there and easier way to do this? I’m using Linux LMDE and have Cinnamon (1.6), Mate, and XFCE desktops. All work well on my laptop.

Thanks in advance.

2

I am only a casual Linux user but my reaction is - Audacity is an editor, not an audio player. It may be easier to manipulate tracks for playback in player software. Or perhaps I don’t understand what you are trying to do.

Alternatively you could File > Import > Audio (rather than File > Open) the backing tracks into Audacity. Set the Tracks Preferences to Solo Button: “Simple”, then up or down arrow to the required track and use your desired shortcuts to solo then play it. This way, you only have the one Audacity window to deal with.


Gale

3

I understand that it’s an editor, a great one at that. The reason I prefer to use Audacity as an audio player when performing is a) I like the sound quality and b) labels have become invaluable.

Alternatively you could File > Import > Audio (rather than File > Open) the backing tracks into Audacity. Set the Tracks Preferences to Solo Button: “Simple”, then up or down arrow to the required track and use your desired shortcuts to solo then play it. This way, you only have the one Audacity window to deal with.

I haven’t considered this. Will try it out, thanks Gale.

4

The sound quality of Audacity is no better and no worse than other players playing the same file on the same hardware.

How does it do that? What sort of pedal are you using and what can it do? How does it connect to your computer?

Depending on your pedal, you may be able to set up something using Autokey http://code.google.com/p/autokey/
At the most simple level you can assign a command to a key or keyboard combination, for example to play the file “test.wav” from the Desktop you could assign the following command to a key:

system.exec_command("play /home/username/Desktop/test.wav")
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I’m playing the backing tracks through my bass cab and I’ve found that for my purposes, the sound out of Audacity (as I recorded it) is a more natural representation as opposed to playing an exported wav/mp3 file. At least to my ears and the musicians that accompany me :slight_smile: Most of what I record are just bass and drums, sometimes keyboards… depends on the tune.

How does it do that? What sort of pedal are you using and what can it do? How does it connect to your computer?

You can check it out here:

http://www.xtempozone.com/uses/#stage

6

Exporting in MP3 format will reduce the sound quality because MP3 is a lossy format.
How much sound quality is lost depends on the compression setting - higher compression produces small files but less good sound quality. The default 128 kbps is generally considered to be the minimum for reasonable quality stereo music. 256 kbps VBR (or above) produces excellent sound quality.

WAV is a lossless format. Any difference in sound between playing a WAV file in Audacity or any other audio player will most likely be just that you have the volume level set differently.

If you use WAV format and set the volume level appropriately there is no reason why you cannot achieve exactly the same sound quality in other players as you do with Audacity. Many other players have the advantage of playlist support (Audacity does not support playlists).


I was not able to look up details of how the pok controller works as I’m not a registered user, but I assume that you can configure each button to send a key press or key press combination. If that is correct then probably the best solution would be to use an audio player that supports playlists, then configure the controller so that you can step through the playlist. There are many alternative players that support playlists, including Rhythmbox, VLC, Clementine, Amarok, and many more.

On a different subject, your pedal looks like it would probably work well with SuperLooper.

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I agree with you here Steve. If I do any mp3 conversion, it’s always at 256 or greater.

WAV is a lossless format. Any difference in sound between playing a WAV file in Audacity or any other audio player will most likely be just that you have the volume level set differently.

What I started to do some time ago is to first take the bass and drum tracks I’ve recorded in Audacity, mix it down and export it to wav format. I then import it back into Audacity, normalize the volume, and copy my labels over. Having the backing tracks labeled is invaluable, especially during a performance.

If you use WAV format and set the volume level appropriately there is no reason why you cannot achieve exactly the same sound quality in other players as you do with Audacity. Many other players have the advantage of playlist support (Audacity does not support playlists). I was not able to look up details of how the pok controller works as I’m not a registered user, but I assume that you can configure each button to send a key press or key press combination. If that is correct then probably the best solution would be to use an audio player that supports playlists, then configure the controller so that you can step through the playlist. There are many alternative players that support playlists, including Rhythmbox, VLC, Clementine, Amarok, and many more.

I’ve tried the all the audio players you’ve mentioned and have gone down the “playlist road”. There’s no problem controlling them with The Pok but I found this scenario to be limiting when performing. Most importantly, I lose label support.

That being said, and in reference to my original post, I found an easy and fairly quick way to set up what I need. XFCE (which I use the most) seems to be the only DE that will allow me to this. Here’s what I did this morning:

Initial Setup:

  1. I went into the Workplace Settings ( in the XFCE Settings Manager) and set the number of workspaces to 23. I kept Workspace 1 as my main, then added and renamed 22 others… Each workspace now has the name of an individual tune, and in the order of my set list.
  2. I then added the Workspace Switcher plugin to the panel to have a graphical representation.
  3. I set the number of rows in the Workspace Switcher to 4, and enabled " Show miniature view".
  4. Back in the Settings Manager, I opened the Keyboard tab in the Window Manager and set the “Next workspace” action to ALT-1 (which is already programmed into my pedal).

All of the above is a one time deal since it’s saved in my session settings.

Audacity Setup:

  1. I open Audacity in Workspace 1 and all 22 tunes (22 Audacity windows open). On this note, I find Linux to be way faster than Windows, and XFCE faster than Cinnamon (3D and 2D), or Gnome 3. Haven’t tried it in Mate.
  2. I then move each open tune (Audacity window) to the workspace with the same name. This is easily and quickly done by right clicking the open tab in the panel and following the menu/drop-down box. It’s this functionality that seems to be unique to XFCE.

I can now cycle though the tunes using my mouse wheel, mouse pointer on the panel, keyboard, and most importantly… my pedal.

On a different subject, your pedal looks like it would probably work well with > SuperLooper> .

It actually works well with anything. I used to use loopstations and have owned and/or tried pretty much all of them… both hardware and software. They’re great at what they do but I found over time that my musical needs required a computer based solution. When I migrated to a computer using Audacity, the issue was controlling it, especially with two hands on a guitar :slight_smile: The Pok solved that problem.

BTW, the Pok connects to my laptop via a USB dongle which sends an RF signal. The software to program the shortcuts and the pedal’s functionality is Windows and Mac based. However, once programmed, you can use it in Linux as long as the shortcuts match in whatever program is being used.