Can the effects menu be altered

[TonyS2]

I’m a longtime Audacity user who has posted before. I’m on Windows 7, downloaded the Zip version, and have stayed using version 2.1.0 for various reasons.

Is there a way to rearrange (or customize) effects list in the drop-down menu?

I ask because I tend to use the Nyquist Limiter and the Amply effect one after the other. It would be convenient if I could place these side by side. As it stands, my effects are listed alphabetically up to “Wah-Wah,” after which a new Nyquist list is there, also alphabetically. I’d like to be able to un-alphabetize these and rearrange them in a different order, in other words.

Thanks in advance.

[cyrano]

There is a setting for the listing in the preferences. But maybe you knew that already?

It separates the list into an “Audacity” part, a “Nyquist” part and an “others” part. It’s not exactly what you want, but it provides separate, shorter lists.

[steve]

In the current 2.1.2 version of Audacity there are some options in Preferences: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/effects_preferences.html

Also, you can add keyboard shortcuts to the effects that you use frequently: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/keyboard_shortcut_reference.html#effect

Also, to save scrolling down the list to search for an effect, if you know the name of the effect you can open the Effect menu and then press the key for the first letter of the name of the effect. For example, with the default menu order, press “F” to go down to “Fade In”, press “F” again to go down to “Fade Out”, press “F” again to go to any other effect that begins with “F”.

[Gale_Andrews]

@TonyS2

Is there a way to rearrange (or customize) effects list in the drop-down menu?

I ask because I tend to use the Nyquist Limiter and the Amply effect one after the other.

As another solution, have you thought of adding those effects to a Chain ?


Gale

[TonyS2]

Thanks for the replies. I’d never thought of any of these things. I still see effects chains in my head as the old daisy chains I used to do with guitar effects pedals. That said, the effects chain might be the ticket. I appreciate the responses.

Addendum: The effects chain did, in fact, work like a charm and was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks, Gale. For all the time I spend with this program, I’d never even noticed that function.

[Robert_J_H]

@TonyS2

Thanks for the replies. I’d never thought of any of these things. I still see effects chains in my head as the old daisy chains I used to do with guitar effects pedals. That said, the effects chain might be the ticket. I appreciate the responses.

Addendum: The effects chain did, in fact, work like a charm and was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks, Gale. For all the time I spend with this program, I’d never even noticed that function.

Note that you shouldn’t use amplify in the chain, it has no analyze stage there. You should replace it with normalize instead.

Robert

[Gale_Andrews]

@Robert J. H.

Note that you shouldn’t use amplify in the chain, it has no analyze stage there. You should replace it with normalize instead.

Thanks Robert, good point. If you are using Amplify to maximise the track volume, that won’t happen in a Chain - Amplify will just scale the track up by the same “Amplification (dB)” amount each time. See When not to use Amplify.

Gale