Sorry, big word.
I am recording a long audio session in sections. Is there a neat, easy way to append one file after an other? I started by opening one file, copying it, then opening the previous file and pasting it to the end. That worked Ok the first time, but somehow 2-3 files down the road, I ended up with two files on top of each other.
I would prefer a safer way to “add” one file after another.
If the files are not too long and your computer has plenty of free RAM, you could use this “Append Import” plug-in: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/append-import/20421/1
If that is not suitable for your needs, then the best we can do is to cut down the process to a sequence of keyboard shortcuts (ask for details if this is what you need) - unfortunately we don’t yet have a built-in “Append Import” or “Concatenate” feature.
I’m not sure what is “too long.” Somewhere I read that Audacity only has file size limits mandated by Windows - about 2 gigs. MY total files will not be that long, but I am recording 45 minutes to 1 hour lectures, so in total about 29 megs [ I am recording at 8K rate to keep the size as small as possible].
It seems to me that some sort of concantinate feature would be desirable - for academic people doing what I am doing - recording lectures.
My computer has 4 gigs of RAM - the limit that WIN7-32 will handle. Even with loads of TSR programs, I still have a fair amount of RAM.
The size limitation of the “Append Import” plug-in is because the files are loaded entirely into RAM before being placed in the track - that is, ALL of the tracks are loaded into RAM simultaneously, so you need enough free RAM to hold all of the audio data.
The plug-in also only supports .WAV .AIFF and .AU file types.
If you try it and there is not enough RAM, the worst that will happen is that your computer will freeze (so make sure that you don’t have any unsaved document open).
Please have a read through the plug-in help screens before you use the effect.
You didn’t drop the other shoe. I want to concatenate all my lectures… and then?
Koz
I’m a bit confused.
I added the appendimport.ny to the plugin folder, as instructed. I then opened the first of my files, and invoked this plugin. The last box is “import folder.” It can be rather unwieldy to type in the full path to the file I wish to append, and unlike WIN standards, this box does not have a search function, just a data box. No matter what I type in, I get an error - directory does not exist. I also tried just putting in the import file - since all of the files I am working on are in the same folder - but same result - does not exist.
Am I missing something here?
Sadly that is a limitation of Nyquist Plug-ins - they don’t have a file browser.
What is the full and exact error message?
A good way to get the folder typed in correctly is to go to that folder in your normal file browser, right click on one of the WAV files and select “Properties”. The file path will hopefully be displayed in the properties so that you can copy and paste it into the plug-in text box.
Looks like a major deficiency in Nyquist then.
The actual error message is:
Error.
Directory “e:/current business/projects/101-2.aup” does not exist
I did as you suggested regarding opening properties of the file, and yes, that eliminated the error message, but that did not bring in the desired file - that only gives the path.
I got a new window open in AU, but nothing in it, and nothing was appended to the already open file.
Sorry to be a pain. I have a lot of this to do, and some at least semi-automatic means of concatenating these files will really be needed.
Maybe I will need some other program to put them together, then use Audacity to do the rest of the “work?”
- That is the name of a file, not the name of a folder (directory). “101-2.aup” is an Audacity Project file, The “Path” (folder/directory address) is “e:/current business/projects/"
- You cannot import a .aup file - that is an Audacity Project, not an audio file. The plug-in only supports .WAV, .AIFF and .AU files.
Where are the files that you want to import?
Please give a couple of examples of the file names for the files that you want to import.
Are there any other files in that folder?
Ok, I did some things wrong. I was trying to append two [or more] MP3 files. I missed the required formats.
I re-exported several files into WAVs. I then did this again. With the path correct, no error messages, however, instead of giving me an opportunity to specify which file I wanted, it appended the first/open file to itself.
There are a number of files in the folder these are coming from. Do I need to create a folder with all of the files I want to concatenate, and the program then grabs them all? If that is the case [haven’t tried that yet], it then seems there would be no opportunity to specify the order they are to be concatenated.
If all else fails, try reading the instructions 
The plug-in includes three short help screens that should answer most of your questions. If anything in the instructions is unclear, please ask.
By the way, (this is of no use for your immediate needs, but you may be interested) I agree that a built-in method to align tracks end-to-end would be extremely useful. I’m just starting to learn how to program in C++ and I’ve just written a modification that adds this functionality. It is not yet publicly available because the code needs to be “compiled” into Audacity, so currently it is only available for users that are able to build Audacity from the source code. I’ll start a new forum topic about this modification, and if enough people think that it is worthwhile then perhaps it will be included in the next release version.
Topic posted here: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/align-tracks-end-to-end/29592/1
Please feel free to add your comments to that topic.