Envelope mode is sometimes invisible

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

A lot of the time, when I switch to the Envelope tool, the program appears to freeze: the blue envelope line does not appear and nothing happens.

But if I move the cursor outside the track I was over, everything goes back to normal, the blue envelope line appears, and any dragging I’ve done/points I’ve made now become visible.

In other words, the Envelope mode is sometimes “invisible”.

I’ve done loads of testing and just can’t seem to determine why this happens, but I can say that:

  1. The bug only seems to occur when I switch to the Envelope tool while the cursor is over one of the ‘gaps’ above or below a waveform created by having already used the envelope tool.
  2. Thus, the bug only occurs when using keyboard shortcuts. It doesn’t occur if you switch to Envelope mode using the toolbar button.
  3. The bug only happens when switching from the Selection Tool to the Envelope tool. If I was on the Time Shift tool, it doesn’t happen.
  4. It never seems to happen with a new document, usually only in documents I’ve been working on for a while.

Audacity 2.4.2
OS: Windows 7 x64
GPU: Sapphire ATI Radeon 4670 HD 750Mhz

2

I’m not able to reproduce the problem on Linux with Audacity 2.4.2.

3

OK but I don’t use Linux, I use Windows 7.

4

I don’t have Windows 7 (it is now obsolete), but I’ll test on Windows 10 as soon as I get chance. In the meantime, perhaps a regular Windows user may reply.

5

I just tried this running 2.4.2 on WIndows 10 and could not reproduce it. Perhaps you want to post an screenshot ?

6

I can reproduce the issue on Windows 10 with Audacity 2.4.2.

The easiest way I’ve found to reproduce the issue:

  1. Launch Audacity
  2. Launch “Task manager” and arrange the windows so that both Audacity and Task Manager are visible
  3. Generate a tone
  4. Add some envelope points
  5. Zoom out
  6. Make a selection in the empty part of the track
  7. Generate a Chirp
  8. Move the mouse pointer over the first audio clip (with envelope points)
  9. Press “F2”
  10. Observe: Envelope Icon is not selected in the Tools toolbar
  11. Observe: Envelope points do not appear
  12. Observe: Task Manager shows Audacity power usage is “Very high”
  13. Observe: Task manager indicates 100% of one CPU core
  14. Observe: After a few moments, the Windows “busy” icon appears and Audacity shows “Not responding” in the tite bar
  15. The “busy” state continues until the mouse is moved away from the audio track.

Thanks for the bug report. I’ll log it on the Audacity bug tracker.

7

Screenshot of Audacity + Task Manager:

windows bug.png

8

No problem.

Just for the record, I am happy with Windows 7 and would rather take the security risks than have no computer at all, which is the alternative. All the main programs I use don’t work on Linux, and Windows 10 is absolutely not an option. I hate everything about it. It is utterly abhorrent, ugly, and violates user privacy. Just looking at it makes me feel sick and I don’t know how anyone could even touch such a dreadful OS, but certainly not me. I’d rather have no internet connection, or no computer at all, than use something as vile as Win10.

9

The issue is now logged on the Audacity bug tracker.

Yes that can be a problem. What programs are those?

As time goes by, it will become more difficult to stick with Win 7 (the same happened with XP, but over a very long period due to the exceptionally high market share). Perhaps worth considering a “plan B” for when it becomes impossible to safely use Win 7 (it is already becoming risky if you use the computer on-line).

10

This bug has now been fixed by a developer - and I QA tested it as OK on W10 with the latest alpha build.

See: http://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2617

This will thus be OK in the upcoming 3.0.0 release.

And many thanks LeeJames for the original bug report - much appreciated :slight_smile: :sunglasses:

Peter.