Hi.
The Envelope Tool is good for ‘normal’ reshapings of the Waveform, but now: rising low volume levels is cumbersome (need to zoom verically or scroll vertically to see the envelope points over 0 db) / impossible to move the wave up too much anyway -there is a 2× limit for the outermost Envelope point-. Worst case when eg. sometimes there are recording glitches with not normal dips of volume.
So it would be great if it were possible to put Envelope points exactly/directly over the Waveform and move it exactly/directly to the point one wants (eg to 0db) without having to ever zoom/scroll vertically.Clear in picture.
Thank you, I tryed Audacity many years ago and it’s amazing the improvement since then.
If you used Audacity’s (soft) limiter it will attenuate all the outliers over 0dB …
That will reshape the envelope of the waveform not to have any point above 0db.
I was talking about the oposite of what you talk (Limiter); in the example I wanted to raise the wave to 0db (maybe you are confused because in the ‘Waveform’ view Audacity shows ‘0’ in the center [there’s a petition* -which I agree with- to use db also in this linear view, with 0 at the borders, like eg in Cooledit]) through an improved Envelope Tool.
And I know there are other ways to raise a low wave eg. with Compressor, I want the convenience of visual manipulation of the Waveform with the Envelope Tool, more precise and with more range than currently (to raise or lower the wave, whatever, 0db was just the example).
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/need-a-vertical-with-focus-on-range-from-0-to-10-db/51598/1
If you need to apply much more than 6dB boost with the Envelope, then you are likely to be running into problems with noise.
In cases where you do need make adjustments of more than 6 dB, you can do that by reducing the loud bits rather than boosting the quiet bits, then after rendering the track, the track may be normalised.
Note that so long as the track is set to “32-bit float” (default), you can amplify to greater than 0 dB, then bring the level down to 0 dB with the Envelope tool.
The thing that I find most annoying with the Envelope tool, is that it is logarithmic scale, making it impossible to fade down to zero (silence), and very fiddly when close to silence.
So, 1+ (Idon’t see where to vote) to make it linear, not-logarythmic (wich is implied in my proposal as it is to have 1:1 movement of points placed in whatever desired places in the wave [in the Linear ‘Waveform’ View as shown in the picture]).
Precisely the idea is to avoid extra steps and manipulate the wave as wished visually while in Linear view. Even for ‘artistic’ reasons; to be able to ‘paint’ the shape of the wave at will (with no need to verticall zooming/scrolling).
… so the results could be kind of similar to the proposed having the Pencil tool work at lower zooms than now (1+ for that too) but with different mechanics to move the wave.
Both proposals improve the freedom to visually move the wave. Liberty.
Vote here on the forum. I’ve added your vote to the wiki.
One thing I don’t understand with your proposal; How does Audacity know if you are creating the envelope, or applying the gain?
The same as now: 1 you choose ‘Envelope Tool’ » 2 you place Points at will » 3 you move the points
The difference is that now you cannot put the points on the wave but on the edge of the ‘box’ at the 0db border (plus the ‘inner’ point that gets created paralel to this external points), and then there is a sort of invisible line that ‘binds’ the wave to these points that are actually separated from the wave (and when one pulls the points outside 0db either the border gets ‘dotted’’ -or the created point dissapears- so the need to zoom/scroll vertically, all this would be not necessary with my proposal because basically never there would be need to drag points outside 0db).
So the proposal is actually simpler not only for the user but I would guess for the code too, you put the points at the border of the actual Wave -not on the ‘0db box’- and move the points from anywhere from the center to 0db. As in the picture, one would put some points as anchors and not move them, to keep the wave still there, then move the point/s between the anchors at will.
