I often use the envelope tool as a quick way of uniformly increasing the amplitude of the whole track by just dragging on a single control point (or handle). But before you can do this it is often necessary to remove all but one of the existing control points (that seem to have been inserted by Audacity by default when you turn on the envelope tool). This can take time and be a little difficult as you have to click on and drag off each control point individually. Sometimes it is hard to pick up a control point with the mouse click …
This task would therefore be easier if there was a quick way of deleting all existing control points (handles) on the track when using the envelope tool, is there a way of doing this? Alternatively is there a way of setting Audacity so that it does not introduce unwanted control points when you turn on the envelope tool?
Any help much appreciated thanks (I use Audacity beta version 1.3.4 on windows XP).
If you have a track in Audacity and you select the envelope tool, there will be no control points on the track until you click on the track with the envelope tool, so the trick is to select your track first (with the selection tool) then go to the envelope tool. To remove a control point, simply drag it off the track.
Note that control points are stored in the project, so if you are re-opening a saved project then any control points created in the previous session will still be there and will become visible when you select the envelope tool.
Many thanks for your help with this. Your answer prompted me to check whether the unwanted control points did in fact appear automatically in brand new projects and yes they do even when i first select the whole track - BUT after some trial and error worked out that the unwanted control points only appeared in a new track if before using the envelope tool i delete or trim some of the new track. In this case, audacity automatically puts in control points on the new boundary created after the deletion. In other words if you make a new track and delete say one fifth of the track from the end and then use the envelope tool Audacity will add control points on the new edge (ie at the former 4/5th mark) why i dont know. With this in mind i am better able to use the envelope tool (ie i use it before doing any trimming) without having to get rid of unwanted control points. However, if there was a way of preventing audacity from adding control points at the newly trimmed edge of the track i would love to know it … Thanks again
I’d not actually noticed that behaviour, but you are correct.
In Audacity 1.3.4 if you use “split cut” or “split delete” instead, then you do not get the control points added, but note that these edits are slightly different from the normal “split” or “delete”. (try cutting a bit from the middle of a track with both types of edit to see the difference).