“Muting” (or better yet “Soloing”) a particular label track would serve nicely. I think “Soloing” would be more useful at least to me because I use a single label track for each export set. If anyone wanted to export multiple from a plurality of label tracks he could still do it in multiple passes or “solo” multiple label tracks. I think the alternatives considered in the enhancement issue which involve using multiple label tracks for exporting different combinations of audio tracks based on vertical position of the label track would be confusing and would not intuitively support arbitrary combinations of audio tracks. In my case I would generally want all unmuted audio tracks to be mixed. If I wanted certain tracks to be muted for some labels and not others I think a more versatile and intuitive means would be to allow embedded commands in the label text to select the set of audio tracks for that mix.
“Label tracks relating to one more more audio tracks above without an intervening label track” is I think reasonably intuitive and is analogous to determining Sync-Locked groups.
You could still make arbitrary combinations with the mute button on the label track. Otherwise you would have to have controls by the label mute button (or in Export Multiple) to associate particular label tracks with particular audio tracks.
How does the user add the embedded commands in the label text and find the syntax? I was only proposing that all labels in a label track be muted or not (by muting the label track), but at the expense of another complication I guess you could mute specific labels. I think a adding “Mute” to the right-click label menu could be a way to do that. Label colours for open/not open for editing would be different when muted.
I haven’t tried the Sync-Lock feature yet. Hadn’t even heard of it until I saw the panel on 1.3.13. I’ll avoid further comments on my anticipated confusion until I see how intuitive this feature is.
I didn’t mean muting of specific labels, although I do like the idea of muting (or selectively enabling) individual complete label tracks. I was actually thinking of something like this, which would be part of a label text:
<play=(-2,!-1,+1)>
The signed integers refer to the tracks at the corresponding positions relative to the label track, and ‘!’ means Mute. The enumeration in the parentheses overrides the state of the corresponding tracks’ Solo and Mute buttons. Thus, the tracks 2 positions above and 1 position below the label track are unconditionally included and the track 1 position above the label track is unconditionally excluded from the mix for that label. Tracks not enumerated would be controlled by their own Solo and Mute buttons.
I can see at least one shortcoming of what I’m proposing: If one track is excluded from the mix, one might want to change the gain of at least one other track, or even pan another track to restore the balance. But this same shortcoming is inherent in any scheme that merely switches tracks on and off. With a suitable syntax variation, optional parameters could be added to each track in the enumeration to deal with this. For example, use ‘;’ instead of ‘,’ above and delimit the optional parameters with ‘,’. If the gain parameter comes first and is additive (in dB) to the track’s gain slider, then ‘,0’ can serve as a placeholder if only the pan needs to be changed.
Would be above the head of the majority of users, Dirk.
Even as a “pro extra”, I don’t think the place for it is in the labels if it is not related to individual labels. Maybe as a text entry box accessed from the dropdown in the label track?
Oh, brother! And I’ve been making do all this time without that. I go nuts checking & fixing the combination of selected tracks and this gem has been sitting in the box waiting to do it for me. Thanks!
Just discovered another issue that could be resolved in a track control panel for label tracks. I have a project with 1 stereo track and several mono tracks. The label track with which I was exporting selected only center-panned mono. Every export file had 2 channels. This could be avoided with a Mono button on the label track’s TCP.
It could also be avoided with a rule change: If a label selects only center-panned mono then export mono for that label. If done with a rule change, it might be prudent to put the rule in Preferences->Import/Export. It should also be possible to select the rule: If any label in the export selects stereo then all the export files will be 2-channel. Currently, even if “Use Custom Mix” is selected there I still get 2 channels.
I am really not sure about your track layout and what you mean about labels “selecting” mono or stereo. Export Multiple just does a mix of all the tracks (using the uppermost of the label tracks), unless you omit tracks from the export by muting them.
“Use Custom Mix” in the Import/Export Preferences doesn’t apply to Export Multiple. It’s not a bug, but you can make it a separate feature request if you like (please start a new topic in Adding Features to Audacity to do that).
I will log as a bug that if you have a muted stereo and unmuted mono track then export multiple, the exported files are stereo. The best way around that for now is probably to remove the stereo tracks immediately before export then undo the remove immediately after export.
My one stereo track ends before the first label. A separate label track, when moved up, selects other parts that include stereo. This defines separate exports for CD and Podcast version.
Thanks for the suggestion, but since I’m already using SoX to combine the files for podcast I have another workaround. I just had to add a switch to my batch file .
I go nuts checking & fixing the combination of selected tracks and this gem has been sitting in the box waiting to do it for me. Thanks!
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