First of all, I am a totally new user to Audacity. I’ve been using it to edit podcasts and have pretty much figured out the editing process, however, I am a total noob when it comes to the technical side of things, so please be gentle with me and dumb things down if you can.
I’m using Windows 8, Audacity 2.1.1, and my computer kinda sucks. It constantly is telling me I am low on memory - I’ve been meaning to fix this, but, money. My computer has a 500gb hard drive in the keyboard, which I have been using for Audacity. All the temp files and exports save to this hard drive, and Audacity itself is on this hard drive. When I’m editing on Audacity, I close all other programs, because of the memory issue. And I’m using LAME for exporting to MP3.
I haven’t had any problems until today. Usually, it takes a few minutes to export a file that is about an hour long, with all the settings at default - 44100 Hz, etc. Basically, I don’t change anything when I export, and it works fine. Until today. Today, it’s telling me that it’s going to take 14+ hours to export.
I have searched for this problem on Google, and in the forum, and I’m either not getting any pertinent info because the posts were too old, or there’s a bunch of technical jargon that I just don’t understand. So, if someone could take pity on me and humour me and dumb this all down for me, that would be great. I would appreciate it SO much. This podcast episode has to be out on Thursday…
It constantly is telling me I am low on memory - I’ve been meaning to fix this, but, money. My computer has a 500gb hard drive in the keyboard, which I have been using for Audacity.
I wonder if there’s something running in the background using all the memory?
Try running the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Win7, but I’m not sure about Win8). That can give you CPU and memory usage, and it can give you hints about what applications are hogging your resources.
Usually, it takes a few minutes to export a file that is about an hour long, with all the settings at default - 44100 Hz, etc.
I haven’t made any hour long files recently, but from what I remember I’d say “several” minutes.
Today, it’s telling me that it’s going to take 14+ hours to export.
My guess is, if you wait 14 hours you’re going to get an error/failure at the end.
If your computer has a utility to check the CPU temperature, check that. I’ve had a CPU fan fail and the computer slows to a crawl to prevent the CPU from burning-up.
Hi there - thanks for your response. I attached a screenshot of my task manager - looks like 20-30% of my CPU is being used with Chrome, Audacity, and the MP3 player open…I don’t know if that’s a lot, but it doesn’t seem like it.
I’m not sure how to check CPU temperature, but I will try.
Is there some trick when exporting to make it a smaller file? I know I’d be compromising quality, but if it’s going to less time than 14 hours…
Well, just last week, I edited a sound file that was 1.5 hours and it exported in under 10 minutes. The one I’m trying to do today has 3 audio tracks in it, but I’ve done that before and it hasn’t taken this long. I’m stumped.
What other encoders are out there? I tried the FFmpeg one but I couldn’t figure out how to actually use it. I suspect it might have something to do with the encoder.
Google ‘wav to mp3’ and choose one. Better still, Google ‘right click mp3’. Less than 500Kb and all you do is right click on the wav and press a key to start it. It’s the only one I use. It says in BrotherSoft that it’s Windows 98 and NT but my XP handles it.
In what way does your computer suck? 2GB of RAM and 500GB of hard drive does not sound too bad (my machine has 3GB RAM and 500GB hard drive, but my old machine was much lower spec than that).
What happens if you try to export the project as a WAV file?
If RAM is the problem, which I am not convinced is the issue, then as Koz said, exiting Chrome will help a lot.
So you have a USB keyboard with a built-in hard drive? Are you sure you are exporting to that drive? Can you export somewhere else?
You can export as MP3 using FFmpeg, but I doubt it will help. Choose “Custom FFmpeg export” when you export then choose “MP3” from the “Formats” list and “libmp3lame” (the only choice) from the “Codecs” list. You can specify bit rate on the right of that dialogue.
Are you sure the project rate is still 44100 Hz? What sample rate is the track? Resampling from one rate to another will add greatly to the export time.
The only thing that consumes an abnormal amount of memory is Task manager itself. Audacity is at zero percent, Chrome uses 1,4%. That sounds about right.
Your computer should be able to cope, as you noticed in the past.
What I don’t understand is that 500 GB harddisk in the keyboard. Do you mean it’s an external USB harddisk, connected to the USB on the keyboard? If that’s the case, most of the USB ports on keyboards are USB 1.1 only. Far too slow for a harddisk. Try connecting to another port.
I’ve never seen a keyboard with a harddisk. But I’m always willing to learn. Bet you it’ll be Chinese…
Yes Gale, quite right. Sorry for the confusion. It’s what I always look at when judging memory use, to see if a program hangs, or is still doing something.
Bet you it’ll be Chinese…