File, Save

Please for the love of God implement the one thing that seems to be the wheel of the software world, File > Save !!!

For as long as I’ve used Audacity this has been a mere annoyance that I cannot just open an audio file, edit it and then hit ctrl/cmd S to save it or click File, Save because save always saves projects… but I have to tell you. I have *** never *** used Audacity projects like ever…

But now, the combined efforts of Logic Pro X and Audacity come together to form Captain Pla… I mean… make this something that is something where if another audio editor existed I’d just delete Audacity right now.

Logic Pro X (the new version) uses .logicx files which are actually not files but folders, I mean “packages” … So it’s a folder but it’s not. Here’s why not having File Save is a problem…

I set up Audacity as the external editor for audio files… because for some reason Logic has the most basic functions in its audio sample editor and doesn’t have the full array of function like Soundforge, or ie. Audacity.

So I open the file in Audacity from Logic’s UI… I make the edits , now I want to save… I go to Export audio, and I go to choose the file… Errrrrrr… The .logicx folder is grayed out because it’s not really a folder, it’s a file! it’s a package.

If there was File > Save I could almost certainly just save the file and exit, but I can’t.

PLEASE implement this I don’t know why you don’ have it already. I guess some people use multiple tracks and save projects … That’s fine, but I don’t I would like to be able to just click Save to save the file I opened after I’m done editing it. PLEASE add this.

“Command/Ctrl + Shift + E” ?

There’s two levels of this.

In Photoshop, a Photoshop Image (project) is included in the Save dialog along with all the other expected picture formats. Export is reserved for metadata and other special tasks.

Also, once you save something, Photoshop assumes you finished your job and and can exit clean. It does get upset if you don’t save anything.

Wouldn’t both of those be refreshing in Audacity?

Never do anything in a program that requires you to notify everybody on earth of something unusual.

‘Audacity, the sound editor, will not save a sound file’ is right up there as a violation of expected behavior.

I have *** never *** used Audacity projects like ever…

I’ve never used one at work. I’ve also never lost a paid job.

Koz

Why not use “takes” instead?
Let logic create it’s own folder/s and you create just one extra “takes” folder for each project.
This normal folder will be readable by Logic and can be written to by Audacity.

Then when you export out of Audacity, you export to your “takes” folder.

From there, you import the modified clip back into Logic as another “take”.
Most DAWs can use “takes” to replace clips, and with some, you can even have multiple “takes” per clip.

It’s also safer this way as anything you do in Audacity (and then close Audacity) is destructive, i.e. you can’t undo it.

Just for clarity …

Every use of Audacity uses an Audacity project - even if you never save the project (I never did when I was converting my vinyl).

Also Audacity does not per se “edit” audio files, rather it reads that audio file into its own internal native format which is an Audacity project and then works with that.

Part of the confusion arises from the fact that long ago in the distant past a developer (or developers) thought it would be a good idea to have an “Open” which opens not only native format Audacity but also apparently open audio files for editing.

I say “apparently” because what happens when you use File>Open to “open” an audio file what actually happens is that:
a) Audacity “opens” an Audacity project, and then
b) uses a hidden File>Import to import that non-native data format into the Audacity project.

I have long thought that this was not a good idea, I’ve always thought that Open and Save should be restricted to native format (Audacity projects) and only Import/Export should be used for non-native audio file formats. This would be much clearer to users that that are not in fact editing a WAV file or and MP3 file etc.


Peter.

A very good point Peter, it’s important to make the distinction between open/import and save/export.

In this case however, even exporting will not help the OP as the logicx folders/files are not readable or writeable by Audacity.
They seem to be some kind of propriety format.

Hence my mention of creating a normal “takes” folder.
This way, the OP can save the project and also export the audio into the “takes” folder, which is then useable by logic.

EDIT:

Just had a thought, having the X at the end of the .logicx files/folders, I’m wondering if they are not some kind of XML based structure.
Microsoft Office uses this with their .docx and xlsx file formats.
In this case they are actually zipped XML files.

Try it, make a copy of a .docx or xlsx, change the extension to .zip and double click on it, you will see all the files and dependencies.
Not that it helps the OP, but just mentioning it out of interest.