MP3 Conversion (Normalization macro) - Output to source folder/filename

Programming and Development Macros and Scripting
1

Is there any way to set the output of the “MP3 Conversion” macro or the “Export as MP3” command to save to the source folder and filename instead of the Default macro output folder?

Thanks.

2

If you mean that you want to overwrite the original file, then yes that is possible but it is not easy and not recommended because it is potentially very risky. The risk is that if anything at all goes wrong, then you will have permanently destroyed the original file with no chance of recovery.

If you mean that you want to change the location of the macro-output folder, then yes that is easy (and safe). See: Directories Preferences - Audacity Manual

3

Yes, I meant overwriting the original file. I know there’s some inherent risk but for a large amount of files and folders it’s not practical to generate additional files and then have to replace the original ones manually.

4

Macros can only batch process files in one folder. (More information about Macros here: Macros - Audacity Manual)

5

Hi,
I wound up at this thread because I searched for how to set the macro output path relative to the source directory. Old versions of Audacity would create a ‘macro-output’ folder in the source directory, which I found pretty convenient. In the recent version of Audacity I haven’t found that option. There seems only to be the possibility of a single centralized output folder (of which one could specify the path).
Did I miss how to set relative paths in Audacity, or has this feature been scrapped? I downgraded to version 2.4.2 to use this feature again.
So any help regarding relative paths or re-implementation thereof would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

6

I missed it too, so I wrote a plug-in. It’s available here: Legacy macro-output folder

It is a “Nyquist plug-in”. Installation instructions for Windows: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_effect_generator_and_analyzer_plug_ins_on_windows.html#nyquist_install

7

Thanks a lot. That seems to be what I’m looking for. Interestingly I could not choose that plugin from the macro editor. It was just not listed under the available operation. My workaround was loading the Nyquist Prompt into the macro chain instead, where I could load the content of your script. That worked.

[an eternity later - I was mucking around while composing this post]
Well, I just realized, you have to manually activate an installed plugin in the plugin manager. Thats all in all a quite convoluted procedure.

Thanks anyway. It now works as intended.

8

Yes it is :wink: That’s why I included a link to the installation instructions.
The development team intend to make it easier to install plug-ins in the future, though I don’t know when that will be - it’s on the “to do” list.

You’re very welcome.
Hopefully that plug-in will become unnecessary in the future.


Well done for working that out. :ugeek:
That “trick” (technique) can be very handy in cases where you need a Nyquist plug-in for just one job. It can save having to install a plug-in that you may not need to use more than once.