RMS normalize plugin

[steve]

What I gather is that Nyquist is not Audacity and Audacity is not Nyquist;

Yes that’s correct.


Nyquist is a programming language for audio, and is available separately from Audacity: Nyquist Info
(Nyquist was created by Roger Dannenberg, who is also one of the co-founders of Audacity).
Nyquist was shoehorned into Audacity in a very early Audacity release (I’m unsure which version) and has been included with Audacity ever since.

I feel I must still be misunderstanding something fundamental here.

Some of the points below are quite “technical” and are not really necessary for normal use of Nyquist or Audacity. (You don’t need a mechanic’s understanding of how cars work to drive a car).

Is there, perhaps, some special Nyquist language application — perhaps complete with coding/editing facility — that I could choose to run, separate from Audacity

Yes. Here: Nyquist Info

that I could choose to run, separate from Audacity, that would then pipe instructions to Audacity via “Aud-Do”?

I’m not sure if it’s possible to pipe commands from the stand alone version of Nyquist. That’s an academic question, as Nyquist in Audacity does not need to “pipe” commands to Audacity. The version of Nyquist built into Audacity is a “shared library” rather than a stand alone application. As a shared library, it is plugged into Audacity’s data structures.

It is possible to “pipe” commands to Audacity from other languages (such as Python). The language must support a feature called “named pipes” (Named pipe - Wikipedia).

Am I right that such a “Nyquist Macro” routine or plug-in would not require “Aud-Do” at the beginning of each statement?

That’s the basic mechanism for passing “Scripting” commands from Nyquist to Audacity.
Nyquist sends “Macro Scripting” commands to Audacity using the Nyquist function “aud-do”.
The “aud-do” command takes one argument (one “parameter”) which is the “Macro Scripting command”.

(aud-do "the-scripting-command-goes-here")

In the next Audacity release, there is an alternative way to pass scripting commands from Nyquist to Audacity, via a bunch of new Nyquist functions. I’m in the process of documenting this now.

If I write code in a plain text file and either copy it into the Nyquist Prompt, or upload it as a plug-in, is that what you’d call a “Nyquist Macro” (as opposed to “pure” Nyquist)?

If the code uses “Macro Scripting” commands to modify the Audacity project, then we call it a “Nyquist Macro”.
If the code uses only normal Nyquist commands to modify the project, then we call it a “Nyquist Script” (when run in the Nyquist Prompt), or a “Nyquist Plug-in” (when installed as a plug-in).

“Nyquist Macros” are usually “tool” type plug-ins, and appear in Audacity’s “Tools” menu. There are exceptions to this, but it is generally the case.

Would such a Nyquist Macro routine allow me, for example, to check the name of the selected track, then export the selection as a sound file with the name, say, “trackNameString_1.mp3” ?

Yes, that’s possible with a Nyquist Macro.
It is also “possible” with just normal Nyquist, but is somewhat easier with a Nyquist Macro.

how do I come by a detailed description of Nyquist language, commands and functions — with especial reference to those which apply to Audacity?

There’s quite a lot of information about Nyquist, but not much yet about using Macro Scripting commands with Nyquist (I’m still working on that).
For Nyquist documentation, see the links in this post: Manuals and reference material
Also, the Audacity wiki now has a “Nyquist” category: Missing features - Audacity Support

Forgive me. I know that I am asking this question in the wrong place.

This forum board is the right place to ask about Nyquist.
For specific questions, it’s best to start a new topic. This also helps others to find answers for questions that have been asked previously.