Should I give up on Audacity?

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

Let me start from the end and work my way backwards…

Here is the result of trying to send a crash report:
“Failed to send crash report”

Here is a truncated crash report (since I can’t enter the entire report here due to post character limits):
Operating system: Windows NT
10.0.19045 5247
CPU: amd64
family 6 model 85 stepping 4
28 CPUs

GPU: UNKNOWN

Crash reason: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION_EXEC
Crash address: 0x0
Process uptime: 3061 seconds

Here’s what happened:

I downloaded and installed 3.7.1 - 64 bit for Windows and installed it. I am running Windows 10 Pro version 22H2.

I opened Audacity and began importing mp3 files, trimming only the sections I wanted and adding fades (not crossfades) on many either at the head, tail or both. The entire program was a hair over 90 minutes.

I added a couple of mastering plugins (IK Multimedia T-Racks Brick Wall Limiter and Classic Compressor) to even out the apparent loudness difference between tracks but that’s it: no scripts, no other processing .

Whenever I try to export audio from this project, the first 2 to 2.5 minutes is silent, no matter how I slice or dice the audio in the timeline. I can start the program at exactly the beginning of the timeline or leave three minutes blank (then have Audacity trim the silence) Result is the same. I’ve shuffled clips around, thinking maybe the problem was a particular piece of audio. Still get the same result.

At this point, I’ve sunken about 4 or 5 hours into this project and I’m getting unusable results.

is it time to go back to ProTools or Reaper? I was trying to save a little time by using a simpler app, but now I’m thinking maybe I made a big mistake?

Anybody have any advice for this situation?

2

It should export the audio you select. If you only select part, only that part will be exported.

3

Clearly. I always select “complete project” with no markings in the timeline.

Well, this is all moot now, anyway.

I don’t know what the error is, but I opened a new project, cut and pasted my audio clips into that and the export works from that project, which also does not throw an error message when saving or opening. I guess I was just lucky enough to somehow corrupt the very first project I made.

Also, just throwing out there - the CPU is Intel, not AMD, so the crash report is inaccurate as well. Seems Audacity is a bit of a public beta.

4

IMO unluckiness for Audacity users has increased in recent years …
https://forum.audacityteam.org/search?q=corrupt%20project%20after%3A2023-12-24