I had this idea for Audacity, I don’t know if it is possible. But anyway here it is (I hope I explain it well.)
In the user interface, add an option to split the audio track into High, Middle and low frequency. So each audio track would have 3 or more waveforms, this would mean that the audio can be better manipulated without have alot of audio tracks all filtering different frequencies out to remove noises or vocals from a song.
I am hoping that I explain it well if not i will try again below.
I think this would be a good addition to audacity!
Basically, Each track will be split into 3 channels.
The 3 channel will be a filtered version of the original
The top will be high frequency, middle will be middle will be mid frequency and the bottom will be low frequency, filter on them, for example.
Then when the track is played the channels will combine and sound the same as the original track, but if the LF is muted then the bass will not play.
The envelop tool can then be use to reduce curtain sounds.
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I think that would get quite cluttered for stereo tracks.
Would the frequency bands be fixed frequencies, or user adjustable? If the user can set the split frequencies, how would that be handled?
Wouldn’t it be more versatile for the user to simply make two copies of the tracks and apply whatever band filters they want? They could then split the track into 2, 3, 4, 5 or however many bands they want at whatever frequency split points they want.
It would probably be possible to make a plug-in or a built in effect to make it easier to split a track into multiple bands. A plug-in would probably be preferred by the developers as it will probably not be a widely used feature and a plug-in could be an optional download for anyone that wants it.
The Frequency of the bands and the amount of bands could be adjustable that would make it easier and better to uses.
The Frequency should be present to relevant Hz (I dont know much about this bit). On Dj programs there a button to filter the LF MF HF but they are not adjustable.
I think a plugin that could take the original audio, split it up into the bands would be great.
The plugin could have a dialog box to have band number and frequency adjustment, but with relevant presets.
I think the function would be useful for noise removal and remixing and music production.
One thing from your idea that I think would be useful for both this and other tasks, would be a way to group/un-group multiple tracks so that they can be edited, cut, pasted, trimmed and processed as one track. This would need to be done in Audacity itself, not a plug-in. Perhaps something like this:
Please do some Googling and make your suggestions / recommendations
I know how “I” would do it, but I’m a geek and my technical approach may not be useful for many users, so I’d be interested to see how you would do it. What sort of presets would you use and how would you describe them in the plug-in interface?
I think this discussion can stay here for now as it has broader relevance to new Audacity features.
Basically how i would use the feature would be for splitting a song in to bass, middle stuff and Vocals. And then reducing the volume on certain sections to introduce new beats in the the song. So the standard dj low, high and middle pass filter setting as a preset would work for me.
Reading that webpage, this feature would basically be a visual Equalizer that have different effect on volume at different point on the track. So at some point in the song the bass could be turn down and a new bass line could be added very smoothly. Or adding a second vocal to a track could sound more natural.
On my friends Dj decks he has an equalizer that he can turn up and down bass and vocals and this would be same kind of thing in audacity.
I only suggest the presets as a guide for people who dont know have to do low pass filters and the like. (googling this doesn’t have a great result)
Edgar-RFT has written a plug-in that I use for years now.
You make 4 copies of your track and apply the plug-in. From a multi-choice you select the band that the selected track shall have.
It is simple but very useful to equalize in real time (with the gain).
However, it is in german and maybe no more “state of the art” in regard to nyquist Plug-Ins. 4-Kanal-Multi-Track.ny (833 Bytes)
This doesn’t allow you edit the volume of the frequency bands and it doesn’t split them apart, but if you did it 4 time on the one track to get the 4 channels open at once it sounds ok but it not the best and there no cut off adjustment.
Maybe a Thing worth mentioning:
You should inverse the duplicated tracks. Thus it is really easy to cut or boost each frequency band individually by adjusting the gain slider.
The cut-off freqs can be adjusted in the plug-in itself, but it’s of course no Problem to put some controls into the GUI.
It is also no Problem to let the effect make 3 (or an arbitrary number) of inverted copies. The condition is that enough empty tracks are available. Nyquist can’t not produce tracks of its own from the effect menu (only generate effects and only one track at a time).
What we are lacking is firstly tree-like grouping and secondly creating new tracks (or duplicates) just underneath the existing track - not at the end of the track list.
So the track grouping idea would have to be a feature added to Audacity itself and it would be very handy. But the audio frequency banding could be made into a plugin that could be installed by users.
Are there any tutorials on making plugins I can look at? I dont think im going to be making a plugin any time soon but Im interested how easy it is
I hope this idea doesnt die off because I think it will be a very power addition to audacity!
I am sure that Steve can provide the necessary links to the tutorials if you can’t find them yourself in the WIKI.
Learning by doing is the cheapest way to aquire new skills.
If you want, we can create the plug-in together - as a quasi-tutorial in the Nyquist Forum.
It is actually only a Task of Assembling already written parts and the documentation/explanation of those.
And there’s the “design” of the graphical user Interface (within the known Limits).
There are major interface limitations for Nyquist plug-ins for this type of effect, but I’m sure that between us we can come up with something useful.
Robert, perhaps you would like to start off a topic in the Nyquist plug-in forum? (please post a link here if you do).
warfarsniper1, this is your idea so we’ll be relying on your input from a user perspective, and perhaps you will learn a bit about how to make Nyquist plug-ins if you are interested.
@WC, I don’t want to lose the idea of “group tracks”
Working to together on this is a great idea! and it will help me learn alot hopefully.
I will start with looking on the wiki for what Nyquist is and such so im not totally clueless.
The grouping idea should have a second post maybe?
(not that good but hay)
