I have pretty complex (many tracks) and long compositions with various tracks muted and unmuted. Selecting stuff to mix down is therefore pretty cumbersome.
I’m using the loop area as the project’s IN and OUT points since there isn’t the concept of IN/OUT points in audacity, and I wish there was a quick way to select everything between the Loop’s IN and OUT points, so I can mix down whatever is in that area.
I see there is a “Set loop to selection”, but what I’d love to have is a “Select loop area”.
Either a command that I can assign a keyboard shortcut to, or maybe just right clicking on the loop area would expose the command in the context menu. Also double-clicking on the loop area could select everything in the loop.
You can enable the option (in the Time Line right click menu) “Setting a loop region also makes an audio selection”. This ensures that at the time that you create, or adjust the loop region, the selection matches the loop region.
So that you don’t lose the selection, you can add a temporary label (“Ctrl + B”, then “Enter”).
@steve just to follow up on this, so I finally noticed why I didn’t see the selection - it was only made on a track way down at the bottom of my project (a track which happened to be active).
What I was expecting was for the selection to apply to all tracks, that way I can select which tracks get mixed down (by toggling the solo button) , and just export the mix. The loop bar is great for making such a selection, because it’s always visible no matter how many tracks in the project.
I completely agree! Having a command to select everything within the loop area would be incredibly useful for complex and lengthy compositions. It would streamline the process of mixing down selected portions without having to manually select each track individually. A keyboard shortcut or a context menu option, like “Select loop area,” would make workflow much more efficient. I hope Audacity considers implementing this feature in future updates!
@steve Thanks that helps but only somewhat. It helps at first, but once I make other selections, I cannot easily re-select everything in the loop area, without adjusting the loop area to trigger the auto-selection (and then pressing the shortcut to select all tracks).
It would be a lot simpler to just have a command that would select all tracks in the loop area. That way I can work as normal, make other selections, and then hit the command to select all tracks in the loop area, and mix down.
I appreciate your frustration. Personally I found the old way to manage looping was much more convenient than the new “improved” way, but we have to work with what we have.
Try doing it the other way round. Rather than making a loop region and then trying to fit the selection to the loop region, make the selection first, then fit the loop region to the selection.
@steve Yep that’s what I had started with - just making the selection. But that’s the cumbersome part as the in and out points span across multiple tracks which may be quite separated in a big project. The loop region being always visible was the more user-friend way to easily select the in and out point region.
I also tried a label track at the very top to mark the in and out points, but the annoyance there is that I have to scroll all the way to the top to access it.
The solution should be fairly straightforward - a simple command that selects all tracks covering the loop region. Huge effort-saver right there and for little coding (I work in software so I have an idea of what’s involved here.)
You mentioned " we have to work with what we have"… does this mean Audacity is no longer under development? I was under the impression it was (hence my suggestion).
