Audacity Forum

I've got an Audacity project with multiple tracks. For some reason on a particular clip of audio, the sound cuts out even though the histogram registers audio. It's not a problem with the track being muted because the beginning of the track works fine, but in the middle the audio cuts completely out. I tried exporting as a WAV, in case it was just an Audacity glitch, but the cut-out sound exists outside the program.

I'm stumped -- any ideas?

<<<I'm stumped -- any ideas?>>>

Yes, unfortunately.

Project files are silent and some of the audio_data files are, too. Some projects insist on standing on the original capture WAV files. Did you "Clean Up" all those old sound files you weren't using any more, or disconnect a portable capture drive because you needed it somewhere else? That may be where your missing clip went.

The pictures of the blue or green waveforms are carried by the audio_data folders so they tend to survive even if the actual performance vanished.

Koz

If you're up to it, you can make Audacity tell you what it needs.

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Open up the .aup file in TextEdit instead of Audacity. File, Open With.

Search the computer code (Apple-F) for the word aliasfile. The words following that will point to the external files and clips that the project needs to open. For example, one of mine says:

aliasfile='/Users/koz/Desktop/piano3.wav'

And sure enough. If I take piano3.wav off the desktop, everything goes in the toilet.

If you have no "aliasfile" listing in the code, then everything should be self contained inside the piano3_data folder (to continue the example), or you have something broken.

The .aup file and the _data folder always travel together.
===================================================================

Koz

Thanks for the suggestions!

<<<(Apple-F) for the word aliasfile.>>>

Or whatever search is in Windows Land. Open the file in Notepad instead of TextEdit, etc.

It's a relatively straightforward XML file full of conditions and edit instructions.

Koz

This tip worked wonderfully! Thank you so much.

To prevent this kind of thing in the future, I would suggest that Audacity save aliasfiles as relative paths rather than absolute ones, or else perhaps saving a copy of aliased files in the data folder for the project?

Thanks again!

<<<To prevent this kind of thing in the future, >>>

Letting "Save" produce an actual sound file like everybody else does would go an even longer way.

Koz

Once again, we have worked on this in 1.3.4 - it now tells you when you hit Save what external files are used, and offers to copy them if you want to.

<<<we have worked on this in 1.3.4>>>

Good to know. This is me writing that down. [print screen]

I don't run any of the 1.3.x software, so this is the first news.

I can't wait for 1.4.x. I am going to be weapons grade lost. That may be a good time to retire to Maui. Or maybe Schenectady. Tough choice.

Koz

I'm having the same problem as above ... I checked and found I had the aliasfile issue, too. I'd like to be able to fix this so that I'm able to use my files without the drive plugged in. Can anyone give me any more detail / explicit instructions as to how to fix this? I'm still running 1.2.6, but as soon as I resolve this I'll be upgrading. (Or would that take care of it now?) Thanks!