Audacity Forum

Happily used Audacity 1.2.6 for last 3yr on Windows XP laptop. UNTIL last couple of days when opening previously reliable MP3 & WAV files in Audacity 1.2.6 they seem massively amplified so that most of the tune is very badly clipped.

I've tried uninstalling, cleaning hard drive reinstalling Audacity 1.2.6. Done this three times but problem remains.

I notice when clicking X to close a track the waveform disappears but track title remains in top LH corner which should return to the 'Audacity' label, suggesting that the track is still there but invisible, which is confirmed when I try to close Audacity I get the 'Do you want to save changes' message. This behaviour is odd, unlike how Audacity normally works.

Help!

Audacity Preferences system can become damaged and this can cause Audacity to do very odd things -- and it can survive reinstalling. You have to sterilize the preference system separately.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audacity_Preferences

Koz

<<<cleaning hard drive >>>

What do you mean by that? Defragmenting and Error Check?

Koz

<<<they seem massively amplified so that most of the tune is very badly clipped.>>>

Sorry. Just waking up. They seem massively amplified? Are the waveforms oversized and clipped, or the show just sounds overloaded?

I've had Audacity do that to me, too and I can't remember how I cured it. I may have closed and reopened the show again. It only happened once. It does happen on multiple shows?

Does it happen on this short sound file?

http://www.kozco.com/tech/piano2.wav

Koz

Koz!
Sorry so slow to work through all your responses.
(a) I sterilised the Preferences by deleting the Audacity Software key in the Registry (very nervously) but Audacity behaviour unaffected so I did System Restore to return to status quo.
(b) 'Cleaning Hard Drive' = ChkDsk error check,defrag, CCleaner
(c) Massively amplified means that, although it sounds ok with no distortion, the waveform of MP3/WAV file is mainly a solid block with only peaks near the end and beginning, where the tune is very quiet.
(d) Your piano2.wav file good - only takes up half the available space on the vertical axis. however same prob that clicking X to close track still leaves 'piano2' label in top LH corner and when I close Audacity the 'Do you want to save..' message shows that track did not close, just waveform disappeared
(e) Maybe my 3yr old laptop has some problem which affects previously reliable Audacity

I do appreciate the time and effort you made to suggest solutions to this problem. I'll experiment with (a) again aand see what happens

Meanwhile thanks again
John

Koz,
Uninstall, delete Audacity Software Registry file, Reinstall Audacity definitely has no effect on either the clipping or the failure to close tracks by clicking X
One of Life's mysteries, is this
Thanks again
J

Try upgrading to Audacity 1.3.12

Thanks, Steve.

Both problems persist in 1.3.12 -
(a) Although tracks sound ok, their wave form becomes massively clipped and loudness meter goes into red
(b) when closing the track by clicking X, the track label remains in top LH corner where I'd expect to see 'Audacity' label, then when closing Audacity 'Save changes before closing?' comes up, meaning that the track was still there, just the waveform had closed.
Used 1.2.6 for 3yr trouble-free with all these same downloaded mp3/wav files until this prob set in during last week . Only two things I've done last week were (1) bought and installed Mixed In Key (2) Installed i-Tunes (Now uninstalled). Laptop is 3yr old Windows XP maybe worn out after hard use.

Thanks again for suggestion - interesting to see the newer version (1.3.12)
All Best Wishes, j

It looks like two separate (probably unrelated) problems.
The sound level problem may well be a simple sound system setting, but the one I'm more concerned about is the track not closing - that is definitely not normal.

I see that you "sterilised the Preferences", but it's possible that you may have missed a registry key - I'd rather not encourage you to poke around further in the registry, but one advantage of Audacity 1.3 is that it is easy to reset preferences as it stores them in a file and not in the registry. I'm not 100% certain that this applies to Audacity 1.3.12, but previous 1.3 versions would look in the Windows registry for any Audacity keys (from previously installed Audacity 1.2) and will read them on first launch. So it's probably worth resetting the Audacity 1.3 settings and telling it not to read preferences from the registry.

To do that, you need to find the "audacity.cfg" file and manually edit it in Notepad. You need to delete everything from the audacity.cfg file except for the first line "NewPrefsInitialized=1". Instructions are here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audac ... tored.3F_2

Steve
Following your instructions I edited audacity.cfg then tried opening and closing previously reliable wav's (From TrackItDown) with Audacity 1.3.12 but again same symptoms - close track waveform by clicking on X but clearly actual track is still there (its name still in top LH corner of screen where it should say 'Audacity'. Closing audacity brings up 'Save changes before closing?' message, indicating that track is still there,though wafeform is not.
On the sound level aspect - buying Hard House tracks from TID, a reliable source, has always given me excellent wav/mp3 files which always open without clipping in Audacity or Sound Forge - I think they must use some normalisation procedure. Added to which, these are tracks which have nevercaused sound level probs in the past yet this last week they clip badly in both Audacity and Sound Forge.
At present I am recording vinyl using Audacity 1.3.12 at unnaturally low sound levels so no clipping is possible i n the resulting WAV files
I am most grateful to you for all the effort you are making to solve this, Steve.
All Best Wishes John