timelines on each track

[chucky500]

I have a "slow" track and a "fast" track, taken from recording data on a little Sony analog voice recorder that has a playback speed control. I'll download the audio twice to the computer. The data is typed into a spreadsheet. I use the slow track for listening to the stuff that takes more time to type in, and the fast track for the easy numerical data.

In the past I've used editors, such as software that came with the sound card on the computer and also GoldWave, where I could have a timeline for each track. I'd have the two tracks in the same Microsoft Windows window. The two tracks would have the same-width sub-windows, so the tracks would line up, making it easy to go back and forth.

However, it appears that Audacity has only timeline per MS window. I can get two tracks in the same MS window, but the slow and fast tracks will be different widths, thus not lining up. It appears I will have to have two invocations of Audacity going to do this, which is going to be clumsy

Is there a way to put timelines on each track using just one Audacity window?

[chucky500]

So here is a screendump of how I currently know how to do it with Audacity. Would like to do it with just one MS window.

[steve]

You could put a label track under (or above) each track.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Label_Tracks

If you're using Audacity 1.2, I'd highly recommend upgrading to Audacity 1.3.13.
If you can give more information about what you are doing we may be able to suggest additional tools/techniques to help you with the task.

[chucky500]

Does v1.3.13 work with Windows 2000 SP4?

It appears that there is no way to get more than one timeline per MS window. I don't see how I could easily make a timeline by in a label track.

It just always worked out in the past with other audio editors to drop the fast recording below the slow recording. This is a battery maintenance session of a sixteen-battery pack. I have various information I read out into a Sony voice recorder. Most of it is hydrometer readings for specific gravity; those sg readings are typed into a spreadsheet while listening to the fast recording. Other misc. info is easier to enter into the spreadsheet while listening to the slow track. The slow track is usually about 25 minutes long, fast is about 20 minutes. It's the same audio, just different playback speeds on the Sony, which I record to slow and fast tracks on the computer, then listen and enter data in the spreadsheet.

[steve]

Does v1.3.13 work with Windows 2000 SP4?

I've never tried it, but it should work.
The default installation folder for Audacity 1.3 is different to Audacity 1.2, so you can have both versions installed at the same time (but only run one at a time).
If you have major problems with Audacity 1.3.13 you will be able to uninstall it and go back to your old version.
(note: Audacity 1.2.x cannot open Audacity Projects that have been saved by Audacity 1.3.x)

It appears that there is no way to get more than one timeline

No there isn't, but it may not be necessary with Audacity 1.3.13

There is a "Play at speed" function that allows a track to be played faster (or slower) than normal.
The usual way of operating this is with the Transcription Toolbar.

What I have in mind is that you could have just one (normal speed) recording in Audacity. Using the "Play at Speed" function you can play back the recording speeded up. When you need to slow it down, you would stop the recording using the Shift+A shortcut then resume playback at normal speed by pressing the Spacebar.

SHIFT + A Toggles playback on and off, but also sets the cursor to the stop point. When stopped, this is the same as the Play command. When playing, using this shortcut will stop playback and move the cursor to the position where playback was stopped.

Using the Transcription Toolbar will probably be a bit fiddly for your purpose, but you could set your own custom keyboard shortcut to trigger "Play at Speed".
You may also want to customise the "Shift+A" shortcut to something more convenient.

There is a full list of keyboard shortcuts here: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Keyb ... t_commands

[chucky500]

The transcription toolbar may be just the ticket. It would also mean that I would only have to record the audio onto the computer once from the Sony tape recorder.

So I need to get v1.3.13 to get the transcription speed feature? Or is it available in 1.2.6? Somewhere there's a listing of when that feature became available.

I've blown away the audio tracks, but have to do this job about monthly, so at the end of Oct. I'll be at it again. What would be best of all would be a digital hydrometer bluetooth'd to a laptop or somesuch. I can dream...

Thanks for your help! That's a good feature to try out for this problem.

[steve]

The Transcription Toolbar is only in Audacity 1.3

Customizing the keyboard shortcuts is likely to be very useful for you, but there are a lot of shortcuts, so you may find that you need to disable some other shortcut to get the keys that you need. Check the full Keyboard Shortcut Reference when you are deciding which keys to use. If you get them all scrambled, the "Default" button will reset them back to their original default state.