Audacity Forum

i'm looking for a way to edit audio files via cutting a selection from one track and pasting it into another without changing the time positions AND without the selection being "inserted" into the track. the program seems completely incapable of this, yet there doesn't seem to even be dialogue anywhere online about it NOT working either. it's a standard editing procedure in protools, etc, to chop a piece of one file and drag it up or down to another track to overwrite what was there without moving it in time. as you would do with building one final file from multiple takes of the same part of a song. does anyone have idea how this might be possible with audacity? it basically quadruples the editing time to have to seek out the exact time position, insert the new piece, then step forward in time from the end of the new insert the exact same amount of time while highlighting the part you don't want anymore for deletion. it makes the program virtually useless to anyone trying to do regular instrument and voice multi-track recording. i feel like i must be missing something.

on a similar note, is there no way to change the track your working with without moving the cursor from where it was sitting previously in a different track?

Audacity is a pretty simple off-line audio editor, particularly the 1.2 version. 1.3 has much better and more editing tools and you can have both on your machine as long as you only use one at a time.

The only way I ever got something like that to work is to stack instruments and tracks one above the other and selectively push tracks sooner and later and then use the envelope editor to take out the track or portion of track you don't actually want. It will mix down to stereo when you Export.

<<<change the track your working with without moving the cursor from where it was >>>

Not that I ever found. The cursor marks the "attention" point as well as the monitor service pointer, so you can't actually split them. You can place a label (Control-B) to help you get back to where you were. They get sticky or magnetic and pull the cursor home.

<<<it's a standard editing procedure in protools>>>

Audacity is nothing like Cool Edit or Audition, either.

Koz

stiz wrote:i'm looking for a way to edit audio files via cutting a selection from one track and pasting it into another without changing the time positions AND without the selection being "inserted" into the track.

Upgrade to Audacity 1.3

Select the required audio.
Edit menu > Split Cut.
Press ENTER.
Use up/down cursor keys to move focus to the new track.
Press ENTER.
Edit menu > Paste.

Note that there are also short-cut keys that you can use instead of going to the Edit menu each time.