Audacity Forum

I sometimes edit a wav file by highlighting a small portion and 'zooming to selection'. I then change back to 'normal view', and start playing the edited section a few seconds before the edit.
When I save the file, the console prints out messages like this:
Expected to read 220500 samples, got 0 samples.
Expected to read 220500 samples, got 0 samples.
Expected to read 41644 samples, got 0 samples.
Expected to read 41644 samples, got 0 samples.

After closing Audacity, the file is trashed...either one section repeats over and over for minutes, or there are large silent sections in the file.
I've had this problem erratically in previous versions, but I can replicate the problem reliably in the latest 1.3.5 version. I'm running it in Fedora 10.

I'm not sure if this has any bearing on the above problem, but when opening a wav file by passing it to Audacity, e.g. 'audacity somefile.wav', the following prints on the console:
Expression 'stream->playback.pcm' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 3578

The wav files are 24 bit depth, and usually 48khz rate.

It seems to happen if I replace the old file. But when I save the file with a new name, it doesn't happen, at least so far.
Also, I'm not using projects, just wav files.


I'm running Audacity ® 1.3.5-beta (Unicode)

Build Information

File Format Support
libmad
(MP3 Importing)
Disabled
libvorbis
(Ogg Vorbis Import and Export)
Enabled
libid3tag
(ID3 tag support)
Enabled
libflac
(FLAC import and export)
Enabled
libtwolame
(MP2 export)
Disabled
QuickTime
(Import via QuickTime)
Disabled
Core Libraries
libsamplerate
(Sample rate conversion)
Enabled
PortAudio
(Audio playback and recording)
v19
wxWidgets 2.8.9
(Unicode)
Features
Nyquist
(Plug-in support)
Enabled
LADSPA
(Plug-in support)
Enabled
Vamp
(Plug-in support)
Enabled
Audio Units
(Plug-in support)
Disabled
PortMixer
(Sound card mixer support)
Enabled
SoundTouch
(Pitch and Tempo Change support)
Enabled
Build Information
Program build date:
Nov 7 2008
Build type:
Release build
Installation Prefix:
/usr

It sounds to me like the project is damaged before you are doing the select/zoom/play business.

You may not be "using" Audacity projects, but Audacity does. Audacity does not work directly on audio files, it converts them into projects. If you mess around with the data that the project is using, then the project will break and can cause this type of error.

12string wrote:It seems to happen if I replace the old file.

If the "old file" is being used by the Audacity project, then changing it in any way will break the project.

See here for more information about how Audacity handles files: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... ement_Tips