Longer preview or real-time effects? Are either possible?

[hoobass]

i'm trying to EQ some live recordings of my band in audacity. i had been using cubase, but it's pretty involved for someone who just needs a "quick and dirty" fix. problem is, in audacity, i can't open an EQ window and adjust the levels in real-time as the track is playing. is there a way (plug-in, etc.) to do this? barring that, i've attemped to "eyeball" an eq setting then preview it on the track. however, i only get two seconds of preview. not really enough to judge whether or not the settings are right. is there a way to increase the preview time? ideally, i'd like to preview the whole track, but even 20 seconds would suffice. thanks!

[kozikowski]

Audacity doesn't do anything in real time. It's a post production editing and management tool.

I never use preview. I apply the filter and UNDO if I don't like it. You can select a chunk of the show with your mouse and just apply the filter to that chunk. The chunk can be as long as you want.

Audacity doesn't actually change the sound when you apply a filter. It posts a note in the AUP file to apply the filter during project playback or Export. When you UNDO, it just erases the note.

Koz

[kozikowski]

If everything goes into the toilet and your machine crashes or other evil event happens, you can always go back to the WAV file you exported of the performance. You did Export a Backup WAV File of the performance capture, right? Audacity Projects a large, complicated, brittle and you can't move them.

Koz

[steve]

Theres an option in "Preferences" (Ctrl + P) to adjust the preview time.
(sorry, I'm not on a computer with Audacity installed at the moment and I can't remember exactly where you will find the option, but it's somewhere in Preferences).

Update: It's on the Audio I/O tab