copying and pasting

[jbjbjbjbjb]

While I can select several clips at once on multiple tracks, if I copy (menu or shortcut), then only the first clip is copied, even though cutting and deleting affects all selected material. Is there a way to copy and paste effectively from and to multiple tracks?

[steve]

You need to have the same number of tracks selected before you paste.

[jbjbjbjbjb]

THANKYOU, this is a breakthrough for me!!

[jbjbjbjbjb]

new issue regarding copying and pasting that I'm putting here since it's still about... copying and pasting!

I've been working on a bridge in a seperate project file. I'm more or less happy with it, so used the CTRL+SHIFT+M Mix and Render to new track command.
This works.
Then, while copying and pasting into the main song, audacity silences the left channel!
I tried splitting the stereo before the operation, but the same thing happens. The Left channel information becomes a straight line. Any ideas anyone?

[steve]

There's a lot of possibilities, but it is likely to be "user error", but unfortunately very difficult to guess exactly what without sitting with you and watching.

The first thing to check is that you have not accidentally pushed the "pan" slider across to one side before mixing. (surprisingly easy to do as it is immediately under the track volume slider).

Generally one would use "Mix and Render" from the Tracks menu rather than the CTRL+SHIFT+M shortcut. The latter leaves all of the old tracks in the project which is usually not desireable, and there is the possibility that one of these old tracks may have cancelled out the left channel.

Audacity does not imitate other programs - there is on the whole a serious attempt to stick with program conventions (though differences between mac and Windows sometimes makes this impossible), and to keep it logical, however in some things Audacity will take a unique approach and it takes a bit of time to figure out the most efficient way to accomplish certain tasks.

In the case of working on a bridge section, separate from the main project, this is how I would probably approach it.
1) Open a new project and produce the bridge section.
2) Export the bridge section as a WAV file. (no need to mix the tracks first as they will automatically be mixed on Export).
3) Save the bridge section project with a unique name in case I want to come back to it.
4) Play the bridge section in VLC (or whatever your favourite media player is) and check that it sounds OK.
5) Close the bridge project and open the main project.
6) Import the bridge WAV file into the main project.