"Cut" feature cutting too much :(

[thebloks]

Hi,
I am using Audacity 1.38 to edit recorded voice files (for learning language). I have recorded them using a small mp3 player and they are recorded in .wav format.

My problem is that when I want to "cut" it cuts too much.
For example I want to get rid of 10 seconds of background nothing noise between words.
So I highlight on the track (click and drag) and then click "cut". This should get rid of the 10 seconds I don't want.
But it cuts 21 seconds and I lose the data forward of the 'cut' that I actually want to keep.

Any thoughts about why and how to fix?
It has happened most times that I try to use 'cut' although I have had a few times that it has worked.

I am running Windows XP Pro version 2002 with SP3 on a Toshiba Tecra laptop (Intel T2400 1.83 GHz) with 1Gig RAM.
Any other info you need?
Thanks
Greg

P.S. I really like the new label feature usability because I can put the correct info about the recording under the wave file (and the old version was really crapy)

[waxcylinder]

Have you tried using the Delete function (keyboard shotcut CTRL+K) on the selected audio.

I Use 1.3.8 and have just recently used the delete function and it did the delete properly.

WC

[thebloks]

Hey thanks
That worked on the piece I just tried.
Still might be a bug that needs fixing.

[waxcylinder]

ok I'll send an email to one of the development team to see if they can look at this - they are currently trying to tease out as many 1.3 bugs as possible prior to a planned 2.0 release later this year.

Glad the workaround worked for you.

WC

[thebloks]

Thanks
I've used it about 30 times in the last 30 minutes and it works great.

[Gale Andrews]

There isn't a bug as obvious as that which is replicable every time you do a cut in any scenario. We would need an exact scenario from launch of Audacity including number and length of tracks, the position of any labels in the project and whether "Link Tracks" is enabled (the button to left of the Zoom button).

1.3.9 will be out very shortly so try this 1.3.9 release candidate:
http://www.gaclrecords.org.uk/audacity- ... 3.9rc1.exe

and if there is still a problem please give us steps to reproduce it as above. If there is a problem it won't be fixed for 1.3.9 though.

Thanks

Gale

[deg]

I have seen this problem too. It occurs often, but not fully reproducibly.

Here are some more details; I hope they give enough clues to track this down.

I'm running Audacity 1.3.9 on Windows XP.

I'm copying a large number of LP records. My workflow is the following:
- Open a new Audacity window
- Start recording. Record both sides of the record. Stop recording
- Use Effect | Click Removal.
- Use CUT (ctrl-X) to eliminate dead time before the start of the recording, between the two sides of the record, and after the end of the recording
- Label tracks, Effects | Normalize, and File | Export Multiple

The bug is that when I do the cut, twice the expected amount is removed. My sense is that it is exactly twice. But, I've not measured exactly, so the earlier report of 21 seconds cut instead of 10 is not inconsistent with what I've seen. I've seen the bug occur both at the start of the recording and in the middle (between the two sides of the record). I assume it also happens at the end, but the effect is invisible there.

This problem does not occur on all recordings. However, once it does occur, it will occur for all attempts to CUT that recording.

I've not found any pattern that identifies which recordings have this problem.

[deg]

Update:

I just saw the problem happen again. In detail:

- I recorded and eliminated clicks
- Cut the start of the recording. No problem
- Cut the end of the recording. No way to tell if the problem was there
- Zoomed in to the middle.
- Used ctrl-L to replace much of the gap with silence (probably irrelevant, but...)
- Cut the middle. Problem occurred; twice as much was removed
- Did ctrl-Z to undo all the cuts
- Tried cutting the middle again. Problem did not occur.
- Tried repeating the initial sequence of events. Problem did not occur.
- Undid again
- Did a ctrl-L and ctrl-X on the middle. Fine
- Did a ctrl-X on the start. problem occurred

David

[steve]

I've not seen this problem reported for a while now, so it may have been fixed. Could you try the latest "Nightly" version and see if that fixes the problem. (available here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... tly_Builds )

[billw58]

This is a known bug in 1.3.9 when you have a label track and "Link Audio and Label Tracks" is checked in the "Tracks" menu.

Turn this option off or get rid of the label track before doing your editing.

Wait until you have done all of your editing before adding the label track. Once you turn linking off the labels will no longer stay in sync with the audio.

-- Bill