Labels Time Shift

[maxjasper]

Hello Folks,
I cut a track at a time point where I have labels to its left and right. However, when time shift the right track to the right the labels stay put. Or if in version 1.3.13a I lock sync-lock tracks then ALL lables move to right. Is there any trick to shift the split right track with all its own labels but keep left track's labels stay? Thanks.

[steve]

If you select both the audio track(s) and the label track you can do it with cut and paste.

Alternatively you can "Split Cut" the labels on the left and paste them to a new label track.

[maxjasper]

Cut-n-paste could be a solution but when a portion of a track together with its labels is selected, cut, n pasted I notice that its cut labels disappear and are not pasted into new location. Version 1.3.13alpha

[steve]

You need to select both the audio track and the label track both when you copy and when you paste.

(When you paste, it is probably easier to make a small selection, which will be overwritten, than to try and just place the cursor position with both tracks).

I'm not convinced that the Sync-lock behaviour is "correct" in either 1.3.12 or 1.3.13. It would seem more reasonable with what you are doing for only the labels in the selection to be moved rather than all of them - I presume that is what you expected to happen?

[maxjasper]

Although both track and its labels are selected and cut but when pasted labels disappear, no labels are pasted and a track with no labels is pasted only.

[steve]

The audio track and the label track must both be selected when pasting.

I'll try and give a clear example:

1) Open a new Audacity project and create 10 seconds of sound.
2) Select from 5 seconds to 6 seconds and press Ctrl+B (creates a label).
3) Select from 3 seconds to 8 seconds in both the audio track and the label track, then press Ctrl+X (Cut)
You now have 5 seconds of audio remaining and no labels.

4) Select from 10 seconds to 11 seconds in both the audio track and the label track, then press Ctrl+V (paste).
The 5 seconds of audio that were cut in step 3 are pasted in the audio track beginning at 10 seconds.
The Label that was cut in step 3 is pasted into the label track starting at 12 seconds (it has maintained its relative position with the pasted audio)

[billw58]

I'm not convinced that the Sync-lock behaviour is "correct" in either 1.3.12 or 1.3.13. It would seem more reasonable with what you are doing for only the labels in the selection to be moved rather than all of them - I presume that is what you expected to happen?

I looked at this last night in 1.3.13. At first I thought we had a bug, or at least an undefined behaviour. Further though and experimentation left me undecided.

New project, sync lock on
Generate 10 seconds of sound
Click near the middle of the sound and Edit > Split: you now have two clips
Click in the first clip and create a label
Click in the second clip and crate a label
Using the Move tool, drag the second clip - the second clip and the entire label track move

Put the second clip back where it belongs (undo time shift)
Add new audio track
Generate audio into the new track
Drag the new track above the label track: you now have a group consisting of audio / audio / label
Using the move tool, drag the second clip in the first audio track: all the audio in both audio tracks moves (including the first clip in the first track), as well as the entire label track.

In this second scenario sync-lock is doing what it should do: keep the tracks in sync, and the only way it can do that is to move the all the audio in all the sync-locked tracks.

In the first scenario we have a special case: sync-lock with one audio track only. In this case Audacity is allowing you to drag a clip without moving the audio in the rest of the track, even if there is a label track in the sync-locked group.

I'm not sure what the correct behaviour should be in the first case. If there was no label track then allowing time-shifting of individual clips should probably we allowed. But once there is a label track it seems to me that dragging individual clips should be disallowed. That is, the existence of the label track should have the same effect as the existence of additional audio track(s).

-- Bill

[steve]

Thanks for the input Bill, I find that a clear example of why the behaviour is as it is when Sync-lock is enabled. However I'm thinking that when Sync-lock is disabled then only selected items (audio clips or data) should move. IIRC this is not what happens in earlier versions of Audacity, but I think that now that Sync-lock is available it would be more useful. so....

In your "Example 2", I think the behaviour should be as you describe when Sync-lock is enabled, but if sync-lock is disabled, then I think it would be more useful to be able to select part of the final audio clip in an audio track, and the same region in the label track, and that dragging would then only move audio clips that are within (or partially within) the selection. (does that make sense?)

[steve]

Topic split to here: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 16&t=42259

[maxjasper]

The audio track and the label track must both be selected when pasting.
3) Select from 3 seconds to 8 seconds in both the audio track and the label track, then press Ctrl+X (Cut)

SOLVED: Labels vanished after paste because before pasting I did not select some track+labels track and paste, but rather I just placed my cursor in a location in track and pasted...this action only pasted the cut audio track but not its label track...this perhaps should be the default way. However, when before pasting both track+label track part are selected then labels of that part of cut track also are pasted correctly. Thanks for all helps.