Mysterious dissapearing aif files....

[gusss]

I saved a project - I use the same source file in several tracks (multitrck editing) - even though the source file is the same and hasn't been moved it shows up on one track but the other is completely blank and even if I amplify it it has no waveform. I could understand if I had changed directory structure/ location of audio files but I havnt - as I say it reads it fine for one but nore the other - most confused as it loaded fine last night and today it does not - can I get in to see where Audacity is looking for the audio files ?
There are no error messages either....

[kozikowski]

Certainly. You can pull apart your AUP file and look. It's a text file.

I took a picture of a very simple aup file and added spaces and blanks to make it look pretty.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/aup1.jpg

Note where it says "aliasfile=" That's the beginning of the pathway to your music. Also note that there are two of them, one right and one left.

I admit I've never tried one sound file in multiple tracks. I can see the operating system having problems opening up the same file multiple times. "This file is already in use..."

Koz

[gusss]

Certainly. You can pull apart your AUP file and look. It's a text file.

I took a picture of a very simple aup file and added spaces and blanks to make it look pretty.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/aup1.jpg

Note where it says "aliasfile=" That's the beginning of the pathway to your music. Also note that there are two of them, one right and one left.

I admit I've never tried one sound file in multiple tracks. I can see the operating system having problems opening up the same file multiple times. "This file is already in use..."

Koz

Hi - You dont need to make it look pretty - I write my own music software. I am using max msp to produce 8 channel audio (for editing I usually use Nuendo but it is not installed here) and have found that most audio editors do not have a problem with using the same source file on several different tracks. Audacity seems to be able to do what I need to edit multichannel audio whereas logic and protools could not - so theres a plus for audacity right there. Thanks for the tip on the file - Im not used to macs either so a bit of a learning curve here.....

[PGA]

I admit I've never tried one sound file in multiple tracks. I can see the operating system having problems opening up the same file multiple times. "This file is already in use..."

There are no problems doing this with WAV files on Windows (7, Vista or XP). I have done it on the soundtracks for several of my AV sequences. So it may be file-type specific, OS specific or this user's system specific.

[steve]

I saved a project - I use the same source file in several tracks (multitrck editing) - even though the source file is the same and hasn't been moved it shows up on one track but the other is completely blank and even if I amplify it it has no waveform. I could understand if I had changed directory structure/ location of audio files but I havnt - as I say it reads it fine for one but nore the other - most confused as it loaded fine last night and today it does not - can I get in to see where Audacity is looking for the audio files ?
There are no error messages either....

It's difficult (perhaps impossible) to tell exactly what went wrong without knowing in precise detail how the project was constructed.
You should be able to use the same source file multiple times, but exactly how the data is handled depends on what you do and what Preference settings you are using.
There's a good article here that explains how Audacity handles audio data: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Audacity_Projects