Here's a new version.
- Both stereo and mono files of any sample rate can now be imported.
- To import files into a stereo track, a stereo track must be selected before running Append Import. (Generate plug-ins can only create new mono tracks, but can return stereo audio to a stereo track if the stereo track is selected before running the plug-in).
- When "Mono" is selected as the output format, stereo files will be mixed down to mono.
- Append Import only supports uncompressed audio formats.
- The computer must have enough RAM for the entire import.
As with all Generate plug-ins, if the tracks are imported
without selecting a track, then the imported track will be at the "Project Sample Rate" (as shown in the lower left corner of the main Audacity window). If a track is selected before running "Append Import" then the track sample rate will be used.
Unfortunately it does not appear to be possible to trap input errors. If an invalid path or file name is entered, then the import will fail without any meaningful message. If the "Debug" button is used rather than the "OK" button, then the error will be shown in the debug window, though not in a very user friendly way.
Nyquist only supports reading uncompressed file types (AIFF, WAV) so it is not possible to use this plug-in directly with MP3, WMA, FLAC or other compressed file types.
This plug-in could be adapted to concatenate longer files, but only by writing directly to disk rather than reading into a track, and there's better ways of doing that (for example by using SoX). For a modern computer (with 2GB or more of RAM) it should be possible to import well over an hour of stereo audio.
One nice little bonus feature is that the specified directory is the "default" import folder. Files from other locations may be imported at the same time if they are typed with a fully qualified address. For example, if the default folder is
/home/user/Desktop/ and file1 is
test1.wav and file2 is
/home/user/soundfiles/test2.wav then test1.wav will be found from the default directory and test2.wav will be found because it has a fully defined path. I'm not sure how this works on Mac and Windows, so perhaps someone can test it and let me know.