Amplify Error

[Shaky]

First of all many congratulations of the launch of 2.0 - A fantastic achievement.

Unfortunately I have a problem that has survived from the beta versions: I am importing a CD image typically in flac into Audacity and would then like to moderate levels using ‘Amplify’ before cutting into tracks using the CUE sheet processed here: http://grimblefritz.com/audacity/cue2lbl.php

However, every time I attempt to run the Amplify command on the image file I get an error “An unhandled exception occurred” after which Audacity comprehensively crashes.

Am using Win 7 x64 on a Xeon quad core, plenty of RAM, etc.

Is this a known bug and/or is there a work around?

[kozikowski]

a CD image typically in flac

Is it a FLAC sound file or a digital image file? Does it open and play in Windows Media or QuickTime Player?

Audacity has an unfortunate history of opening and displaying files it has no business opening -- see: compressed sound files and advanced formats.
Koz

[Shaky]

Thanks for the quick reply, Koz.

As far as I am aware these are regular flac audio files that work in a player, and have been generated using Exact Audio Copy.

Any ideas?

[steve]

Edit menu > Preferences > Directories
Uncheck the "Audio Cache" box.

[Shaky]

Thanks Steve, that fixed it.

Have now tried the split track function and it works really well.

One idea though; would it be possible to add a sort of generic marker type (=EoF) that could be manually inserted indicating the end of a track so as not to have too much silence, but is ignored in the extraction process to preserve track numbering?

Waddyya think, is that worth a formal suggestion?

[steve]

One idea though; would it be possible to add a sort of generic marker type (=EoF) that could be manually inserted indicating the end of a track so as not to have too much silence, but is ignored in the extraction process to preserve track numbering?

Do you mean when using "Export Multiple"?
If so then you can use Export Multiple with "Region Labels" http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Label_Tracks

[Shaky]

Thanks again, Steve, I hadn't seen that.

I find the sliders a little fiddly zooming in and out of the waveform, but maybe my accuracy will improve with experience.

[steve]

For zooming in/out I prefer to use Ctrl+Mouse Wheel
Shift+Mouse wheel will scroll left/right.
There are other navigation tips here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Navig ... n_features

[Shaky]

Thanks again Steve, I'll give that a shot.

Just looking around I have one other question; am I right in thinking that the Amplify/Normalise functions have been changed? In particular is it right that Normalise now performs the function that Amplify used to do, assuming the 'Normalise stereo channels independently' option is left unchecked?

Does this now make Amplify redundant?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I have been caught out on this before and wanted to make sure.

[steve]

The main difference between Amplify and Normalize is that "Amplify" increases or decreases the level by a certain amount, whereas "Normalize" adjusts the level to a certain level.

The difference is most apparent if you are applying the effect to multiple tracks at the same time.
If you have two tracks and the first track has a peak level of -3 dB and the second has a peak level of -10 dB
Amplify by +3 dB and the first track will have a new peak level of 0 dB and the second track will have a new peak level of -7 dB.
Normalize to -1 dB and both tracks will have a new peak level of -1 dB.