Question about Resampling Library

[User Username]

I have Audacity 2.0 and while looking into the newest version was wondering about one of the new improvements: "Audacity 2.0.3 now uses the libsoxr resampling library by default, instead of libresample, for higher quality and speed"

I'm no audio expert so bear with me here but what exactly does this directly affect? Will the program (2.0.3) open and play/save all my older audacity projects and files just the same as it would with 2.0?

Also what preferences does audacity save? are these just things like what type of file you want to export?

I don't see how there would be any issues with the new version but honestly I wouldn't know. any clarification/further explanation would be appreciated.

[steve]

Briefly, it will not make much if any noticeable difference for most end users, but it represents a performance improvement for something that Audacity does internally.

"Resampling" is when the sample rate of the digital audio is changed.
By default, Audacity uses a sample rate of 44100 Hz (which is the sample rate used for CD audio), but audio that is recorded or imported could have a different sample rate and it may be necessary for Audacity to change the sample rate. The way that Audacity does this has been upgraded and can now do this with exceptionally good quality and is now both better and faster than previous version of Audacity.

Will the program (2.0.3) open and play/save all my older audacity projects and files just the same as it would with 2.0?

Yes. As usual, 2.0.3 supports files that were created with earlier versions of Audacity.

Also what preferences does audacity save? are these just things like what type of file you want to export?

Audacity saves preferences for quite a lot of things. It is not yet able to save "last settings used" for all of the effects - notably it does not save setting for plug-in effects, but generally it will save "last settings used" for most of the options that you choose for built-in functions.

If at any time you wish to reset Audacity back to its default settings you can do this be re-running the installer and in the "Select Additional Tasks" screen, put a check in the "Reset Preferences" box. Complete the installation. On launching Audacity, a dialog will appear where you can confirm that you want to reset preferences.

[User Username]

Thanks that helps a lot. so the resampling upgrade only comes into play if you decide to change the sampling rate of a song by importing it and then clicking track title > Set Rate?

[steve]

if you decide to change the sampling rate of a song by importing it and then clicking track title > Set Rate?

Strangely enough, "Set Rate" from the track drop-down menu does not require "resampling" in the sense that the audio does not need to be "processed". When you use "Set Rate", the digital audio samples are not changed at all. The only thing that happens is that they are spread out wider or closer together along the time line so that there are less or more samples per second. In effect this is identical to playing the track faster or slower.

Where resampling is required is when you want/need to change the number of samples per second (the sample rate) without stretching the track bigger or smaller. This occurs if you use "Resample" from the main "Tracks" menu.

Other cases where resampling is required is whenever the project contains one or more pieces of audio that have a different sample rate to the "Project Rate".
The "Project Rate" is shown in the lower left corner of the main Audacity window.
The Project Rate is the sample rate that Audacity uses for playback and for exporting audio and by default this is set to 44100 samples per second (the same as audio CDs).
If you are doing some recording at 44100 samples per second, and then you import an audio file that has a different sample rate, you will need the imported file to play back at the same rate as the rest of the project so that it plays at the correct speed. Audacity accomplishes this by resampling the imported audio so that it is the same as the Project Rate.

[User Username]

Ah I see now.... Thank you very much for all the helpful info. :)