Problems installing noise gate

[Tim Vicary]

I am using Windows 7 and Audacity 2.1.1

I am trying to install the nyquist noise gate but it doesn't work. Every time I download it or try to install it in the plug-ins section of Audacity I get this message:

Error Importing
Audacity does not recognise the type of the file 'C:Program Files(x86)\Audacity\Plug-Ins\Noisegate\noisegate.ny.' If it is uncompressed, try importing it using "Import Raw"

I tried importing it using 'Import Raw' but it appeared in audacity like a long audio track.

I've been struggling with this for hours. What am I doing wrong?

Tim

[steve]

See here for installation instructions (Audacity 2.1.1) http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/ef ... st_effects

If you have an older version of Audacity, the current version is available here: http://web.audacityteam.org/download/windows

[Tim Vicary]

Yes, I've been trying to follow those instructions but it doesn't work, in the way I have described.

Tim

[steve]

The instructions definitely do work in the current version of Audacity, so long as you follow the instructions exactly.

Error Importing
Audacity does not recognise the type of the file 'C:Program Files(x86)\Audacity\Plug-Ins\Noisegate\noisegate.ny.' If it is uncompressed, try importing it using "Import Raw"

That error message occurs if you try "File > Open" or "File > Import" and then select the plug-in. The instructions do not tell you to do that.

[Tim Vicary]

Ok, thanks, I'm trying hard. I get to Plug-in Manager: Effect, Generators and Analysers just as it appears in the Audacity manual, underneath which it says 'The shipped plug-ins must be enabled using this dialog.' But I can't understand how to use this tool. When I click the 'all' button as instructed, all the effects I already have are listed there, enabled, but how do I import the noise gate which doesn't appear? The instructions don't explain this, so far as I can see.

In Programs (x86) \Audacity\Plug-Ins\ Noisegate is there, but as a yellow book file unless I click on it, when it appears like the others, in a separate box, with a help descriptions underneath. How do I move it into the Plug-In Manager?

Tim

[steve]

When I click the 'all' button as instructed, all the effects I already have are listed there,

Look carefully through that list and find C:Program Files(x86)\Audacity\Plug-Ins\Noisegate\noisegate.ny
When you find it in the list, click on it so that it is highlighted, then click the "Enable" button, then click the OK button.
That's all.
The effect should now be listed in Audacity's Effect menu.

[Gale Andrews]

In Programs (x86) \Audacity\Plug-Ins\ Noisegate is there, but as a yellow book file unless I click on it, when it appears like the others, in a separate box, with a help descriptions underneath.

As it says at http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/ef ... st_effects, Nyquist plugins should go in the Audacity "Plug-Ins" folder. The NY file has to go in the top level of that "Plug-Ins" folder, not inside a sub-folder, because Audacity does not see Nyquist plugins that are inside sub-folders.

So, select "noisegate.ny" in the "C:Program Files(x86)\Audacity\Plug-Ins\Noisegate\" folder, right-click "noisegate.ny" and choose "Cut".

Move up into "'C:Program Files(x86)\Audacity\Plug-Ins\", right-click in empty space, and choose "Paste" (or hold CTRL on your computer keyboard and press V).

Now you should see "C:Program Files(x86)\Audacity\Plug-Ins\noisegate.ny" in the Plug-in Manager. Click that row, click "Enable", then OK. Look for Noise Gate in the lower part of Effect Menu (underneath the dividing line).


Gale

[Tim Vicary]

Hi Steve

I did it! But it wasn't there in the list - I had to figure out a way of opening the zip file and then copying it to the plug-ins downloads; then it worked. I guess it's obvious to many folks how to do that but not to me - I wish there were slightly more detailed instructions in the handbook. But thanks for your help.

By the way, in that list there is also an item called Noise: Built-in effect, noise But although it's in the manage list it doesn't appear in the drop-down list of Effects. Why is that and what does it do?

Regards

Tim

[steve]

By the way, in that list there is also an item called Noise: Built-in effect, noise But although it's in the manage list it doesn't appear in the drop-down list of Effects. Why is that and what does it do?

That's the Noise generator: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/ge ... html#noise

[Gale Andrews]

I had to figure out a way of opening the zip file and then copying it to the plug-ins downloads; then it worked.

According to the import error you reported, you had already extracted the NY file from the zip file, but you had done so into a separate folder called "Noisegate" instead of into the top level of Audacity's "Plug-Ins" folder.

If you want more plugins from http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Downl ... t_Plug-ins you could right-click over the "View" link and "Save Target As " or "Save Link As" to download the NY file without it being in a ZIP file. That is how I download them.

I guess it's obvious to many folks how to do that but not to me - I wish there were slightly more detailed instructions in the handbook.

I will make clearer at http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/ef ... st_effects that Nyquist plugins must be at the top level of the Plug-Ins folder. You won't see that change until the next 2.1.2 release.


Gale