I am new to Audacity and have been told that there is a way to combine a number of files from a multi track into a single multi track that can be played back as a multi track in other programs. I have had no success in accomplishing this. How is this done?
cwc
Could you describe in more detail exactly what you are trying to do?
What are the “files from a multi track”? Where did they come from? Have you tried opening one of them in Audacity? If so, what was the result?
What do you mean by a “single multi track”?
Audacity projects cannot be played back in other programs. There are ways to create, for example, a 5.1 surround sound file from Audacity. Is this what you want to do?
– Bill
I have a multi track file; bass, drums etc. and I want to combine all of those tracks into a single multitrack file that I can then open in Qlab. So all of the tracks are folded into this single file, that when you open it in Qlab allows you to control all of those tracks individually. This used to be possible in Audacity and I have been told that it is still possible. My usual way of doing this was with Sound File Merger which no longer works in Catalina.
Hope that this makes it clearer for you?
cwc
What format is that file?
What happens when you import it into Audacity?
No. I’m confused, because multi-track editing in Audacity is really very easy and straight-forward. You can overdub with Audacity, which allows you to record a new track giving you a second (or third, etc.) track. Or you can import multiple .wav files, for example. They will appear on top of each other and will play simultaneously. If they are not lined up perfectly, you can use time-shift tool to align the tracks precisely, all the way down to the sample level. If they are recorded with slightly different time-bases, there are tools to stretch your audio.
You can do simultaneous multi-track recording, if your hardware interface supports it. (However if you are using ASIO, you must compile your own Audacity program due to licensing issues).
The Audacity file structure, AUP3, is not (currently) readable by other programs. I am not familiar with Olab and Sound File Merger.
You should be able to export the individual tracks as separate .WAV files, and as combined .WAV files.
What problems were you having, specifically?
I am trying to combine a bunch of mono wav files from a song into one interleaved multitrack file. I used to use Sound File Merger for this purpose but it no longer works with Catalina. I did use Audacity in the past for this purpose but forget how I did that process because it was a while ago. I keep getting told that it is still possible with Audacity but I have not been able to figure it out. Every way that I try gives me a mixed down stereo file and not an interleaved multitrack.
I use Logic, Ableton, and Reaper normally and I am only turning to Audacity for this purpose.
QLab is a program which is used mainly in theatre for playback of audio, video and now lighting. It allows you trigger cues on an Event or time basis.
qlab.app
Thanks but using Advanced Mixing Options doesn’t appear to work either. It only appears to combine tracks into any number of outputs, not merge them into a single multitrack.
So I’m still confused as to exactly what it is that you are looking for. Are you simply looking for Tracks > Mix > Mix and Render ?
Can you provide a concrete description of what it is you are looking for? Do you have any documentation for the file structure? Can you site any reference that describes it?
What format is that file?
What happens when you import it into Audacity?
This is a multi-channel wav file which plays in Audacity as a multichannel file. Discrete channels. As I mentioned, I used this program a while ago, so perhaps it will no longer do this process. I have found one program that seems to work, but I fined it a little clunky. De-Interleaver
cwc
Perhaps you could just post a screenshot that shows the entire project after importing that file.
(a picture’s worth a thousand words 
)
I think that I will look elsewhere for answers to this problem, but will repeat two final points before leaving for anyone interested. Explore the little app “Sound File Merger” for an explanation of what I am trying to do. Second,I know that Audacity used to do this process in the past because I used it for this process before moving to SFM, but have forgotten how to do it.
See if this does what you want:
Import the original files into Audacity (“File menu > Import > Audio”)
“Command + A” (select all)
“Tracks menu > Align tracks > Align End to End”
“File menu > Export > Export as WAV” (or “Export as MP3”, or any other format)
Thanks for the replies.
Unfortunately, exporting end to end only results in a stereo file with a bunch of tracks end to end.
I have tried the program that you refer to in the link, Deleave/ Interleave and it may be a last resort but I found it abit too klunky after using Sound File Merger. I guess that I am too spoiled.
It only works with mono files so you have to deleave all of your stereo files first and it does not allow drag and drop like SFM.
I have a few other options to explore.
Thx again.
Yes. What is it that you want?
I know exactly what you are trying to do, you have to go to Preferences, import/export, and click use Advanced mixing options then you will get your multi Tks onto one file, I was also looking for this for a while as soundfilemerger only runs up to Yosemite i think,
hope this helps.