3.2.4 macro tone creation broken, 3.1.3 works

Greetings:

OpenSuse Linux 15.4 KDE desktop running 3.1.3 and 3.2.4 AppImages from Audacity.

I create complicated sets of tones with automated macros. 3.1.3 works flawlessly.

When I use 3.2.4, the results are quite bizarre AND they vary. I simplified the macro until I found a minimum that creates an example.

3.2.4 works ok if you do this manually:

Create 2 mono tracks, select the 1st second on track 0, create a 300Hz tone. Do the same for the 2nd second on track 1, create a 400Hz tone. The result is in the attached NormalManualTones.mp3 … proper results; one tone followed by the other.

If, however, I run the Test324vs313.txt macro, attached, which does the same activities as above, my 2nd tone, 400Hz, does a bizarre slide-whistle effect, example attached. The shape of the waveforms on the two tracks, in this example, are the same as normal … equal amplitude, but with a frequency shift.

I shut down 3.2.4, re-ran these tests on 3.1.3 with success (as usual), then closed 3.1.3 and reopened 3.2.4, ran the SAME Test324vs313.txt macro, and got like a “phaser” effect on both tones! 2ndTimeRunningMacro.mp3 attached. I provided a screen shot to show the waveforms are now “fading out” over the 1 second, and both of them are frequency shifting but couldn’t attach a 5th file … you can hear it though.

It gets worse the more tracks I run and I’m going to leave it at this pending what to do next. I noticed the same problem with the same AppImages on Kubuntu 20.04 a few weeks ago.

I hope someone can duplicate this so we can get it figured out! LOL!

I have no problem doing my work with 3.1.3 but thought I should give back to this excellent project. Thank you.



Test324vs313.txt (432 Bytes)

Thanks for reporting the issue. I am able to reproduce the bug on Ubuntu.
It seems that macros have become unreliable.
I’ve already logged this issue: https://github.com/audacity/audacity/issues/4146
I’ll log the issue that you describe as another bug.

Done: Macros: Incorrect and inconsistent results from "Tone" command · Issue #4280 · audacity/audacity · GitHub