Audacity Forum

"Edit > Remove Audio > Silence Audio" currently works like an "effect". Essentially it "amplifies" (attenuates) the audio to zero.
A major disadvantage of this approach is that it is "destructive". The audio data is irreversibly eradicated (other than "undo").

This feature request is for "Silence Audio" to be non-destructive. Essentially this would be the same as lowering the playback level of the selected region to zero using the Envelope tool (but much quicker and easier to do).
A major advantage of this approach is that the audio data is not affected, so it is completely reversible at any time, and could even allow the length and position of the silenced region to be adjusted by dragging the ends of the 'muted' region.

Not saying it's a bad idea, but how would you make it obvious in the interface that it was non-destructive? Would you remove it from the Undo Stack?

Why focus on "Silence Audio" rather than also consider e.g. Fade In/Fade Out?

Gale

Gale Andrews wrote:how would you make it obvious in the interface that it was non-destructive?

Yet to be decided, but one possibility would be to make it a feature of the Amplitude Envelope. Another possibility is that it could work like an "automation control" for Track Mute.

Gale Andrews wrote:Would you remove it from the Undo Stack?

Only if you "undid" it. Otherwise "silencing" and "un-silencing" would appear as separate events (see how adding and removing Amplitude Envelope control points are handled).

Gale Andrews wrote:Why focus on "Silence Audio" rather than also consider e.g. Fade In/Fade Out?

"Silencing" could be seen as a special case of "Fade" - the simplest form because it is either On or Off. If you don't start somewhere then nothing gets done. Yes, there is a bigger picture, which includes handling non-destructive fades, non-destructive crossfade, and non-destructive punch-in recording.

steve wrote:

Gale Andrews wrote:how would you make it obvious in the interface that it was non-destructive?

Yet to be decided, but one possibility would be to make it a feature of the Amplitude Envelope.

I wasn't sure if you were considering that, but it would seem the most intuitive way to me. But I don't think we'd want to turn the complete Envelope Tool on when someone used Silence Audio. Would this show in the waves as a non-editable envelope point?


Gale

Gale Andrews wrote:But I don't think we'd want to turn the complete Envelope Tool on when someone used Silence Audio.

No, I agree.

Perhaps like this:

steve wrote:

Gale Andrews wrote:But I don't think we'd want to turn the complete Envelope Tool on when someone used Silence Audio.

No, I agree.

Perhaps like this:

By what method would you undo the non-destructive silence if you wanted to unsilence it without undoing the edits you did after silencing? Would it be a label, or some handle on the borders of the silenced audio?


Gale

Gale Andrews wrote:By what method would you undo the non-destructive silence if you wanted to unsilence it without undoing the edits you did after silencing?

If it a feature of the Amplitude Envelope, then you would probably switch to the Envelope tool. In the "Envelope" there could be some sort of visual indication of the muted region, which could then be resized, moved or deleted.
Why am I being quizzed about implementation details? Are you considering writing a proposal?
The "feature request" is clear and straightforward is it not?
If this feature request is implemented, I'm sure that the developer will have their own ideas about how go about it.

steve wrote:Why am I being quizzed about implementation details? Are you considering writing a proposal?

I'm not, but if I read such a proposal I would be asking the same questions.

steve wrote:The "feature request" is clear and straightforward is it not?

Yes, but if the whole point is being allowed to undo the non-destructive silence many steps after you did it, I think how you perform that non-destructive undo is important.

A number of people have asked to do non-destructive cuts or time-stretches using some kind of marker-with-handle on the waveform. Essentially you would be dragging this handle left / right. So for the current idea of silences/fades you could be dragging the handle up/down, the difference with current Envelope Tool being that you would only be operating on a region.


Gale

Gale Andrews wrote:the difference with current Envelope Tool being that you would only be operating on a region.

The main difference is usability. To silence a region is as quick and convenient as CTRL+L - much quicker, more convenient and less RSI than using the Envelope tool.