Sensible defaults could make Audacity a lot better

[waxcylinder]

I'm not at all too sure if discussing is a favorite sport here. I went over ALL the feature requests on this forum and most seem to result in some besides-the-point discussion ending in nothing at all besides some ego lifting.

But hey, if that's the way you like it...

Hahaha - actually we do like a bit of discussion here

The trouble is that there are *very* few active developers to take on feature requests. And since we are a volunteer organization there is no "management" to tell the dev team what to work on.

The process for Feature Requests is:
1) they get discussed here on the Forum
2) after a thread has been active for a month it gets transferred to http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/to ... rview.html (that's one of my "jobs" - but I've been a bit lax about that lately as I've been doing a fair amount of documentation work - and it's a dull task anyway)
3) Gale then triages these and posts the appropriate ones to http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Feature_Requests
4) Sometimes, but only sometimes, a formal proposal will be written either from that Feature Requests process or just as a good idea - see: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Proposals

Then it usually takes a bit of patient lobbying to try and persuade one of the developers to pick up on one of those.

My current "3-wishes" are:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Propo ... Pause_mode
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Propo ... _Analyzers
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Propo ... om_Toolbar

But in spite of that Audacity is, fifteen years on, still under very active development and we are adding lots of new features (hence my recent spurt of documentation work), improving old features and fixing as many bugs as we can.

"Ignore the man behind the curtain"

WC

[steve]

I think most of these inexperienced users will do better with a realistic view.

I have already given many examples that illustrate clearly that a logarithmic scale is no more "realistic" than a linear scale. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. To make use of either view you need to learn how to read it. Your preference for a logarithmic scale is just that - a personal preference, and not everyone shares that preference, Thankfully users may configure the Audacity preferences the way they prefer.The only "view" that conveys all of the information about sound, is the one that you get via your ears.

[waxcylinder]

I always change the Solo button behaviour to "Simple", disable the automatic Metadata pop-up, and increase the preview length.

Wow that's a good tip about "Simple" behavior for the Solo button - I've struggled with the default Solo for years

I also disable the automatic Metadata pop-up and I enable "Retain labels if selection snaps to a label edge".

And I add four shortcuts that suit my workflows:
Alt+Up Amplify
Alt+Down Repair
Alt+Left Fade In
Alt+Right Studio Fade Out

Plus I widen out my record meter and shrink my playback meter.

WC

[Robert J. H.]

I always change the Solo button behaviour to "Simple", disable the automatic Metadata pop-up, and increase the preview length.

Wow that's a good tip about "Simple" behavior for the Solo button - I've struggled with the default Solo for years

I actually like the default solo behaviour.
However, it lacks a "Unsolo all" key combination, comparable to "Unmute All" or "Unselect all".

Robert

[cyrano]

I'm not at all too sure if discussing is a favorite sport here...

Hahaha - actually we do like a bit of discussion here

I'm glad you can see the funny side of it.

The trouble is that there are *very* few active developers to take on feature requests. And since we are a volunteer organization there is no "management" to tell the dev team what to work on....

I understand all of those. This is not a demand...

My current "3-wishes" are:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Propo ... Pause_mode
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Propo ... _Analyzers
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Propo ... om_Toolbar

I'll have to back all of those.

I've been working in the marketing industry for a long time. Numbers is what I do. And when I see those numbers, I know something is wrong. I mean, "3 votes, 4 votes..."

But in spite of that Audacity is, fifteen years on, still under very active development and we are adding lots of new features (hence my recent spurt of documentation work), improving old features and fixing as many bugs as we can.

If I even had the slightest doubt about Audacity's qualities, I would very probably not be here. The basis is very solid. It's make-up might not be my taste, but that's only visual.

Sometimes, you just need to share insights and sometimes, that leads to more insights, but not actions. That's OK too.

"Ignore the man behind the curtain"

[cyrano]

I think most of these inexperienced users will do better with a realistic view.

I have already given many examples that illustrate clearly that a logarithmic scale is no more "realistic" than a linear scale. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. To make use of either view you need to learn how to read it. Your preference for a logarithmic scale is just that - a personal preference, and not everyone shares that preference, Thankfully users may configure the Audacity preferences the way they prefer.The only "view" that conveys all of the information about sound, is the one that you get via your ears.

It's in the numbers, Steve. WC acknowledged that when he wrote that most YT video's about Audacity distorted.

The majority of users are importing music. And that music is usually compressed to death. It's as simple as that.

[kozikowski]

I've been working in the marketing industry for a long time. Numbers is what I do. And when I see those numbers, I know something is wrong. I mean, "3 votes, 4 votes..."

You may need to back up and get the 10,000 foot (3048M view). If you've been doing that for a while, you know that understanding data gathering technique and environment is important.

If someone had a gun in the alley and demanded I tell them how to get to Feature Requests, I couldn't do it. This is not a questionnaire we send out. Only people with a dog in the race and that can find the page need apply.

That would be the four votes.

Koz

[steve]

It's in the numbers, Steve. WC acknowledged that when he wrote that most YT video's about Audacity distorted.

So you are suggesting that the linear track view is directly responsible for people recording so loud that their recording is clipped? That's a bit far fetched isn't it?

[cyrano]

I've been working in the marketing industry for a long time. Numbers is what I do. And when I see those numbers, I know something is wrong. I mean, "3 votes, 4 votes..."

You may need to back up and get the 10,000 foot (3048M view). If you've been doing that for a while, you know that understanding data gathering technique and environment is important.

If someone had a gun in the alley and demanded I tell them how to get to Feature Requests, I couldn't do it. This is not a questionnaire we send out. Only people with a dog in the race and that can find the page need apply.

That would be the four votes.

Somehow, I just knew you would pickup on that

There are at least 5 moderators, I think. So four votes means some of the operators and maybe one or two visitors voted for these. That's a ridiculously small sample, isn't it? And even if the mods don't get to vote (which I would find rather ludicrous), it's still small.

You have the experience, I don't. It just looks like something could be done. But I've been wrong before. Doesn't stop me from trying...

It's in the numbers, Steve. WC acknowledged that when he wrote that most YT video's about Audacity distorted.

So you are suggesting that the linear track view is directly responsible for people recording so loud that their recording is clipped? That's a bit far fetched isn't it?

Let's say, it was a feeling I had, after having seen a couple of YT Audacity tuts. When I read his statement, something clicked.

[steve]

That's a ridiculously small sample, isn't it?

Considering that there are probably over 10 million Audacity users worldwide, it represents in the region of 0.00005% of our user base
If you can come up with a practical way to increase that to a representative cross-section of say 0.05%, you will be my hero forever