error message with Contrast analysis

[jimmyhosen]

XP Home, last updates available
v2.0.6
.exe installer

Hello, I am getting the following error when using the Contrast analysis tool:
Times are not reasonable!
Please enter reasonable times.

What causes this error?
I would like to think that the time windows I chose are reasonable.

Maybe this is a bug?
I noticed that I only get the error when trying to analyze a passage which is completely after (partially after is ok) the last clip on Track #2 (of 4 tracks). I was able to reliable reproduce the error by sliding Track #2 to and fro. Here are my tracks:

1. Label Track
2. Jingle Track #1 (2 clips, one at beginning and another near end)
3. Jingle Track #2 (2 clips, one at beginning and another near end)
4. Spoken Word (2 clips, one at beginning and another near end)

(If the markup does not work, it's probably because I'm a newb.)

[steve]

There are a number of bugs / limitations to the Contrast tool.
The effect is designed to be run on only one mono channel at a time.
The audio that is analysed is the audio that is selected in the track (the time controls in the Contrast tool only tell you what is selected in the track and do not set what audio will be analyzed.

[Gale Andrews]

I think this is the bug you are referring to http://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=513. Try using the dropdown menu at the top of the track you are analyzing to move that track to the top of the project.

Please be careful with XP. It is a security risk given Microsoft no longer supports XP with patches. See http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 76#p254876.

Gale

[jimmyhosen]

Gale,
Thank you for the reply! I never got back onto the forum because I was having problems with this website loading. ...but now this website loads normally. Woohoo!

You are correct; Bug 513 is exactly what I am experiencing. I figured out the workaround on my own a few days after posting. I found that a little meaningless clip can be pasted or slid over to the right side of the track above the one I'm trying to measure, allowing me to use the Contrast Tool.

[jimmyhosen]

Update regarding operation of the Contrast analysis tool in v2.1.1 :

As long as part of the audio in the track to be measured is located before the end of the first track in the project, there is no "interrupting" error window saying that "times are not reasonable". The message simply shows up in the field where the RMS values of the Foreground track would be displayed. However, if the audio is located completely after the end of the first track, then the error window does pop up and no RMS measurement is possible.

I think the underlying problem here is that there is no simple "RMS analysis tool" available. (Well, I have not seen one.) All I want to do is measure the RMS amplitude of either an entire track or a portion of a track, to aid me in choosing an appropriate compression threshold.

I plan to first ask (in a new thread) whether there is a RMS measurement tool (without all the extra Contrast stuff). If there is not one, then I plan to make a feature request for such a RMS measurement tool.

[Gale Andrews]

I plan to first ask (in a new thread) whether there is a RMS measurement tool (without all the extra Contrast stuff).

See http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 46&t=87698 for answers to that question.

Gale

[jimmyhosen]

Thank you, Gale!