Effect Menu
- Peter 04Dec14: Added Crossfade Tracks, removed Cross Fade In/Out
Each real-time capable effect class has its own options now so we'll have to document those in each effect class section.
To apply an effect, select part or all of the tracks you want to modify, and select the effect from the menu. Titles which end in an ellipsis (...) will bring up a dialog asking you for more parameters.
Although by default, the only effects shortcut is CTRL + R to repeat the last used effect, it is possible to set up your own shortcut for any effect in the menu. For instructions on how to do this please see Keyboard Preferences.
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When playing, recording or paused, effects in the Effect menu that do not support real-time preview will appear grayed out, because changes to the audio data cannot be made until you press the yellow Stop  button .
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Real-time preview
Aside: this is going to be so much easier when all effects support real-time preview - no more special cases.
Some classes of effects in Audacity support real-time preview. These classes are: LADSPA, VST, and Audio Unit effects.
Effects that support real-time preview are different from regular effects in the following ways:- They can be opened when audio is playing or paused
- They can be opened even when no audio is selected
- The effect settings can be changed while audio is playing
- You can start and stop audio playback, change the selection, and solo or mute tracks while the effect dialog is open
- You will hear the effected track in the context of the mix
When you open an effect that supports real-time preview it will have these buttons at the bottom of the effect dialog.
- Peter 13Dec14: Do you mean a W7 image like this Bill? I'll leave the annotations for you as you do it so well ...
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Manage Effect menu:
- User presets: If any user presets exist for this effect this menu will list them. Select one of the user presets to load it into the effect.
- Factory presets: If any factory presets exist for this effect this menu will list them. Select one of the factory presets to load it into the effect.
- Delete preset: Select this option to delete the currently-loaded user preset.
- Save as... Select this option to save the current settings as a user preset.
- Export... Select this option to export one or more presets (for sharing with other users?).
- Import... Select this option to import a presets file.
- Options... Displays the options dialog for this effect class. See the sections (below) for each effect class for a description of the options available for that effect class.
- About: Displays the effect class, effect name, version, vendor, and description.
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On/Off button: When this button is lit up (blue) the effect is on, otherwise the effect is off (inactive or bypassed). This is a convenient way to do a quick A/B comparison of how your project sounds with and without the effect. -
Play/Stop button: Click this button to begin playback. It changes to the Stop button 
. Click it again to stop playback. -
Skip Back button: When playback is stopped, clicking this button will move the playback cursor to the beginning of the track. During playback, each click of this button will perform a short seek back. -
Skip Forward button: When playback is stopped, clicking this button will move the playback cursor to the end of the track. During playback, each click of this button will perform a short seek forward. - Close button: Click this button to close the effect dialog.
- Apply button: Click this button to apply the effect to the selected audio. The effect dialog will remain open after the effect is applied.
Classes of Effect
There are six classes of effect - the built-in Effects, and five classes of plugin effects which allow you to download and install additional effects. All classes of effect are applied in the same way. The effects classes are:
- Built-in Effects
- Nyquist Effect Plugins
- LADSPA Effect Plugins
- LV2 Effect Plugins
- VST Effect Plugins (Windows and Mac only)
- Audio Unit Plugins (Mac only)
Where a Built-in or shipped Nyquist effect has settings, its description page (accessed by the links below) shows an image of the interface and its default settings.
Built-in Effects
Audacity's built-in effects (those that appear in the program irrespective of the contents of your Audacity and other "Plug-Ins" folders) are above the divider in the Effect menu.
All selected tracks are previewed irrespective of whether the tracks are muted or soloed. This is because the effect is applied to the selected audio. If Preview does not sound quite as you want, adjust the controls of the effect and Preview again.
Amplify...
Increases or decreases the volume of the audio you have selected. When you open the dialog, Audacity automatically calculates the maximum amount you could amplify the selected audio without causing clipping (distortion caused by trying to make the audio too loud).
Auto Duck...
Reduces (ducks) the volume of one or more tracks whenever the volume of a specified "control" track reaches a particular level. Typically used to make a music track softer whenever speech in a commentary track is heard.
Bass and Treble...
Increases or decreases the lower frequencies and higher frequencies of your audio independently. It behaves just like the bass and treble controls on a domestic stereo system.
Change Pitch...
Change the pitch of a track without changing its tempo.
Change Speed...
Change the speed of a track, also changing its pitch.
Change Tempo...
Change the tempo of a selection without changing its pitch.
Classic Filters...
Provides three different types of filters which together emulate the vast majority of analog filters, and provides useful tools for analysis and measurement.Click Removal...
Click Removal is designed to remove clicks on audio tracks and is especially suited to declicking recordings made from vinyl records. It will usually work best on very short clicks. For broader individual pops in selections up to 128 samples wide (about three milliseconds at 44100 Hz project rate), you could try the Repair effect.
Compressor...
Compresses the dynamic range by two alternative methods. The default "RMS" method makes the louder parts softer, but leaves the quieter audio alone. The alternative "peaks" method makes the entire audio louder, but amplifies the louder parts less than the quieter parts. Make-up gain can be applied to either method, making the result as loud as possible without clipping, but not changing the dynamic range further.
Echo...
Repeats the selected audio again and again, normally softer each time. The delay time between each repeat is fixed, with no pause in between each repeat. For a more configurable echo effect with a variable delay time and pitch-changed echoes, see Delay...
Equalization...
Adjusts the volume levels of particular frequencies.
Fade In
Applies a fade-in to the selected audio, so that the amplitude changes gradually from silence at the start of the selection to the original amplitude at the end of the selection. The shape of the fade is linear. The rapidity of the fade-in depends entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to.
Fade Out
Applies a fade-out to the selected audio, so that the amplitude changes gradually from the original amplitude at the start of the selection down to silence at the end of the selection. The shape of the fade is linear. The rapidity of the fade-out depends entirely on the length of the selection it is applied to.
Invert
Flips the audio samples upside-down. This normally does not affect the sound of the audio at all. It is occasionally useful for vocal removal.
Leveler...
- Bill 27Aug2012: I would hope that the Leveler will soon be dropped from Audacity. If I understand the history correctly, this was added for use with CleanSpeech at a quick and dirty (very dirty!) compressor that could be used in a chain. It introduces unacceptable distortion (IMO) when used as a compressor. It has some (very limited) use as a "distorted vocal" effect. So, I'd rather lobby for its removal rather than spend more time documenting it.
- Peter 5Nov12: I see no rush to remove "Leveler" from the Audacity repertoire - so I went ahead and documented this effect notwithstanding Bill's comments. And I added the link as Bill had suggested.
- Gale 10Nov12: I agree, while it's there which I think it will probably be for some time, it ought to be documented. BTW with fairly quiet audio with good dynamic range, most settings do not make the loud parts quieter, just increase them a little less, so I changed that text.
Leveler is a simple, combined compressor and limiter effect for reducing the dynamic range of audio. It reduces the difference between loud and soft, making the audio easier to hear in noisy environments or on small loudspeakers. It is best suited to speech recordings but at heavier settings or used multiple times it can also be used as a simple distortion effect for voices or instruments.
Noise Removal...
Removes constant background noise such as fans, tape noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the background. More details here.
Normalize...
Use the Normalize effect to set the maximum amplitude of a track, equalize the amplitudes of the left and right channels of a stereo track and optionally remove any DC Offset from the track.
Nyquist Prompt...
Launches a dialog where you can enter Nyquist commands. Nyquist is a programming language for producing and processing audio. For more information see Nyquist Plugins Reference.
Paulstretch...
Use Paulstretch only for an extreme time-stretch or "stasis" effect. This may be useful for synthesizer pad sounds, identifying performance glitches or just creating interesting aural textures. Use Change Tempo or Sliding Time Scale rather than Paulstretch for tasks like slowing down a song to a "practice" tempo.
Phaser...
The name "Phaser" comes from "Phase Shifter", because it works by combining phase-shifted signals with the original signal. The movement of the phase-shifted signals is controlled using a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO).
Repair
Fix one particular short click, pop or other glitch no more than 128 samples long.
Repeat...
Repeats the selection the specified number of times.
Reverb...
Adds ambience or a "hall effect".
Reverse
Reverses the selected audio, so that it will sound as if it is playing from the end to the start.
Sliding Time Scale / Pitch Shift...
Allows you to make a continuous change to the tempo and/or pitch of a selection by choosing initial and/or final change values.
Time Tracks can be used to bend tempo more flexibly (also affecting pitch) using Envelope Tool.
Truncate Silence...
Automatically try to find and eliminate audible silences. Don't use with faded audio.
Wahwah...
Rapid tone quality variations, like that guitar sound so popular in the 1970's.
Wahwah uses a moving bandpass filter to create its sound. A low frequency oscillator (LFO) is used to control the movement of the filter throughout the frequency spectrum.
The phase of the left and right channels is automatically adjusted when given a stereo track, so that the effect seems to travel across the speakers.
The following four classes of effect always appear underneath the divider in the Effect menu. Released builds of Audacity include sample Nyquist and/or LADSPA effects.
Nyquist Effects
- where to get docs
- the debug button in Nyquist effects
Nyquist plugins provide most of the optional effects underneath the divider in the Effect menu. They are also used to provide some of Audacity's built-in audio generators and analysis tools. A wide range of additional Nyquist effect, generation and analysis plugins can be obtained from Download Nyquist Plugins on our Wiki.
- On Windows and OS X the "Plug-Ins" folder is in the directory where Audacity resides - usually C:\Program Files on Windows or the "Applications" folder on OS X.
- On Linux, the "plug-ins" folder is in usr/share/audacity if you installed an Audacity package supplied by your distribution, or usr/local/share/audacity if you compiled Audacity from source code. Optionally a "plug-in" folder can be created in the home directory ~/.audacity-files/plug-ins.
Nyquist Workbench
For advanced users who can compile Audacity, Nyquist Workbench gives the ability to run arbitrary Nyquist code in Audacity from a graphical IDE (Integrated Development Environment). See Nyquist Workbench in the Wiki for details.
Nyquist plugins included in Audacity
The following sample Nyquist plugins are included in released builds of Audacity:
Adjustable Fade...
Launches a dialog box where you can choose the shape of the fade in or fade out to be applied. You can also create fades to and from other than silence or full volume. An example of this might be a fade in from 20% of the original volume to 80% of the original volume.
- Peter 12Dec14: Probably historical accident - I changed them to H3s.
Clip Fix...
Attempts to reconstruct clipped regions by interpolating the lost signal.
Crossfade Tracks
Applies a crossfade to a selected region of a pair of tracks.
Delay...
A configurable delay effect with variable delay time and pitch shifting of the delays.
High Pass Filter...
Passes frequencies above its cutoff frequency and attenuates frequencies below its cutoff frequency; this can be used to reduce low frequency noise.
Low Pass Filter...
Passes frequencies below its cutoff frequency and attenuates frequencies above its cutoff frequency; this can be used to reduce high pitched noise.
Notch Filter...
Greatly attenuate ("notch out") a narrow frequency band. This is a good way to remove mains hum or a whistle confined to a specific frequency with minimal damage to the remainder of the audio.
- ToDo-1 The Spectral edit multi-tool GUI (and the other two tools) do not observe the specified Low Frequency and High Frequency values when there is no frequency selection. They just return "Please select frequencies". This may or may not be fixed for next release but the below text can be used when fixed.
- ToDo-1 Why does Spectral edit multi tool and shelves now insist on specifying the Low and High Frequency, whereas as per Spectral Selection this was not previously required?
- Bill 11Dec2014:
- The spectral effects no longer function when the track is in waveform view, instead they show an error message. The note below has been edited to reflect this.
- ToDo-1 the dialogs no longer show the high-frequency and low-frequency options.
- Would it not make more sense for the note below to reference the spectral editing page instead of the spectrogram view on the track drop-down menu page?
- I've added links back to the spectral selection page for details on the three effects, but I think we be better off with a separate page for each effect so we could get into the details of things like bandwidth, band cut, band boost, shelf filters, etc.
Spectral edit multi tool
If a fully defined spectral selection has been made, choosing Spectral edit multi-tool applies the appropriate filter for the selection. See Spectral edit multi tool for more information.
Spectral edit parametric EQ...
- Peter 13Dec14: Done.
If a fully defined spectral selection has been made, the effect applies a band cut or band boost as described at Spectral edit parametric EQ, according to the value you enter in the "Gain (dB)" control.
Spectral edit shelves...
- Peter 13Dec14: added a W7 image - removed the P1
If a fully defined spectral selection has been made, the effect applies a low shelf filter, high shelf filter or combined low and high shelf filter as described at Spectral edit shelves, according to the value you enter in the "Gain (dB)" control.
Studio Fade Out
Produces a smooth and musical sounding fade out, by applying a sinusoidal fade with a progressive low pass filter from full spectrum at the start of the selection to 100 Hz at the end.
Tremolo...
Modulates the volume of the selection at the depth and rate selected in the dialog. The same as the tremolo effect familiar to guitar and keyboard players.
Vocal Remover (for center-panned vocals)...
Attempts to remove center-panned audio from a stereo track; vocals are often (but not always) recorded in this way. Vocals (or other audio) can only be removed with this plugin when panned to center, in other words sounding equally loud in both left and right channels. Help text is available from within the effect's dialog box.
Vocoder...
Vocoder synthesizes a modulator (usually a voice) in the left channel of a stereo track with a carrier wave in the right channel to produce a modified version of the left channel. Vocoding a normal voice with white noise as provided in the effect will produce a robot-like voice for special effects. Other carriers can be used for subtly different voices. Vocoder can only be applied to unsplit stereo tracks.
LADSPA Effects
- Gale 06Jul13: It's been decided that there is no "simple" solution to this - the plugin code can easily be hacked to remove the credits and license but then to strictly satisfy GPL we'd have to store the modified source code (as well as add attribution for one author). Probably both these effects will ultimately be replaced with ones written by "us".
LADSPA (Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API) plugins were originally developed for the Linux platform, but ports of some plugins are available for Windows and OS X as well. Most LADSPA plugins are effects, but they are also used to provide some of Audacity's built-in audio generators and can be used for audio analysis. Additional LADSPA plugins can be downloaded for Windows, Mac and Linux.
- To add a LADSPA plugin, put it in the Audacity "Plug-ins" folder.
- On Windows and OS X the "Plug-ins" folder is in the directory where Audacity resides - usually C:\Program Files on Windows or the "Applications" folder on OS X.
- On Linux, the "plug-ins" folder is in usr/share/audacity if you installed an Audacity package supplied by your distribution, or usr/local/share/audacity if you compiled Audacity from source code. Optionally a plugin folder can be created in the home directory ~/.audacity-files/plug-ins.
- The next time you launch Audacity, plugins you added will appear in the Effect, Generate or Analyze menus as appropriate.
LADSPA Effect Options
When you choose a LADSPA effect from the Effect Menu the dialog will have an Options... 
choice in the Manage Effect menu. Choose that menu item to bring up the dialog illustrated below.
- Latency Compensation: This setting (enabled by default) compensates for waveform delay caused by LADSPA effects which preload audio data to a buffer. Compensation may not work in all cases, and for it to work, any compensation or latency reporting settings in the effect itself must be enabled. If compensation fails or if this Audacity setting is unchecked, effects that buffer audio will insert silence at the start of the processed selection and remove a corresponding amount of audio from the end of the selection. Enabling or disabling compensation is effective immediately.
Two sample LADSPA effects are included with Windows and Mac builds of Audacity:
Hard Limiter...
An extreme compressor effect. It can sometimes be used to remove stubborn clicks.
SC4...
A stereo compressor with a variable envelope follower for RMS / peak behaviour.
- All operating systems: The path specified by the LADSPA_PATH environment variable
- additionally on OS X:
- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LADSPA
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LADSPA
- additionally on Linux/Unix:
- ~/.ladspa
- /usr/local/lib/ladspa
- /usr/lib/ladspa
- $LIBDIR/ladspa
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Effects in the following LV2, VST and Audio Units (Mac only) classes are always third-party plugins added by the user (and also by the operating system in case of Audio Units) |
LV2 Effects
LV2 is a more advanced evolution of the LADSPA plugin architecture. Note that LV2 effects in Audacity cannot yet display a full graphical interface. Each time you launch Audacity it scans for and loads all detected LV2 effects. To add a new LV2 effect, place its complete ".lv2" folder (not the files alone) at the top level of any of the following searched for locations, then restart Audacity.
- Windows
- Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\LV2 (or Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\LV2 on Windows 2000/XP)
- Program Files\Common Files\LV2 (or Program Files (x86)\Common Files\LV2 on 64-bit systems)
- Mac:
- ~/.lv2
- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /usr/local/lib/lv2
- /usr/lib/lv2
- Linux:
- ~/.lv2
- /usr/local/lib/lv2 or /usr/local/lib64/lv2
- /usr/lib/lv2 or /usr/lib64/lv2
- Windows:
- %APPDATA%\LV2;%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\LV2;%COMMONPROGRAMFILES(x86)%\LV2
- Mac OS X:
- $HOME/.lv2:$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2:/usr/local/lib/lv2:/usr/lib/lv2
- Linux:
- $HOME/.lv2:/usr/local/lib/lv2:/usr/lib/lv2 (assuming $PREFIX is /usr/local as it should be by default)
VST Effects (Windows / Mac Only)
Install VST Effects dialog
- Bill 12Dec2014: OK, I'm struggling with what to do about the new "Register Plugins" dialog. Putting it on this page (it would have to be a the top or bottom) is messy since we need to list all the places the registered plug-ins could be found on any platform which would duplicate what we list in the LADSPA, VST and Audio Unit sections. Linking to each section would be messier than duplication, I think. So should the "Register Plugins" dialog be documented on the Effects Preferences page? I'm leaning that way at the moment. We could duplicate the plugin locations information on that page without it looking stupid. Then we could say at the top of each effect class section on this page whether or not the loading of that class of effect can be controlled with the Register Effects dialog and link to the description of how to use it. When we get to the stage where all effect classes go through the Register Effect dialog we could possibly move it back to this page, but by that time we'll probably have Leland's "Plugin Manager" and have to rewrite everything again!
When you use Audacity for the first time it will scan for VST effects in the Audacity "Plug-Ins" or "Plugins" folder and in other specific locations. The following "Install VST Effects" dialog will appear where you can choose which VST effects to load into the Audacity Effect Menu.
The names of the detected plugins will be listed alphabetically for each folder in the Path column. All list items have their checkboxes checked by default, the green checkmark indicating that the plugin will be loaded. To load all the detected plugins, just click then Audacity itself will launch. If you deselect some items by mistake, you can quickly re-enable the entire list by choosing the button. The button lets you disable the entire list. This provides a quick method of then enabling only a few plugins in a long list.
To disable loading of a specific plugin, left-click the item's row or checkbox which removes the checkmark. Similarly, click to re-enable a disabled item. Using the keyboard, press Up arrow, Down arrow, Page Up or Page Down to navigate the list then press Space to check or uncheck the current item's checkbox. Finally, click to load the enabled plugins and launch Audacity.
The black arrow in the list (as in the image above) indicates which plugin is currently being loaded.
Providing you click and the enabled plugins load successfully, then next time you launch Audacity there will be no VST effects dialog. The plugins that you previously enabled in the dialog will appear in the Effect menu, ready to be used when you select them.
If you click in the dialog or if loading a faulty plugin causes Audacity to crash, the "Install VST effects" dialog will appear again next time you launch Audacity. If Audacity crashed you can therefore use the dialog to experiment by disabling plugins that may have crashed. Alternatively, before restarting Audacity you can look in the plugins.cfg file in the Audacity folder for application data. This file will list which plugins Audacity had managed to load before it crashed.
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The "Install VST Effects" dialog will list extra files on Windows that are not VST effects.
Gale 04Aug14: ToDo Any 64-bit VST's on Linux probably are seen by 64-bit builds of Audacity, which needs testing.
Steve 10Aug14: Currently disabled on Linux.
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Once loaded, the installed VST effects will appear underneath the divider in the Effect Menu. Some of the VST's will be listed as VST:<name of the DLL or VST file>. Other VST's will be listed under the name of the plugin vendor.
Adding a new VST effect in Audacity
To add a new VST effect, put its DLL or VST file plus any configuration files or folders it requires in the Audacity "Plug-ins" or "Plugins" folder which is in the directory where Audacity resides. You can also create a folder called "VST" in the Audacity installation directory and add VST plugins there.
Alternatively, VST plugins can be placed in one of the following system locations:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins (or C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\VSTPlugins on 64-bit systems).
- Windows Registry key HKCU\Software\VST\VSTPluginsPath
- Windows Registry key HKLM\Software\VST\VSTPluginsPath
- The path specified by the "VST_PATH" environment variable
- Mac OS X:
- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
- The path specified by the "VST_PATH" environment variable
- Steve 10Aug14: VST disabled on Linux for 2.0.6 so downgraded to Px.
- Linux:
Then:
- Go to the Effects tab of Preferences
- Check Rescan VST effects next time Audacity is started and click
- When you re-launch Audacity, the "Install VST Effects" dialog will appear where you can review the complete list of plugins to be loaded (including those you just added), uncheck any unwanted effects, then click to launch Audacity including your new effects.
Saving, Exporting and Importing VST Effect Presets
Save As...
Select Save As... from the Manage Effect menu to bring up the following dialog:
Type a name for the preset then click to save it in the effect as a User Preset.
Export...
Presets for VST effects are exported to a file. A presets file lets you move settings for a particular effect between computers on any operating platform that supports that effect.
Select Export... from the Manage Effect menu to bring up the "Save VST Preset As:" dialog
Be sure to choose a file type in the “Save as type:” dropdown menu (“Format” dropdown menu on Mac)
Type a name for the file in the "File Name" box ("Save As:" box on Mac) then click to export the current effect settings to a separate file.
The following file formats are supported:
- FXP format: Default, and the most portable. It allows you to save presets for use by the same effect running in Audacity or most other VST host applications, on any computer or operating platform that supports that effect. Similarly FXP presets saved by a given effect in any VST host on any computer can be loaded into that effect in Audacity.
- FXB format: ToDo-1 Bill 12Dec2014: Anyone know anything about this?
- XML format: Less flexible, mainly useful for the small number of effects that don't support FXP presets. Most other VST host applications don't support XML, so you may only be able to share XML presets between other computers running Audacity.
- By default presets are saved to the same location as the audacity.cfg file, but you can choose to save them anywhere. Since there is no distinction between preset files saved by different effects you may want to create a folder for each effect you save presets for, or include the effect name in the file name.
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Tip when exporting VST presets The exported VST preset file will contain the name of the preset. If you started with a named User or Factory Preset you may want to Save the settings with a unique name as a User Preset. This way, when you or someone else Imports the preset file they will not have duplicate preset names. |
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Mac users take note:
Gale 10Aug14: ToDo-2 Placeholder to watch this and remove this note if the bug is fixed.
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Import...
Select Import... from the Manage Effect menu to bring up the "Load VST Preset:" dialog
Navigate to the place where you exported a VST preset file.
Click the open button to load the settings.
Depending on how the particular VST effect handles importing presets, the imported preset may show up in the User Presets submenu the Factory Presets submenu or may not show up at all.
VST Effect Settings
When you choose a VST effect from the Effect Menu the dialog will have an Options... choice in the Manage Effect menu. Choose that menu item to bring up the dialog illustrated below.
- Buffer Size: Controls the number of samples sent to the effect in each round of processing. The default buffer size of 8192 should be safe for all VST effects. You can set a higher value which will allow faster processing but some effects may not work at higher values. Changing the buffer size is effective immediately.
- Latency Compensation: This setting (enabled by default) compensates for waveform delay caused by VST effects which preload audio data to a buffer. Compensation may not work in all cases, and for it to work, any compensation or latency reporting settings in the effect itself must be enabled. If compensation fails or if this Audacity setting is unchecked, effects that buffer audio will insert silence at the start of the processed selection and remove a corresponding amount of audio from the end of the selection. Therefore leave this option checked unless a particular VST does not work even after reducing the buffer size, in which case you can experiment by unchecking this option. Enabling or disabling compensation is effective immediately.
- Graphical Mode: This setting (enabled by default) allows most VST effects to display a graphical (instead of a plain text) interface. If you change this setting you must close the settings dialog, then close and reopen the effect to see the change. This option is the same as the Display VST Effects in Graphical Mode option in Effects Preferences.
- Rescan Effects: When you add VST effects to your system you must enable this option then restart Audacity so it can see the new effects. This option is the same as Rescan VST effects next time Audacity is started in Effects Preferences. See Adding a new VST effect in Audacity, above.
Audio Unit Effects
Audio Units (AU) are a system-level plugin architecture provided on Mac OS X computers. Each time you launch Audacity it will load all Audio Unit effects that it detects. To add a new Audio Unit effect, place it in either of the following system plugin directories:
- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components (user plugins)
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components (system-wide plugins)
then restart Audacity. Newly added plugins will appear underneath the divider in the Effect menu. Audacity will not detect AU plugins in its own "Plug-Ins" folder where Audacity itself resides.
Saving, Exporting and Importing Audio Unit Effect Presets
Save As...
Select Save As... from the Manage Effect menu to bring up the following dialog:
Type a name for the preset then click to save it in the effect as a User Preset.
Export...
Presets for Audio Unit effects are exported to a file. A presets file lets you move settings for a particular effect between computers.
Select Export... from the Manage Effect menu to bring up the following dialog:
Preset files are exported to /Users/<yourUserName>/Library/Audio/Presets/Apple/<effectName>/ .
Note that you must have previously Saved at least one User Preset before you can export anything.
Import...
Select Import... from the Manage Effect menu to bring up the following dialog:
Select the presets you want to import then click to import each preset file as a User Preset.
Audio Unit Effect Settings
Choose Options... from the Manage Effect menu in the Audio Unit effect dialog to bring up the Audio Unit Effect Settings dialog.
- Latency Compensation: This setting (enabled by default) compensates for waveform delay caused by Audio Unit effects which preload audio data to a buffer. Compensation may not work in all cases, and for it to work, any compensation or latency reporting settings in the effect itself must be enabled. If compensation fails or if this Audacity setting is unchecked, effects that buffer audio will insert silence at the start of the processed selection and remove a corresponding amount of audio from the end of the selection. Enabling or disabling compensation is effective immediately.
- Graphical Mode: This setting (enabled by default) allows most Audio Unit effects to display a graphical (instead of a plain text) interface. If you change this setting you must close the settings dialog, then close and reopen the effect to see the change.
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Apple Audio Units are unlikely to launch in Audacity on OS X Yosemite. Non-Apple Audio Units might do so. |
