Macros
- Peter 8Feb13: Until we decide otherwise THIS is the primary strawman and the following ones are kite-flying style suggestions, until we decide otherwise. So major changes should ideally be made here. But yes I have been striving to keep these 3 strawmen in step (not easy as you imply Ed) and I note that Gale has in the meantime made changes to Apply Chain thus rendering Strawman-3 out of date (but fixable). It would help me greatly if we could decided soonest which of the the 3 styles we prefer. I think Strawman-2 the fully consolidated has been ruled out but we still need to decide between #1 and #3. What we should remember is that either of these versions is vastly superior to the current inadequate Batch Processing page which kicked this particular project off.
- Peter 9Feb13:Following our discussions and voting (and in the Adacity spirit of "doer decides") I have changed the title of this page. For me this is the primary strawman, to the extent that I have stripped off the user page designation from this page, effectivley publishing it in the manual, it is not yet replacing the current Batch Processing in the manual and is not linked to to from anywhere apart from my user pages for now. But I would like to take this oppportunity to request greenlight for formal publication and linkage, removing the old Batch Processing page - @Gale: I think that that is down to you as you hold the veto rights.
- This does not preclude us from still considering a two-page solution or even a consolidated solution as they can easily be constructed from this page and the material on Edit Chains and Apply Chain. For the time being I do propose to retain Strawmen #2 and #3 on my user pages for reference, see: User:PeterSampson/Chains - for batch processing and effects automation - Strawman-2 and User:PeterSampson/Chains - for batch processing and effects automation - Strawman-3
- I would like us to consider a different two page solution though, arising from a discussion that Steve and I have had, which is to retain this page as-is but consolidate the two pages Edit Chains and Apply Chain onto a single page linked to as the detailed material from this page.
Steve pointed out to me that Edit Chains and Apply Chain are really two sides of the same coin - he wrote: "Edit Chains" and "Apply Chains" are very much linked from a functional point of view. They could be described as two halves of the same effect. Editing a chain makes no sense without being able to apply a chain. "Edit Chains" is like a "helper function" of Apply Chains.
He indicated that they could easily have been implemented as a single command, all you need to do is add the two Apply buttons in what is now the Edit Chains dialog and the new command could just simply be called Chains. This would have the benefit of reducing the command count (without reducing functionality) and for the user the benfefit would be that they would be able to see the command content of the chain that they are about to apply (without having to flip between the two commands).
Steve also pointed out that this is precisely how Audacity implements the Equalization effect, he wrote: Looking at the "Equalization" effect, there is the main effect that does something to the audio, and then there is a "helper function" called "Save/Manage Curves". Fortunately "Save/Manage Curves" is not a separate effect, but is accessed through the main Equalization dialogue. The documentation for "Equalization" describes the main interface, and then goes on to describe the "helper function" (Save/Manage Curves).
I basically agree with Steve here and am considering publishing a proposal for a unified Chains command, does anyone think there is any mileage in this or would I be wasting my time?
- I have moved the export stuff out of the intro into the workflow.
- I think the examples are insufficiently explained (in the absence of a "tutorial") so I have expanded them into their own note div. This makes me wonder if the details of the examples should be completely separate underneath the workflow. ATM I am fairly sure this works better. See this way of doing it on the Talk page. Can we decide this fundamental first? Also if this is the better way, I am wondering if we can work a trimmed version of the Edit Chains and Apply Chains sections (possibly still with their images) into the workflow. Then we have Intro - Workflow - Examples (that's it).
A Chain is a sequence of preconfigured commands in a set order (mainly effects) that can be applied automatically to projects or audio files. Any built-in or Nyquist effect shown in the Effect Menu can be added to a Chain.
The two uses of Chains can be seen as batch processing and effects automation as illustrated in the following examples.
- A "batch processing" Chain might use Compressor to reduce the dynamic range of multiple WAV files (also normalizing them to maximum amplitude of 0 dB), then convert them to MP3 format.
- An "effects automation" Chain for the current project might run:
- Normalize with settings of:
- Remove any DC offset
- -10 dB (to allow for boosting frequencies later in the Chain without clipping)
- Noise Removal
- Equalization (to perform the frequency adjustment)
- Normalize again at different settings (without offset removal, setting a final amplitude of -1 dB).
- Normalize with settings of:
Workflow
There are two related Chain commands in the File Menu called Edit Chains and Apply Chain. The workflow is as follows.
- First, use to create a new Chain or to edit an existing Chain (if required).
- To save an audio file as part of the Chain process, you must either:
- add an Export command for 16-bit WAV, MP3, FLAC or OGG (which use any currently set "Options" for that format in the File Export Dialog ) or
- use one or both commands to save "MP3_56k" (a low quality MP3 at 56 kbps bit rate).
- To save an audio file as part of the Chain process, you must either:
- Second, use to select one of the existing chains and apply it to either:
- the project in the current window (this is essentially a method of effects automation) or
- a selected list of external audio files (this is essentially an unattended batch processing of many individual items).
Edit Chains
Enables you to either edit, remove or rename existing Chains, or add a new Chain. The Chain can include a number of common Audacity functions and effects to be executed in any order you specify. In many cases, the parameters for each command in the Chain can be specified within the Edit Chains window.
- Accessed by:
The left hand box in the dialog box (labeled Chains) Chains contains a list of already defined chains. You can define the name of a new chain and select which chain is active by using the , and buttons.
The right hand box (labeled Chain) lists the ordered sequence of commands for the chain selected in the "Chains" box on the left. Here you can add or remove commands for the selected chain, change the order in which the commands execute in the chain, or edit the parameters for some effects in the chain.
For further details see the Edit Chains page.
Apply Chain
Enables you to select a Chain and apply it to either the entirety of the current project, to a single audio file or to a group of specifically selected audio files in a single directory.
- Accessed by:
The dialog window contains the list of all your current chains. Use left-click (or use the Up or Down arrow on the keyboard) to select the Chain you want to apply.
Then use the button for effects automation or the button to apply the selected chain to a set of files which you select (you must have a new, empty Audacity Project window open to use this option).
For more details see the Apply Chain page.
