Manage Macros

Edit Chains allows you to edit, remove or rename existing Chains or add a new Chain. Any built-in, LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST or Audio Unit (Mac OS X) effect shown in the Effect Menu can be added to a Chain. You can also add plug-ins in any format that are shown in the Generate or Analyze Menus (including VAMP analysis effects), the built-in Find Clipping analyzer and a number of export commands.

Chains may be applied to either the entirety of the current project or to a selection of files using the File > Apply Chain command.

It is possible to use Noise Reduction in Chains but see Noise Reduction Tips for how the Noise Profile is captured.

Accessed by: File > Edit Chains...

For help with what the Chain effects do and how to set their parameters, see Effect Menu

Chains

Chains contains a list of already defined Chains. You can define the name of a new Chain and select which Chain is active.

• Add: Add a new Chain to the list.
• Remove: Remove the selected Chain from the list.
• Rename: Rename the selected Chain.

Chain

Chain lists the sequence of commands in order of first to last (End) for the Chain selected in the "Chains" box to 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.

• Delete: Delete the currently selected command from the list.
• Move Up: Move the currently selected command up in the list.
• Move Down: Move the currently selected command down in the list.
• Defaults: This button is only active when the "MP3 Conversion" Chain is selected in the "Chain" list on the left, and will reset this Chain to its default values.</ul>

Editing an existing command

To edit an existing command double-click it, or use the Up or Down keyboard arrow to select it then press SPACE. The "Select Command" dialog appears as below, but with the command name and any current parameters displayed and editable (using the Edit Parameters button). If you want to replace the current command in its current order in the sequence with another command, double-click the new command (or select it then use SPACE) then choose OK.

Inserting a new command

To insert a new command in a Chain, left-click or use the Up or Down keyboard arrow to select an existing command; the new command to be inserted will be placed above this selected command. Then press Insert.

• The "Select Command" dialog appears, listing all the available commands. Double-click a command from the list to insert it in the "Command" box, as shown in the image below after inserting "Normalize". Alternatively, use the Up or Down keyboard arrow to select the command, then press SPACE.
  Gale 17Feb14: Image incorrect - should include Hard Limiter and SC4, Noise Reduction and Crossfade Tracks, and exclude Noise Removal and CrossFadeIn / CrossFadeOut. But SC4 is crashing in Chains, so it could be removed.

  • Peter 18Feb15: Updated the image for 2.1.0 - I decided to leave SC4 in as I'm assuming that most users will accept it loading, so would maybe wonder why it wasn't showing here. Also not listing it here is a poor visual cue to indicate that it causes a chain crash in 2.1.0

    I note that SC4 is written here as "Sc4", is that a bug or is that deliberate?

  • Gale 18Feb15: I meant, RM might simply decide not to distribute SC4.
    • Peter 18Feb15: In which case it would become a P1 update - but quick to fix here (a bit more work elsewhere).
  Peter 18Feb15: not any more it isn't, it is listed correctly in 2.1.0

  • Gale 18Feb15: I'd already checked if that div was still valid, and it is on my machines (Windows, Mac and Linux). I can't understand why there should be a difference. Notice the "/pitchShift" in the dialog (lower case "p"). I did a case sensitive search of the code and could not find that.
    • Peter 18Feb15: I didn't do anything special, this was generated this morning with the latest 08Feb15 nightly. It was goen on my documentation account and I cleared the cfg files first ...
    • Gale 18Feb15: If you add that to a Chain and apply the Chain, does it do what you expect?
    • Gale 19Feb15: Leland and I both think you should be seeing TimeScale. Please try deleting C:\Users\your name\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\plugins.cfg, C:\Users\your name\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\pluginsettings.cfg, C:\Users\your name\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\pluginregistry.cfg then getting the latest alpha build (just done one).
      • Peter 20Feb15: did that (for both of my user accounts that use Audacity) and lo & behold - I do indeed see "TimeScale". Restored the note div and updated the image. Removed the P1.
      • Gale 20Feb15: Excellent, not really P1 but it may be better not to have those DISTRHO LV2's showing, especially since those two don't load. They are at Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\LV2 or Program Files (x86)\Common Files\LV2.
      • Peter 21Feb15: Oops, yes. I forgot I'd restored to Common LV2 folder - don't really know why I did that, I don't use them - they're there just for very occasional testing.
      • Gale 21Feb15: but now that "SlidingTimeScale/pitchShift" has come back instead of TimeScale. Are you picking that up from some old version of Audacity?
      • Peter 21Feb15: Yup, that indeed was my problem - I forgot to update my desktop shortcut on my documentation/test a/c <blushes deeply>
  Note that the Sliding Time Scale/Pitch Shift effect is listed as TimeScale.
  Peter 20Jun15: The image needs updating for 2.1.1 as new effects have been added and Hard Limiter Removed.

  • Peter 20Jun15 later: image updated, removed the P1.

• If the command has editable parameters, the Edit Parameters button will be active. Clicking this button will bring up the dialog box for the effect where you can set the parameters as if you were applying the standalone effect.
• Choose OK in the effect dialog to accept the parameters you entered, or Cancel to revert to the default parameters.
• Choose OK in the "Select Command" dialog to add the command to the Chain.

Export commands

• There are four basic export commands available: ExportWAV, ExportMP3, ExportFLAC and ExportOgg.
  • The file name created by any of the four export commands consists of the date and time.
• The ExportMP3_56k_before and ExportMP3_56k_after commands can be used respectively to export "before" and "after" MP3 files at 56 kbps bit rate at any point in the chain of processing. This allows you to compare the result of one or more effects, or provide files for different purposes with and without a particular effect.
  • The name of the MP3 exported by the "ExportMP3_56k_before" command is prefixed by "MasterBefore_" followed by the date and time. The name of the MP3 exported by the "ExportMP3_56k_after" command is prefixed by "MasterAfter_" followed by the date and time.

Parameters for export formats cannot be set in "Edit Chains". To configure export parameters for the Chain, click File > Export Audio... to access the Export Audio Dialog, click Options, set the parameters, press OK then Cancel the export. An audio track must be on screen in order to open the Export Audio Dialog.

Sharing a chain

Each Chain is automatically saved as a separate text file with TXT extension in the "Chains" folder in Audacity's folder for application data. This allows you to copy a Chain and send it to another user. You can also add another user's Chain to your own list of Chains by copying it into this folder. An updated list of Chains will be available next time you open "Edit Chains" in Audacity.