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Topic: audacity & clipping (Read 4200 times) previous topic - next topic
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audacity & clipping

For a long time I'm using Cool Edit Pro 2 as my favourite wave editor (never had the money to buy it again under the company 'Adobe') and there when working in 32-bit float, peak can go above 1.0 (or below -1.0) without clipping (well, at playback it sounds clipped, but after running through normalize everything was fine).

Now I want to give Audacity a try. But after less than an hour of experimenting with it I noticed that it seems to instantly clip *everything* that goes louder than 1.0 (and lowering gain afterwards doesn't bring back the clipped parts)!

Now, am I doing something wrong or is Audacity not capable of handling peaks over 1.0??? What the heck would the 32bit-float be there for, then?

I'm using Audacity 1.2.6 on Windows XP.

Here's what happens when making 10dB louder and afterwards making it quiter by the same amount:



I hope that it's my stupidity and not the programs limitation (!!!)

Thanks for any advice/tips/help!
flac 1.2.1 -8 (archive) | aoTuVb5.7 -q 4 (pc, s1mp3)

audacity & clipping

Reply #1 –
I have no idea whether or not Audacity might do floating point correctly, but I'm curious what it offers that could pull you away from CoolEdit. What I see in general is that Audacity is so much less than CE that there is no reason to bother with it if you have a choice.

audacity & clipping

Reply #2 –
Quote from: AndyH-ha on
What I see in general is that Audacity is so much less than CE that there is no reason to bother with it if you have a choice.

Isn't this blasphemy?

Which will you be criticizing next, foobar2000 or flac?

audacity & clipping

Reply #3 –
But I'm a man who is always open to try something new. You're probably right that Cool Edit offers more features, but many of them I don't use. Additionally, updates are to be paid, but Audacity is completely free.

But if Audacity is not able to handle peaks >1 than I have no other choice than staying with Cool Edit. Having to watch out carefully that nothing goes too loud when applying an effect is crazy and inefficient - when you found it clipped - undo, lower volume and apply the effect again.

Maybe I'm asking at the wrong place. I'll try posting at http://www.audacity-forum.de/forum , let's see what they're saying about that
flac 1.2.1 -8 (archive) | aoTuVb5.7 -q 4 (pc, s1mp3)

audacity & clipping

Reply #4 –
Quote from: gasmann on
Additionally, updates are to be paid, but Audacity is completely free.


To continue the blasphemy, I've not seen a reason to "update" from CEP 1.2a.

I have Adobe Audition 2.0 because work bought it for me. I know Adobe have added (and continue to add) lots of new stuff, but CEP 1.2a works just fine. I've uninstalled AA 2.0!

It's a real shame CE2k is no longer available. It was a great cheap reliable solution for people not wanting to buy CEP.

Cheers,
David.

audacity & clipping

Reply #5 –
I found a significant improvement in performance in the multitrack view with Audition 1.0 over CEP.  I have a copy of 1.5 handy somewhere but haven't bothered since 1.0 is working so well.

I won't touch 2.0 since it's installation disc is over 20 times the size of 1.5 and 1.0.

audacity & clipping

Reply #6 –
Quote from: gasmann on
when making 10dB louder and afterwards making it quiter by the same amount

You most likely need to reduce the gain you're applying such as trying +6dB or +3dB.

In any event trying to "modernize" tracks by compressing and of course subsequently clipping them won't increase their quality. There's also a video on YouTube about the loudness war.

audacity & clipping

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Andavari on
Quote from: gasmann on

when making 10dB louder and afterwards making it quiter by the same amount

You most likely need to reduce the gain you're applying such as trying +6dB or +3dB.

In any event trying to "modernize" tracks by compressing and of course subsequently clipping them won't increase their quality. There's also a video on YouTube about the loudness war.


He was only doing this to illustrate that the floating point isn't working. It's not what he actually wants to do, just a test.

Cheers,
David.
 

audacity & clipping

Reply #8 –
Ok, I asked at the Audacity Forum and one of the developers said it was intended to make 16, 24 and 32-bit behave the same way. For those speaking german here's the thread: http://www.audacity-forum.de/thread/2099
So I chose to stay with CEP2 for now.
flac 1.2.1 -8 (archive) | aoTuVb5.7 -q 4 (pc, s1mp3)