Audacity Problem

[danboy]

I've been using Audacity for 2 years now, never a problem. Always used it to successfully change pitch, etc.
Today out of the blue, i did my usual thing with it and changed the pitch of a wave file, exported it, and lo and behold it won't burn to disk. This is both using Cakewalk and Windows media Player to burn.I get messages like "Not recognizing file, etc.

Now, when i look at the exported file i see it has DOUBLED the MB...For example, the original file say was 28 mb, the exported file is now 56mb.... and I tried several other wav files and it happens each time...At first I thought it was just the pitch changing, so i imported the original file and exported as a wave file without making any adjustments to pitch, etc...Same thing...
I even deleted and reinstalled a new copy of Audacity...Same story..

Hope someone can advise why this would be happening now...??

Thanks

[oldsage]

check to see if has a time stretching utility on it,and if it has been selected.i have never used this program before! i thought a wav file could not be altered in this way ,only time stretched to make it sound higher in pitch.perhaps you could save it as an mp3,and use the utility on the mp3 download page on the main site to alter the pitch,then rercord it to wav,or use a converter.waver is very good

[danboy]

Oh, I alter the pitch with waves all the time... I would be dead in the water if i couldn't...Actually I found a work around...Once I saved it as an mp3, that worked fine...Then i used another program to convert the mp3 to a wave file (Cakewalk pyro) still baffled though as to why Audacity was /is screwing up the wave files I save with it....Weird!! But at least I can work arounfd it....Thanks..

[ironbaden]

Here's a suggestion.... uninstall and reinstall the program.... maybe one of the DLL files in audacity is corrupted... If you have windows xp or ME you might wanna do a system restore to the last time it was working correctly... I'd try the reinstalll first.

Have you installed anything new latley?.. Maybe there is a conflict.

[levi2]

danboy i understand that a wav is better quality than mp3 so i wouldnt bothers saving to mp3 then converting back to wav as you have lost a bit of quality

levi2

[danboy]

First thing, or second thing I did was reinstall a clean copy....Thought yeah, betcha there is a conflict with something or other..problem was I hadn't used audacity in several months before the problem...looking not to reinstall all of windows if i don't have to...I think Xp has been a record for me not having to do that!!...That "system restore" has bailed me out numerous times...

So....for now at least, I think I'm fine saving the wave to mp3 and then using another program to convert it back...actually, unless I'm mistaken it's no loss...as far as i know, or think I know, saving a wave as an mp3 only "compresses the file, and converting it back simply "uncompresses the file'//correct???

[jelliemonkey]

Hi Danboy,
I had the same problem approx 7 months ago..It lasted about a week or so and righted itself.. I don't know how or why, so i'm still interested if anyone has the answer to this one !!
Cheers
Dale

[danboy]

Wow!!! So I'm not alone in the world.LOL!...That is sooo weird...Maybe we are astrological twins or something...Hahaha

[ironbaden]

levi2 said:

danboy i understand that a wav is better quality than mp3 so i wouldnt bothers saving to mp3 then converting back to wav as you have lost a bit of quality

levi2

Your so right levi2 .... work with waves as much as you can......

[levi2]

thought so wasnt quite sure i know a lot of ppl use mp3 for space

[JazzCat]

Double check your save settings. You possibly have save set up to save as 24 bit 48Hz. That would account for the file size being twice as large. and would account for it not playing as it has to be 16 bit 44.1Hz to be CD quality and playable.
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you said:
actually, unless I'm mistaken it's no loss...as far as i know, or think I know, saving a wave as an mp3 only "compresses the file, and converting it back simply "uncompresses the file'//correct???

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No, that is not correct. I really dislike the word 'Compression' because it gives a false impression of what is really taking place. In reality data isn't being squashed, it's being permanently and irretrievably thrown away. Data is thrown away to reduce the size of a wave file. Once that data is thrown away you can not get it back. Your ears may not be sensitive enough to hear the difference but believe me, it is there!!


The Fraunhofer IIS labs in Germany created the MPEG 1 layer 3 codec. Their compression algorithm is based on perceptual encoding. Researchers found that there are certain harmonics in audio signals that humans cannot perceive, as well as harmonics that obscure the presence of other frequencies. An MPEG encoder reads an audio file and determines which harmonics are perceptible and imperceptible. This perceptually based exclusion process is similar to the "lossy" compression used in MiniDisk systems, and results in far greater sonic accuracy than compression through lowering the sample rate. Encoding in MP3 format allows the user to select resultant quality in terms of kilobytes per second (kbps). This measurement refers to how many bytes of data will be analyzed per second. The higher the kbps, the larger the file size and the more accurate the sound quality.


Here are a couple articles to read that may help you undertsand it a bit beter.

computer.howstuffworks.com/mp31.htm

www.harmoniccycle.com/harmonicweb/music-mp3-info-fraubasic.htm

[danboy]

Thanks for the info!..I'll go back and check to see if I saved the file as you state..

DS

[levi2]

to me taking a wav file from say 20 meg down to 3.5 meg (mp3) is like taking a dvd9 and compressing it to a dvd5 you lose quality but how much is noticed to the naked ear or eye sometimes hard to tell