Topic: another issue with audacity

[panther65]

I'm importing a 24/96 file into Audacity and trying to downsample it to 16/44.1. I set the sample format to 16bits and the rate to 44.1. My preferences are "uncompressed export format" to WAV (16 bit PCM); Default sample rate: 44100hz,default sample rate 16bits, real time sample rate converter:high quality sinc interpolation, high quality sample rate converter: high quality sinc interpolation, real time dither: none, high quality dither: triangle. However when I export as wav I get a file that is larger that the original and at 3072kbps.

I have been joining the files in Audacity and then opening the file in CDWave and then tracking and finally saving as wav 24/96; saving as flac; saving as wav 16/44.1. Am I doing damage to the file by doing it this way in CDWave? It sure is easier.

[Brian Skalinder]

I'm importing a 24/96 file into Audacity and trying to downsample it to 16/44.1. I set the sample format to 16bits and the rate to 44.1. My preferences are "uncompressed export format" to WAV (16 bit PCM); Default sample rate: 44100hz,default sample rate 16bits, real time sample rate converter:high quality sinc interpolation, high quality sample rate converter: high quality sinc interpolation, real time dither: none, high quality dither: triangle. However when I export as wav I get a file that is larger that the original and at 3072kbps.

Looks like your 3072 kbps file is 32bfp / 96 kHz.  It sounds like you have Uncompressed Export Format set properly in Preferences, so I'm a bit befuddled why you're ending up with a 32bfp.  With the Preferences settings you mentioned, you're actually exporting as 96 kHz...maybe Audacity won't export a 96 kHz file at 16-bit, and so does it at 32bfp instead.  Anyway, something's obviously screwy, and I think I know what it is.

The default values for Sample Format and Sample Rate in Preferences really only come into play if you're recording a brand new file / project in Audacity.  For editing existing WAV files, you need to set the Sample Format and Sample Rate within the Project space.  My Audacity workflow post provides an overview of how to use Audacity in the 24-bit realm - perhaps it will help.

The short answer:  set the project's Sample Format to 16-bit using the black triangle next to the track name;  set the Sample Rate using the Project Rate button in the bottom left of the window.

I have been joining the files in Audacity and then opening the file in CDWave and then tracking and finally saving as wav 24/96; saving as flac; saving as wav 16/44.1. Am I doing damage to the file by doing it this way in CDWave? It sure is easier.

When joining the files in Audacity, you'll need to set the project's Sample Format and Sample Rate properly, as noted above, but obviously using 24-bit and 96 kHz values instead of 16-bit and 44.1 kHz.  Joining the files in Audacity is fine, though I prefer shntool or WavMerge.  Saving a 24/96 file as 16/44.1 in CD-Wave isn't damaging the file, but I doubt its dither/resampling features are as good as Audacity or other dedicated WAV editors.

[spyder9]

I used Addawav to merge two 24 bit files today.  First time I needed to do that, so I tried out Addawav first, instead of researching options. 

I can't believe it, but it worked!  GUI is really simple and the software is NOT a CPU pig.  No sbes at the point of merge either.  How about that?! 

[dorrcoq]

I've never heard of addawav, but it looks pretty good.  +T

[spyder9]

Here's a link for Addawav

http://www.safesite.com/product.php%5Bid%5D56398%5Bcid%5D263%5BSiteID%5Ddigibuy