On Fri, 2009-10-09 at 22:27 +0100, Gale Andrews wrote:
> | From Peter Sampson <
[hidden email]>
> | Fri, 9 Oct 2009 06:39:57 -0700 (PDT)
> | Subject: [Audacity-devel] Bug: recording over selected time-period - Windows XP-HE-SP3
> > Following a recent thread in the Forum I think I have discovered a bug.
> >
> > Stevethefiddle wrote: "In Audacity 1.3.9 you should be able to place the
> > cursor at the place that you want to start, then press record. Audacity
> > will create a new track(s) for the recording. If you select a region of
> > an existing track before you hit the record button, then Audacity will
> > start playing (and recording) at the start of the selection and will
> > automatically stop when it gets to the end of the selection."
> >
> > I tested this on both 1.3.9 beta and 1.3.10 alpha (7Oct09) and in
> > record mode it starts at the beginning of the selection ok - but then
> > carries on recording past the selection end point. Curiously the red
> > recording cursor (red triangle and red line) does stop at the end of the
> > selection - it's just the blue waves that carry on - and nor does the
> > window scroll when the recording goes off the screen, focus remains on
> > the selected area. And it is making the recording, it's not just blue
> > wave graphics.
> >
> > Platform: Windows XP-HE-SP3, Dell desktop Dimension 2400
> >
> > See this thread in the forum for more detail:
> >
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=13983>
> I think this is more a "behaviour decision" than a bug. Please see
> my comments in the above thread.
>
>
>
>
> Gale
I'm not convinced that it is not a "bug", or at least an unintentional
and unintuitive behaviour.
I have hunted through years of -devel list discussions and found a
couple of threads from about 2 1/2 years ago (doesn't time fly).
It seems to have all started with Leland's "innocent question":
> Let's say you have a 1 minute piece and you
> highlight seconds 20-25 with the intent of
>recording for 5 seconds
>
> Now, what happens is that the recording will
> start at 20 as expected, but it will continue
> on indefinitely.
>
> Should it stop when it reaches the send of
> the selected bit?
http://n2.nabble.com/Is-recording-supposed-to-stop-at-end-of-selection-td253658.htmlWhat followed was an interesting (and very long) discussion about
recording behaviours.
http://n2.nabble.com/Just-committed-a-first-attempt-at-Append-Recording-td253660.htmlTo try and summarise, it appears to boil down to 4 behaviours:
1* Play existing tracks while recording new on / off
2* Insert recording in existing track / create new track
3* Always record from cursor position on/off
4* Stop recording at end of selection on/off
What we have now:
1* "Overdub" selectable in Transport menu. - nice :)
2* Create new track (R key) / Append record (Shift +R).- nice :)
3* Record from the cursor position.- nice :)
4* !&*'@!
I could go into detail why I think 1, 2 and 3 are excellent design
decisions, but as for number 4....
4* Stop recording at end of selection unless Overdub is not selected !?
What has "Overdub" got to do with whether someone wants the recording to
stop at a given point?
During the old discussions, the idea that this was, to greater or lesser
extent, an unintuitive/inconsistent/unhelpful behaviour was raised by
Gale, Leland and Vaughan Johnson (and more recently on the Audacity
forum by Peter and myself). As far as I can find, the only objection
raised to stopping recording at the end of a selection was from Tino
Meinen - and that was not so much an opposing argument as just not
seeing the need for it.
Why recording should always stop at the end of the selection:
1) Consistency. Play stops at the end and Record stops at the end when
Overdub is selected.
2) The user wants to re-record a short section (with or without
overdub). This is useful for musicians who have an instrument in their
hands while recording (usually with Overdub on), or to people recording
audio books/making Podcasts when correcting a mistake (more likely with
Overdub off).
3) When Overdub is off, the Play position line stops at the end of the
selection but the recording continues. (this "looks" wrong).
4) A user wants to record a half hour radio show that has just started
and leave it unattended- rather than wasting time setting the timer
record, they can just select half an hour on the time line. They come
back and find their computer has crashed with a full hard drive because
they forgot that Overdub needs to be switched off.
5) There is no need for this inconsistent behaviour - If a user wants to
start recording at a specific point and continue indefinitely, the
current behaviour of recording from the play position without a
selection will do this - This is the obvious way to implement continuous
recording, and we already have this feature.
Why recording should not stop at the end of the selection when Overdub
is off:
1)
I certainly do not think this is in any way a show stopper for the
release of 2.0, but as someone said back in May 2007 (about not fully
solving the issue) -
"I think you are probably right, but only for now. I think what we are
discussing should be actively pursued in 1.5 Betas straight after 1.4.0
comes out."
Steve
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