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Menu Bar
New - creates a new empty window
Open... - opens an audio file or an Audacity project in a new
window (unless the current window is empty). To add audio files to
an existing project window, use one of the Import commands in the
Project menu.
Close - closes the current window, asking you if you want to
save changes. On Windows and Unix, closing the last window will
quit Audacity, unless you modify this behavior in the Interface Preferences.
Save Project - saves everything in the window into an
Audacity-specific format so that you can save and quickly continue your
work later. An Audacity project consists of a project file, ending in ".aup",
and a project data folder, ending in "_data". For example, if
you name your project "Composition", then Audacity will create a file
called "Composition.aup" and a folder called Composition_data.
Audacity project files are not meant to be shared with other programs -
use one of the Export commands (below) when you are finished editing a
file.
Save Project As... - same as Save Project (above), but lets
you
save a project as a new name.
Recent Files ... - brings up a list of files you have
recently opened in audacity to be re-opened quickly.
Export As WAV... - exports all of the audio in your project
as a
WAV file, an industry-standard format for uncompressed audio. You can
change the standard file format used for exporting from Audacity by
opening the File Format Preferences
.
Note that exporting will automatically mix and resample if you have
more than one track, or varying sample rates. See also
File Formats.
Export Selection As WAV... - same as above, but only exports
the current selection.
Export as MP3... - exports all of the audio as an MP3 file.
MP3 files are compressed and therefore take up much less disk space,
but they lose some audio quality. Another compressed alternative
is Ogg Vorbis (below). You can set the quality of MP3 compression
in the File Format Preferences.
See alsoMP3 Exporting.
Export Selection As MP3... - same as above, but only exports
the current selection.
Export Labels... - if you have a Label
Track in your project, this lets you export the labels as a text
file. You can import labels in the same text format using the "Import
Labels..." command in the Project Menu.
Export Multiple... - lets you split your project into multiple
files
all in one step. You can either split them vertically (one new file per
track), or horizontally (using labels in a Label
Track to indicate the breaks between
exported files.
Page Setup - configure how Audacity will print out the track
waveforms using the Print option, and what printer to use.
Print - Print out the main window view from audacity showing
the
tracks and waveforms.
Exit (Quit) - closes all windows and exits Audacity,
prompting you
to save any unsaved changes first.
The Edit Menu provides functions for editing waveforms. In order to
activate most functions, you need to select part or all of a waveform:
The dark grey region is selected and any edit command will operate only
on that waveform segment. To select a region, place your mouse at the
strarting point and drag to the end point. To select an entire
waveform, Click Ctrl-A.
Undo - This will undo the last editing operation you
performed to your
project. Audacity supports full unlimited undo - meaning
you can undo every editing operation back to when you opened the
window.
Redo - This will redo any editing operations that were just
undone.
After you perform a new editing operation,
you can no longer redo the operations that were undone.
Cut - Removes the selected audio data and places it on the
clipboard.
Only one "thing" can be on the clipboard at a time, but it may
contain multiple tracks.
Copy - Copies the selected audio data to the clipboard
without
removing it from the project.
Paste - Inserts whatever is on the clipboard at the position
of the
selection or cursor in the project, replacing whatever audio data
is currently selected, if any.
Trim - Removes everything to the left and right of the
selection.
Delete - Removes the audio data that is currently selected
without
copying it to the clipboard.
Silence - Erases the audio data currently selected, replacing
it with
silence instead of removing it.
Split - Moves the selected region into its own track or
tracks,
replacing the affected portion of the original track with silence.
See the figure below:
Duplicate - Makes a copy of all or part of a track or set of
tracks
into new tracks. See the figure below:
Select ... > All - Selects all of the audio in all of the
tracks in the project.
Select ... > Start to Cursor - Selects from the beginning
of the selected tracks to the cursor position.
Select ... > Cursor to End - Selects from the cursor
position to the end of the selected tracks.
Find Zero Crossings - Modifies the selection slightly so that
both
the left and right edge of the selection appear on a positive-slope
zero crossing. This makes it easier to cut and paste audio without
resulting
in an audible clicking sound.
Selection Save - Remembers the current selection (or cursor
position),
allowing you to restore it later.
Selection Restore - Restores the cursor position to the last
position
saved by "Selection Save".
Move Cursor ... > to Track Start - Moves the cursor to the
start of the current track.
Move Cursor ... > to Track End - Move the cursor to the
end of the currently selected track.
Move Cursor ... > to Selection Start - Moves the cursor to
the start of the current selection.
Move Cursor ... > to Selection End - Moves the cursor to
the end of the current selection.
Snap-To ... > Snap On - Enable Snap-To mode. When Snap-To
mode is enabled, the selection will be constrained to the nearest
interval on the time scale, by default the nearest second. So if you
click and drag from 4.2 seconds to 9.8 seconds, it will result in a
selection from 4 seconds to 10 seconds, exactly. You can change the
units that are snapped to using the "Set Selection Format" option in
the View Menu .
Snap-To ... > Snap Off - Turns Snap-To mode off letting
you select arbitrary ranges of time
Preferences... - opens the Preferences
dialog.
Zoom In - Zooms in on the horizontal axis of the audio,
displaying more detail about less time. You can also use the zoom
tool to zoom in on a particular part of the window.
Zoom Normal - Zooms to the default view, which displays about
one inch per second.
Zoom Out - Zooms out, displaying less detail about more time.
Fit in Window - Zooms out until the entire project just
fits in the window.
Fit Vertically - Resizes all of the tracks vertically so they
all fit inside of the window (if possible).
Zoom to Selection - Zooms in or out so that the selection
fills
the window.
History... - Brings up the history window.
It shows all the actions you have performed during the current session,
including importing. The right-hand column shows the amount of hard
disk
space your operations used. You can jump back and forth between editing
steps quite easily by simply clicking on the entries in the window, the
same as selecting Undo or Redo many times in a row. You can also
discard
Undo history to save disk space.
The history window can be kept open while you work.
Import Audio... - This command is used to import audio from a
standard audio format into
your project. Use this command if you already have a couple of tracks
and you want to add another track to the same project, maybe to mix
them together.
You cannot use this option to import Audacity Projects. The only way
to combine two Audacity Projects is to open them in separate windows,
then copy and paste the tracks.
Import Labels... - This command takes a text file which
contains time codes and labels,
and turns them into a Label Track.
Import Raw Data... - This menu command allows you to open a file
in virtually any
uncompressed format. When you select the file,
Audacity will analyze it and try to guess its format.
It will guess correctly about 90% of the time, so you can try just
pressing "OK" and listening to the result. If it is not correct,
however,
you can use the options in the dialog to try some other possible
encodings.
At the beginning of your imported track(s), you may notice a little
bit of noise. This is probably the file's header, which Audacity
was not able to parse. Just zoom in and select the noise with the
Selection Tool, and then
choose Delete from the Edit Menu.
Edit ID3 Tags... - Opens a dialog allowing you to edit the
ID3 tags associated with
a project, for MP3 exporting
New Label Track - This creates a new Label
Track,
which can be very useful for textual annotation.
Remove Tracks - This command removes the selected track or
tracks from the project.
Even if only part of a track is selected, the entire track is removed.
You can also delete a track by clicking the X in its upper-left corner.
To cut out only part of the audio in a track, use
Delete or Silence.
Add Label at Selection - This menu item lets you create a new
label at the current selection.
You can title the label by typing with the keyboard and then hitting
"Enter"
when you're done.
Add Label at Playback Position - This menu item lets you
create a new label at the current location where
you are playing or recording. Do this if you want to mark a certain
passage while you're listening to it. You can title the label by typing
with the keyboard and then hitting "Enter" or "Return" when you're
done.
Only available whilst audacity is playing.
Thinklabs Phonocardiography Help - Takes you to
www.thinklabsmedical.com Help information on using Thinklabs
Phonocardiography Software..
Audacity Help - The original Audacity Help information. This
can be useful to see some of the tools that exist in standard Audacity.
In some cases, the standard Audacity provides features that have been
removed from Thinklabs Phonocardiography.
About Thinklabs - takes you to www.thinklabsmedical.com.
About Audacity - displays the version number and credits.
If you compiled Audacity yourself, check here to verify which
optional modules were successfully compiled in.
The items in this menu only work when you have audio selected.
Audacity does not have any real-time effects; you must select the
audio, apply the effect, and then listen to the results.
Most effects have a Preview button. Clicking on this button plays
up to three seconds of audio, allowing you to hear what it will sound
like after the effect is applied. This is useful for fine-tuning the
effect parameters.
Amplify - changes the volume of the selected audio. If you
click the "Allow clipping" checkbox, it will let you amplify
so much that the audio ends up beyond the range of the waveform, and is
clipped (distorted). The
default value when you open the effect is to amplifiy so that the
loudest
part of the selection is as loud as possible without distortion.
Change Tempo - changes the tempo (speed) of the audio without
changing the pitch. This will change the length of the selection. This
is useful for expanding sounds so that heart sound splits and other
rapid events can be slowed down. Note that you must select part or
whole track to activate this function.
Equalization - Boost or reduce arbitrary frequencies. You can
select one of a number of different curves designed to equalize the
sound of some popular record manufacturers, or draw your own curve.
FFT Filter - similar to Equalization, lets you enhance or
reduce
arbitrary frequencies. The curve here uses a linear scale for
frequency.
Normalize - allows you to correct for DC offset (a vertical
displacement of the track) and/or amplify such that the maximum
amplitude is a fixed amount, -3 dB. It's useful to normalize all
of your tracks before mixing. If you have a lot of tracks, you may then
need to use the track gain sliders to turn some down.
High Pass Filter - allows
you to filter out lower frequencies and keep the higher frequencies.
This is useful for filtering out heart sounds when you are only
interested in lung sounds, enhancing valve clicks, etc. This is a quick
filter to use, however we recommend using the Filter Button on the
Thinklabs Toolbar for better control of the filtering parameters.
Low Pass Filter - allows
you to filter out higher frequencies and keep the lower frequencies.
This is useful for filtering out hiss or white noise, ambient noise, or
breath sounds, and enhance heart sounds. This is a quick
filter to use, however we recommend using Filter Button on the
Thinklabs Toolbar for better
control of the filtering parameters.
Plot Spectrum -
To use this feature, first select a region of audio from a single
track, then select "Plot Spectrum".
It opens up a window that
displays the Power Spectrum of the audio over that region, calculated
using the Fast Fourier Transform. The graph represents how much
energy is in each frequency. As you move the mouse over the display,
it shows you the nearest peak frequency.
This window can also display other common
functions that are calculated using the Fast Fourier Transform,
including
three versions of the Autocorrelation function.
The Enhanced Autocorrelation function is very good at identifying the
pitch of a note.
Import Audio - allows
you to add a sound file to the Project (Patient). If you have recorded
one or more heart or lung sounds, and you wish to work on them, or add
them to other sound tracks you already have open, use Import to import
the sound file into a new audio track. When you use Import, a Label
Track will also be added to facilitate annotation of the imported
sound..
New Label Track - allows you
to add a new Label Track to a project. This is to provide annotation..
Light/Dark Color Scheme -
There are two color schemes - dark background and light waveforms (Dark
Color Scheme), or light background and dark waveforms (Light Color
Schemes). The Dark Color Scheme is intended for viewing on a computer
screen, and the Light Color Scheme is useful for copying the screen to
paste into reports that might be printed. By using a Light Color Scheme
for printed reports, you save toner ink, and create prints that are
easier to read. You may also find the Light Color Scheme to be more
effective during Powerpoint presentations or other teaching using a
projector.
How to Copy the Display -
quick instructions on copying the display to the clip-board so that you
can paste the screen image into a document or report.
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