5 issues with Acoustica 7.0.1

[Paul_J]

I have been using Acoustica 7 for a few weeks, but I find myself reverting to Acoustica 6 more and more frequently. Here are the issues I've encountered so far.

1. The application will freeze while I'm performing relatively simple tasks, like zooming in and out to add fades or adding labels. I have to kill the application using Windows' Task Manager in order to recover. Occasionally I'm presented with the opportunity to file an error report, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

2. Enhancement tools in Acoustica 6 have a very nice feature to toggle changes on and off in EQ, DeClick/DeCrackle, and DeNoise. That capability is exceptionally handy in doing rapid-fire comparisons of what audio will sound like with and without the mods, thereby providing the opportunity to adjust settings. With Acoustica 7, it's more of a trial and error process: set up changes, write down parameters, effect the changes, listen to the result, Undo the changes, and start over. The BYPASS feature really needs to be added back into Acoustica 7.

3. After file Properties have been input and the file saved, they will occasionally disappear, forcing me to re-enter the information. I find myself needing to check the file entry in Windows Explorer every time I save a file, just to detect if the Properties have disappeared again and, if they have, re-enter them while the file is still open.

4. I use Labels extensively to demark track boundaries in a recording of an album and subsequently to split the album file into individual track files. I've discovered that ALL of the labels that I entered into the album file appear in each of the individual track files, even though only one of the labels actually appears in the file. As I typically delete the label marking the start of a track's audio file, I now have to delete a dozen or so labels, all but one of which are irrelevant to the file.

5. While Acoustica 7 allows multiple files to be open, it is not response to Windows' Ctrl/Tab feature that permits one to rapidly rotor through open panes within the application. I'm left with click on the tab I want, which is slower and for me more cumbersome. Acoustica 6's ability to drag a tab so that two files are displayed simultaneously in the applications main window did not make it into Acoustica 7 and therefore is another handy feature that appears to have been lost.

On the positive side, I look forward to trying out the new capabilities, and I'm extremely grateful that Acoustica 7 installed separate from Acoustic 6 and not on top of it.

Paul

[stian]

Hi Paul!

Thanks for reporting the issues. First of all, please download and install version 7.0.5 (see the product page: https://acondigital.com/products/acoust ... io-editor/) that fixes several reported issues. Here's the changelog: https://acondigital.com/software/Acoust ... ngelog.txt.

1. The application will freeze while I'm performing relatively simple tasks, like zooming in and out to add fades or adding labels. I have to kill the application using Windows' Task Manager in order to recover. Occasionally I'm presented with the opportunity to file an error report, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

It's hard to say what could be causing this based on this description. It would be great if you could check version 7.0.5 and see if the issue is still present there.

2. Enhancement tools in Acoustica 6 have a very nice feature to toggle changes on and off in EQ, DeClick/DeCrackle, and DeNoise. That capability is exceptionally handy in doing rapid-fire comparisons of what audio will sound like with and without the mods, thereby providing the opportunity to adjust settings. With Acoustica 7, it's more of a trial and error process: set up changes, write down parameters, effect the changes, listen to the result, Undo the changes, and start over. The BYPASS feature really needs to be added back into Acoustica 7.

The bypass feature is there, right next to the play and stop buttons.

3. After file Properties have been input and the file saved, they will occasionally disappear, forcing me to re-enter the information. I find myself needing to check the file entry in Windows Explorer every time I save a file, just to detect if the Properties have disappeared again and, if they have, re-enter them while the file is still open.

This should be fixed in v7.0.5.

4. I use Labels extensively to demark track boundaries in a recording of an album and subsequently to split the album file into individual track files. I've discovered that ALL of the labels that I entered into the album file appear in each of the individual track files, even though only one of the labels actually appears in the file. As I typically delete the label marking the start of a track's audio file, I now have to delete a dozen or so labels, all but one of which are irrelevant to the file.

How did you export the files? The most convenient method would be to mark each track, add a region and use the "Save Regions to Files..." command.

5. While Acoustica 7 allows multiple files to be open, it is not response to Windows' Ctrl/Tab feature that permits one to rapidly rotor through open panes within the application. I'm left with click on the tab I want, which is slower and for me more cumbersome. Acoustica 6's ability to drag a tab so that two files are displayed simultaneously in the applications main window did not make it into Acoustica 7 and therefore is another handy feature that appears to have been lost.

Yes, we seem to have forgot that shortcut -- I've filed the issue.

Best,
Stian

[stian]

FYI, the latest build (7.0.10 -- see https://acondigital.com/products/acoust ... io-editor/) adds the Ctrl+Tab keyboard shortcut...

Best,
Stian

[Paul_J]

Thanks for your responses, and I apologize for the delay in responding to your responses. For the most part, I had abandoned Acoustica 7.0.1 and used Acoutica Premium 6. Having finished my project, I can now turn attention back to 7 (I have 7.0.19 at the moment but will install 7.0.24 presently). Regarding the issues I had mentioned:

1. 7.0.19 crashed after saving selections and regions, closing all open files, and opening a file. You should have the error report from this.

2. I found the Bypass button. I reviewed the help documentation, and the button is defined for some functions, but not for all--including the ones that I use most frequently. Anyway, I'm educated now.

3. I have not played with properties recently, so I can't provide any updates. You've indicated that this was fixed in 7.0.5.

4. When working with albums, I want to split them into separate audio files. In Acoustica 6, I added labels to denote where tracks should be split, double-click to select a region (lower case) between labels, and invoke File/Save Selection As. Works like a champ. I tried doing the same thing with 7.0.19, and each of the exported files contains ALL of the original labels, each bearing time stamps from the original album file rather than the exported track file. I then tried defining Regions (upper case) for each of the areas between labels and then invoked Save Regions to Files. The results were identical to what I experienced with 7.0.1 and nothing like Acoustica 6. So on this issue, Acoustica 6 still "wins."

4.a. The Save Regions to Files function ALWAYS points to a target folder that I never use, and consequently I have to spend time aiming it in the right direction. I recommend that the target folder be the same as the one that the currently open file came from, or at least add a Preferences option for the user to set the default target folder.

5. I see that the Ctrl/Tab shortcut is now working. Thanks!

5.a. Related to this, I had commented in a separate posting that Acoustica 7 no longer allows one to drag a tab away from the tab display area in order to have two or more audio files displayed side-by-side. This was a nice feature in Acoustica 6, and I'm hoping it will appear in an upcoming release.

I sincerely appreciate all of the efforts made to address my concerns as well as those of other users.

Paul

[stian]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your additional comments. I would definitely recommend to download and install v7.0.24.

1. 7.0.19 crashed after saving selections and regions, closing all open files, and opening a file. You should have the error report from this.

Thanks, I can confirm that we've received that and we'll try to reproduce the issue.

2. I found the Bypass button. I reviewed the help documentation, and the button is defined for some functions, but not for all--including the ones that I use most frequently. Anyway, I'm educated now.

Except for two-pass algorithms such as normalize, the Bypass button should be available and work for all tools. Which tools did you have problems with?

4. When working with albums, I want to split them into separate audio files. In Acoustica 6, I added labels to denote where tracks should be split, double-click to select a region (lower case) between labels, and invoke File/Save Selection As. Works like a champ. I tried doing the same thing with 7.0.19, and each of the exported files contains ALL of the original labels, each bearing time stamps from the original album file rather than the exported track file. I then tried defining Regions (upper case) for each of the areas between labels and then invoked Save Regions to Files. The results were identical to what I experienced with 7.0.1 and nothing like Acoustica 6. So on this issue, Acoustica 6 still "wins."

Yes, we realized later what you meant and got the issue sorted out in v7.0.24.

4.a. The Save Regions to Files function ALWAYS points to a target folder that I never use, and consequently I have to spend time aiming it in the right direction. I recommend that the target folder be the same as the one that the currently open file came from, or at least add a Preferences option for the user to set the default target folder.

This was also fixed in v7.0.24 -- the last save regions settings including file format selection are remembered.

5. I see that the Ctrl/Tab shortcut is now working. Thanks!

5.a. Related to this, I had commented in a separate posting that Acoustica 7 no longer allows one to drag a tab away from the tab display area in order to have two or more audio files displayed side-by-side. This was a nice feature in Acoustica 6, and I'm hoping it will appear in an upcoming release.

Yes, it's on the "to do" list for v7.1.

Best,
Stian