Selecting a Selection...

GoldWave general discussions and community help
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Kilmatead
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Selecting a Selection...

Post by Kilmatead »

Greetings, refugee from "other audio software" here. Still learning. Three Points.

1. Obviously to select from <x> to <y> I just use the usual Left-Click and drag. However, if I then Left-Click anywhere else the previous selection points get mangled - this is slightly annoying, say if I want to "check" (as you do) a sample further in the track, but don't want to wreck the original selection. Can this automatic Left-Click "leap-to" be disabled, so a new selection can only be initiated when dragging and not merely by clicking?

2. Any chance of a windows Explorer context registry integration so Right-Clicking MP3's (or whatever) automatically brings up "Edit with GoldWave?" This would be nice.

3. For those with monitors in the 24-inch and above range, the default text size is bloody small (modifying dpi doesn't help). Maybe an option to kick up the font size? No? Just hoping.

Cheers. :)
JackH
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Re: Selecting a Selection...

Post by JackH »

Kilmatead wrote:Left-Click anywhere else the previous selection points get mangled - this is slightly annoying, say if I want to "check" (as you do) a sample further in the track, but don't want to wreck the original selection.
What I do is use GoldWave's "Store" feature to save the selection. I can then recall it when needed. The only catch is you have to remember to do this!

I wouldn't mind seeing a selection range undo feature in GoldWave... you could change the selection any time, then simply use this feature to return to your previous selection. You wouldn't have to remember to store it first.
Kilmatead wrote:2. Any chance of a windows Explorer context registry integration so Right-Clicking MP3's (or whatever) automatically brings up "Edit with GoldWave?" This would be nice.
You can always do this manually, though I agree it would be nice if it could be done from within GoldWave, for all the formats it supports.
Kilmatead
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Re: Selecting a Selection...

Post by Kilmatead »

JackH wrote:What I do is use GoldWave's "Store" feature to save the selection.
Fair enough, a bit of searching revealed Shift-M. Thanks for that. Still a bit clunky and counter-intuitive though. Perhaps I should modify my intuitions?

At the same time I also discovered the "Play from here" in the right-click menu, which "sort of" does what I want. While I'm listing things, speaking of the Right-Click menu why is it so empty? No logical link to the "Edit" or "Effects" menus? Is this the result of a developer who believes (a little too strongly) in using toolbar icons? Hmm.

(Don't mind me, I'm still adjusting to GoldWave's perceived idiosyncrasies. :D Once I had figured out how to integrate it into MediaMonkey's internal Right-Click menu using scripts I was much happier, so at least that half the battle is won.)
GoldWave Inc.
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Re: Selecting a Selection...

Post by GoldWave Inc. »

1. Setting the start marker is one of the most common things you'll be doing, so disabling that single-click feature and having to click-and-drag every time would just make things more difficult for you in the long term.

2. GoldWave does not modify any Windows settings. That is part of the clean installation policy. I would be very reluctant to add a context menu item to Explorer, even if it was optional. The manual gives steps to follow to set up file associations manually.

3. Changing the Windows font size should change the size of the font in GoldWave as well, but I may consider adding a setting for that and the size of the tool bar buttons as well. Things are getting tiny on high resolution monitors.

Chris
Kilmatead
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Re: Selecting a Selection...

Post by Kilmatead »

GoldWave Inc. wrote:GoldWave does not modify any Windows settings. That is part of the clean installation policy.
That, I must say, is an attitude I can respect. Would that more dev's shared it. (Probably explains the curious absence of cookies deposited by the site as well.)

No doubt you must receive plenty of posts from new-users who basically just want the thing to behave like their "old" software, so I promise I'll shut up and learn first. :D

However, if I might press the issue of more items in the internal Right-Click menu, as not all people like to use toolbar icons (particularly tiny ones :)). For instance, you can choose "Copy"... but then what? You can't Delete (surely a common action), you can't even Paste (which really is somewhat counter-intuitive), without going into the main Edit menu. So, perhaps a direct link to Edit and/or Effects? Otherwise what I might (with all humility) consider the most significant control button becomes rather redundant. Surely that wasn't your intent. Obviously, I realise there are keyboard shortcuts for these actions, but I have never seen a shortcut that was both intuitive and shared across multiple platforms, thus making it more reliable to just use direct menus.

I thank you for your attention, neophytes may be annoying but sometimes we mean well. :D
GoldWave Inc.
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Re: Selecting a Selection...

Post by GoldWave Inc. »

Ideally I should make the right-click menu configurable so that any commands can be added to it. I don't use if very often myself, which means it isn't as useful as it could be. I'll put that on the list for a future version.

Chris
mh
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Post by mh »

I just put a shortcut to GoldWave in my "Send To" menu: C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserName\SendTo (it's a hidden folder so you'll need to turn on "Show hidden files and folders"). Works a charm, and I don't have to bother with setting up file associations. :D
Kilmatead
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Post by Kilmatead »

mh wrote:I just put a shortcut to GoldWave in my "Send To" menu: C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserName\SendTo
Excellent idea, thanks! :) Took awhile to find the SendTo folder in Vista though... for those interested, it's at

C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

Takes a bit of digging.
Kilmatead
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Re: Selecting a Selection...

Post by Kilmatead »

GoldWave Inc. wrote:Ideally I should make the right-click menu configurable so that any commands can be added to it. I don't use if very often myself, which means it isn't as useful as it could be. I'll put that on the list for a future version.
...Not, alas, for 5.52, apparently. Guess I'll just wait until next year. (Yes, I know I "should have" adapted by now, but I'm a stubborn optimist.)

Not a deal-breaker, by any means, but I remain hopeful. Given the sepulchral date of this thread, it's obvious the masses aren't agitated. :D
Kilmatead wrote:...so I promise I'll shut up and learn first
Did I mention I was stubborn? Oh, wait...
DewDude420
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Post by DewDude420 »

Maybe I'm still the only one left that does it the long way of opening the program and using it's file open dialog...

of course, I have a LOT of audio apps installed and my right-click context menus would be HUGE if i created a shortcut for every single one. I should make up my mind and whittle the number down, considering a lot of times i use a program for one specific purpose...but it's that one specific purpose that keeps it around.
Kilmatead
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Post by Kilmatead »

DewDude420 wrote:Maybe I'm still the only one left that does it the long way of opening the program and using it's file open dialog...
My point was referring to the in-programme right-click menu, not the windows context menu, which (ironically, in tandem with your own thought) forces me to endlessly troll through GW's programme menus.

I'm quite familiar with that method by now, I must say, but it would be nice to have a choice - seeing as GW's right-click menu isn't exactly overcrowded...
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Post by GoldWave Inc. »

Just a note about your original post: there is an Edit | Marker | Previous command that will set the selection back if you accidentally change it.

The custom right-click menu is still on the To Do list.

Chris
Kilmatead
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Post by Kilmatead »

Yeah, I've grown used to using that, as well as copious hits of the 'H' key. Convenient.

Your idea of a "custom right-click" was a bit more ambitious than I had in mind (I'd be happy with simple cut/paste and maybe a link to the Effects menu), but customising certainly would be infinitely useful/flexible.
Gord
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Post by Gord »

I started out using the [Right-click]-H method, then I discovered that when the mouse cursor is over the time scale that appears beneath the waveform the cursor becomes a vertical bar and "play" triangle, sort of like

| >

and if you left-click it will start playing there. I find that handy for starting playback ahead of the selection without changing the selection itself.
Kilmatead
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Re: Selecting a Selection...

Post by Kilmatead »

Incidentally, for those interested in having an explorer context menu selection for GoldWave (instead of using SendTo) there's a rather convenient free utility from NirSoft called FileTypesMan which allows you to add/remove whatever items you like to the windows context menu, in this case particular to audio filetypes. The utility requires no installation, comes in x86 and x64 versions and allows full control over context menu items. I can provide instructions in case anyone's interested, though it's fairly straightforward if you like tinkering, and more convenient than SendTo in my opinion, as it only appears for audio extension types.

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