Effects Preferences

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Accessed by: Edit > Preferences > Effects    (on a Mac Audacity > Preferences > Effects )
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Effect Options

These options let you sort or group effects that appear in the Generate, Effect, Analyze or Tools menus by effect name, type of effect or publisher. The "Grouped" options place effects into submenus within each group, so substantially shorten the menu. All the options place built-in effects above plugin effects.

Effects in menus can be:

  • Sorted by:
    • Effect Name: Effects are listed in one long menu sorted by effect name, built-in effects above the divider then plugins below the divider.
    • Publisher and Effect Name: Effects are listed in one long menu, built-in effects sorted by name above the divider then plugins sorted by publisher then name below the divider.
    • Type and Effect Name: Effects are listed in one long menu, built-in effects sorted by name above the divider then plugins sorted by type then name below the divider.
  • Grouped by:
    • Publisher: Effects are grouped by effect publisher, with effects in each group in a submenu. The Audacity built-in effects group is above the divider and groups for plugins are below the divider.
    • Type: Effects are grouped by effect type, with effects in each group in a submenu. The Audacity built-in effects group is above the plugins groups.
    • Category: The default setting for the Effect menu is to group the effects by their functionality.
    • Type and Publisher: The default setting for Realtime effect organization is to group by type and publisher.
Plugins of the same name may be grouped into a submenu even when a "Grouped" option is not chosen. This can occur:
  • If you have the same plugin in different locations that are searched by Audacity
  • If there are separate mono or stereo versions of a plugin that are given the same internal name.


Plugin location Options

This enables you to specify additional multiple locations for where you want Audacity to scan for plugins.


Skip effects scanning on startup

When this box is checked "on" Audacity will not scan for plugin effects on startup. It is "off" by default.


Plugin Manager

The Open Plugin Manager button provides access to the Plugin Manager.