@ItsMeTho

Hi

Trial versions of Magix products usually have some restrictions/limitations which are unlocked when purchased and activated with a full product serial number.

The behaviour you are seeing suggests this is may be one of those restrictions.

John EB
Forum Moderator

Ok thank you. That's good news. I'm hoping this isn't a bug that will carry into the paid version.

Never heard of SoundForge until recently I've needed a batch processor. It's pretty sick actually. It will replace five other programs that can do a few things but SF can do all of them, and has an onboard file manager; which is a no brainer, don't know why other companies don't understand this. Audacity, Gold Wave, Aimp, Edison, are all bye bye. I might keep Resonic though, because SF takes way too long to boot up. I'm not sure what the problem is. Can I disable plugin scan or something to speed up the load time?

Undecided if I need the suite plugins, but the main program is for sure good. Is it standalone only or does it come with a vst version of itself?

...

You guys are killing me with that context menu. 😅 It doesn't need to be an entire sentence.

It doubles the width of my right click menu. Compare its length with its two neighboring options.
It just needs to read: SoundForge18 > User , Factory > (Preset List)

@ItsMeTho I'm not sure if this is a trial problem. Maybe some of your settings are leading to a crash?

For the context menu, I think there should be RemoveSFContextMenus.reg and RemoveCustomContextMenu.reg files to remove Sound Forge entries from the Windows registry to disable the context menu entries. If you open the reg files in a text Editor, you can find the location, where the entries are stored in the registry and edit them manually.

Context menu entries are usually stored in the Windows registry under paths like HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\NameOfApplication\shell\ or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\NameOfApplication\shell\ or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\ etc. If you know what you do, you can add, edit or remove them. But be careful not to damage the registry.

There are also tools to edit them like https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_view.html I'm not sure if this is compatible with Windows 11.

@ItsMeTho I'm not sure if this is a trial problem. Maybe some of your settings are leading to a crash?

For the context menu, I think there should be RemoveSFContextMenus.reg and RemoveCustomContextMenu.reg files to remove Sound Forge entries from the Windows registry to disable the context menu entries. If you open the reg files in a text Editor, you can find the location, where the entries are stored in the registry and edit them manually.

Context menu entries are usually stored in the Windows registry under paths like HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\NameOfApplication\shell\ or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\NameOfApplication\shell\ or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\ etc. If you know what you do, you can add, edit or remove them. But be careful not to damage the registry.

There are also tools to edit them like https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_view.html I'm not sure if this is compatible with Windows 11.

Hi, thanks for the help.

I'm not sure how my settings would lead to a crash. There are three other batch processors I used recently that have worked fine. SF creates a trial dialogue pop up for every file that is selected (5 files = five pop ups) so that leads me to agree with the first response, that it has to do with the trial version only.

Which is no good, since using it without batch processing would be a deal breaker for the purchase, and so how am I supposed to test out if it works when it only proves to me that it doesn't. The term "trial" means to test. If I can't test it what is the point of providing a trial version.

...

I'm running Windows 10. The SF18 context menu doesn't show up with NirSoft's ShellMenuView or ShellExView or ShellMenuNew. Doesn't show up in Directory Opus's context menu options. I looked at those registry places and didn't find anything named "shell". The entry has an icon but I'm not finding it doing an icon search. It's probably embedded in a dll library.

What's with this program trolling me with an entire essay it put on my menu, that I can't change (or remove) because its handler is invisible for some reason? What, is it some kind of top secret national security missile codes or something? And then the menu it put on there leads to only crashing. Why does a fully featured program add a context menu without our permission but not allow us to configure it in the settings?

If I could rename it, this is what I would do:

SoundForge18 >
  User
  Factory >
  Trim Silence
  Normalize
  Etc.

...

Not sure how many questions I should put on one thread. I also have the issue with long load times. It's about ten seconds (which includes annoying flashes of unstyled content); compare that with Resonic Pro that loads in about 0.2 seconds flat. I'm wondering if you strip down your default view to a skeleton crew, or no plugin scan or something, that would speed up the SF18 boot time? Or is there like a mini sample player version just with basic controls?

@ItsMeTho

SF creates a trial dialogue pop up for every file that is selected (5 files = five pop ups) so that leads me to agree with the first response, that it has to do with the trial version only.

Maybe this is caused by opening a new instance of Sound Forge for each batch process because a trial version will always force this pop-up window on each start of the software.

You can try to change that behavior in the hidden internal preferences menu as described here:

- go to the 'Options' menu

- hold 'Shift' key and select 'Preferences'

- select the 'Internal' tab

- find "Force Single Instance behavior" (bottom of list or use search)

- change value from 'FALSE' to "TRUE"

- click 'Apply' and 'OK'

- Exit or restart SF

https://www.magix.info/us/forum/sound-forge-opening-multiple-instances-instead-of-multiple-windows--1252594/#ca1576421

Then simply keep Sound Forge open while you try your batch processes. I hope that helps.

I looked at those registry places and didn't find anything named "shell". The entry has an icon but I'm not finding it doing an icon search. It's probably embedded in a dll library.

Did you check this with regedit?

You can try to change that behavior in the hidden internal preferences menu

Oh cool. Lots of options in there. 'Single instance' did force a single dialogue but it still wouldn't work. Same issues. I didn't get the crash pop up until later when opening the program.

I'm just doing a walk around to see how I like the features. I'll take their word for it that the context menu batch process will work when it's out of trial. SpectraLayers videos look pretty sweet. Weird it isn't in with the other plugins, even though melodyne is, so I can't test it out.

Did you check this with regedit?

Ya, regedit what I used to look. Can't find anything in there named shell or that looks like a context menu.
The problem with using the batch process in when the program is already running, is it loads every file into the GUI for some reason, then you have to manually save. I don't see a way to not have that happen. How would you do that with a thousand samples at a time?

@ItsMeTho

Here are some screenshots that show where to find the context menu entries:

I also installed the trial version. Which steps are you doing to crash the software?

I am also not sure if the 'trial' mode has any affect on the Batch Converter. I tested the BC in SFP-18 (Win 10 - 32GB RAM) and did not encounter any behavior issues, Files can be added quickly, batch parameters set, saved and the process initiated (I do prefer the more intuitive legacy BC version though).

I am not sure about the context menu in this case, but I do use a number of the 'Nirsoft' utilities though. They do not seem be limited to certain Win OS and I have been them since Win XP.

The VST grovel can be disabled but the Fx menu will not be available until initiated which takes about 5 or 6 seconds on my PC.. and I do have a lot plug-ins.

@ItsMeTho

Here are some screenshots that show where to find the context menu entries:

 

I also installed the trial version. Which steps are you doing to crash the software?

Ok thanks, I modified 'MUIVerb'. Haven't restarted yet; guessing that is the string to modify the name.
I have more testimonies that batch processing works in the paid version so I will leave the issue alone unless it keeps happening after I buy it.

I am also not sure if the 'trial' mode has any affect on the Batch Converter. I tested the BC in SFP-18 (Win 10 - 32GB RAM) and did not encounter any behavior issues, Files can be added quickly, batch parameters set, saved and the process initiated (I do prefer the more intuitive legacy BC version though).

I am not sure about the context menu in this case, but I do use a number of the 'Nirsoft' utilities though. They do not seem be limited to certain Win OS and I have been them since Win XP.

The VST grovel can be disabled but the Fx menu will not be available until initiated which takes about 5 or 6 seconds on my PC.. and I do have a lot plug-ins.

What would be nice is some way of choosing if you want to run the preset or arm the selected files into the preset and load up that preset settings to modify it for this one instance. I'm thinking its best if the whole program launches to modify the presets, but what's with it loading the samples in the GUI when it runs?

You have a five second boot up? That's half of ten, I'll take it! 🙂

Ok the right click on folders is looking handsome. 🤵

But right click on files is still bad. And I'm all out of registry locations to rename.
Do you got any more hidden pirate treasure locations where one may find some of these tasty registry keys?

@ItsMeTho File types should be listed in the third screenshot in my last comment. On the screenshot you can only see *.264 file settings, but you probably need to edit also all other file types.

@ItsMeTho File types should be listed in the third screenshot in my last comment. On the screenshot you can only see *.264 file settings, but you probably need to edit also all other file types.

Oh that's dirty.

Alright got the factory side. Now one more.

An elusive files-only custom area.
I looked and I looked and I didn't find.

@ItsMeTho

The Custom Actions entries are here for folders:

And here for files (screenshot only shows settings for *.aif files):

You can find other locations with the search function. Just search for Custom Actions.