Audacity

by: CNET Staff on November 08, 2008

With so many audio editors out there, finding the right tool for the job can be tricky. The multiplatform, open-source editor Audacity has leaped to the top of our list with its clean interface, excellent features, and support for 32-bit floating-point audio. Audacity succeeds at being both feature-rich and flexible, while keeping the toolbar and work space uncluttered. It does this by relegating most functions--such as effects, edits, and project management--to handy drop-down menus.

Audacity supports uncompressed audio standards such as WAV and AIFF in addition to OGG and MP3 files. A full complement of basic effects such as reverb, delay, and compression are included. Virtual Studio Technology (VST), Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin Architecture (LAPSDA), and Nyquist plug-ins also are available if you're looking to expand. Another eye-catching feature is the Beat Analyzer, which helps you peg the beats per minute of a phrase.

The performance of most functions is quick--even CPU-hogging tasks such as exporting to MP3 or adding complex effects. Though Audacity doesn't offer advanced effects or features out of the box, its usability and price set this freeware wonder above the crowd.

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Audacity is an open source, cross-platform audio editor and recorder. Audacity can record and play sounds and import and export WAV, AIFF, MP3, and OGG files. Edit your sounds using cut, copy, and paste features (with unlimited undo functionality), mix tracks, or apply effects to your recordings. Audacity also has a built-in amplitude-envelope editor, a customizable spectrogram mode, and a frequency-analysis window for audio-analysis applications.

What's new in this version: Version 2.0.2 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

All versions:

4.2 stars out of 741 votes

5 star: 425 4 star: 182 3 star: 58 2 star: 23 1 star: 53 Current version:

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Write review 4.0 stars

"no problems here"

August 23, 2012  |   By xarophti

Version: Audacity 2.0.1

Pros

free, worked fine with turntable input

Cons

a bit complex if you don't know what you're doing. You do need to download the LAME software separately to convert to mp3.

Summary

I recorded one side (so far) of an old album out of print and unavailable in any other format, to preserve for archiving. I may want to play a bit more with some of the sound settings, but without much manual reading on my part, I was able to figure out the basics (perhaps because this isn't my first sound file program, however). If folks can't figure out how to get this to work, I'd suggest consulting the documentation, of which there seems to be plenty.

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4.0 stars

"Great for the beginner"

August 23, 2012  |   By sharell1807

Version: Audacity 2.0.1

Pros

Easy to use, fast, records, cleans up the tracks

Cons

Its not aesthetically pleasing. lol

Summary

For those giving it a 1 star rating, it helps if you know what you are doing. I'm a noob, and had issues with it at first too...then I grabbed the manual. Things are pretty simple after that.
Its free software, so if your are looking for something "professional", you won't find it here. But for the person starting out, or "dabbling" with music or audio in general, this is the place to start. There are areas that can be improved, but for the price of FREE, you can't get much better.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/
That should help.

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4.0 stars

"Works for me"

August 18, 2012  |   By BravoCM

Version: Audacity 2.0.1

Pros

Records so far

Cons

I am impatient and working it on my own instead of reading the manual that popped up when i first opened the program. So editor took some playing with for about 5 min to figure out.

Summary

Last editor I used was my sound recorder on my system with XP64. I don't remember if it came with XP or I got it off a download but the sound recorder that came with my new windows7 system has no editor what so ever, can't even cut the beginning and end off recording so I got this and it records so far and as soon as this first song is done I will find out about editing and changing formats as I used to do..
to continue, I found you need to highlight what you want to delete and then delete it.
for those of you with Windows& you need to get a jack wire from like radio shack for $15 and run it from your speaker to your mic then you need to go to your control panel and click on the sound properties and tell it to find disabled devices and then use that disabled one as your default. from there it was a mater of tweaking til I heard sound through my recording device. Be sure and open a new program from file before rerecording, so far all I found when you rewind to start over is that you record on top of previous if not a new window

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1.0 stars

"installed then errored on launch. installed toolbar"

August 9, 2012  |   By proeliumfessus

Version: Audacity 2.0.1

Pros

none, got what I paid for, nothing

Cons

installed toolbar without asking. Would not launch. When uninstalled it said not all components could be removed. Terrible.

Summary

How is it so highly rated?

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1.0 stars

"Some audacity"

August 5, 2012  |   By oneandonly5333

Version: Audacity 2.0.1

Pros

Could not fine one.

Cons

How can this thing get 4 or 5 stars when is impossible to get it working. Downloaded it and could not figure out how to make it record from the computer sound card. They do have the audacity to peddle this useless piece of you know what. Waste of time.

Summary

Don't even bother downloading it.

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4.0 stars

"Many steps have to do for recording the songs."

July 25, 2012  |   By luke1942

Version: Audacity 2.0

Pros

It is nice to get some of the songs out to mp3.

Cons

Many steps have to do for recording the songs

Summary

It is nice to know it there to use.

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3.0 stars

"Great, but lacks some of the things I wanted most..."

July 23, 2012  |   By ThisIsMyUniqueUsername

Version: Audacity 2.0

Pros

This program allows you to record several tracks and mix them, easily and effectively. Basic recording is extremely easy and recording a live song is the easiest thing to do with this program.

Cons

You can't add bass, mid, or treble to the final track, or individual tracks through this program, which makes it very difficult to use this as a professional program. Even if you do have a mixer plugged in it's nice to have these effects in the actual program. You also lack (what I think is a key component) the ability to save the final product as an MP3 without an additional program.

Summary

Great for recording, but some of the most basic and simple things I was looking for in this program just weren't there...

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2.0 stars

"About to erase this :-("

July 19, 2012  |   By cmiles28

Version: Audacity 2.0

Pros

Seems like it does a lot

Cons

NO idea how to use this AT ALL

Summary

Maybe I'm really slow, but I just wanted to fix up a song for my website to promote my voice, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use this, my head hurts now and so I am deleting it. I'm very sad and frustrated. :-(

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5.0 stars

"Easy to install and use with good results."

July 10, 2012  |   By tpendarakis

Version: Audacity 2.0

Pros

Easy installation; Ease of use (I hate reading directions; Good end product; Easy to export and use in other programs, like Camtasia and Adobe Presenter; Oh and GREAT price

Cons

None None None

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5.0 stars

"Great freeware"

June 30, 2012  |   By Xatnoc

Version: Audacity 2.0

Pros

Great audio freeware. Period. Very powerful software considering it's free. Also never had a memory conflict, crash, or hang on XP or W7.

Cons

Be aware that this software records only sounds that are generated from your sound card. No direct recording so the sound quality is only going to be as good as your sound card.

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