At the beginning of the month, our verylinux colleagues announced the launch of a new stable version of the application reference in audio editing software, Audacity 3.4. This gave us the opportunity to talk to you about it and the type of apps that are always interesting, even if they are not commonly used by the general public.

Free, open source and cross-platform Available for Windows, Mac and Linux computers, as of 2019 Audacity has become the most downloaded software on FossHub with over 80 million downloads. And this despite the fact that, as we said, they are not universal tools. After 22 years in the calendar, it is true that he has completed a robust and powerful group of audio management tools.

In addition to allowing you to record audio from multiple sources, it can be used to post-process all types of audio files, including podcasts, as it adds effects such as normalization, cropping, and fading. It is also known for allowing the recording of entire music albums as Tune-Yards and is used for the English national OCR Level 3 ICT exam in its specific unit on sound production. In short, record, edit and apply post-processing effects to music, podcasts or any other type of audio.

The latest version, in addition to the usual bug fixes, provides important new features in music workflows; new export window easier to use; “Explore” button, which will now open a native system dialog; Joint Stereo mode in MP3 export and other minor changes.

Other sound editing alternatives

As with any software group, there are many alternatives, and some users began to explore them when Audacity’s new owner, the MUSE Group, outlined the wording of a privacy policy in the summer of 2021 that led to part of the code community. openly call it “spyware”. A revised version explaining how they used and stored data reduced the controversy, but some have explored other alternatives such as the ones we will propose today.

DarkAudacity

If you like Audacity, here is what is considered the best fork out there. The benefits of open source development allow it to be essentially the same app with some user interface improvements, including a dark mode and stricter and more transparent privacy policies. The main problem with DarkAudacity is that it has not been updated for a long time and is only available for Windows. There are other forks like Cookie Engineer compatible with macOS and updated. Both free.

Wavosaurus

Another of the free audio editing alternatives is this development, which is presented as an ideal option if you work mainly with .mp3 and .wav audio files. It can handle multi-track audio files and offers the basics like joining audio clips to create music loops or more advanced features like batch file conversion. Wavosaur is that it does not have an installer, so you can download and run the application. It also supports VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plugins, which is nice to have. Wavosaur is completely free to use, but exclusively for Windows.

TwistedWave

If you don’t want to install applications on your computer, you can consider using an audio editor that works from a web browser. You can drag and drop audio files into the browser to start editing, and even without an account, you can freely edit mono files up to five minutes long. If you want all the features, the web version is available from $5 per month. It has other specific versions for Mac, iPhone/iPad.

combine harvester

It is a multi-track audio recording and editing application that can handle many third-party plugins. The app is fairly easy to use and works well with large audio projects with hundreds of tracks. It supports a large number of audio formats, so you can import almost all major audio formats for editing and export those files to any format you like. Reaper has a 60-day free trial with no limitations and a license price of $60. For Windows.

Ocenaudio

It supports a wide range of audio formats, including high-resolution FLAC files, and because Audacity is a “destructive” application, changes cannot be undone and you must have the original version saved. It has plugins that allow you to apply noise reduction effects and excels with a very easy-to-use user interface. Free, it is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Hindenburg journalist

If you feel intimidated by the technical details of audio editing, this is a good app as it has several automatic settings to adjust audio levels. Designed for podcasters, audio producers, or radio journalists, it’s available for Windows and Mac, has a free trial, and costs $95 to license.

Adobe Audition

One of the most popular among commercial audio editors, it will be familiar to users of other Adobe tools such as Photoshop or Premier, as the tools and other interface elements follow a similar design language. Audition can be used for both recording and audio editing, but it shines when mixing multi-track music sessions or editing long podcasts with multiple guests. Audition is available only as a subscription, but if you regularly edit audio files, it may be worth the price, which is high for the average consumer: $20.99 per month.

Fission

A single-track editor that excels with a beautifully designed interface, but is not suitable for multi-track editing. It doesn’t degrade audio files and is really easy to use. Exclusively for macOS, it has a free trial and a license price of $29.

Amadeus Pro

An excellent multi-track audio editor that allows you to edit your files without sacrificing their quality. Perhaps the most notable feature is the batch function, which allows you to convert multiple audio files at once and even apply multiple audio effects at the same time. Another macOS exclusive with a free trial and $60 per license.

Sound Forge Audio Studio

Another alternative to Audacity is a classic in this type of editor, improving the user interface and ease of use in recording, editing and exporting. It supports up to six channels, allowing you to edit 5.1 surround sound files, and has many sound effects and a set of presets that allow you to quickly configure your edits. Audio Studio has a free trial and a one-time license fee of $60.

Finally, in case you prefer to use Audacity, MUSE’s new privacy policy did not go into effect until version 3.0.3. Previous versions do not support data collection of any kind and do not have network functions enabled. Obviously, they are also not up to date with the new developments and improvements that have occurred since then.