Audacity updates and news

[Farrell Jackson]

Got it, thanks 64!

[WarpCanada]

Although I use a full DAW mostly (Cubase) I wanted to mention that Audacity is still a trusted daily tool.

My workflow in Cubase ends with an export to MP3.

Then I open that MP3 via the Audacity mp3 import facility then I audition the track with Audacity. This provides three things that I don't get with Cubase:

1. Playback through a non-ASIO audio driver, in this case, my Behringer mixer which has a different DAC.
2. Audacity's OWN waveform view and tools for zooming in on the waveform.
3. I can see any horrible mistakes, transients, truncations (on the audio fade out at the end) or glitches.
4. I can hear anything that went really wrong in the mastering chain.

I really do recommend EVERYONE who doesn't use AUdacity for this "post mastering and audio file rendering verification"  to use it or any other capable tool, just as a second check.

If you have for example, a usb DAC ("usb headphone amp") such as many serious music listeners use, you can use AUdacity to send audio to that non-ASIO-capable audio DAC, and use a high quality pair of music-enjoyment headphones to simulate what a listener will hear when they click play on your track.

Audacity also has thousands of other uses for me, I do flight simming and AUdacity is my audio editor of choice for .wav file loops for engine sounds, for aircraft, and a dozen other tasks.

Even though it may not be "your current DAW" (say you use reaper) you should keep this around on your computer.   Remember that a hammer is not a pair of pliers, and the more tools you have, the more capability you have.

[64Guitars]

It was announced today that the next version of Audacity (v3.2 scheduled for release around late September) will include support for realtime effects. Finally!

https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=126279

They've also added support for VST3 effects plugins.

Here are some preliminary release notes which describe other changes that will be in version 3.2.

https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Release_Notes_3.2

[cuthbert]

It was announced today that the next version of Audacity (v3.2 scheduled for release around late September) will include support for realtime effects. Finally!

Awesome! Looking forward to this release.
 

[hardlock]

Anyone know if I try v3.1 on my Win7 pro (64 bit) and it doesn't work, will it effect my v2.4.2 install? It's working fine so don't want to mess it up.

I don't even want to try to upgrade to win10 so outside of buying a new comp. am I out of luck on the newer versions?

Thanks!

[64Guitars]

Anyone know if I try v3.1 on my Win7 pro (64 bit) and it doesn't work, will it effect my v2.4.2 install? It's working fine so don't want to mess it up.

I don't even want to try to upgrade to win10 so outside of buying a new comp. am I out of luck on the newer versions?

According to this page in the Audacity wiki, the latest version of Audacity is compatible with Windows 7. However, on this page, they list a few caveats to be aware of.

This page on updating Audacity says that the installer will prompt you for the name of the installation folder. If you accept the default, then it will overwrite your previous version. However, if you specify a different folder name, then that's where the new version will be installed. Presumably, that should keep it separate from your previous version, but I don't know that for certain.

If you want to be certain that the new version won't mess up your current version, you can install the new version to a USB flash drive and run it from there. See this page.

Finally, be aware that Audacity 3.x has a new file structure which isn't supported by older versions of Audacity. You can open your old 2.x projects in Audacity and it will convert them to the new format. But you cannot load projects saved in 3.x into older versions of Audacity. See this page.

[hardlock]

Thanks much 64! Will give it a try.

[64Guitars]

Audacity 3.2 was released today.

https://www.audacityteam.org/

It now supports realtime effects! 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTRnDNR9LR8


You can also now share your Audacity project in the cloud for free.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaCr4jk8pM4

[Ted]

You can also now share your Audacity project in the cloud for free.

This might be useful for collaborations, perhaps an alternative to sending attachments by email.

[64Guitars]

Audacity 3.4 is in beta, so the final release should be available soon. Looks like it has some useful new features.

https://support.audacityteam.org/additional-resources/changelog/audacity-3.4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgdYuSHdkso