Podcasters, musicians and amateur videographers like me will be delighted to learn that a new version of the open source audio editor Audacity is available for download.
Audacity 3.2 is the latest stable release of this capable digital audio workstation and is, as always, available for Linux, macOS and Windows platforms.
But what has changed since the release of Audacity 3.1 last year?
Audacity 3.2 Features
Audacity 3.2’s “title” feature is support for real-time effects. This is a huge new feature that enables a whole new range of functionality for this multitrack audio editor and recorder.
Audacity itself doesn’t come with any real-time effects you can use, but it will work with VST, VST3, LV2, and LADSP plugins, as well as AU plugins on macOS.
Realtime effects are applied to entire tracks, and because the sound is processed in realtime, the effects do not alter the underlying sound waveform. The Audacity developers plan to maintain a list of plugins at plugins.audacityteam.org, which is the place to look if you want to learn more about the feature and how to use it.
Want to see (and hear) the feature in action? Smush play on this:
Audacity 3.2 also introduces a new Effects button to the track menu from which you can apply the aforementioned real-time effects. You” also find some options to change the ranking and grouping of effects in the new Effects preferences section.
Plugin directories are now automatically scanned, tested and activated when Audacity departures. If a plugin cannot be activated automatically, you can (try to) activate it from the Plugin manager.
Another notable change is the introduction of a new “Audio Setup” button in the main control strip. This feature, which replaces the old “device toolbar”, makes it easier to select and switch between different recording channels, recording device, playback device, host and access audio settings:
Other changes in Audacity 3.2:
- Mixer bar merged with meter bars
- Updated icons
- Quick Audio Sharing Feature
A few Linux-specific changes to consider: Audacity can now be compiled without JACK present, and the application now uses the XDG directories (although if you upgrade from an earlier version, the application will contain to read from the ~/.audacity-data
and ~/.audacity
Folders).
Additionally, a slew of bugs have been fixed with Audacity AppImage, which means the app will now use the correct GTK icons, dropdown, and other elements when in use.
Other bug fixes:
- Report Huffman data overflow when importing (some) MP3s
- Data loss bug when placing labels while recording
- Clip titles can no longer disappear off-screen during editing
- Punch and Roll again plays tracks in sync
- Clip titles no longer change names when applying (some) effects
- Audacity will no longer ask for a sample rate when batch processing
- mod-script-pipe now installs correctly on Linux
Refer to the Audacity 3.2 release notes on the software’s GitHub page for more details and to download precompiled versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux (provided as an AppImage). Downloads are also available on the Audacity website, and you can also find Audacity on Flathub.
Podcasters, musicians and amateur videographers like me will be delighted to learn that a new version of the open source audio editor Audacity is available for download.
Audacity 3.2 is the latest stable release of this capable digital audio workstation and is, as always, available for Linux, macOS and Windows platforms.
But what has changed since the release of Audacity 3.1 last year?
Audacity 3.2 Features
Audacity 3.2’s “title” feature is support for real-time effects. This is a huge new feature that enables a whole new range of functionality for this multitrack audio editor and recorder.
Audacity itself doesn’t come with any real-time effects you can use, but it will work with VST, VST3, LV2, and LADSP plugins, as well as AU plugins on macOS.
Realtime effects are applied to entire tracks, and because the sound is processed in realtime, the effects do not alter the underlying sound waveform. The Audacity developers plan to maintain a list of plugins at plugins.audacityteam.org, which is the place to look if you want to learn more about the feature and how to use it.
Want to see (and hear) the feature in action? Smush play on this:
Audacity 3.2 also introduces a new Effects button to the track menu from which you can apply the aforementioned real-time effects. You” also find some options to change the ranking and grouping of effects in the new Effects preferences section.
Plugin directories are now automatically scanned, tested and activated when Audacity departures. If a plugin cannot be activated automatically, you can (try to) activate it from the Plugin manager.
Another notable change is the introduction of a new “Audio Setup” button in the main control strip. This feature, which replaces the old “device toolbar”, makes it easier to select and switch between different recording channels, recording device, playback device, host and access audio settings:
Other changes in Audacity 3.2:
- Mixer bar merged with meter bars
- Updated icons
- Quick Audio Sharing Feature
A few Linux-specific changes to consider: Audacity can now be compiled without JACK present, and the application now uses the XDG directories (although if you upgrade from an earlier version, the application will contain to read from the ~/.audacity-data
and ~/.audacity
Folders).
Additionally, a slew of bugs have been fixed with Audacity AppImage, which means the app will now use the correct GTK icons, dropdown, and other elements when in use.
Other bug fixes:
- Report Huffman data overflow when importing (some) MP3s
- Data loss bug when placing labels while recording
- Clip titles can no longer disappear off-screen during editing
- Punch and Roll again plays tracks in sync
- Clip titles no longer change names when applying (some) effects
- Audacity will no longer ask for a sample rate when batch processing
- mod-script-pipe now installs correctly on Linux
Refer to the Audacity 3.2 release notes on the software’s GitHub page for more details and to download precompiled versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux (provided as an AppImage). Downloads are also available on the Audacity website, and you can also find Audacity on Flathub.