FOSSPicks
FOSSPicks
Audacity 2.2.0, samplv1, Spotitube, Ternimal, DriveSync, Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection, and more!
Audio editor
Audacity 2.2.0
Audacity is the audio editing equivalent of Gimp. It's an open source cornerstone in both its breadth of functionality and as a flag bearer for the capabilities of open source. Like Gimp, Audacity shows that Free Software is a viable alternative to costly proprietary software, in that it can be used as a drop-in replacement for costly alternatives. Before Audacity, there wasn't even a low-cost alternative. If you wanted to edit and process audio with any precision, then musicians, podcasters, audio engineers, and desktop audio tinkerers had to either spend money or use much more primitive tools. Audacity has changed all that, and you can now find it on the Mac OS and Windows desktops of successful producers, alongside those of us still producing audio and playing with analog synthesizers on Linux.
But Audacity isn't perfect. In particular, its user interface has more in common with the late 1990s than the 21st century. Its audio processing also suffers from being from the same era, allowing you to apply an audio effect only after selecting a range, listening to a preview, and clicking Apply, rather than letting you create your own virtual effects rack that you can change in real time. Outside of these shortcomings, Audacity allows you to edit audio right down to the individual samples, from simple mono recordings to multitrack audio on different lanes recorded at high bit depth and high frequencies.
Thankfully, this major update attempts to redress some of Audacity's shortcomings, in particular, by incorporating four user interface themes designed for the Dark Audacity project, alongside links to the help documentation embedded within many of the application's dialogs. The help links go hand-in-hand with a fully revised manual, which will help many new users understand the sometimes dark art (and relatively inaccessible world) of audio editing. The new themes work well in the dark environments favored by many recent digital audio workstations and look much fresher than the bright grey of the original. Another major addition is MIDI playback and editing. Although MIDI files are used to produce sound, they're completely different from audio files. They're analogous to vector images versus pixel data, containing note, pitch, and instrument data rather than the raw samples.
To hear MIDI, the data needs to be sent to a MIDI-interpreting synth (e.g., FluidSynth. Audacity then lets you edit MIDI files just like raw audio files, selecting ranges and loops, and editing to time points and signatures – even alongside audio if you open another file. This is a brilliant and rather cutting-edge feature, and it would be fantastic if these kinds of developments signaled a new direction for Audacity – one that includes parallel real-time audio effects previews and a user interface built around a more modern toolkit. But as with everything to do with Audacity, these are small criticisms when compared with the unrivaled editing power it offers in the realm of audio editing.
Project Website
Audio sampler
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.