The free audio-editor Audacity has finally received its official upgrade to 2.0! You can and should download the latest version right now.
Audacity 2.0 is based on the success and improvements of the 1.3 beta. The Audacity team released the first 1.3 beta on November 28, 2005. Since then, they have pushed the new features and improvements into that beta, even to the point that it became more stable than its version 1.2 counterpart.
1.3 was always meant to be the testing ground for an eventual 2.0 launch. Today is that day!
Most people familiar with Audacity 1.3's beta releases will be at home with Audacity 2.0, but there are some notable changes from the latest 1.3.14 beta.
- Interface improvements
- Fixing crashes with various import and export scenarios
- Bug fixes for effects and analysis
- Other usability enhancements
- Many effects significantly improved, especially Equalization, Noise Removal and Normalize. Vocal Remover now included plus GVerb on Windows and Mac. VAMP analysis plug-ins now supported.
- Improved label tracks with Sync-Lock Tracks feature in the Tracks Menu.
- Multiple clips per track. Tracks and selections can be fully manipulated using the keyboard. Many more keyboard shortcuts.
- New Device Toolbar to manage inputs and outputs. Timer Record feature. New Mixer Board view with per-track VU meters.
- Automatic Crash Recovery in the event of abnormal program termination.
- Fast “On-Demand” import of WAV/AIFF files if read directly from source.
- FLAC now fully supported. Added support for optional FFmpeg library for import/export of AC3/M4A/WMA and import of audio from video files.
Download the latest version of Audacity for Windows, OS X, and Linux.
If you find Audacity useful and a great replacement for $50–$350 alternatives, please donate to the Audacity team to thank them for their hard work that they freely give away.
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So, still no “Move Track to Top” option???
Unfortunately not. But you can drag the track while scrolling with your mouse, at least on OS X.
Appreciate the value of it because it’s free but I prefer Audition!!! If I was going for a lower end solution on a Mac SoundStudio is my fav. It’s easier, less cluttered that Garageband. Then again, it’s hard to compete against free.
I appreciate your contribution and the way you are sharing and translating your skills and knowledge. Podcasting seems to me a perfect medium because the human voice + a clear text + fitting images/graphs are the best messengers in virtual classrooms and workshops.
My trouble: how to convert all my slides into slidecasts with Audacity + Lame encoder seems (for the moment) rather tricky and adds many hours to get a convincing and audible result.
Best regards from Berlin and thanks again
[…] excitedly announcing the release of Audacity 2.0, I also upgraded myself. But I’ve started discovering some problems and repeatable […]