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Audacity (audio editor)

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Audacity

Audacity is a free open source digital audio editor

and recording computer software application, available
for Windows, MacOSX, Linux and other operating
systems. [5][4] Audacity was started by Dominic
Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg at Carnegie Mellon
University.[1] As of 10October2011, it was the 11th
most popular download from SourceForge, with 76.5

Languages

million downloads.[7] Audacity won the SourceForge

2007 and 2009 Community Choice Award for Best

Afrikaans

Project for Multimedia. [8][9]

Catal

Contents [hide]

esky

1 Features and usage

Dansk

2 Limitations

Deutsch

3 Language support

Eesti

4 Reception

5 See also

Espaol

6 References

Euskara

7 External links

Audacity 2.0

Features and usage

[ edit source ]

Galego

The Audacity Team

Initial release

28 May 2000 [1 ]

Stable release

2.0.4 (6 September 2013 ; 2 days

ago ) []

Franais

Developer(s)

In addition to recording audio from multiple sources,

Audacity can be used for post-processing of all types
of audio, including podcasts by adding effects such as

Preview release

None (None) []

Written in

C and C++ (using the

wxWidgets toolkit) [2 ][3 ]

Operating system Microsoft Windows,

MacOSX, Linux, Unix [4 ][5 ]
Available in

Over 20 languages

Type

Digital audio editor

normalization, trimming, and fading in and out.[10]

Audacity has also been used to record and mix entire

License

GNU General Public

License[6 ]

Website

audacity.sourceforge.net

albums, such as by Tune-Yards.[11] It is also currently

used in the UK OCR National Level 2 ICT course for
the sound creation unit.

Nederlands

Audacity's features include the following:

Bahasa Indonesia
Italiano

Ligure
Magyar

Norsk bokml

Importing and exporting of WAV, AIFF,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity_(audio_editor)[09/08/2013 4:33:44 PM]

Audacity (audio editor) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norsk nynorsk
Polski
Portugus

Sicilianu
Simple English
Slovenina
Suomi

MP3 (via the LAME encoder, downloaded

separately), Ogg Vorbis, and all file
formats supported by libsndfile library.
Versions 1.3.2 and later support Free
Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC). [12]
Screenshot of an Audacity (Audio Editor) project
Version 1.3.6 and later also support
additional formats such as WMA, AAC,
AMR and AC3 via the optional FFmpeg library.
Recording and playing back sounds

Svenska

Editing via Cut, Copy and Paste (with unlimited levels of Undo)
Multitrack mixing

Trke

A large array of digital effects and plug-ins. Additional effects can be written with Nyquist

Built-in LADSPA plug-in support. VST support available through an optional VST Enabler. [13]

Ting Vit

Amplitude envelope editing

Noise removal based on sampling the noise to be removed. [14]

Edit links

Audio spectrum analysis using the Fourier transform algorithm

Support for multi-channel modes with sampling rates up to 96kHz with 32 bits per sample
Precise adjustments to the audio's speed while maintaining pitch (Audacity calls it changing
tempo), in order to synchronize it with video or run for a predetermined length of time
Changes to the audio's pitch without changing the speed
Features of modern multi-track audio software [15] including navigation controls, zoom and single
track edit, project pane and XY project navigation, non-destructive and destructive effect
processing, audio file manipulation (cut, copy, paste)
Conversion of cassette tapes or records into digital tracks by automatically splitting the audio
source into multiple tracks based on silences in the source material
Support for multiple platforms Audacity works on Windows, MacOSX, and Unix-like systems
(including Linux and BSD), among others
The latest stable version supports Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7, but Windows 95 and NT
are not supported. [16]
Audacity uses the wxWidgets software library to provide a similar graphical user interface on
several different operating systems.

Limitations

[ edit source ]

Audacity supports only 32-bit VST audio effect plug-ins. It does not support 64-bit or instrument VST
plugins.[17] Audacity lacks dynamic equalizer controls, real time effects and support for scrubbing.[18]
MIDI files can only be displayed. [19]
Audacity does not directly support WMA, AAC, or most other proprietary or restricted file formats. To
import or export AC3, AMR(NB), WMA and other proprietary formats, requires the optional FFmpeg
library. [20]
Also, while Audacity does feature a vocal remover for the easy creation of karaoke tracks, a more
desirable result requires several steps and use of the noise removal feature. [21]

Language support

[ edit source ]

In addition to English language help, the ZIP file of the downloadable Audacity software program

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity_(audio_editor)[09/08/2013 4:33:44 PM]

Audacity (audio editor) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

includes help files for Afrikaans, Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (simplified), Chinese
(traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish,
Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian (Bokml), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian,
Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Welsh in its user interface. A
partial Bengali help file is also included. [22]
The Audacity website also provides tutorials in several languages. [23]

Reception

[ edit source ]

The free and open nature of Audacity has allowed it to become very popular in education,
encouraging its developers to make the user interface easier for students and teachers. [citation needed]
CNET rated Audacity 5/5 stars and called it "feature rich and flexible".[24] Preston Gralla of PC World
said, "If you're interested in creating, editing, and mixing you'll want Audacity." [25] Jack Wallen of
Tech Republic highlighted its features and ease-of-use. [26] Michael Muchmore of PC Magazine rated
it 3.5/5 stars and said, "Though not as slick or powerful as programs from the likes of Adobe, Sony,
and M-Audio, Audacity is surprisingly feature-full for free software." [27]

See also

[ edit source ]

List of free software for audio

List of Linux audio software

Free software portal

Multitrack recording

References

[ edit source ]

1. ^ a b "Credits" . audacity.sourceforge.net. Retrieved 2012-02-19.

2. ^ SourceForge (July 2004). "Project of the Month July 2004 - Audacity" . Archived from the original
on 23 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
3. ^ United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2004). "E-Commerce and Development
Report 2004"
. Archived
from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
4. ^ a b "Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder"
2012.

. audacity.sourceforge.net. Retrieved 5 January

5. ^ a b "About Audacity" . audacity.sourceforge.net. Retrieved 2012-02-19.

6. ^ Audacity Team. "License, and Advice for Vendors and Distributors" . Archived from the original on
4 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
7. ^ "SourceForge.net: All-Time Top Downloads" . Archived from the original on 12 November 2010.
Retrieved 29 October 2010.
8. ^ "SourceForge.net: 2007 Community Choice Awards" . Archived from the original on 20 January
2008. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
9. ^ "SourceForge.net: 2009 Community Choice Awards" . Retrieved 2012-02-04.
10. ^ "Podcasting with Linux Command Line Tools and Audacity" . Archived from the original on 18
January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.

^ "World of Wonder" . The New Yorker. May 2, 2011.

^ Audacity development team (2006-10-30). "Audacity 1.3.2 a 1.2.5 released" . Retrieved 2010-01-19.
^ Audacity development team. "Audacity: Plug-Ins and Libraries" . Retrieved 2011-01-28.
^ Audacityteam.org. Noise Removal . Accessed 2012-02-24.
^ "Compare Sequencing & Multi-track Recording - Kelly's Music & Computers Comparison Charts" .
Kellysmusic.ca. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
^ Audacity (undated). "Audacity - Windows" . Retrieved 2008-10-11.
^ "FAQ:How do I install VST plug-ins? - Audacity Manual" . Audacityteam.org. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
^ Audacity Project (November 2008). "Audacity Feature Requests" . Archived from the original on 18
December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ "Quick Guide - Audacity Manual" . Audacityteam.org. Retrieved 2009-12-16.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity_(audio_editor)[09/08/2013 4:33:44 PM]

Audacity (audio editor) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

20. ^ "Audacity: Features" . Audacity.sourceforge.net. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
21. ^ Sheogorath (2013-07-11). "Perfect Chipmunkising in Audacity - Sheogorath - Original Work [Archive of
Our Own]" . Archiveofourown.org. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
22. ^ "Changing the current language - Audacity Wiki" . Wiki.audacityteam.org. 2013-01-04. Retrieved
2013-09-08.
23. ^ MultiLingual
24. ^ "Audacity"

. CNET. 2008-11-08. Retrieved 2013-09-01.

25. ^ Gralla, Preston (2008-10-22). "Audacity"

. PC World. Retrieved 2013-09-01.

26. ^ Wallen, Jack (2011-07-18). "Giving Audacity its due: An audio editor with serious functionality"
Tech Republic. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
27. ^ Muchmore, Michael (2010-02-05). Audacity 1.2 review

External links

. Retrieved 2013-09-01.

[ edit source ]

Official website

Find more about Audacity at Wikipedia's

sister projects

Audacity Wiki
Editing audio in Linux:Audacity

Media from Commons

Learning resources from Wikiversity
Textbooks from Wikibooks

t e

Digital audio editors

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t e

Free and open-source software

[show]

Categories: 2000 software Free audio editors Cross-platform free software

Free music software Free software programmed in C Free software programmed in C++
Linux audio video-related software OS X multimedia software Podcasting software
Software that uses wxWidgets

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