AUDACITY: Anyone use this program.? It is a fairly decent audio program and I have used it for making slide show audio tracks. They have recently updated it to 3.2 version and I find...

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Anyone use this program.? It is a fairly decent audio program and I have used it for making slide show audio tracks. They have recently updated it to 3.2 version and I find it a real mess. I also heard that this freeware was sold, and wonder if that was true? There does not seem to be a way to download the old version, if anyone knows how, that would be most helpful.

BebuLamar

I use the it all the time. I haven't use it much since 3.2 version so I don't see the problems.
Do you see this page? https://www.audacityteam.org/download/legacy-windows/
You can download older versions there.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I use Audacity occasionally, and I have version 3.2.0. I used it a few days ago, and it worked okay. I guess the more complicated the operation, the more challenging it would be.

The project was started in the fall of 1999 by Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg at Carnegie Mellon University, and released on May 28, 2000, as version 0.8. As of September 22, 2022, Audacity is the most popular download at FossHub, with over 114.1 million downloads since March 2015.

Yes, it was sold a least a year ago.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/audacitys-new-owner-is-in-another-fight-with-the-open-source-community/

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

sodapop wrote:

Anyone use this program.? It is a fairly decent audio program and I have used it for making slide show audio tracks. They have recently updated it to 3.2 version and I find it a real mess. I also heard that this freeware was sold, and wonder if that was true? There does not seem to be a way to download the old version, if anyone knows how, that would be most helpful.

I have it but I have only used it a couple times so far. I am not sure with out checking what version I have. It is not easy to use at all. It is similar to another program I had on our other PC. The other one was German made but with an English version. it was even harder to use and very buggy.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

lamiaceae wrote:

I have it but I have only used it a couple times so far. I am not sure with out checking what version I have. It is not easy to use at all. It is similar to another program I had on our other PC. The other one was German made but with an English version. it was even harder to use and very buggy.

I often refer to Google to find out how to do something with Audacity.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

jerryc41 wrote:

I often refer to Google to find out how to do something with Audacity.

That may be a necessity.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

sodapop wrote:

Anyone use this program.? It is a fairly decent audio program and I have used it for making slide show audio tracks. They have recently updated it to 3.2 version and I find it a real mess. I also heard that this freeware was sold, and wonder if that was true? There does not seem to be a way to download the old version, if anyone knows how, that would be most helpful.

I've been using it for many years. I last upgraded to version 2.2.1 and have zero problems with it and never saw a need to upgrade.
Too often, particularly if free software is sold to another outfit, (Sketchup comes to mind) the freeness disappears and is replaced with non functional crap unless you buy it. Anyway, Audacity, at least version 2.2.1 is not a mess at all. Super flexible with a ton of options. The interface can be a bit tricky, but on-line help is around that gets you going pretty easy.

Audacity is not an app you can just click on and run, you pretty much MUST read up on how to install and use it. Otherwise, it might seem a mess. One issue I had was to record anything from your PC speakers, Windows by default makes it impossible unless you jump through hoops to change WIN settings to make it possible. Their are Audacity instructions on how to do this as well as use all the many features of Audacity.

therwol Loc: USA

BigDaddy wrote:

One issue I had was to record anything from your PC speakers, Windows by default makes it impossible unless you jump through hoops to change WIN settings to make it possible. Their are Audacity instructions on how to do this as well as use all the many features of Audacity.

I've followed the instructions and done it without any problems. What you hear is what you get. The only caveat is that you're recording the analog output of the computer's sound card and re-digitizing it, and depending on the quality of the sound card, there may be some sound degradation.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

BigDaddy wrote:

I've been using it for many years. I last upgraded to version 2.2.1 and have zero problems with it and never saw a need to upgrade.

But all the new features and all the new challenges!

I hate it when they "upgrade" a program and remove features that it used to have.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

sodapop wrote:

Anyone use this program.? It is a fairly decent audio program and I have used it for making slide show audio tracks. They have recently updated it to 3.2 version and I find it a real mess. I also heard that this freeware was sold, and wonder if that was true? There does not seem to be a way to download the old version, if anyone knows how, that would be most helpful.

Update: I checked, I have Version 3.1.3. And yes, I will be viewing YouTube videos about it. I am using Windows 10. I see the ad for Audacity 3.2 when I run 3.1 but some of you are saying to skip the upgrade. Perhaps 3.2 is really for Win 11?

therwol Loc: USA

lamiaceae wrote:

Update: I checked, I have Version 3.1.3. And yes... (show quote)

Right. I'm going to hold off on this until someone says exactly why the newer version isn't working for them. Then I'll make the decision.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

BebuLamar wrote:

I use the it all the time. I haven't use it much since 3.2 version so I don't see the problems.
Do you see this page? https://www.audacityteam.org/download/legacy-windows/
You can download older versions there.

Thank you so much, that was a great help to me!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

therwol wrote:

Right. I'm going to hold off on this until someone says exactly why the newer version isn't working for them. Then I'll make the decision.

Yup, I get the same screen.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

I've been using Audacity for years without issues. Currently I have version 3.1.3 and based on your comment I'll skip the update. Thanks.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

lamiaceae wrote:

Update: I checked, I have Version 3.1.3. And yes... (show quote)

For what it's worth, if the version your using does what you want, why upgrade. (stupid question since we all, including me, want the latest and greatest)

If you do, keep the old version in case the new one sucks for some reason. You should then be able to uninstall the new one, and re-install the old one.

After lots of fooling around, I made "chains" that I use to apply standard adjustments I like to any song I record. Audacity can do far more things than most people actually will ever use, but you can be reasonably certain it will do exactly what you want in the realm of audio recording. I'm guessing it's on the level of GIMP in the photo editing field, but I never used Gimp.