Audacity for Mac

Free

Free Audacity Developer Team Mac OS X 10.4/10.5/10.6/10.7/10.8 Version 2.1.0 Full Specs

Editors' Rating:

3.5 3.5

Very good

Average User Rating:

97 User Votes

3.7 3.7

out of 97 votes

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Editors' Review

by Download.com staff / November 25, 2014

Audacity for Mac is a powerful audio editing tool that surpasses default OS X tools. The downsides are a dated and sometimes clunky interface and a cumbersome installation process.

Pros

Powerful and robust feature set: Audacity is loaded with audio editing, recording, and exporting tools that work in tandem with Mac's multimedia capabilities.

Free with regular updates for diverse uses: Audacity is a free, regularly updated tool with solid support from the developer. This means a solid core that works far better than some other free software suites in the same category, and a good alternative to somewhat limited tools like GarageBand.

Cons

Interface is dated and sometimes clunky: While Audacity's feature set delivers, it looks and feels a little dated compared to more modern software. In most cases this is purely aesthetic, but finding certain menus can be cumbersome in some circumstances.

Bottom Line

If you need a powerful, free audio editing tool for your Mac, Audacity is a great tool with which to start. While the interface could use some updates, you'll still get the bang you're looking for in your audio project.

Publisher's Description

From Audacity Developer Team:

Audacity is a free audio editor. You can record sounds, play sounds, import and export WAV, AIFF, and MP3 files, and more. Use it to edit your sounds using Cut, Copy and Paste (with unlimited Undo), mix tracks together, or apply effects to your recordings. It also has a built-in amplitude envelope editor, a customizable spectrogram mode and a frequency analysis window for audio analysis applications. Built-in effects include Bass Boost, Wahwah, and Noise Removal, and it also supports VST plug-in effects.

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"Mac Version Incomplete Unfunctional"

Klodfone August 12, 2015 / Version: Audacity 2.1.0

2015-08-12 11:13:59 | By Klodfone

Pros

Audacity is a great audio editor on my Windows 8.1 machine. Strong and fast run on top of the line HP Envy. Good Features.

Cons

On the Mac it is an empty suit. A skeleton with no parts and useless.
This POS does not deserve to share the name with the windows version.
Fix it so it runs just like the Win version. No wonder the Mac users are upset.
Completely useless. Nothing works

Summary

Save your energy. Save yourselves.
Unless you are a masochist, you should avoid downloading or using the Mac version until they fix it.
The build should be made just like the PC. No ifs ands or butts.

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Full Specifications

What's new in version 2.1.0
Effects: LADSPA, VST and Audio Unit (OS X) effects now support real-time preview, save/load of user presets and saving effect settings across sessions. Note: Real-time preview does not yet support latency compensation. VST effects now support import/export of FXB preset banks. Shell VST effects that host multiple plugins are now supported. All Effect Menu items (built-in or plugin) can now be used in a Chain. Items in the Effect, Generate or Analyze Menus can be sorted or grouped by name, publisher or class of effect. Noise Removal is improved and renamed to "Noise Reduction". Change Speed has new time controls for current and new length. You can now enter the speed change as a multiplier e.g. "2" is twice as fast. New "Crossfade Tracks" effect can be used for crossfading two tracks. This replaces Cross Fade In and Cross Fade Out. Nyquist Prompt and most shipped Nyquist effects now have Preview button. Interface: Redesigned Meter Toolbars: The default shows separate Record and Playback Meters, half-height so they can be wider while docked, in gradient style. A frequency selection can now be made (and spectral edit effects applied to those frequencies) when in a spectrogram view. You can also create or adjust frequency selections in a new "Spectral Selection Toolbar" (available at View > Toolbars). Transcription Toolbar (Play-at-speed) can now loop play and cut-preview. Timer Record now saves recordings automatically into an existing project. New Armenian translation. Operating system and sound device support: (Windows) Audacity 2.1.0 requires Windows XP SP3 (32-bit) or XP SP2 (64-bit), Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 or 8.1. (Windows) Audacity is now compiled using Visual Studio 2013. (Windows) Recording with WASAPI host now includes experimental support for physical inputs (up to 24-bit depth) as well as loopback recording. (OS X) 10.10 (Yosemite) is now supported including Apple Audio Units. (Linux Ubuntu) Under Unity, keyboard shortcuts are not visible in the Audacity menus. Keyboard shortcuts are visible if you install the classic GNOME Flashback interface or under Unity if you open Audacity with the UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 environment variable. Audacity compiled from source will ship with src/audacity.desktop.in set to UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 but it will remain up to distributions to use this desktop file. Bug Fixes Interface: Typing "j" or "k" in a label track activated the "move cursor" shortcut. Spectrogram log (f) view displayed incorrectly until vertically zoomed. Fixed crash after zooming out on vertical scale beyond +/-1.0. Selections made with Selection Toolbar were not restored after Undo. Undo could fail silently if a selection included/touched a clip boundary. Imports and Exports: If there were invalid FFmpeg libs in system PATH this prevented Audacity recognising the installed FFmpeg or the FFmpeg specified in audacity.cfg. Mac OS X: Fix uninitialized buffer - this should correct playback buzz or crackle where the upper of multiple tracks started with or contained white space. Device names were corrupted when using system language other than English. Fixed crashes using (external program). Waves v9 Audio Units should now work correctly.

What's new in version 2.1.0

Effects:
- LADSPA, VST and Audio Unit (OS X) effects now support real-time preview, save/load of user presets and saving effect settings across sessions. Note: Real-time preview does not yet support latency compensation.
- VST effects now support import/export of FXB preset banks.
- Shell VST effects that host multiple plugins are now supported.
- All Effect Menu items (built-in or plugin) can now be used in a Chain.
- Items in the Effect, Generate or Analyze Menus can be sorted or grouped by name, publisher or class of effect.
- Noise Removal is improved and renamed to "Noise Reduction".
- Change Speed has new time controls for current and new length. You can now enter the speed change as a multiplier e.g. "2" is twice as fast.
- New "Crossfade Tracks" effect can be used for crossfading two tracks. This replaces Cross Fade In and Cross Fade Out.
- Nyquist Prompt and most shipped Nyquist effects now have Preview button.

Interface:
- Redesigned Meter Toolbars: The default shows separate Record and Playback Meters, half-height so they can be wider while docked, in gradient style.
- A frequency selection can now be made (and spectral edit effects applied to those frequencies) when in a spectrogram view. You can also create or adjust frequency selections in a new "Spectral Selection Toolbar" (available at View > Toolbars).
- Transcription Toolbar (Play-at-speed) can now loop play and cut-preview.
- Timer Record now saves recordings automatically into an existing project.
- New Armenian translation.

Operating system and sound device support:
- (Windows) Audacity 2.1.0 requires Windows XP SP3 (32-bit) or XP SP2 (64-bit), Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 or 8.1.
- (Windows) Audacity is now compiled using Visual Studio 2013.
- (Windows) Recording with WASAPI host now includes experimental support for physical inputs (up to 24-bit depth) as well as loopback recording.
- (OS X) 10.10 (Yosemite) is now supported including Apple Audio Units.
  - (Linux Ubuntu) Under Unity, keyboard shortcuts are not visible in the Audacity menus. Keyboard shortcuts are visible if you install the classic GNOME Flashback interface or under Unity if you open Audacity with the UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 environment variable. Audacity compiled from source will ship with src/audacity.desktop.in set to UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 but it will remain up to distributions to use this desktop file.

Bug Fixes

Interface:
- Typing "j" or "k" in a label track activated the "move cursor" shortcut.
- Spectrogram log (f) view displayed incorrectly until vertically zoomed.
- Fixed crash after zooming out on vertical scale beyond +/-1.0.
- Selections made with Selection Toolbar were not restored after Undo.
- Undo could fail silently if a selection included/touched a clip boundary.

Imports and Exports:
- If there were invalid FFmpeg libs in system PATH this prevented Audacity recognising the installed FFmpeg or the FFmpeg specified in audacity.cfg.

Mac OS X:
- Fix uninitialized buffer - this should correct playback buzz or crackle where the upper of multiple tracks started with or contained white space.
- Device names were corrupted when using system language other than English.
- Fixed crashes using (external program).
- Waves v9 Audio Units should now work correctly.

General
Publisher	Audacity Developer Team
Publisher web site	http://web.audacityteam.org/
Release Date	March 30, 2015
Date Added	March 30, 2015
Version	2.1.0

Category
Category	MP3 & Audio Software
Subcategory	Rippers & Converting Software

Operating Systems
Operating Systems	Mac OS X 10.4/10.5/10.6/10.7/10.8
Additional Requirements	None

Download Information
File Size	32.81MB
File Name	audacity-macosx-ub-2.1.0.dmg

Popularity
Total Downloads	403,210
Downloads Last Week	127

Pricing
License Model	Free
Limitations	Not available
Price	Free

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Audacity for Mac

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