A new version of Audacity, a popular open-source audio workstation, is available to download.
Audacity 3.5 introduces major new features and improvements, fixes a number of issues in earlier builds, and removes a number of older, less-used options.
The headline addition is sure to be the new cloud-saving feature. This allows users to save Audacity projects to the audio.com website (requires a signup), permitting projects to be accessed from different devices, and enabling sharing and collaboration.
And, arguably more important, it acts as a versioned backup. If something goes wrong with a project you can restore an earlier version — which is very neat.
Audacity 3.5 also debuts automatic tempo detection for imported loops (which can be disabled if you find it annoying/inaccurate).
“Tempo detection is done via both audio analysis and metadata checking. If you want to prepare your loop for automatic tempo detection without relying on audio analysis, both acidizer tempo tags or simply writing “123 bpm” anywhere into the filename work,“ say the developers.
The final “big” feature in this release is non-destructive pitch shifting.
This sounds easy to activate: select a clip, hold the alt key, and press the up arrow key to pitch shift up or press the arrow key to pitch shift down. Alternatively, adjust things using the Pitch & Speed menu option in the new clip overflow menu.
Other changes in Audacity 3.5.0:
- Option to skip plugin scanning
- Overflow menu added to clips
- Speed and pitch indicators shown on clips
- “Share audio” item added to File menu
- Export to WebVTT and SubRip + import of SubRip files
- Improved plugin manager
- Zeroline stays centred when zooming in vertically
- Timeline options button changed to settings gear (with options)
- New app icon for macOS
- Improvements to BSD support
Finally, removals — nothing gold can stay, eh? The read-only mouse preferences page, printing options, in-app screenshot tool, and karaoke view have been jettisoned, as have a number of smaller preferences.
The “Vocal reduction and isolation” effect has also been removed from this version as the Intel OpenVINO plugin is said to work better and on a much wider array of content, including mono tracks. The old effect can still be downloaded and added manually, if you prefer/need/miss it.
Overall, Audacity 3.5 is a sizeable update adding further finesse to what remains the best free audio editor for Windows, macOS, Linux, and *BSD systems.
Get Audacity 3.5
You download the latest release from the Audacity website and learn more about the latest features on the official Audacity blog.
Linux users can also find Audacity on Flathub, and there’s a community-maintained on the Canonical Snap Store — though neither has been updated to the latest release at the time of writing, but it’s only a matter of time!