Audacity Audio Editor

9 years ago

At one time, I used Audacity for editing audio, but haven't loaded it onto my Windows 7 machine. I am wondering if anyone uses it still. I know sometimes software will make great changes and those changes may not be for the best.

TIA,
Jean

Featured Answer

Elmer J Fudd

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

I've used Audacity for a long time, a dozen years or more. I started on a PC with Windows XP and through the years have used it on all Win versions- Vista, 7, 8, and today on PCs with Windows 10. It's extremely capable, flexible, and relatively easy to use after a little bit of exploring and experimenting. I'd say I use it regularly, maybe once a month.

The Windows driver/code feature "Stereo Mix", reached through the Control Panel and then Sound, needs to be enabled for Audacity to capture sound from the PC's sound circuitry, if that's what you're trying to do. There was a time not too long ago when many installs of Windows on new machines had Stereo Mix disabled and hidden. On a few machines, I needed to learn from help sites how to dig it out from where it was buried. For one other, I remember, I had to download some code and install it.

If you are using Audacity to edit existing sound files, the Stereo Mix thing shouldn't matter. I periodically record sound streams from the internet and if you do too and it doesn't work on you PC as is, post back and I'll try to help you fix it.

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Comments (11)

jean_mi_z5
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for all the information. I appreciate it very much. I would also appreciate a link to a safe download site. I really miss having Audacity. I will most likely use it for existing sound files. I download music videos from youtube and convert them to MP3s now, but want to edit out some portions. Thanks again.
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This is an area I have a lot of experience with. To avoid boring others, I'll give you a condensed reply. Email me (click on my name) if you want more detail. I trod this path almost 10 years ago and concluded that for me it was a big (and unnecessary) time waste. I gave up and have bought CDs to "digitize" my music collection. My music is now mostly ripped into lossless FLAC files (a FLAC file is the audio equivalent of ZIP, it's just a condensed version that reconstitutes back to the original on playback, with identical bit for bit content as the CD itself) Some will understandably say that a CD signal is something less than a true quality analog source and I agree. As for MP3 or other lossy formats, I hear the difference and I can't listen to them. No analog conversion is needed to produce a lossless FLAC or ALAC copy of a CD, it's digital all the way. Quality DACs and ADCs cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Don't fool yourself into thinking that some mickey mouse device will produce or reconsitute a quality digital signal. It won't. I tried with a ~$100 external sound card, the results (from a capture of an analog source out of my stereo system) weren't acceptable to me. Most people would have said "that sounds exactly like the record" - it sounded good, but inferior to a CD because of the inferior electronic signal path. Most PCs with Win 7 and up (maybe too with Vista) intentionally lack the drivers to allow capture of the sound card. There's probably some workaround to allow recording of a sound stream with something like Audacity, but since I gave up digitizing my substantial record collection (many hundreds of albums) some time ago, I stopped thinking about it. For those rare occasions I want to record something and it's sound for which the quality doesn't matter to me, I have a couple of old XP machines I use. So my solution was to buy CDs and rip 'em to FLAC. I still have the records and tapes, I never play them. (edited for typo) This post was edited by snidely on Wed, Jan 15, 14 at 20:34
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I'm having the same problem with little success in finding a similar program for 7 or Vista 64-bit. I've pored through many posts in the Audacity forums and see that many others are searching for answers, also.
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I don't know of a way but if it were me I would just record it while I played it. Windows sound recorder would work or you could go for something more full-featured like Audacity.
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Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Two choices, both completely safe.

Note that if you are doing work with Audacity in from or out to MP3 files, you need to download another bit of software named Lame. If you Google "Download Lame", you'll find a link to a page on Source Forge. Download it and follow the instructions, noting the folder it gets put into (Normally it creates a folder under Programs X86 named "Lame for Audacity"). You need to note that because when using Audacity and it needs to reference Lame, a screen will pop up the first time asking you for its location. That only needs to be done once.

If using Flac file format, same thing, you may need to download a small bit of software for it too. Same general procedure.

Download links from Audacity site:

http://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/

Download link for Source Forge

https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/
jean_mi_z5 thanked Elmer J Fudd
jean_mi_z5
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you so much, I have copied your instructions. :)
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
Good luck. Please post back should you decide to proceed and share your experience.
jean_mi_z5
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Download and installation of both items went smoothly. I have only trimmed couple MP3s so far. :) I started using Audacity with Windows XP myself. I just had not installed it on my Win7. I hope my Win7 machine holds out for a long time.
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
I'm glad it went well. When your Win7 machine dies, Audacity will be ready to work on whatever you choose for a replacement - any version of Windows or using its Mac or Linux flavors too. Though, Mac does have its own proprietary programs that are very capable.
jean_mi_z5 thanked Elmer J Fudd
Mike C
9 years ago
Audacity, Lame XP, and MP3Tag work great with Win7. I use all three. If I download from youtube, its an MP4 file. Then use Lame XP to convert to an MP3, then MP3Tag to tag information for the file. Ummy is supposed to be able to download as an MP3, but I wasn't sure if it is safe and couldn't find enough information to determine if it is.
jean_mi_z5 thanked Mike C
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Exactly, chuggerguy. When working with a one-off file, Audacity Win pops up the same view to allow the entry of tag information.

When dealing with already ripped files of entire albums, MP3Tag (not restricted to MP3 files) can SOMETIMES fill in the gaps. As is the case when ripping with programs that access online tag database resources to handle that task when the ripping is done, like Win Media Player, iTunes, EAC (Exact Audio Copy), etc. Another resource is MusicBrainz and MB Picard.
mtvhike
9 years ago
What about Adobe Audition? How does Audacity compare with it?
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
I have no experience with Audition. Here's a Wikipedia page I found comparing features of various programs but I'm not sure how useful the information is.

Maybe the biggest difference is that Audacity is free and Audition isn't. There are a lot of very capable audio tools (must mention Apple's excellent Garage Band in that context) and I'd guess Audacity is on the lower end of the scale of sophistication and whizbang features. But it is versatile and very capable. I know that many podcast producers use it for mixing sound tracks. But of course, that's not a high end commercial context.

Wikipedia comparison

Audacity Audio Editor

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Audacity Audio Editor

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