Audacity Sold

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I just installed the latest final version from March, to have before things go south.

It would be good to know what will be the last secure version of the program, that doesn’t “phone home somewhere” with one’s info. Download that version and no more, one would suppose maybe.

But then you are effectively using abandonware.
 
I use Audacity to edit and mix. If it does not stay free I would be happy to pay small fee, providing they add features. Would love to listen to 5.1 tracks before exporting.
 
I also had & enjoyed using Sony Soundforge & Sony Vegas Video. Then Sony sold that & one day I got a nag screen from the new owners I needed to activate & register the software I already owned. For some $$. Screw that.

If I lost AA 3 I think my next choice to invest learning time into would be Reaper.
I've survived the Sonic Foundry >> SONY >> MAGIX ownership changes with no penalties. Sound Forge 10 is my go to editor for audio and Vegas for video. Been using their stuff since 2000 and very satisfied*.
*EXCEPT: I still lack the ability to save MCH FLAC files. Can open MCH FLAC but if I need to save changes, the only MCH option is WAV. (this need has crept in for the past few years)
 
I've survived the Sonic Foundry >> SONY >> MAGIX ownership changes with no penalties. Sound Forge 10 is my go to editor for audio and Vegas for video. Been using their stuff since 2000 and very satisfied*.
*EXCEPT: I still lack the ability to save MCH FLAC files. Can open MCH FLAC but if I need to save changes, the only MCH option is WAV. (this need has crept in for the past few years)
Glad it worked out with the Sony stuff. Having tried a few others Vegas was so good for video. I miss that maybe more than Sound Forge.

I should point out that using the surround export in AA3 you can easily save a project as FLAC MCH. And you can listen/edit to MCH tracks with out having to export.
 
Pristine Sounds 2005 seems to be abandonware [its owner got a good gig with Peavey with presumably no time to spare on his creation] but i have found no other program that can do quite what it can do via spectral editing, noise reduction and fading of effects. it is irreplaceable. i haven't used Audacity enough to know if it also has similar irreplaceable features.
 
I use Audacity to edit and mix. If it does not stay free I would be happy to pay small fee, providing they add features. Would love to listen to 5.1 tracks before exporting.
Guess I haven't really played with it much then... You can't monitor from it in 5.1?!?! What's the heck is anyone around here doing playing with it then?!
 
what can reaper do compared to Audacity?
Reaper is a full featured DAW. Like Protools HD. Many would argue Reaper is the new industry flagship for the last 10 years or so. Audacity is more the simple audio editor style app. Work on one audio file. Reaper is a full DAW. Audio editor (full features and non destructive workflow), mixing board (unlimited routing), effects rack, recording system. Supports all the MIDI tinkerbell stuff some people are into too. Reaper supports most 3rd party plugins. The expected .vst, .vst3, .component, and some .dll (a Windows version of .vst I believe). Just not the new proprietary Protools HD AAX plugins. The editing ability and command set was a stunning upgrade over Protools HD for me.

Reaper's standout strong points are unmatched stability (you can even run live sound with it in demanding situations) and the ability to make macros of commands and write actual scripts. Reaper has universal tracks and fully unlimited routing. Said routing ability makes it VERY friendly for surround work.

I'm a Mac user but the talk I see on the Reaper forum suggests Reaper is the highest functioning Windows audio app that's ever existed. There are comprehensive audio interface connecting features that allow you to defer to different control panel apps and all kinds of options to handle connecting to just about any audio interface ever made (and many that weren't supposed to be compatible with Windows).
 
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Reaper for 5.1? I was considering it too, but then I DL cakewalk and Logic trials.

Is it easy to use, can one import 3rd party plugins?

It comes with a ton of plugins for all kinds of effects, and actually has a surround plugin, too. However, I don't use it, esp. because REAPER is struggling with channel assignments on Linux's PulseAudio server. It sends audio to the wrong channels.

Here's a screenshot of how I remix in REAPER:

https://pasteboard.co/K2U4ijQ.png
You can see that I simply make a lot of tracks for each channel and group them into folders. What I love about REAPER is how fast and yeah, easy to use it is. Agreed, it's a bit annoying that I can't play back in 5.1 straight from the app, but I really don't mind exporting the 15 seconds I just worked on to FLAC and listening in VLC.

Apart from that, I defer to jimfisheye's post just above, he said it better than I could have. What really sold me was that it runs flawlessly, natively on Linux.

EDIT: at the risk of this becoming a REAPER promo thread ;-) If you guys are curious about it, well first of all you can use the full version without limitations for 60 days for free (in fact, nothing stops you from keeping using it for free after that, either), and secondly, they have this video series that shows off the features: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM0xHqxaiT6-plorG47t3balft4nVki39

It even has a narrator who ends every sentence on an upwards inflection. NOBODY ELSE HAS A GUY LIKE THAT. :-D
 
REAPER is struggling with channel assignments on Linux's PulseAudio server. It sends audio to the wrong channels.

Reaper doesn't do anything by itself. Your connected audio interface has a number of inputs and outputs. You assign the output channels you wish to the tracks or bus tracks you wish. (Tracks are universal in Reaper. Use as a source track, bus track, or master hardware output track. All routing is available. eg. What I called a "bus track" is simply a track and then routed to use as a subgroup bus.)

If there's a little confusion in how the driver names the interface's channels, Reaper has a feature to rename them (alias). You'll kind of get to know your interface though. If outputs 9/10 are a SPDIF output for example, there they are.

That help?

I haven't broken the seal on Linux yet. It's coming. I don't see Apple ever coming back into the professional computing product arena at this point. Still happy in Steve Jobs era Mac world here. Using 10.13.6 though mostly. Still keep my 10.6.8 system on hand.
 
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Yup, I know about the channel renaming/mapping feature. However, when setting audio out in Linux to anything other than stereo (5.1, 7.1) REAPER won't recognize more than 2 hardware channels. No big deal either, I really don't mind. I'm happy using VLC as my playback/testing app.
 
Yup, I know about the channel renaming/mapping feature. However, when setting audio out in Linux to anything other than stereo (5.1, 7.1) REAPER won't recognize more than 2 hardware channels. No big deal either, I really don't mind. I'm happy using VLC as my playback/testing app.
Are you using <default system devices> selection in Reaper? (Which uses your OS audio control panel for interface connection.)
If you select your audio interface directly (or an aggregate device of multiple interfaces), you have matter of fact control in Reaper. All the hardware I/O is right there to assign.

The control panel in Reaper is in Preferences -> Audio/Device page

Disclaimer:
I don't know what I'm talking about with Linux right now! If something in the Reaper audio device control panel is different in Linux vs OSX, I don't know that either!
 
Are you using <default system devices> selection in Reaper? (Which uses your OS audio control panel for interface connection.)
If you select your audio interface directly (or an aggregate device of multiple interfaces), you have matter of fact control in Reaper. All the hardware I/O is right there to assign.

The control panel in Reaper is in Preferences -> Audio/Device page

Disclaimer:
I don't know what I'm talking about with Linux right now! If something in the Reaper audio device control panel is different in Linux vs OSX, I don't know that either!

Yeah., I tried all kinds of different combinations and settings for several days. In the end, REAPER doesn't play well with Linux audio, it's just a fact we have to live with. Stereo isn't a problem, but multichannel just doesn't work. When I have some spare time on my hands, I'll file a bug report with everything I tried and discovered about the issue. Since I don't need it for my purposes though, it's not really high on my priority list to follow up on ;-)

EDIT: I should say it doesn't play well *with my specific setup*, which is an HDMI cable from my Nvidia graphics card to my home theatre AVR.
 
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Yeah., I tried all kinds of different combinations and settings for several days. In the end, REAPER doesn't play well with Linux audio, it's just a fact we have to live with. Stereo isn't a problem, but multichannel just doesn't work. When I have some spare time on my hands, I'll file a bug report with everything I tried and discovered about the issue. Since I don't need it for my purposes though, it's not really high on my priority list to follow up on ;-)

EDIT: I should say it doesn't play well *with my specific setup*, which is an HDMI cable from my Nvidia graphics card to my home theatre AVR.
Now I'm curious. (Because I was planning on jumping ship to Linux!)

Are you saying that you select your AVR in Reaper Preferences/Audio/Device page from the device drop down menu. Then you go to assign output channels on the master (or a different track) and it only shows two channels of output on that AVR? In other words, the AVR identifies as a two channel device in Linux?

There isn't any way for Reaper itself to influence the driver connection with an audio interface. You connect the interface to the system. Reaper or any other audio app has access to the resource via your OS. I don't mean to suggest a bug in Reaper is impossible! Just talking through the expected scenario in case it leads to a revelation. :)

If you were maybe selecting <default system devices> in Reaper preferences instead of your AVR directly, that would use your LinuxOS audio control panel instead. This might be more limited? Did you try selecting the AVR itself in Reaper? Is it an option? (ie. Is your AVR in the device drop down menu?)
 
Now I'm curious. (Because I was planning on jumping ship to Linux!)

Are you saying that you select your AVR in Reaper Preferences/Audio/Device page from the device drop down menu. Then you go to assign output channels on the master (or a different track) and it only shows two channels of output on that AVR? In other words, the AVR identifies as a two channel device in Linux?

There isn't any way for Reaper itself to influence the driver connection with an audio interface. You connect the interface to the system. Reaper or any other audio app has access to the resource via your OS. I don't mean to suggest a bug in Reaper is impossible! Just talking through the expected scenario in case it leads to a revelation. :)

If you were maybe selecting <default system devices> in Reaper preferences instead of your AVR directly, that would use your LinuxOS audio control panel instead. This might be more limited? Did you try selecting the AVR itself in Reaper? Is it an option? (ie. Is your AVR in the device drop down menu?)

Gonna drop you a line so we don't hijack this thread more. :)
 
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