Audacity® is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.
With Audacity you can Record live audio, Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, Edit sound files (Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF), Cut copy splice or mix sounds together, Change the speed or pitch of a recording, and more.
This application is free software, developed by a group of volunteers and distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Vendors are free to bundle Audacity with their products, or to sell or distribute copies of Audacity.
Features
Recording
Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.
* Record from microphone, line input, or other sources.
* Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings.
* Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware).
* Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording.
Import and Export
Import sound files, edit them, and combine them with other files or new recordings. Export your recordings in several common file formats.
* Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files.
* Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files) with libmad.
* Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library.
* Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to CD.
* Import and export all file formats supported by libsndfile.
* Open raw (headerless) audio files using the “Import Raw” command.
* Note: Audacity does not currently support WMA, AAC, or most other proprietary or restricted file formats.
Editing
* Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
* Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps.
* Very fast editing of large files.
* Edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks.
* Use the Drawing tool to alter individual sample points.
* Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.
Effects
* Change the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa.
* Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises.
* Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects.
* Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects.
* Other built-in effects include:
o Echo
o Phaser
o Wahwah
o Reverse
Sound Quality
* Record and edit 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit (floating point) samples.
* Record at up to 96 kHz.
* Sample rates and formats are converted using high-quality resampling and dithering.
* Mix tracks with different sample rates or formats, and Audacity will convert them automatically in realtime.
Plug-Ins
* Add new effects with LADSPA plug-ins.
* Audacity includes some sample plug-ins by Steve Harris.
* Load VST plug-ins for Windows and Mac, with the optional VST Enabler.
* Write new effects with the built-in Nyquist programming language.
Analysis
* Spectrogram mode for visualizing frequencies.
* “Plot Spectrum” command for detailed frequency analysis.
Free and Cross-Platform
* Licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
* Runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and GNU/Linux.
History
Audacity was started by Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg in the fall of 1999 at Carnegie Mellon University. It was released as open-source software at SourceForge.net in May of 2000.
Ohloh has statistics on the value of Audacity development. The Ohloh "badge" at the bottom of each page on this site shows updated summary values. We set up the Ohloh pages about Audacity so the statistics show only the values of Audacity-specific development, that is, excluding the code libraries Audacity uses. The Contributors tab on the Ohloh site shows the contributions of each developer.
Audacity Portable
This application also available in portable format (http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/audacity_portable). Audacity Portable is the popular Audacity audio editor packaged as a portable app, so you can take your audio files along with everything you need to edit and record on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.
Article Source:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net
http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/audacity_portable
