Item: Audacity
Rating: 10
Author: Craig West

Overall Satisfaction with Audacity

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We develop videos and guided exercises and require an audio software to assist in mixing music and narration as well as making slide shows with audio.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Recording sound WASAPI (Recording sound directly from computer)
Record live studio

Cons

Interface is not as streamlined or easy to use
Audacity is unable to record multiple devices without special drivers

Return on Investment

Positive return on investment as the program is free and open-source
It allows us to quickly create narrations and export to appropriate audio format

Audacity may have some limitations but for the majority of users, Audacity will meet their requirements. It offers multiple tracks, can record directly from the computer, has multiple effects that can be applied, can apply and record macros, and can export to different audio formats. Adobe Audio works great and has better multitracking; is able to be saved on Adobe Creative Cloud and can easily integrate with other Adobe applications. The difference, however, is that Adobe Audition is an expensive alternative that is a subscription-based model.

Support Rating

As it is an open-source program, there are videos that users can find. However, there is no technical support by email, telephone or social media. On their website, they have a FAQ document and forums.

Key Insights

Do you think Audacity delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Audacity's feature set?

Yes

Did Audacity live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Audacity go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Audacity again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Adobe Audition, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe XD

Likelihood to Recommend

For those who are on a budget and enjoy open-source programs, Audacity will work well for most. It is fairly easy to use and has multi-track audio editing capability. It's great for podcasting, narrations, and most everything else involving voice and music. Audacity may not be appropriate for those who want to create music. Easy publishing options may not be available. Real-time audio effects are not automatically applied. Generally, for our needs, Audacity works well for multiple users.

Comments

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Corey Brews
commented 4 years ago
Indeed, Audacity is a great free tool that lets you record computer sound efficiently. However, its interface is not quite user-friendly. Usually, I use Acethinker Music Recorder to capture any sound coming out from my computer. It has a simplier interface and you can record the sound in 3 easy steps!

Audacity, the alternative audio recording and editing software!