Major update in Audacity

Audacity has been one of my very favorite recording tools for years. It's easy to sing its praises because it's cross-platform compatible (Mac, Windows, Linux) and also because it's FREE (which still totally blows my mind in this day and age of charging for literally everything).

Audacity is widely used in music technology classrooms around the world as it competes with the capabilities of more expensive digital audio workstations.

Audacity recently released a major update that addresses several pain points from previous versions. I am excited to walk you through some of these updates in this blog.

Audacity Update #1: Changes to AUP3 file structure

In previous versions of Audacity, audio projects were stored in a two-part system - there was both an AUP file (project file) and a "data" folder that was integrated into the project file. Not only was it a bit harder to save, but it also meant it was easy to delete the data folder and render the AUP file unusable.

Starting with Audacity 3.0, Audacity introduced AUP3, which will now save project files into a single, unique project file to help keep your audio projects in a more cohesive format!

Audacity Update #2: Clip Handles

The integrated clip-on handles are something I've been waiting for A LONG TIME! In Trending songs older versions of Audacity, you had to select the "Time Slider Tool" to slide clips forward or backward in time. It wasn't a big deal, but it meant hundreds of extra mouse clicks over the course of the project. In other words, it was just plain tiring!

In Audacity 3.1 they completely removed the time slider tool and replaced it with clip "handles". These handles allow you to drag an audio clip within a panel (forward in time, backward in time, or even to another audio track) without having to select a new instrument.

Audacity Update #3: Smart Audio Clips

Furthermore, Smart Audio Clips are another complete game changer when it comes to making Audacity even more user-friendly and completely non-destructive!

Imagine trimming part of an audio clip. Then you go about your business, making more and more edits and realizing an hour later that you cut out a segment of the audio you didn't want. How do you get it back?