Audacity has quickly become popular and has been often thought of as technology's ultimate gift to recording enthusiasts, podcasters, and other music enthusiasts. What has made this particular software so appealing to the general users is that it’s free and an open source. There is no need to pay for anything and definitely no need to register. You can download and install the software immediately. It supports not only Windows, OS X, and Linux, but other operating systems as well. It also does not have any time limit and its user interface is so simple that it makes music editing easy and fun. But just like everything else, there are limitations to this software and not everyone is a fan. For instance, it does not support 64 bit VST plug-ins. Another downside of this program is that it does not show real-time effects and it lacks dynamic equalizer controls.
Let's check out other software that can be as good as Audacity. We are now looking at the top 10 best Audacity alternative below.
1. iMusic - Discover, Download, Record and Transfer Music
2. Jokosher
Jokosher is audio software that is designed to help you record, edit, and even mix music.
Key Features:
- Does not require installation of a particular or other kinds of software in order to play and save files on different audio formats
- Multiple instruments to choose from - bass guitar, bass drum, acoustic guitar, violin, saxophone, cello, and many others
- Allows you to add various instruments and rename them
Pros:
- User interface such as menu and options are easy to understand
- Easy renaming and muting of audio
- Ability to handle multiple tracks in a single audio
- Supports multiple formats such as OGG, MP3, FLAC, and WAV
Cons:
- Limited to only Windows and Linux
3. Wavosaur
This particular software has all the necessary features to edit, produce and record sounds. It can cut, copy and paste audio files, making this software a powerful tool.
Key Features:
- No need to install it and it does not take up too much space in your hard drive
- It can support a wide range of sound files and it includes VST files
- More advanced features for audio editing including: auto detect, crossfade loop, exporting files as texts, removing of vocals, and batch processing
- Can be controlled by an external MIDI controller
Pros:
- Multiple files can be worked on during in one session
- Offers various options such as: normalize level, insert silence or mute, fade in or fade out
- Supports VST plug ins, multi-channel .wav files and real-time effects
Cons:
- Can only support Windows - 98, Vista and 7
4. Ardour
Another powerful tool for any person with audio recording needs is Ardour. It is made through the collaboration of musicians, professional recording engineers and programmers.
Key Features:
- Allows you to import audio or MIDI from your hard drive
- A very flexible mixer architecture with hundreds of plugins
- Allows you to cancel a recording pass and recover the disk space instantly
Pros:
- Allows you to cut, move, copy, paste, delete, crossfade, rename, snapshot, zoom, transpose, drag, and drop music videos
- Allows you to undo/redo without limit
- No limits on the number of tracks, buses, plugins, inserts, or sends
Cons:
- Does not support Windows
- Mac users can get a trial version but cannot use it to save AudioUnit plug-in settings
- Linux users can get the full version but will not receive customer support
5. Wavepad
Another full-featured audio and music editor that you can get for free is Wavepad. This software lets you record and edit music, audio and voice recordings.
Key Features:
- Supports Windows ( XP, Vista, 7, and 8), Mac (OS X 10.4 and higher), iPad running on iOS 3.2 or higher, and Android 2.3.3 and higher
- Allows you to amplify or reduce noise, and add effects like echo to your work
- Can support multiple audio and music file formats that include mp3, wav, wma, au, real audio, ogg, aac, m4a, mid, and a whole lot more
Pros:
- Allows batch processing and convert multiple files
- Includes tools such as spectral analysis or FFT, speech synthesis , and voice changer
- Allows you to save files for your iPod, PSP or other portable devices
- Allows you to edit audio files and cut, copy, paste parts of the file
Cons:
- Does not support Linux
6. Linux MultiMedia Studio
This software is designed to allow you to record songs; it allows you to create melodies and beats, synthesize and arrange sounds and audio.
Key Features:
- Features a Beat+Bassline editor and Piano roll for editing melodies
- Has multiple instruments and effects that include organ-like synthesizer, triple oscillator, wavetable look up synthesis, kick and bass drum synthesizer and a lot more
- Compatible with MIDI, VSTi, Soundfont2, GUS Patches and LASDPA
Pros:
- Can be downloaded for Linux/GNU and Windows operating system for free
- Compatible with MIDI keyboards
- Allows multiple channel and input recordings
Cons:
- Does not support Mac operating system
7. AudioDope
This software is an audio editor that allows you to load and listen to music files of various formats.
Key Features:
- This product has features such as DC offset correction, compressor, echo, noice reduction, fading, pitch scale, reverbation, tempo, normalization and others
- Apply third party VST plug ins
- Offers special effects like chorus, phaser, flanger and gargle
- Includes tools like tone generator, frequency analyzer, noise generator and DTMF
Pros:
- You can record from any source
- Processes any channel separately or both
- Allows you to listen to an audio file with play, pause, and stop options
- Allows filtering for high, low or band pass and moving average
Cons:
- Compatible with Windows operating system only
8. Waveshop
Waveshop is another free and open source audio editor. It is fast, lightweight and ideal for patching finished works. It works unusually fast because it stores documents and performs all editing in memory.
Key Features:
- It is bit perfect which means that audio files are not changed unless needed - the software makes a round-trip test and makes sure that edits are as non-destructive as possible, that if a portion of an audio file is edited, the remainder is left untouched
- Can normalize and/or fix DC offset
- Features multi-thread processing, MDI, and edit speaker assignments
- Can extract channels to monofiles
- Has real-time spectrum analyzer
- Single touch and sound-activated recording
Pros:
- Unlimited undo
- Can edit files more than 4GB
- Allows you to record without any limitation
Cons:
- Can only support Windows with 64bit
- Higher risk of running out memory
9. Free Audio Editor
If you want to record, edit and enhance audio files easily, you can download this software for free.
Key Features:
- Allows you to record audio from a microphone or any other input device
- Allows you to burn audio CDs from MP3, WMA, WAV and OGG formats and rip audio CDs to audio files
- Features tools for noise reduction, speech synthesis
Pros:
- Allows you to convert or merge audio files by batch
- Supports multiple file formats
- Easy to use interface
Cons:
- Only supports Windows
10. Nero Wave Editor
This program allows you to record music and edit corresponding audio files, perfect for anyone who is an audiophile.
Key Features:
- Has multiple filtering and sound optimization methods
- Offers more improvement functions for recording from tape or vinyl records
- Allows you to select and listen to effects real-time
- Features sample format conversion, anti alias filters, dithering, and noise shaping
Pros:
- Allows fast and easy creation of audio files
- Has unlimited undo
- You can save frequently used settings through Preset Manager
Cons:
- Only supports Windows
This is just a compilation of top ten fantastic alternatives to Audacity that are available across the worldwide web. They are among the best programs that you can easily find online and download at no cost. Each software has features or attributes that may be best suited to your audio or sound recording and editing needs. However, you must remember that since they have been purchased at no cost, you cannot the software that you have chosen to possess highly advanced features or sound editing tools, or premium service or customer support in case something should go wrong. Other than that, they will definitely get any request concerning about audio needs done. It may just give you the most amazing and satisfying results.
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