View other reviews for this product:
« Never pay for something unless you know you need it. »
Published on 06/27/11 at 05:10You load it up, and you're running. The menus for choosing audio devices are very straightforward, and as long as you have a working knowledge of computers and audio device selection, you will not be left scratching your head like many of us were for the first few hours we played with Cubase.
It loads up quickly, and you're ready to go. Essentially, there is nothing cumbersome about loading up Audacity at all. The nice thing about it being very light is that it also doesn't feel like a massive commitment to start the program. With other programs, you have to sit in the splash screen for half of a minute before you can even come close to getting anywhere. It's very convenient for laying down an idea.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
Audacity is very stable; you just have to be patient when applying processing or plugins. Audacity lacks any sort of inserts that can be applied and switched around and modified on the fly, which means that you just essentially have to apply effects in a certain order and create more backup tracks than you should.
I think that if you know what you're doing, and are patient enough to wait for Audacity to apply the processing every time, you don't lose out. It also forces you to end up with a lighter CPU load while playing.
It's a limitation I can't live with, however, so I don't use Audacity other than to lay down ideas. For someone who is more inexperienced, it's a great way to understand plugins and their functions.
OVERALL OPINION
Audacity is a fantastic program that can be downloaded entirely for free. It may be light on features; that's to be expected from a free program, but it certainly possesses everything that is needed to mix any sort of audio. It's built in plugins are fantastically simple to use, and it's probably advised that anyone just getting into audio mixing and editing begin in Audacity.
What it lacks in features, it makes up for in intuitiveness and straightforwardness. Audacity cannot be faulted because it's free and comprehensive. For basic function, it may even trump some of the expensive DAWs out there. Obviously, Audacity will never be a full featured or comprehensive as some of the industry standard DAWs like ProTools, Sonar, Cubase, or Logic, but for simple waveform editing and absolute base-level mixing, you CANNOT go wrong with Audacity.
The fact that it is free just sweetens the deal a bunch more.
It loads up quickly, and you're ready to go. Essentially, there is nothing cumbersome about loading up Audacity at all. The nice thing about it being very light is that it also doesn't feel like a massive commitment to start the program. With other programs, you have to sit in the splash screen for half of a minute before you can even come close to getting anywhere. It's very convenient for laying down an idea.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
Audacity is very stable; you just have to be patient when applying processing or plugins. Audacity lacks any sort of inserts that can be applied and switched around and modified on the fly, which means that you just essentially have to apply effects in a certain order and create more backup tracks than you should.
I think that if you know what you're doing, and are patient enough to wait for Audacity to apply the processing every time, you don't lose out. It also forces you to end up with a lighter CPU load while playing.
It's a limitation I can't live with, however, so I don't use Audacity other than to lay down ideas. For someone who is more inexperienced, it's a great way to understand plugins and their functions.
OVERALL OPINION
Audacity is a fantastic program that can be downloaded entirely for free. It may be light on features; that's to be expected from a free program, but it certainly possesses everything that is needed to mix any sort of audio. It's built in plugins are fantastically simple to use, and it's probably advised that anyone just getting into audio mixing and editing begin in Audacity.
What it lacks in features, it makes up for in intuitiveness and straightforwardness. Audacity cannot be faulted because it's free and comprehensive. For basic function, it may even trump some of the expensive DAWs out there. Obviously, Audacity will never be a full featured or comprehensive as some of the industry standard DAWs like ProTools, Sonar, Cubase, or Logic, but for simple waveform editing and absolute base-level mixing, you CANNOT go wrong with Audacity.
The fact that it is free just sweetens the deal a bunch more.