10 alternatives to Audacity if you’re concerned about privacy

Audacity has issued a statement in response to the great controversy arising from the changes to the privacy policy announced by its new owner, MUSE Group, for the most popular free audio editor on the market, which flagged “spyware” Had led. from part of the open source community.

«We understand that unclear wording of the data protection declaration and the lack of context for introducing the changes has raised major concerns about the use and storage of the very limited data we collect., they explain from Audacity and promise that they will work with their legal team to release a revised version shortly.

Until then, they wanted to clarify the most important concerns of the users. Mainly the following:

  • Selling and sharing of data. We do not sell or sell any data that we collect or share with third parties. End point.
  • Data collection: The data we collect is very limited. The pseudonymized and unrecoverable IP address after 24 hours; Basic information about the device, version of the operating system and CPU type; and bug report data (optional) that is manually submitted by users as part of a bug report.
  • Law Enforcement Compliance. We will not collect or disclose any information other than that described above to any government agency or law enforcement agency unless requested by a court in the jurisdiction in which we operate.
  • Offline use– The data protection declaration does not apply to offline use of the app.

10 alternatives to Audacity

The clarifications are pertinent and will (at least partially) defuse the controversy generated, but if they don’t convince you and you think the application in the hands of a commercial company like Muse Group no longer offers the same level of privacy, you should know that there are alternatives in audio editors. We’ll leave you some accounts, free and paid.

DarkAudacity

If you like Audacity, this is the best fork out there. (Sure others will come). The benefits of open source development allow this to be essentially the same application with some customization in the user interface, including dark mode, and a more sophisticated and transparent privacy policy. The main problem with DarkAudacity is that it hasn’t been updated in a long time and is only available for Windows. There are other forks like Cookie Engineer that are compatible and updated with macOS. Both for free.

Alternatives to Audacity

Ocenaudio

It supports a wide variety of audio formats, including high-resolution FLAC files, and because Audacity is a “destructive” application, you cannot undo your changes and need a saved version of the original. It has add-ons that allow you to apply noise reduction effects and is characterized by a very easy to use interface. Free, it’s available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Alternatives to Audacity

Wavosaur

Another free alternative to Audacity is this development, which is the ideal option if you work primarily with .mp3 and .wav audio files. It can handle multitrack audio files and offers the basics like splicing audio clips to create music loops or advanced features like batch file conversion. Wavosaur doesn’t have an installer so you can download and run the application. It also supports VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plugins, which is very convenient. Wavosaur is completely free but exclusive to Windows.

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Reaper

It is a multi-track audio editing and recording application that stands out for the fact that it can handle many third-party plugins. The application is relatively easy to use and works well with large audio projects with hundreds of tracks. TOIt supports a large number of audio formats, so you can import almost all major audio formats for editing and export these files to any format. Reaper has a 60-day free trial with no restrictions and a license price of $ 60. For Windows.

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Adobe Audition

It is one of the most popular among commercial audio editors and will be familiar to users of other Adobe tools like Photoshop or Premier as the tools and other interface elements follow a similar design language. Audition can be used for both recording and audio editing, but it shines when mixing multi-track music sessions or editing long podcasts with multiple guests. Audition is only available by subscription, but if you regularly edit audio files it can be worth a high price for the average consumer: $ 20.99 per month.

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TwistedWave

If you prefer not to install applications on your computer, you can use an audio editor that works through a web browser. You can drag and drop audio files into the browser to start editing, and even without an account, you can freely edit mono files up to five minutes in length. If you want all the features, the web version starts at $ 5 a month. It has other specific versions for Mac, iPhone / iPad.

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Hindenburg journalist

If you are intimidated by the technical details of audio editing, this is a good app as it has some automatic adjustments to adjust audio levels. Dedicated to podcasters, audio producers, or radio journalists, it’s available for Windows and Mac, has a free trial, and is priced at $ 95.

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fission

A single track editor, which is characterized by a beautifully designed interface, but is not suitable for editing multiple tracks. It doesn’t degrade audio files and is really easy to use. A free trial version and a license price of US $ 29 are available exclusively for macOS.

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Amadeus Pro

Excellent multitrack audio editor that will allow you to edit your files without compromising their quality. Perhaps the most outstanding feature is the batch processing function, which allows you to convert multiple audio files at once and even apply multiple sound effects at the same time. Another macOS exclusivity with a free trial and a license price of $ 60.

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Sound Forge audio studio 15

Another alternative to Audacity is a classic in this type of editor that improves the user interface and ease of use when recording, editing and exporting. It supports up to six channels, so you can edit 5.1 surround files, and has plenty of sound effects and a range of presets to help you quickly configure your edits. Audio Studio has a free trial and a one-time license fee of $ 60.

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Earlier versions of Audacity

The new data protection guidelines of the MUSE Group only come into effect from version 3.0.3. Earlier versions do not support any kind of data collection and have no network functionality. Audacity 3.0 is a great release, it has some new and improved features like the introduction of a new file format for saving projects, a new parser, new commands, and 160 bug fixes.

If you stick to the current version 3.0.2, available for Windows, macOS and Linux, free and open source, you will not be affected by the data protection changes.

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