Software Update: Audacity 1.3.9 Beta

On Tuesday, after a long time, a new version was released in the development branch of the open source audio editor Audacity. Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, the program can record sound, import and export wav, aiff, ogg and mp3 files and has unlimited undo function. In addition, Audacity has a large collection of effects on board, such as fade-in and fade-out, echo, tempo change and noise reduction. More effects can be added easily as the program supports both vst and ladspaplugins. The changelog of this release shows the following changes:

Bug fixed:

• Crash, slow launch or excessive CPU/memory use arising from automatic VST support:
  • VST instrument plug-ins should now be correctly ignored
  • VST effects now scanned only at start of first session that detects them, then cached
  • Effects are now not loaded or opened until needed
  • New “Effects” tab in Preferences to enable/disable VST effects and enable VST rescan on next launch
• Default View Mode now works
• Chains now always apply their stored parameters rather than those last used in Effect menu
• Non-MP3 files imported via drag or Recent Files caused crash if filter in file open window set to MP3
• AAC exports (using the optional FFmpeg library) silenced
• Generating audio always fitted the project in the window; fit now done only if generating in new track
• View menu items/shortcuts incorrectly disabled when playing or recording
• DTMF generator defaulted to zero duration on open
• Unwanted interactions between linked audio and label tracks
• (Windows XP) Failure to launch on some machines due to “incorrect configuration” issue
• (Windows) Crash importing a stereo file while a screen reader such as JAWS is running
• (Mac OS X) :
  • Audio Units effects applied to all tracks in project even if not selected
  • QuickTime importer now handles files greater than 16-bit or 64000 Hz
• Various other interface bugs

Improvements:

• Compressor: new option to compress based on peaks, improved attack and decay time support
• Mixer Board: improved design, more responsive meters and now interacts fully with Track Panel in main window

The following downloads are available:
Audacity 1.3.9 beta for Windows
Audacity 1.3.9 beta for Linux
Audacity 1.3.9 beta for Mac OS X