Difference between revisions of "AudacityComparisons"

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* [[GarageBand]]  for Mac - I'm considering switching to GB from Audacity, but haven't used GB yet, so not sure atm.  anyone have any comments?
 
* [[GarageBand]]  for Mac - I'm considering switching to GB from Audacity, but haven't used GB yet, so not sure atm.  anyone have any comments?
 
** You will experience some nagging inabilities, but it is a good deal more efficient for the creative process. Limitations: No Rate-Changes (alway 44.1kHz), only about 1h of recording _possible_ (stumbled into this when trying to record a longer session *grmpf*), uses quite much CPU and when you have other tasks running it often stops recording (with errors like "disk too slow" or "too many tracks"), where Audacity goes on recording. But except from these it is really worth the price, especially because of the real-time effects and presets (like echo and reverb and some more presets for "live"-sounding voice, rock-guitar, etc.). But you won't be able to ever go on from the Mac to other Systems, if you want to stick to GB for a longer time. - [[ArneBab]]  ( http://draketo.de )
 
** You will experience some nagging inabilities, but it is a good deal more efficient for the creative process. Limitations: No Rate-Changes (alway 44.1kHz), only about 1h of recording _possible_ (stumbled into this when trying to record a longer session *grmpf*), uses quite much CPU and when you have other tasks running it often stops recording (with errors like "disk too slow" or "too many tracks"), where Audacity goes on recording. But except from these it is really worth the price, especially because of the real-time effects and presets (like echo and reverb and some more presets for "live"-sounding voice, rock-guitar, etc.). But you won't be able to ever go on from the Mac to other Systems, if you want to stick to GB for a longer time. - [[ArneBab]]  ( http://draketo.de )
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** Garage Band exports 16bit 44.1khz <em>AIFF</em> (.aif) audio, aiff is the standard audio format for Macs (essentially the same as <em>Wave</em> (.wav) files in Windows), so while your Garage Band <em>project</em> files will only work with a Mac you can easily import aif files to any decent Windows or Linux based audio software.

Revision as of 11:30, 9 December 2006

Other audio editing programs and how Audacity compares.

See also OtherPrograms and http://audacity.sourceforge.net/links.php.

  • Adobe Audition $299 USD
    http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html
    OS: Windows 98, 2000, XP
    Comments: Similar capabilities to Audacity with these also available:
    Batch processing, Truncate Silence, Click Removal.
    Audition is Adobe's renamed version of the famous "CoolEdit" program which they bought from Syntrillium in 2004. (?)
  • Cubase SX (Steinberg) $799.99 USD
    http://cubase.com/
    OS: MacOS X; Windows 2000, XP
    Comments: Steinberg's music sequencing program.
Logic Express (eMagic) $299.00 USD 
 http://www.emagic.de/ 
 OS:  MacOS  X, 9 
 Comments:  Limited to 12 input channels.  Uses a USB dongle.
  • Nuendo (Steinberg) $1499.99
    http://www.steinberg.net/
    OS: MacOS X; Windows 2000, XP
    Comments: Steinberg's multi-track recording program. Audacity has all the basic functions of Nuendo.
  • ProTools (Digidesign) ?
    http://digidesign.com/
    OS: Windows 2000/XP; Mac OS 9.x/X
    Comments: The de facto standard of the pro audio industry for tracking and mixing. Higher-priced versions require additional hardware, except ProTools LE. Cumbersome at times, but the basic functions of Audacity closely emulate those of ProTools .

Comments from another user: I think the last statement misrepresents the situation. Pro Tools is a high level professional audio production environment with many features well beyond those offered by Audacity. On a very basic level, region/clip based editing is possible in Pro Tools and not in Audacity. Pro Tools (along with the other major sequencers/editors) also offers real time effects processing with automation, cross fade editing and so on... Pro Tools Free (which due to its price is a more relevant example for this Wiki page) is quite a lot more advanced than Audacity at this point, but unfortunately it has not been updated to work under modern operating systems (XP, OSX).

Comments from a third user: Comparing Audacity to Pro-Tools is not a fair fight, it's like comparing Notepad (or TextEdit) to Microsoft Word. Pro-Tools can do everything that Audacity does, it does it better, and does a whole lot more, but it costs a lot more money and it is more than most users will need.


  • Rezound (?) GPL
    http://rezound.sourceforge.net/
    OS: Primarily Linux, but eventually hoped for others.
    Comments: No multitrack ability. More of a wave editor than multitrack recording/editing solution. Better for wave editing than Audacity.
  • SoundForge 7.0 (Sony) ?
    http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/
    OS: Windows 2000/XP
    Comments: Multi-track recording and editing program originally owned by Sonic Foundry. Super-easy editing platform with lots of built-in effects and processing.
  • Wavelab (Steinberg) $699.00
    http://www.steinberg.net/
    OS: Windows 2000/XP
    Comments: Steinberg's audio editing and CD mastering platform. Although Audacity provides no CD mastering (i.e., track marks) or burning capability, it provides true non-destructive editing just like Wavelab's AudioMontage , where all the assembly takes place. Just click-and-drag a waveform, and move it wherever you want! True VST support.

--

NOTE: I added this page, but I don't know how it compares, so I can't answer! I hope others might take a stab.

  • GarageBand for Mac - I'm considering switching to GB from Audacity, but haven't used GB yet, so not sure atm. anyone have any comments?
    • You will experience some nagging inabilities, but it is a good deal more efficient for the creative process. Limitations: No Rate-Changes (alway 44.1kHz), only about 1h of recording _possible_ (stumbled into this when trying to record a longer session *grmpf*), uses quite much CPU and when you have other tasks running it often stops recording (with errors like "disk too slow" or "too many tracks"), where Audacity goes on recording. But except from these it is really worth the price, especially because of the real-time effects and presets (like echo and reverb and some more presets for "live"-sounding voice, rock-guitar, etc.). But you won't be able to ever go on from the Mac to other Systems, if you want to stick to GB for a longer time. - ArneBab ( http://draketo.de )


    • Garage Band exports 16bit 44.1khz AIFF (.aif) audio, aiff is the standard audio format for Macs (essentially the same as Wave (.wav) files in Windows), so while your Garage Band project files will only work with a Mac you can easily import aif files to any decent Windows or Linux based audio software.
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