Audacity 3.5 adds cloud project saving for collaboration, backup and file versioning
Muse Group has released a major new version of its free, open-source audio editor for Windows, macOS and Linux. Audacity 3.5 adds cloud project saving support, plus adds automatic tempo detection, pitch shifting and more.
The headline new feature in Audacity 3.5 is a new cloud-saving feature, which works in tandem with Muse Group’s free audio hosting platform at audio.com. Users simply select 'File > Save to Cloud…' to save the current project. On first use, they will be prompted to link Audacity to a free audio.com account -- which can be created during the linking process.
Once done, users can save tracks directly to the cloud. Simply give the project a suitable name and click Save. From this point on, all changes are seamlessly saved online as users work. Users can then access the files online, from where they can roll back to an earlier version, invite other users to view or edit, and even make the clip public.
Version 3.5 also adds automatic tempo detection -- switched on by default -- which allows Audacity to detect the tempo of any imported loops before automatically adjusting them to be in tempo with each other.
Users can also experiment with pitch-shifting thanks to a new non-destructive feature -- simply hold Alt and press the up or arrow keys to adjust the pitch as required or click the newly added overflow (…) menu to adjust more quickly via the 'Pitch and speed…' option.
Audacity’s labels feature, whereby users can annotate parts of a project for easy identification, also adds support for SubRip (import and export) and WebVTT (export only) formats.
Numerous changes have also been implemented. The most notable of these is a reworked plugin manager, which has been simplified and made filterable. It also comes with a newly added search box.
Several 'niche' features have also been removed for streamlining purposes -- these include printing options, the screenshot tool and the Karaoke view. Full details of these and all other changes can be found in the program’s change logs.
Audacity 3.5.0 is an open-source free download for Windows, Mac and Linux. Also available for Windows users is Audacity Portable 3.5.0, which requires no installation.