in this video i discuss the pros and the cons of using audacity
hi everyone my name is Joe and welcome to Ubitronics on this channel i show you how to use
open source software today i'm looking at the open source software called audacity and talking about
its pros and its cons so without further ado let's start with the positives number one it's free
and open source this is probably the most obvious but also the most attractive reason
for many people to use audacity it doesn't cost a penny to download and start using and has a large
community backing it which means you can always get help with your questions on the forums number
two widely available regardless of the operating system you are using unless it's something really
obscure audacity is available for you to use on your computer it's available on windows mac and
linux which covers almost everybody's computer or laptop number three no limitation on recording
some free platforms limit you to the time you can record and audacity does not do that so you
can effectively record for hours without stopping it's worth mentioning however audacity will cut
out after around the 13 hour mark it depends on the quality of the recording you're using
and this limitation is actually to do with the file size and the capacity on a 64-bit machine
rather than audacity actually limiting you number four no limitations on editing
again free platforms can sometimes limit the amount of editing you can do or they might limit
the size of a finished export file audacity does not limit its users in any way that i can see at
least you are free to use and export as much as you like just bear in mind the file size
required to do long edits number five stereo recording audacity has the capability to pick
up stereo recording whereas many other programs pick up microphones and other recording devices
in mono as you come to learn more about audio editing you'll begin to understand just how
powerful this can be number six simple interface i don't think anyone can argue about how simple the
interface is on audacity there are lots of buttons in the menus but they are grouped appropriately
and when you know what they are and what they do it all makes perfect sense the focus is heavily
on the editing window itself which when you load it up is empty and makes it look and feel
completely unintimidating to first time users it just has a few icons around the edges and nothing
in the centre of the screen number seven basic operations are simple you can start using audacity
very quickly i only really use the basic tools regularly and that creates my clients podcast for
them the workflows and by this i mean the buttons you have to click and the instructions you have to
follow to complete a given task are very simple and easy to follow it wouldn't take you long
to get up and running with your own podcast using just audacity to both record
and edit number eight fast loading audacity uses very little computer resources
so even a low end computer you should be able to use the programming at relatively good speed and
for those that have slightly better computers i'd be surprised if you experience any issues with the
performance of audacity at all number nine low storage my final words on the pros of audacity
are the storage requirements firstly the program itself is small it shouldn't cause any hard drive
capacity concerns and secondly the audio project files are condensed to be as small as possible
the only thing that will take up significant space on your computer is the exported the finished file
of your audio and compared to video audio files are actually tiny so again i wouldn't think this
would cause any immediate concerns for you and your hard drive okay so they were my pros the
reasons why i think audacity is worth using and the best parts of the program now let's turn our
focus to the cons the thing's audacity is lacking or doesn't do very well in my opinion number
one bugs what i mean by this is the software does not always operate in the way it should
and that is because a bug exists in the software whilst these usually get patched quickly with
every new release new versions can surface new bugs and give unexpected results
these are few and far between but something to be aware of and is somewhat expected
as it is a community driven open source software number two mixing capabilities audacity does have
mixing tools but they are not the best if you're a dj wanting to mix decks and create radio style
presentations audacity will struggle i'd suggest mixing tools such as radio dj which is available
for free if this is what you want to do then definitely use a different software number three
device app audacity is not available as an android or ios app which in today's world where people use
their mobile phones and tablets more than their computers feels like they're lagging behind a bit
however there are good alternatives available on both android and ios so if you only use your
device to edit and upload content then they are available for you number four plugins this is a
pro and a con really the ability to add plugins means audacity is very versatile however plugins
are made by so many different people you never quite know what to expect you have to try it out
to really understand what the plugin is going to do the basic audacity package is limited and
does require plugins to enhance its capabilities and i found a few plugins and not compatible with
one another so that's something else just to watch out for when you are installing different plugins
number five presets audacity lacks presets within its settings whilst the program is
configurable you'll have to create template files to remember the settings rather than setting up
presets it's not a huge issue but does add time required to set up your project
and start your audio editing number six it's not intuitive for new users when i first
started using audacity i felt lost and i just couldn't jump in and start using the software
without some kind of guidance now the ui is simple which i put in the pros but its intuitiveness is
not the learning curve is small but with audacity i think most people will need some kind of guide
to help them get started luckily there are some really good tutorials out there that will help
you with that audacity's website hosts some of the best tutorials along with of course my own youtube
channel and videos and i'll leave a link in the description below for both of those resources
number seven a dated ui audacity doesn't feel very special when you open it up it lacks any kind of
wow factor i don't load it up and think new and exciting i load it up and think functional
now to me the most important part is the functionality meaning it's easy to use and does
exactly what you expect which it does perfectly the fact that the ui is not the prettiest doesn't
really bother me but i still go back to thinking that it would be more fun to edit on a fresh ui
that was tailored to a user's experience rather than a functional importance number eight direct
support the whole nature of open source software means the community is encouraged to help one
another audacity has done this very well within the forums however there is no direct support
thus making it unattractive to larger businesses that require more dedicated support offerings so
they were my nine pros and eight cons of audacity i hope it helps you consider options when you're
picking an audio editing program if you would like more information on how to use audacity
then my how how to tutorial playlist will really help you i'll link it in the description below
otherwise good luck with your content and i'll see you in the next video
you