Audacity 4.0

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Audacity 4.0, the major new release of the long‑standing open source audio editor, is drawing praise for its modern Qt6-based interface, improved editing workflow, and smaller binaries compared to today’s often-bloated desktop apps. Commenters highlight meaningful UX gains—closer to a lightweight DAW—while also flagging trade‑offs such as temporarily removed features (e.g. some plugin hosts, MIDI, macros), ongoing concerns about telemetry and cloud/audio.com integration under Muse Group’s ownership, and technical pain points on Linux audio stacks. Some users welcome the evolution and investment from a funded team; others prefer forks like Tenacity or miss Audacity’s old role as a simple, purely local waveform editor.

New UI & UX

  • Strong positive reaction to the Qt6-based redesign: described as modern, “delicious”, more usable, and finally comparable to mainstream DAWs/video editors.
  • Release video praised as concise and a good overview; homepage and scroll-animated landing page also well received.
  • Some users dislike the new aesthetic, missing the “native-feeling”, minimal, “just-an-editor” vibe and comparing the new look to generic DAWs.
  • Debate over whether the design feels cohesive vs. “committee-designed”; others argue the changes show real UX craft and long-term planning.

Features & Regressions in 4.0

  • New editing workflow (clip headers, drag-to-move/trim, time-stretching) greatly improves usability for many.
  • 4.0 drops or postpones several 3.x features: time tracks, MIDI/note tracks, mixer, macro manager & scripting pipe, VAMP and LADSPA v1 plugins, play-at-speed, sync-lock, some analyzers/export options.
  • Concern about losing LADSPA support; clarified that LADSPA v1 is gone but LV2 is supported.
  • Complaints persist about large project file sizes; 4.0 does not appear to fix this.

Performance, Footprint & Tech Stack

  • App size seen as refreshingly small compared to Electron-era bloat; some note size reductions versus 3.x, especially on macOS and ARM.
  • Discussion around wxWidgets vs Qt: some lament loss of native widgets and fear Qt/GL bugs and licensing issues; others say wx never felt native anyway and that Qt/CMake is easier to maintain.

Telemetry, Cloud & Business Model

  • On first run, users see prompts for cloud login and telemetry; both can be skipped/disabled, but presence of telemetry still bothers some.
  • Acquisition by Muse Group and earlier telemetry backlash recalled; opinions split between “they listened and improved things” and “enshittification in progress.”
  • Speculation and curiosity about how a sizable team is funded and whether cloud services/plugins drive revenue; details remain unclear.

Relation to DAWs and Alternatives

  • Repeated reminder: Audacity is an editor, not a full DAW, though 4.0’s UX looks more DAW-like.
  • Reaper widely praised for efficiency, stability, and flexible plugins; some users migrate to it for serious work but still keep Audacity for quick tasks.
  • Other tools mentioned: OpenShot, Kdenlive, Cubase, Tenacity, Audiomass.

Linux & Audio Engine Concerns

  • Significant criticism of Audacity’s JACK/PipeWire behavior: non-persistent JACK client, forced autoconnect, generic name, changing port names, making routing fragile.
  • Some feel priorities were misplaced: massive UI overhaul while core audio engine issues (especially on Linux) remain unresolved; maintainers say engine work is on the roadmap post-refactor.

Forks and “Old Audacity”

  • Tenacity highlighted as the main active fork: keeps pre-telemetry, old-style editor behavior; appealing to users who want a simple destructive editor without cloud/telemetry.
  • Tenacity lags far behind in commit count but is viewed as “feature complete enough” for basic sample editing.

Overall Sentiment

  • Many longtime users are pleasantly surprised and impressed with 4.0’s polish and direction.
  • A substantial minority distrust the telemetry/cloud integration, dislike the non-native Qt look, or mourn the shift away from “small, simple offline editor” toward a DAW-like, cloud-connected product.