New features in this release

Editors BEWARE - this page has a DISPLAYTITLE

This page is an overview of prominent new functionality that has been introduced in Audacity 2.4.0

• Details of all the major changes since 2.3.3 can be found in Audacity Release Notes 2.4.0.

Edgar 16Jan20 : since the word "key" has such dominant usage in both music and computering I would propose: "of the key new" -> "of prominent new " (also note removal of the word "the").

• Peter 06Feb20: Done - good suggestion Ed.

Contents

1. Hitting the big Time
2. Multi-view
3. Spectrograms now show Clip Boundaries
4. Selecting Waveform dB
5. Scrubbing using the keyboard
6. New effects
   • Loudness Normalization
   • Noise Gate
7. Bug Fixes

Hitting the big Time

For this release we have removed the audio time position from the Selection Toolbar and created a new toolbar, the Time Toolbar. It is a read-only toolbar which displays the current audio position.

When Playing or recording it dynamically shows the current playhead or recordhead position.

When Audacity is not Playing or Recording this will be either the current cursor position or the beginning of the current selection if present.

Time Toolbar showing the current payback position of 44 seconds

The new Time Toolbar provides a larger display, easily readable at a glance, for the current audio position. It comes as a double-height toolbar, but the default display is roughly 1.5x previous size. You can resize to full double height , shrink it smaller or just remove the toolbar if you don't need it. It can be redocked in various positions in either tooldock and can be floated if you wish

As this Toolbar is read-only you cannot use it to reset the audio position, to do that you need to use the Selection Toolbar.

Multi-view

This is an advanced feature for expert users enabling Spectrogram and Waveform displays of the same audio shown simultaneously in the same track.

Spectrograms and Waveforms have different strengths and weaknesses:

• Waveforms show you overall loudness best. You might see the danger of imminent clipping. Precision in cutting and splicing is also best performed in Waveform view.
• Spectrograms show you frequencies. In vocals, for example, you can see how vowel sounds change over time. The onset of new sounds, when another sound is playing, often shows up more clearly in Spectrograms.

Choose and use whichever one gives you the best information for the task in hand.

Example of a stereo audio track with a Multi-view split 50:50 Waveform/Spectrogram

To get a split Multi-view for a track select Multi-view from the track's Track Control Panel dropdown menu.

See Multi-view for more details.

Spectrograms now show Clip Boundaries

Spectrogram views have changed, they now show Clip Boundaries, the dark vertical lines in the image below.

Formerly these clip boundaries were only shown on Waveform views.

This change also affects the new Multi-view display.

Selecting Waveform dB

This used to be accomplished with the TCP dropdown menu, it's now in the Waveform Vertical Scale context menu.

Edgar 16Jan20 : I realize that the comma in "menu, it's" should really be a semi-colon but Connie says semi-colons are a no-no.

A right-click in the Vertical Scale will bring up a dropdown context menu enabling swapping between Linear Waveform (default) and Waveform dB views.

See this page for details.

Scrubbing using the keyboard

Two new shortcut commands have been added to facilitate scrubbing from the keyboard.

Edgar 16Jan20 : the "majestic plural" "we" is inappropriate in technical writing.

These are:

• I: Scrub Forwards
• U: Scrub Backwards

they are part of the Standard default set of keyboard shortcuts.

After pressing one of these scrubbing keys playback continues until the key is released. Playback starts from the cursor position or the start of a time selection if there is one. Scrubbing is not limited by any selection that may be present.

If one of the keyboard scrubbing keys is being held down, and the other keyboard scrubbing key is pressed scrubbing immediately changes direction, and does not stop when the original key is released.

The speed of playback is determined by the zoom level. If the zoom level is normal playback speed is one half of the normal playback speed. Zooming in (Ctrl + 1) halves the playback speed, zooming out (Ctrl + 3) doubles the playback speed. There are minimum and maximum playback speeds of one sixteenth and 3x, respectively.

If you want to use keyboard scrubbing at normal speed, just press Ctrl + 2 to return to normal zoom level followed by Ctrl + 3 to zoom out one level.

See Scrubbing using the keyboard for further details.

New effects

Loudness Normalization

A new effect, "Loudness Normalization", has been added. As its name suggests, it normalizes for loudness. Use Loudness Normalization to change the level of the audio (normally reduce it to recommended limits). It is based on EBU R 128 recommendations on limiting the loudness of audio signals (see Perceived Loudness for the technical details).

Why use Loudness Normalization rather than Normalize or Amplify? Using Loudness Normalization rather than Normalize or Amplify helps you more easily set the required LUFS loudness target when normalizing. When preparing audio for television or radio programs, podcasts and some websites you may be subject to loudness restrictions on the audio. Loudness is usually measure in LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale). The LUFS level restrictions can vary by application. For example, the level for television in the US is normally -24 LUFS, the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) recommends -23 LUFS. Out of all the standards this one is the most serious in that a television network can get its broadcast license revoked for a violation. Send in a program with a higher level, and it will be returned for a revision. Edgar 16Jan20 : I don't like that last sentence grammatically and I find it redundant to the topic. Another use case is creating an equally loud playlist from different sources.

For more details please see Loudness Normalization.

Noise Gate

Another new effect has been added, "Noise Gate", which can be used to reduce the level of sound below a specified threshold level.

A noise gate is a kind of "dynamics processor" that allows audio above a specified threshold level to pass through unaffected (gate "open"), and stops or reduces sounds below the threshold level (gate "closed").

Noise Gates may be used to cut the level of residual noise between sections of a recording. While this is essentially a very simple effect, this Noise Gate has a number of features and settings that allow it to be both effective and unobtrusive and well suited to most types of audio.

Edgar 16Jan20 : I find that last sentence wordy, may be: "This Noise Gate has a number of settings that allow it to be effective, unobtrusive and well suited to most types of audio."

For further details please see: Noise Gate

Bug Fixes

There will be some ...

==Additional new features== This page New features in 2.4.0 - appendix gives an overview of further new functionality that has been introduced in this release of Audacity.

Links

> Audacity Release Notes 2.4.0 - detailed release notes for this release of Audacity