Audacity Manual Contents

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Audacity 2.0.1 alpha development Manual

This online Manual is only for 2.0.1 alpha.

• It relates to the current 2.0.1 alpha development code.
• Use Help > Manual (in web browser) in Audacity 2.0.0 to access the installed Manual for that version.
• You can download and install the 2.0.0 Manual if the Manual is not installed.

This Manual does not relate to Audacity 1.2.5/1.2.6 or any previous 1.3 versions of Audacity.

• A few pages have translations to other languages. Click the country flags at the top of the page.
• Otherwise, click here for help in other languages.

• Translators are urgently required to translate this Manual to other languages. To get started on translating, please write to our feedback address for an account on this Wiki.

Using Audacity

Quick Where and How Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Getting Started - Recording, Importing, Editing, Exporting... Finding the correct effect including generators and analyzers More help - Search the Wiki , ask on the Forum Understanding Audacity Foundations Digital Audio What is an Audacity Project? Audacity Setup and Configuration Playing and Recording Audio Tracks The Waveform Display Editing Selecting Audio Clips - separate audio regions within a track Splitting and Joining Stereo Tracks Sync-Lock Tracks Zooming Undo, Redo and History Mixing Audio Tracks Tutorials Editing an Audio File - Import the file, edit and export it Your First Recording - Connect and record microphone or guitar Mixing Voice with Background Music - For podcasts Recording Multi-track Overdubs - more complex recording Copying tapes, LPs and other media to CD or computer Recording streaming audio playing on the computer Vocal Removal and Isolation Making Ringtones - for your cellphone Example Workflows - Some sample workflows Help with Advanced Topics Accessibility (Audacity for the visually impaired) Audio CDs Batch Processing Crash Recovery Customization Latency when recording Recording Quality Scripting Simplifying Audacity

Reference

The Project Window Hover your mouse over a window element to see its name Click to read the documentation

Some further details such as importing and exporting.

Preferences The Preferences dialog is split into sixteen sections: Section What it controls Devices Choose audio host, playback and recording devices and recording channels. Playback Length of previews for cuts and effects; playback seek times. Recording Settings for playthrough, latency and Sound Activated Recording. Quality Choose sample rate, sample format and options for rate and format conversion. Interface Interface behaviors, dB display range, choose language and location of Manual, show initial "Help" dialog. Tracks Tracks display and behavior; behavior of the Solo button. Import / Export Importing: if audio is copied into projects, if tracks are normalized. Exporting: how audio is mixed, if Metadata Editor appears, Allegro exports. Extended Import Specify different importers to open specific audio file extensions. Projects Whether to copy in dependent audio files when saving projects, or ask. Libraries Download and locate the optional LAME and FFmpeg libraries. Spectrograms Settings for presentation of spectrograms. Directories Location of the temporary files directory, play and/or record using RAM (useful for slow drives). Warnings Warn or not when disk space is low on startup, when saving projects, mixing down or importing uncompressed audio files. Effects Enable or disable effects by type: LADSPA, Nyquist, VAMP, Audio Units, VST. Control display of Audio Units and VST effects. Keyboard Keyboard shortcuts for commands. Mouse Mouse shortcuts for commands. </imagemap>

Some further details such as where prefs are stored and how to reset them.

Index, Glossary and More

Index Glossary of Terms - digital audio terms and file formats Credits

Audacity License Information for Developers - join our developer community Information for the Media - Audacity and free, open software