2 of 17

Write now Article Tools

The best free music editing software - what are your audio needs?

I would suggest trying several applications to see if they fulfill your personal or professional needs. Three of the best free audio editors are in my opinion: WavePad free, Wavosaur, and Audacity. I would suggest downloading them and trying them out.

Some of the most important factors in audio software include whether the application has VST plug in support or ASIO driver support. It might be important for your needs that it can support different formats such as .mp3 .wav or .aif file extensions.

It also needs to be compatible with your operating system, so always check this first and possibly there are other factors which are specific to an individual, often this can only be determined by trying out the software.

My personal preference is Audacity, and for the purposes of this article I will describing that software, although the other two are perfectly adequate and useful for different reasons that are beyond the scope of this essay.

It is completely free, and easily updated by downloading regular updates from the site. It will run on a wide range of operating systems. These include Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS9 and X, Linux, and Unix.

It does have most of the features that you would expect in an audio editing application. Audacity even includes support for plug ins that can enhance it's capabilities. You can get free plug ins for the programme for lots of places on the internet, but I would highly recommend searching for the Blue Cat VST and DirectX plug ins. These are also freeware and there is a complete range of plug ins on their website that are useful for the beginner and experienced sound editor alike. These plug ins will install and be available for use with Audacity quite easily, just by following the instructions in the installer.

I would highly recommend Audacity as a good application to learn on, before even considering a more expensive application like Adobe Audition, Sony Sound Forge or Steinberg Wave Lab. It is very similar to use and has most of the expected controls. It is very easy to set up too.

When you open up Audacity, first of all go to the preferences and make sure that the audio input source is set. If you are recording from a microphone, then make sure the microphone is set up. If you are recording from line in, then make sure that line in is set up. If you have opened a wave file, then make sure that stereo mix is selected.

On the quality tab,

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Best free music editing software?
We want to hear your view. Write now!