Everybody’s favorite open-source audio editor just gained some cool new features. The Audacity 3.5 update introduces cloud backups, device syncing, automatic loop tempo detection, and a mess of other improvements.

Audacity’s newfound cloud syncing capability relies on audio.com, a free SoundCloud-like platform for sharing, discovering, and collaborating on audio projects. It’s a pretty solid solution for backing up or syncing Audacity projects, particularly for users who own multiple PCs. However, you’ll need to link your audio.com account with each of your Audacity installations.

If you want to sync Audacity projects to a cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way—manually save the project files to your cloud storage platform of choice. Audacity’s built-in syncing functionality only supports the audio.com platform.

The 3.5 update also improves some of Audacity’s music production capabilities with a new non-destructive pitch shifting tool, automatic tempo detection for imported loops (through audio and metadata analysis), and a refined plugin manager with search functionality.

Audacity says that automatic tempo detection will work best when loops have their BPM listed in the file name (“drum-loop-120-bpm.wav,” for example), though audio analysis should detect the correct BPM when importing simple loops.

Note that some “niche features” were removed from Audacity in this release. The only notable removals are the “EQ XML to TXT Converter,” which can be downloaded as a plugin, and “Vocal Reduction and Isolation” effect. Audacity recommends using Intel OpenVINO plugins in place of the Reduction and Isolation effect, though you can download the original effect if you still need it for old projects.

For a full list of changes and bug fixes in Audacity 3.5, check the changelog. You can also view update notes and track development at GitHub. While Audacity isn’t known for rapid development, we’ve experienced more frequent updates since the open-source software was acquired by Muse Group. Muse Group also owns audio.com, by the way.

The Audacity 3.5 update supports Windows, macOS, and Linux installations. It also boasts improved compatibility with BSD operating systems. Audacity doesn’t support automatic updates, so you must install Audacity 3.5 manually.

Source: Audacity