Audacity crashes constantly on Catalina 10.5.7

[maggiepashley]

Hi I’ve been using Audacity happily for some time now but it has suddenly started crashing. When I reopen it offers to recover the project but always finds errors and the work that I’ve done isn’t saved. When I listen to the file it sounds ok but when I export to mp3 it is garbled. I made sure I had the latest version of Audacity and also the latest version of MaciOS (but realise the latter could be the problem)
Does Audacity support 10.5.7. I read it supported 10.5. If it doesn’t is there any way I can go back to an older iOS version do you know? Thanks Maggie

[billw58]

I’m using Audacity 2.4.2 on macOS 10.15.7 with no problem.

Please try this. Create a new project. Go the the Generate menu and select Chirp. Accept the defaults. Play the project. Does it play OK?

– Bill

[One13Truck]

Same problem for me. This version of 2.4.2 is an absolute mess. I was still using 2.0.5 until I updated to Catalina. I wish I could still use the 2.0.5. Never had issues with that version but 2.4.2 doesn’t work at all.

[jademan]

is there any way I can go back to an older iOS version do you know?

I don’t know my way around macOS, but recent old versions of Audacity are available from OldFoss: Audacity download latest version. See the link OLDER VERSIONS on that page. If I understand correctly, 2.4.1 is the oldest version of Audacity that will work on Catalina.

If that doesn’t help, I imagine you could also google: how to revert back to mojave from catalina

Before you take any of the above steps, you might check out these forum posts:

Crashes Constantly (on Catalina)

I’m operating on MacOS Catalina, and I’ve been using Audacity 2.3.3 for several months without issue. Then, just yesterday, it starts crashing after every few minutes of use. I looked and saw that there was a new version available, so I updated to 2.4.2. I’m still having the same issue. Nothing has changed about the audio input or editing in my process.

Constant crashing - wits end!

I’ve used Audacity on Macs for many years, but now with Catalina I simply cannot get it to stay stable. Every edit crashes within minutes and while I can successfully restore, it’s just taking up too much of my time. As a 30-year professional broadcaster and audio person - I think I know my tools. For most of my work (interviews, simple multitrack, etc) Audacity has been the perfect tool. I love you, Audacity, but this is no good. iMac 2017 OS Catalina Audacity 2.4.2

Audacity crashes when I add an extra track

Screenshot 1- the wav of the song (I don’t use) #2- the mp3 (which I do drag into audacity) #3- the mp3 of the interview (because I deleted the data folder so I can’t open the .aup anymore, tg I saved it as an mp3 first) #4- the actual project where I combine everything and try to add additional audio tracks to [project.png] [interview as mp3.png] [song as mp3.png] [song as wav.png]

[One13Truck]

I actually just came back to say I downgraded to 2.4.1 and it seems a lot better. No stuttering or delays in the editing and highlighting or playing and stopping of the audio like 2.4.2 has. And it only crashed once in the hour I was using it as opposed to the 6 crashes 2.4.2 had the hour before I downgraded. Seems at least initially that 2.4.1 is much better than the 2.4.2.

I wish I could’ve stuck with the 2.0.5 I was using before I updated to Catalina.

[waxcylinder]

Same problem for me. This version of 2.4.2 is an absolute mess. I was still using 2.0.5 until I updated to Catalina. I wish I could still use the 2.0.5. Never had issues with that version but 2.4.2 doesn’t work at all.

2.4.2 worked fine on on Macbook Pro with 10.15.7 Catalina - as did the latest alpha test build I have for the upcoming 3.0.0 release.

And last week I upgraded to Big Sur macOS 11.0.1 and both still work fine there

WC

[waxcylinder]

I wish I could’ve stuck with the 2.0.5 I was using before I updated to Catalina.

For that you have to blame Apple and not us - as it was them that prevented 32-bit apps from running on Catalina (or Big Sur and onwards).

It also annoyingly means I can no longer do Mac QA regression testing back further than Audacity 2.3.1

WC

[maggiepashley]

I’m using Audacity 2.4.2 on macOS 10.15.7 with no problem.

Please try this. Create a new project. Go the the Generate menu and select Chirp. Accept the defaults. Play the project. Does it play OK?

– Bill

Bill I tried that and the chirp was fine. I think what happens is that I get a file work on it, add some music, and after I’ve done about 4 things it crashes. I never get as far as exporting it. After the first crash the following ones are more frequent. I have started using an old Windows machine instead. Maggie