From what I have read in this forum, if I try to use Audacity in OS Catalina it is 50/50 as to whether or not I will have problems. Am I correct? Thank you.
That mostly depends on how well you can follow instructions: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/audacity-2-3-3-under-macos-10-15-catalina/54279/1
Thank you. I followed the directions. Audacity opened but Terminal did not ask for the correct permissions.
If the Terminal already has the necessary permissions, it won’t ask again.
What happened? Did Audacity launch? If it did, then what happened when you tried to record?
I am unfamiliar with Terminal so perhaps I goofed but I pasted “open /Applications/Audacity.app/Contents/MacOS/Audacity” into Terminal and then hit enter and then Audacity v.2.3.3 opened. I do not use Record but I still would like to use Audacity for all its other functionality since I have been doing so for years. I started to edit an imported sound file and that is as far as I’ve gone.
That’s it 
That’s exactly what should happen.
If you try to record, then you may be prompted to give permission for the microphone.
As you don’t need to record, there is a more convenient option, but as Audacity 2.4.0 is scheduled for release near the beginning of March, I’d suggest that you just carry on as you are until 2.4.0 is available.
Thank you so much. I have figured out how to use Audacity well enough for my purposes so I am anxious to carry on under Catalina and will look out for the next version.
The first sound file I imported from my hard drive in AIFF format sounds distorted in Audacity. I imported it again in a new window and the result is the same. As a check, I played the same file in Music and it sounds fine. Do I need to wait for Audacity 2.4.0?
UPDATE: I am stubborn so I launched A. from Terminal again and imported the same file as yesterday and it sounded fine. I opened a new window and imported a different AIFF file and it too sounded fine so hopefully I just had a glitch.
OOPS: same problem is back- sound in A.is distorted but OK in Music.