Destructive vs nondestructive discussion

Feedback and Discussion Forum
1

Here is another bit of user feedback which I hope you will find helpful:

There are 4 basic editing operations:

  1. Cut
  2. Copy
  3. Paste
  4. Delete

An editor that does not fully support these 4 basic editing functions is not fit for purpose and no use to me.

Trim doesn't work since the 3.7.1 update
2

Why do you need things to be deleted destructively?

3
  1. When working with long tracks, destructive trimming removes unnecessary portions permanently, reducing the saved project size.
  2. Large projects with many large audio clips can strain system resources. Trimming excess audio, can improve processing efficiency.
  3. Destructive trimming ensures that unwanted sections cannot be accidentally restored.
  4. When making loops, precise trimming is essential, and destructive trimming ensures that the loop is not accidentally extended.
  5. In collaborative projects I may need to delete sensitive information from a track.
  6. If I have no need to retain a section of audio, keeping it in the project is unnecessary clutter.

I already have two excellent DAW applications, both of which are much better DAWs than Audacity, so I don’t need another one. I only have one audio editor, and it is rather old (a customised Audacity 2.4.2 with updated Nyquist). Perhaps you could suggest a modern audio editor for Linux to replace it.

4

So, what you need is reduced project size, and a way to get rid of hidden data permanently. I don’t see a reason against having this, in a similar vein to the existing mix and render actions.

5

Why do you keep mentioning “Mix and Render”? An audio editor should be able to delete audio without requiring mixing down the track.

6

Jumping into this thread instead of opening a new one: I have a very similar issue: I am editing a large, somewhat repetitive project, with some sections repeating over and over. I have already taken the repetitive sections out of the file so they can be copied in without extending the file size too much. However, every few minutes of audio, the file becomes so slow that it is virtually impossible to continue.

Mixing and rendering is not the solution to this problem. See below screenshots as an example:

  1. with lots of editing

Screenshot 2026-05-01 221659

  1. after mix & render

Screenshot 2026-05-01 221718

  1. after file closed

Screenshot 2026-05-01 221753

The file size is not reduced but increased by mix&render - I assume this is because the action does not remove the editing history up to that point, but saves the mix&render as an additional step in a long chain. What I actually need to do is mix and render, close the file, then reopen the file - else it does not become functional again. This is not a productive way of working.

A manual way of either switching off non-destrictive editing when it is not desired, or purging the edit history and ‘removed’ audio, would be an ideal solution.