# Former FREE included effects are missing - AND, surely, you know which ones I'm talking about **URL:** \ **Category:** Feedback and Discussion Forum\ **Tags:** recording, effects\ **Created:** [September 6, 2026, 12:40pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/former-free-included-effects-are-missing-and-surely-you-know-which-ones-im-talking-about/153932 "2026-09-06T12:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![townee](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@townee](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/townee)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 12:40pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/former-free-included-effects-are-missing-and-surely-you-know-which-ones-im-talking-about/153932/1 "2026-09-06T12:40:50Z")
WHY??? just WHY. I do appreciate a number of improvements to functionality (spikes micro-level zoom adjustments to the waveform, and easy shuffling of sections, as two examples); BUT … removal of mods like Distortion, Phaser, Wah, and Echo, etc … when I rely on these in post is unforgiveable. I DO NOT want to have to search for them and download each as a bonus stand-alone add-on plug-in package to then integrate these somehow after agreeing to god knows what terms from some 3rd party data harvester partner/provider (or worse, be on the hook and pay for what used to be basic in 3.0)! I have done away with 4.0 immediately after installing it. so … UNTIL you stop chipping away from the foundation AND just build a better approachable common man’s DAW, count me out. Disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![romontschun](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/90ced4/32.png) [@romontschun](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/romontschun)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/former-free-included-effects-are-missing-and-surely-you-know-which-ones-im-talking-about/153932/2 "2026-09-06T13:02:55Z")
Who do you address with tehe “you” in your post? This is a forum where users of Audacity (try to) help other users. It is not a direct contact to the authors of the software. So please abstain fom accusing us of things we cannot change. As far as I know, Audacity 4 should be out of the “beta” stadium now - but this does not mean that it is perfect, and some features may still be missing and - if we are lucky - introduced later. I installed Audacity 4 on my (Intel-based) Mac using macOS 14.8.9 “Sonoma”, selected the appearance and behaviour of the program and after clicking the last “OK” button, the program quit unexpectedly. So this was it with Audacity 4 for me at the moment… Audacity 3.6.4 works perfectly so far. ---
**Author:** ![Trebor](https://forum.audacityteam.org/user_avatar/forum.audacityteam.org/trebor/32/45854_2.png) [@Trebor](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/Trebor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 1:17pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/former-free-included-effects-are-missing-and-surely-you-know-which-ones-im-talking-about/153932/3 "2026-09-06T13:17:54Z")
> [@townee](#): > > … removal of mods like Distortion, Phaser, Wah, and Echo, etc … They’re not being held ho$tage … [[AU4] Effects - Remove wxWidgets dependency from AU3 effects · Issue #7089 · audacity/audacity · GitHub](https://github.com/audacity/audacity/issues/7089) ---
**Author:** ![townee](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@townee](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/townee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2026, 5:23am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/former-free-included-effects-are-missing-and-surely-you-know-which-ones-im-talking-about/153932/4 "2026-11-10T05:23:01Z")
This kind of says it all though … #### **P2 (LESS COMMON effect and/or special UI)** - Auto Duck #### **P3 (NICHE and LEGACY effects)** - PAUL STRETCH