Why is the current version so unstable and slow compared to old versions?

Hi,
I am a musician and YouTuber. I use Audacity mainly for working with the commentary / voice tracks of my videos. I use Audacity since ages.
Until recently I used Version 3.0.5 for years and it worked like a charm. Reliable, fast, and it simply did what I expected it to do . Then I had the bad idea to get the latest version. A VERY bad idea → never change a running system, right? :wink:
First I was impressed by the new modern user interface. Then the troubles started:

  1. Effects, like the compressor did stuff, I can’t really describe, but the results were not what I expected.
  2. Everything was painfully slow (Windows 10) and that cleanup of the Undo/Redo History took seemingly forever.
  3. Often, like for example after importing my audio tracks from a FFMPEG file, the application froze and had to be killed in the task manager.
    So now I de-installed the new version and reverted back to the old version. Now everything works again, as I like it.

My question is: WHY? Why does a new version “work” a lot worse than an ancient version? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way?
Greetings from Hamburg
Sonny

Not in the middle of a show, no. And even then, let the update mellow for a while and check other user comments before you jump.

Then there are fuzzy rules. Never update to version X. X. 0. That’s the version the developers shove out to get real world experiences, cries of pain, and complaints. Maybe x. x. 1. That’s the version they got many but not all of the problems licked—given that any changes can cause other problems.

X. X. 2 maybe the first version suitable for regular production, but still check the user comments before you leap.

Audacity 3.6.2 seems to work OK for me.

You can change updates, you don’t have to go to the latest one. There are tricks to it, but they’re here.

Different systems allow you to flush the system of all the old settings and preferences so you can really start over. Audacity hangs on to settings so you don’t have to spend forever customizing an update. Sometimes retaining settings doesn’t work so well backwards.

Koz