You ruined this software [CLOSED]

Feedback and Discussion Forum Audacity 3.x Feedback and Reviews
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Hi Peter
I think the problem is that sometimes we are stuck thinking there is only 1 solution, and that is often not the case, with Audacity, it has grown into a monster, and it is out of control, and it has lost sight of what it should be, and now we suffer…

I come along and ask, why not, why does it have to be this big stupid monster, with all the problems that trying to be all things to all, when really reverting back to simple, with a simple app, that does the simple tasks, brilliantly, look there is nothing out there that does audio editing, they are all trying to outdo each other…

There is a need for a simple low rent audio editing app, as well as a packed to the gills audio editing app, I suggested that Lumafusion and Audacity talk to each other, so that for $19.99 Lumafusion included Audacity as the audio editing engine it sorely needs, and this injection of funds, would help grow Audacity…

Audacity is open source, that means for good or bad, the developers are not free to do as they please, they can do a lot, but they have to listen to the users, all of them, maybe there are more users that would love a simple easy to use app, the user interface of Audacity is a mess, it needs a lot of work, maybe the developers are too close to see the wood for the trees, but truly the UI is a hot mess… it is confusing, and the manual is unreadable, it makes no sense, maybe to a PHD student in Electronics, but to the average user, it is confusing, not helped by the incorrect use of confusing short cut keys, and made worse by moderators of the forum not asking appropriate questions, to get a clear message…

If I was on the team, I would make certain changes, for example, I would take much of the conversation off public and into private mode, for example use of email instead of forum…2nd I would try and open dialogue, ask questions, maybe the user has a view we as developers maybe not considered, or rejected, but maybe that was incorrect…

I am so confused as to why there was no discussion on my ideas, on why no 2 apps?? 2 make more sense than the hot mess Audacity is now…

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Justine,

if you want a “low rent”, low functionality audio editor try this one: https://www.ocenaudio.com/
I think you might like it - but I’m not sure how good their support is.

Like Audacity it’s free - and it looks remarkably like Audacity.

Audacity is unlikely to ever become the lightweight editor that you seem to require.



Audacity is open source, that means for good or bad, the developers are not free to do as they please, they can do a lot, but they have to listen to the users, all of them, maybe there are more users that would love a simple easy to use app,

As I pointed out to you before Muse are free to do exactly what they want with their app.

The fact that it is open-source means that anyone including you are allowed to download a copy of the source and modify it any way you want. I suspect that you, personally, do not have sufficient programming expertise or expertise to do that. I’m pretty sure that Muse wouldn’t change Audacity the way you want = so your best bet would be to contact one of the breakaway branches that span off the summer before last and see if they are prepared to make the trimmed down app that you want.

the manual is unreadable, it makes no sense, maybe to a PHD student in Electronics, but to the average user, it is confusing

I’m sorry you feel that way, I (and Steve Bill and others) put a lot of work into the Manual and over the years we have had lots of good feedback about it.


Audacity is open source, that means for good or bad, the developers are not free to do as they please, they can do a lot, but they have to listen to the users,

And they do indeed listen (and act):

  1. A year and a half ago when they mishandled the intent to add usage monitoring a sh*t-storm blew up from some keyboard warriors who had concerns about privacy (though oddly the places they chose to complain, websites and bulletin boards are far far more intrusive in their data collection. But in response to that Muse felt that they had to withdraw the usage data collection - which is a great shame as that would have helped them understand how to improve the app for users.

  2. You may have noticed that in 3.2.3 Muse reintroduced a Cut/Copy/Paste toolbar having taken those buttons away a couple of releases ago. Thius was in response to user feedback on the Forum.

There are other examples too.


I am so confused as to why there was no discussion on my ideas, on why no 2 apps??

Because all the Forum elves know that Muse are extremely unlikely to respond to such a request …

Peter.

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Apparently there are Audacity forks …

http://www.darkaudacity.com

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You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what “open source” means.

“Open source” does NOT mean that the app isn’t owned by anyone, quite the opposite, it establishes ownership by legally defining the license terms for use and distribution. The “owner” is the person or legal entity that holds the copyright, which in the case of Audacity is muse group (they also own the registered trademarks for Audacity).

“Open source” does NOT mean that the developers have to do what you, or anyone else wants - the open source license allows developers to develop the software in whatever way they choose, but (importantly) it also allows others to use the source code and develop it in other directions.

“Open source” does NOT mean that the software has to be without cost. Developers of open source software are perfectly entitled to sell their product for money if that’s what they want to do, but the source code must be freely available.

More information about “open source software” here: Open-source software - Wikipedia
and the license terms for Audacity here: The GNU General Public License v3.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation



No, that is also incorrect. Audacity has always had effects. Here’s a screenshot of the very first publicly available version that was written by Dominic Mazzoni (as part of his masters degree) and Professor Dannenberg (Dominic’s mentor).

Audacity_0.8.0.png
Audacity_0.8.0.png842×536 23.5 KB

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Oh grim, what a wicked waste of 2023…Really piggish attitudes by Muse to take this decision…

No respect for users that don’t need a fancy app, just a simple cut the rubbish bits out…export… This is too hard for them?

No idea about those forks…scams abound…

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@Justine, we understand that:

  1. You have a problem with scrolling the cursor.
    This issue is logged on the Audacity issue tracker. That’s as much as we can do regarding that issue - it’s over to the developers now.

  2. You think Audacity is too complicated and would like a stripped down version.
    As someone mentioned way back in this discussion, the development team are looking at ways to improve user experience for different use cases. I assume that you followed the link that was given, so now you know as much about that as we do.

I think those issues have been flogged to death over the last 5 pages of this forum topic. You have received (and rejected) numerous suggestions to try and help you work around the issues. If there’s nothing more (that hasn’t already been said here) on the subject, then I’d like to close this topic.

Please note that the people on this forum are not the Audacity developers. There is one guy from the development team that drops into this forum from time to time, but basically it is a forum run by Audacity users for the benefit of other Audacity users, It’s a place for users to help other members of the community. We don’t have magic wands and we don’t make the decisions - that’s all down to the Audacity team, who are employees of muse group. Muse group pay the bills, employ designers and developers, distribute the software for free, and make the decisions regarding Audacity.

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Thanks for the updates…fingers crossed 2023 brings great updates.

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Topic closed.