Audio Editors
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ROUNDUP Audio editors Roundup Every month we compare tons of software, so you don’t have to! AUDIO EDITORS Don’t you just hate it when the purity of minimalist electronica is threatened by the presence of a tune? Why not do what Graham Morrison does and cut it out with an audio editor? Audio editors aren’t just the applications isn’t quite what you might The remaining editors, Glame, domain of musicians. Sooner expect. We’ve included the biggest WaveSurfer and Freecycle, focus on a OUR SELECTION or later, even normal listeners names, such as Audacity and ReZound, specific editing task. Whether it’s for AT A GLANCE would like to edit a radio show, or trim which use the familiar amplitude an ad hoc filter network using Glame, and combine sections of music waveform interface augmented by or loop generation for samplers with Audacity ..................................37 Freecycle together. Used in that context, the dozens of smaller tools for fading and , they all have a slightly Freecycle ................................37 editor needs to be easy to understand, effects, but there are also a few that different approach. Each editor has its efficient and able to get the job done take a different approach. own unique set of features, but we’ve FreeWheeling .....................39 without the user requiring too much FreeWheeling, for example, allows judged them on whether these help or Glame ........................................39 specialist knowledge. It’s a similar you to record, cut and paste hinder the editing process. There’s no ReZound ................................. 40 situation with Gimp, where users are everything in real time while you’re use in providing the world’s best Sweep .......................................38 far more likely to be editing their playing the music. It attempts to create distortion sound if you can’t accurately WaveSurfer .......................... 40 photos or images on their own a performance out of the editing select the audio you want to apply it to. websites than using it professionally. process. The same is true of Sweep, In the end, the main criterion for This Roundup contains seven audio which may look like a normal editor, judging these editors is that they get editors, all capable of taking your but the cursor actually moves with the job done with the least amount of original sound file and mangling it inertia, playing whatever it passes over hassle; after all, that’s what Gimp has beyond recognition. The selection of as if it were a stylus on a record player. become so good at. 36 LXF69 AUGUST 2005 www.linuxformat.co.uk LLXF69.roundXF69.round 3366 99/6/05/6/05 55:36:12:36:12 ppmm ROUNDUP Audio editors Audacity One of the most comprehensive editors. ■ VERSION 1.2.3 ■ WEB http://audacity.sourceforge.net ■ PRICE Free under GPL If you’ve ever edited an audio file compositing vocals, or editing dialogue, using Linux, there’s every chance as you can move, edit and cut sections you’ve used Audacity. It’s one of the across all the channels. more functional and mature editors The audio editing itself is also very available, and this cross-platform well implemented; Audacity’s clever application is extremely popular. Its use of the cursor means that you can design isn’t going to set the world extend selections and loop points alight, but then you could say that using just the mouse. There’s also an about most audio editors and it excellent, non-destructive envelope shouldn’t put you off Audacity, as it’s mode for changing the volume of your perfectly capable of getting some audio over time. You’re free to expand preview available. You could always Amplitude envelopes can easily serious results. and contract each track view, so you use Jack in some way, but it’s still change the volume of the audio The most important feature is the can make the best use of your screen extremely difficult to make subtle over time. multi-track support. It is possible to real estate by enlarging the tracks changes. But without doubt the have up to 16 separate tracks stacked you’re working on. As well as all this, biggest criticism we have with Audacity vertically in the main window, and Audacity keeps a history of every edit has to be the sluggishness of the LINUX FORMAT VERDICT record to any of them at the same you’ve made, and you can move interface. Because of its versatility, the The most functional editor available – time. This makes Audacity feel more backwards, and forwards, through display can take a long time to update, there are few tasks Audacity isn’t capable of. The only thing letting it down is its like a multi-track recording application each edit should you need to retrace and what should be simple things like sluggish feel and quirky interface. than an editor, but it’s this same your steps. moving the playing position are a little approach that has made WaveLab (on Unfortunately, and unlike WaveLab, unintuitive. Otherwise, Audacity is an RATING 5/10 Windows) such an impressive effects can still only be added offline, excellent application for getting the application. It’s a great way of but at least there is a real-time job done. For many years, an audio around the periphery. As with ReCycle, application called ReCycle has been at the main control is the threshold slider, Freecycle the heart of drum loop creation. and it’s this that’s used to introduce Before ReCycle, you had to alter the the hit points. Lowering the threshold Beat slicing and loop creation. playback speed of a loop to force it increases the number of hit points, into the time signature of the tune you which are drawn as vertical lines ■ ■ VERSION 0.4alpha WEB www.redsteamrecords.com/freecycle/index.php were working on. This changed the across the waveform. You can easily ■ PRICE Free under GPL pitch of the loop, in the same way that see when the hit points correlate with speeding up or slowing down a tape the beat, and you can even remove affects the sound. Too slow, and it individual hit points by right-clicking sounds like an Ent; too fast and it on their small X icons. sounds like a cartoon chipmunk. Beat detection isn’t restricted to Most of the information the brain amplitude threshold. You can also use decodes from a sound is in the initial frequency analysis, or several others attack stage of a waveform, and it’s courtesy of the Aubio library (yes, that this part ReCycle focuses on. By is spelt with a ‘b’), and an envelope finding the starting point of each drum can be created for every slice. Of hit in a drum loop (called the hit course, none of this would be much point), the software is able to cut or use if you couldn’t use the output in add to the tail of each hit, without some way. As with ReCycle, you can altering the frequency. As long as the export your beats in an Akai sample change isn’t too great, you won’t format, or as separate samples that notice, and a vast library of previously can be played using an automatically unusable drum loops can be recycled. generated MIDI file. That’s where Freecycle comes in. Freecycle shares many of its LINUX FORMAT VERDICT features with ReCycle, but also A wonderful tool for slicing up beats; manages to add a few of its own, it just needs a little extra functionality. though both user interfaces look very similar. Most of the main window is RATING 7/10 If you’re familiar with other beat slicing tools, you’ll feel right at home taken up by a waveform display, with with the open source ReCycle clone, Freecycle. many of the main functions scattered www.linuxformat.co.uk LXF69 AUGUST 2005 37 LLXF69.roundXF69.round 3377 99/6/05/6/05 55:36:39:36:39 ppmm ROUNDUP Audio editors Real-time performance capabilities may seem a little esoteric, but the Sweep bonus is that for normal editing tasks, the flying cursor makes the whole Fun real-time editor that keeps things simple enough for newbies. application feel very responsive. If Sweep were just an ordinary audio ■ VERSION 0.8.3 ■ WEB www.metadecks.org/software/sweep ■ PRICE Free under GPL editor, it would still be good. It makes such a difference to be able to move around within a file the same way you can with editors for other systems. The user interface is just so responsive, even with large files. Selections can be extended or reduced by dragging the borders, and you can alter the playback speed using a large slider on the right. There are all the usual features you might expect, such as LADSPA effects, although you still can’t preview them in real time. A real editor As with the rest of the app, you can work with the audio file while effects are processing in the background. Multi-channel files are also supported, so you can edit a whole suite of tracks in one go. With such a straightforward application, the only other feature to mention is the comprehensive edit history, allowing you to undo and redo any of your changes. It even has its own window from which you can see It looks benign, but drag the cursor and Sweep comes alive. all your edits, enabling you to revert to and from specific points easily. Sweep is primarily developed by as featureful as something like at different pitches depending on the This is how an audio editor should Conrad Parker under part-sponsorship Audacity or ReZound.