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Version history for Audacity for Windows
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Changes for v1.2.6 - v2.0
- Some of the major changes in 2.0.0 over 1.2.6 are:
- Many effects significantly improved, especially Equalization, Noise Removal and Normalize. Vocal Remover now included plus GVerb on Windows and Mac. VAMP analysis plug-ins now supported.
- Improved label tracks with Sync-Lock Tracks feature in the Tracks Menu. Multiple clips per track. Tracks and selections can be fully manipulated using the keyboard. Many more keyboard shortcuts.
- New Device Toolbar to manage inputs and outputs. Timer Record feature. New Mixer Board view with per-track VU meters.
- Automatic Crash Recovery in the event of abnormal program termination.
- Fast "On-Demand" import of WAV/AIFF files if read directly from source. FLAC now fully supported. Added support for optional FFmpeg library for import/export of AC3/M4A/WMA and import of audio from video files.
Changes for v1.3.13 Beta - v1.3.14 Beta
- Interface:
- Excessive delay occurred when typing into labels in long projects.
- Last digit of TimeText controls could not be manipulated in some formats.
- (Windows, OS X) Play and Record shortcuts did not work after clicking in Device Toolbar.
- (OS X, Linux) Crash occurred if Toolbars were reset during playback or recording.
- Imports and Exports:
- MP2 files were not importable without FFmpeg library or an import rule.
- Files that could only be imported using FFmpeg imported as noise with no error message if FFmpeg was not available.
- Files containing PCM audio but an incorrect extension (such as MP3) caused a freeze.
- Effects and Analysis:
- An empty command could be added to a Chain which then displayed a Nyquist error message when run.
- Plot Spectrum didn't preserve signal level if multiple tracks were analyzed.
- Other bug fixes:
- Audacity has been provisionally fixed so that it can no longer create block files longer than the sample format or project format allows, and can no longer delete these, which led to data loss. Any overlong blocks found are preserved but "orphaned", so will appear as silence.
- Orphan block files were wrongly reported if cutting or copying to the clipboard then reopening the project in the same session.
- Fixed some crashes and incorrect movement of audio when dragging tracks.
- (Windows) Data loss is now prevented when encountering a corrupted .aup file created in ANSI builds.
- (Linux) Restore building if USE_PORTMIXER is not defined.
- Changes and Improvements:
- Normalize: Faster processing and improved interface. Left-right balance in unsplit stereo tracks is now preserved by default, with a checkbox option provided to process stereo channels independently.
- Spectrograms now allow window sizes up to 32768 and frequencies up to half the sample rate (the maximum possible).
- Mix and Render now preserves clip length by not rendering white space between time zero and first audio, and preserves audio before time zero. To retain silence before the audio starts, generate silence after render.
- Grouped some Edit Menu items into "Remove Audio" and "Clip Boundaries".
- CleanSpeech Mode removed from Interface Preferences (it still runs if it was enabled in a previous Audacity but can only be turned off there).
- (OS X) Added support for AudioUnit MusicEffects (but no MIDI support).
- (Linux) Set the per-user files directory per the program name set in configure.
- (Linux) Changed the default location of the Audacity temporary directory to be in /var/tmp not /tmp, so preserving the directory between reboots.
Changes for v1.3.11 Beta - v1.3.12 Beta
- Bug fixes for:
- Cutting or deleting a region in the waveform and label track did not move the labels in advance of the cut
- Incorrect behavior snapping to labels and boundaries with Snap To enabled
- Projects froze if files imported via On-Demand were no longer available
- (Windows 7) Clicking in a file open or save dialog caused files or folders to disappear from the list, and file filtering was broken
- Other import/export, effects and crash fixes
- Changes and Improvements:
- A hover tooltip is now provided if the Mixer Toolbar input selector cannot control the system slider for the selected input
- More intuitive behavior when moving and resizing labels by dragging
- Export Multiple: new option to use a numerical prefix before existing label or track names
- New Equalization preset "Inverse RIAA", with new button to invert other curves
- New Preferences choice for "System" language which is used on first run instead of asking user to choose language
Changes for v1.3.10 Beta - v1.3.11 Beta
- Bug fixes for:
- Too much audio exported when exporting partial selections
- Exports via FFmpeg corrupted if included metadata; M4A now supports metadata export
- Nyquist plug-ins did not add labels to an existing label track
- Crash opening Preferences when no audio devices available
- Timer Record and Sound Activated Recording bugs
- (Windows) Installer now installs correctly over previous Audacity versions
- Miscellaneous crashes and interface issues
- Improvements:
- (Windows) Higher resolution icon file
- New Sound Finder plug-in for labelling regions of audio
Changes for v1.3.9 Beta - v1.3.10 Beta
- Bug fixes for:
- Imports and Exports:
- Freeze importing audio files when Default View Mode set to Pitch (EAC)
- Simultaneous On-Demand imports sorted incorrectly
- WAV or AIFF files imported as noise if Preferences set to copy in the data at 24-bit quality
- WMA exports corrupted if they contained metadata
- Metadata Editor appeared before the Export window when exporting to any format
- Effects:
- Crash or hang using Equalization on longer tracks
- Reverse did not reverse clip boundaries
- Nyquist:
- Excessive memory consumption led to slow processing or crashes
- Values appearing in text boxes not always the default or previously entered values
- Errors running in European locales where comma used as decimal separator
- VST effects remained in Effect menu even when re-scanned and no longer available
- Truncate Silence produced incorrect results if silences spanned a block boundary
- Other bug fixes:
- Spurious "not writable/disk full" errors when saving projects
- Playing, rendering or exporting multiple tracks led to desynchronized playback or loss of audio data
- Crash opening Preferences when no recording and/or playback devices enabled or connected
- Preferences window: OK button did not respond to ENTER when a tab selected in left-hand panel
- Mixer Board solo button handling
- (Windows) After a period launching correctly, Audacity sometimes did not come up on top at launch
- (Mac OS X) Correctly installed Help folder could not be found
- (Mac OS X and Linux) Output slider could affect VU playback meter which then did not reflect actual waveform volume level
- (Linux) Undoing or redoing a label edit could cause a crash
- Changes and improvements:
- Linked audio and label tracks disabled until a future Beta version so they can be bug fixed
- Input volume slider will be disabled if it doesn't have proper control of system slider; use the system slider instead
- Proper support for copying/pasting label-with-audio including label text; new Edit > Paste Text to New Label menu item to paste system clipboard
- Contrast Tool now modeless, more intuitive handling of multiple project windows, various other minor improvements
Changes for v1.3.6 - v1.3.7 Beta
- Cross-platform Bug Fixes:
- Muting/soloing caused incorrect channel results in exported stereo files
- Noise Removal and all Nyquist effects pasted the original unmodified audio at the end of the modified region
- Noise Removal inserted a tail of low level noise at the end of the modified region
- Nyquist and Compressor plug-ins did not display moving bars in progress dialogue and over-estimated "Remaining Time"
- Cancelling Nyquist effects deleted unprocessed audio
- Change Speed and Change Tempo failed to modify the original selection length
- Cut lines invisible
- Fixed various bugs importing multi-stream files via FFmpeg
- File > Export as WAV could be corrupted if overwriting an imported WAV read direct from the file
- Export multiple "Other uncompressed files" choice always produced 16-bit PCM audio irrespective of chosen options.
- MP3 export usually produced a 128 kbps constant bit rate file irrespective of chosen options; reported length often incorrect
- MP3 ID3 Genre tag misread on import if the genre list in Metadata Editor was opened and saved
- Exported metadata tags in MP3, OGG and FLAC often not seen by player software - now substantially improved
- WMA exports (via FFmpeg)corrupted if metadata tags included
- Some multi-channel recording devices that previously recorded more than two channels no longer did so
- Generated audio did not fit in window
- No warning was given when saving an empty project
- Beep on completing longer process did not work on many systems
- fixed crashes importing lists of files (.LOF), in Meter Toolbar and Change Speed
- Platform-specific Bug Fixes:
- Windows Vista: crash opening Preferences with no sound devices enabled and connected
- Mac OS X and Linux:
- Spurious clipping at start of playback
- Labels did not accept certain legal characters
- Shortcuts did not work after running effects
- Project Rate did not change to respect rate of first imported file if that rate was unsupported
- Mac OS X only:
- Crash resizing project window
- Menu items became inactive or visibly corrupted
- File > Open dialogue did not always work on OS X 10.4
- Impossible to set independent Command and Control shortcuts that shared the same key
- Freeze importing uncompressed files via On-Demand (please report any remaining instances of this to: feedback@audacityteam.org)
- Portable settings were not picked up, instead settings were taken from the default location
- Fixed unavailability of FFmpeg installer
- New Features:
- F11 Full Screen mode
- High-quality "Sliding Time Scale/Pitch Shift" effect
- Audio Contrast Analyzer for testing audio on the internet for WCAG2 accessibility compliance.
- Windows: sound devices can now be opened using the more efficient DirectSound API
- Other changes:
- Latency correction should be improved for many users by employing a fixed rather than variable correction
- Grouping of Effects into categories turned off until a way is added for users to do so themselves
- Numerous minor interface improvements such as Metadata Editor navigation, new "hh:mm:ss + hundredths" selection format
- Note: Windows users wanting to export MP3 files will require the latest version of the LAME encoder from http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/
Changes for v1.3.6 RC1 - v1.3.6
- Interface:
- "Save Compressed Copy of Project" saves in much smaller .OGG format to facilitate online transmission of projects
- Improved MIDI import and export routines, and clearer color for selection region
- Default temporary directory on Mac now accessible in Finder
- Import / Export:
- Stability improvements in on-demand loading
- FFmpeg: support for latest version of library, improved version checks and error messages, stability improvements in custom exporter
- Bug Fixes:
- Crash in "Get Noise Profile" step of Noise Removal at project rates below 20480 Hz.
- Underestimation of peak level in tracks with a small number of different peaks
- Truncate Silence could result in repeated or lost audio if applied to the whole of a track
- Other interface, generating, exporting and platform-specific fixes
- Compilation:
- Added autoconf macro archive to CVS, enabling
- .nix users without this archive to build --with -MIDI
Changes for v1.3.5 Beta - v1.3.6 RC1
- release candidate 1: final is pending
Changes for v1.3.4 Beta - v1.3.5 Beta
- Recording / Playback:
- Several bugs fixed so that latency correction should be better, and more devices work correctly. Problems with invalid sample rates under Linux should be much rarer.
- Newer version of Portaudio library.
- New feature to record onto the end of an existing track (hold Shift while clicking Record).
- Import / Export:
- Updated versions of Libogg, Libvorbis, Libflac, Libsndfile and Twolame libraries.
- Handling of unsupported file formats more informative.
- Handling of file names with slashes on OS X improved. New dialog allows replacement of illegal file name characters on all platforms.
- Interface:
- Improved scaling and layout for rulers and VU meters.
- Envelope fixes/improvements including full control of undo/redo.
- New keyboard shortcuts and improved menu navigation.
- Preferences: More intuitive tab arrangement. New options for mute/solo and Metadata Editor behavior. Language can now be changed without restart.
- Expanded Build Information tab.
- Effects:
- New Vocal Remover plug-in, improvements for Generate effects.
- Compilation:
- Fixes when building Audacity with libraries disabled.
- Improvements to make Mac and Solaris builds easier.
- Security:
- Full fix for issue CVE-2007-6061 on systems where temporary directories can be changed by other users (thanks to Michael Schwendt).
- Miscellaneous:
- Updated translations for many locales.
- Several stability improvements.
Changes for v1.3.3 Beta - v1.3.4 Beta
- New Welcome Screen with introduction to Audacity.
- Enhanced Windows Shell integration, so Audacity shows up in lots of Windows places such as "Open With".
- New keyboard command: 'Mix and Render to New Track' (bound to Ctrl+Shift+M).
- New keyboard shortcut: "Shift-A" starts playback when stopped, or performs "Stop and Select" when playing.
- Added support for VAMP audio analysis plug-ins.
- Solo button solos only one track at a time, and a track cannot be both mute and solo. Interface:
- Keyboard shortcuts for making short/long jumps along the timeline.
- Added 'Snap To' in the Selection Bar.
- Made keyboard navigation easier when multiple menu items with the same first letter exist.
- Enhanced interface for label editing.
- Layout of OK/Cancel buttons consistency improved.
- Preferences:
- "Select all audio in project, if none selected" (on by default).
- "Beep on completion of longer activities" (system bell, not main output).
- Other preferences cleaned up and explanations improved.
- Envelopes: Many fixes when copying / pasting / repeating.
- Many translation updates.
- Track height fixed in several cases.
- CleanSpeech mode switching without closing and re-opening fixed. Opening/saving formats:
- Metadata editor added for OGG, FLAC and WAV/AIFF exports, and general improvements in this area.
- mport of metadata improved.
- Muted tracks are no longer audible in the exported mix. Effects:
- Truncate Silence: support for multiple and stereo tracks.
- Dtmf Generator:
- Added support for keypad letters.
- Added an amplitude control.
- Compressor: Variable decay time added.
- Equalization:
- Clicks at start/end prevented
- Improvements to saved curves being found
- Preview works correctly
- 'Merge' command appears in Undo history.
- Clipping detected more reliably.
- Nyquist plug-ins reviewed and enhanced.
- Better (and more) progress bars.
- Canceling effect always restores previous audio.
- Several improvement to effects in batch mode. Recording / Playback:
- Improvements to latency correction.
- Updated version of portaudio-v19 library. Note that Help is no longer built in, but accessible on the Web via links in Audacity.

