The popular free open-source Audacity audio editor announced new 3.7.0 release few days ago!
Unlike v3.5.0 or v3.6.0, this is NOT a feature release but maintenance updates with many bug-fixes and performance improvements. While, the developers are working on next major Audacity 4.0.
The new release improved contrast in the light theme. Which, fixed the issue that the focus border was hard to discern as it was blue against a blue-based background.
To not make disabled and neurodivergent people uncomfortable while they use Audacity, it renamed the word “Insane” in the Quality drop-down menu in the Export Audio dialog with “Excessive“.
As you know, Ubuntu uses PipeWire as replacement of PulseAudio for its default sound server since Ubuntu 23.04. And, it now uses WirePlumber to manage pipewire session and policy.
With WirePlumber, you may configure more about your sound output and input. You can use Linux command to switch default audio input/output device, change volume level, and mute/un-mute sound and microphone.
As well, you may change the audio bit depth, sample rate, resample quality, and other properties for certain sound device.
Audacity audio editor announced new major 3.6.0 release few days ago. Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu users.
The new release features new Master Effects. By clicking “Effects” button in app window, it will now show you Realtime Effects and Master Effects options for choice. While, the new Master Effects allows to apply effects to the entire project at once.
Audacious, the popular lightweight audio player, released new 4.4 version this Wednesday!
The new release of this free open-source music player restores Lyrics plugin for GTK interface, and adds new provider chartlyrics.com. Thanks to Michel Fleur, there’s now “Background Music” plugin, under “Effect” tab in the Plugin page, allows to make the sound equally loud within and between tracks.
The Scrobbler (Last.fm) plugin now also works on macOS and Windows. And, the Song Change plugin now allows to run custom command when a song is stopped.
Audacious 4.4 now defaults to GTK3 + Qt6, though Qt5 and GTK2 are still supported. It improved Wayland support for GTK interface, but the classic Winamp interface does NOT work properly on Wayland, thus users are recommended to run Audacious via XWayland (default behavior if available) therefore.
Other changes in Audacious 4.4 include:
Add Disc Number support
Read ReplayGain values in Opus files from R128 tags
For Ubuntu users, it’s available to install via Ubuntu PPA (native .deb package), Snap package, or Flatpak package (runs in sandbox environment).
Method 1: Audacious Snap package
If you’re OK running the audio player in sandbox environment, then Audacious is easy to install through Ubuntu Software (or App Center) as Snap package.
Method 2. Install Audacious via Flatpak
Most Linux can install the audio player as Flatpak package, that runs in sandbox. So far, it supports amd64 and arm64 platforms.
All current Ubuntu user can press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run the 2 commands below one by one to get it.
After installation, search for and launch it from start menu or Gnome overview. Log out and back in if app icon not visible.
Method 3. Install Audacious from Ubuntu PPA
For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and Ubuntu 24.04 users, I’ve uploaded the new release package into PPA for amd64 and arm64/armhf machines.
Changes in the PPA package:
Packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 are built with Qt5 + GTK3, since Qt6 is NOT available.
Qt6 + GTK3 for Ubuntu 22.04 and higher.
The dependency library name changes that follow upstream policy in Ubuntu 24.04:
libaudcore5 -> libaudcore5t64
libaudgui5 -> libaudgui5t64
libaudqt2 -> libaudqt2t64
libaudtag3 -> libaudtag3t64
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
Type user password (no visual feedback, just type in mind) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, update system package cache:
sudo apt update
3. If you have an old version of the music player installed, you can now update the package to the latest using “Software Updater” utility.
Or, run the command below in terminal to install or upgrade the package:
sudo apt install audacious audacious-plugins
NOTE: For Ubuntu 22.04 runs into “Error opening output stream” issue, open “Settings” and set audio output plugin to “PulseAudio” output.
Uninstall Audacious
To remove the audio player installed as Flatpak, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and use command:
Also clean up runtime library via flatpak uninstall --unused.
If you want to restore the music player to the stock version available in system repository. Run command below to purge PPA as well as downgrade installed packages:
This is a step by step guide shows you how to enable the event sounds (system sound or custom sound) for login and log out actions in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
When booting Ubuntu 24.04 from a live USB, it plays a sound after logged into the desktop. The sound however does no longer play after installed the system on your disk. So, here I’m going to show you how to re-enable this feature.
NOTE: This tutorial is tested and works in my case in Ubuntu 24.04. It MAY also work in old Ubuntu releases and even other Linux, but for GNOME Desktop only.
This tutorial shows how to install the popular Spotify music app in Ubuntu Linux though Snap, Deb, or Flatpak packages.
Spotify supports for Linux officially through Snap package which runs in sandbox environment, and Deb package that’s native in Debian and Ubuntu. For choice, there’s also a community maintained Flatpak package, which also runs in sandbox environment. All of them is available for only x86_64 (Intel/AMD CPUs) platform so far.
Spotify for Linux packages:
Snap package, runs in sandbox and receives updates automatically.
Deb package, the classic package format runs natively in Debian and Ubuntu.
Flatpak package, unofficial community maintained package, runs in sandbox and works in most Linux desktop.
GNOME Desktop considers adding a new core application for audio playback!
It’s Decibels, a basic free open-source audio player that is supposed to fill the gap of GNOME currently not having a Core app that is designed to open single audio files.
The app has a stupid simple user interface that works in both Linux Desktop and Mobile devices. It features:
For users of Audacity 3.4.x, the popular audio editor and recorder app just announced the second update for this release series.
It’s Audacity 3.4.2 that includes following bug-fixes:
Fix crash when opening projects with zero-length clips.
Fix a crash when clearing loops.
Fix Nyquist-related crashes.
Fix a crash when closing Audacity.
When exporting a file, the sample rate of the tracks is now considered, and last-used sample rate is remembered.
Copy-pasting now pastes into audio again by default. Though, there’s an option to change in Preferences.
Mix and render now also resets the gain for the resulting track.
Fix clips shifting to the right when effects are applied to them.
Fix clicks occurring when overdubbing a project with muted tracks.
Fix files being exported without a file extension in rare cases.
Show all sample rates possible for MP2 exports.
Fix pasting into labels.
Fix copying when “select all audio if selection required” is enabled.
Fix GTK detection and compilation for wxWidgets 3.2.4.
Fix EQs in macros.
Fix builds on armhf.
How to Install Audacity 3.4.2
Audacity is available to install Ubuntu Linux through a few different ways. They include AppImage, Ubuntu PPA, and Flatpak. Just choose either one that you prefer.
Option 1: AppImage (official)
It provides official macOS .dmg, Windows .exe, and Linux .AppImage packages available to download at the link below:
For Linux, click expand the “Assets” section and choose download the .AppImage package.
Then, right-click on the .AppImage file and go to its ‘Properties’ dialog. Add executable permission by enable ‘allow executing file as program‘. Finally, right-click on it and select “Run” to launch Audacity.
Option 2: Ubuntu PPA
For choice, I’ve uploaded the new release package into unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 with amd64, arm64, and armhf support.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:
Audacity audio editor and recording tool announced the new major 3.4.0 release after almost 2 weeks of beta testing.
The new release features Beats and measures grid, allows to easily align audio clips to the musical tempo and rhythm. It shows you the subdivisions of each measure depending on zoom level, and you can snap clips to the nearest beat.
It also features new time stretching algorithm, allows to change the duration of your audio clips without affecting their pitch non-destructively. Just hold “Alt” (macOS: Option) while hovering over the top third of a clip edge to stretch it.
The 3.4.0 also features a new export dialog with easier access to options such as sample rate and custom mapping (for 5.1 or 7.1 audio). Additionally, the “Browse” button uses the native file browser now!
For Linux, click expand the “Assets” section and choose download the .AppImage package.
Then, right-click on the .AppImage file and go to its ‘Properties’ dialog. Add executable permission by enable ‘allow executing file as program‘. Finally, right-click on it and select “Run” to launch Audacity.
Option 2: Ubuntu PPA
For choice, I’ve uploaded the new release package into unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
NOTE:Due to bug, arm64 and armhf packages are excluded in the PPA until the bug-fix due in next point release.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:
For those who want to install the simple Audio Recorder application in Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 24.04, here’s new Ubuntu PPA.
UPDATE: The PPA support until Ubuntu 24.04. No longer updates for 24.10 and higher due to lack of upstream source development!!
Audio Recorder is a free open-source GTK3 audio recording application for Linux. It has a stupid simple user interface, while can record any sound from your computer.
Audio Recorder simple UI
This app can record sound from your speaker, microphone, music player applications, and mixed source, such as recording speaker and microphone at the same time.
Sound can be recorded into OGG, FLAV, MP3, WAV, OPUS, M4A audio formats. And, it has a timer to start/stop recording automatically on given time and/or voice, silence.
This audio recorder is one of my most favorite Linux applications. But don’t know why, it’s excluded in Debian/Ubuntu repositories. And, the official Ubuntu PPA support so far until Ubuntu 22.04.
Some users reported it does NOT install in Ubuntu 23.04, so I made a new PPA contains this software packages, with support for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 on amd64 (X86_64), arm64/armhf (for Apple M1/M2, Raspberry Pi, etc) CPU architecture types.
And thankfully, the new PPA package seems working good (with only minor testing). Since you may know, Ubuntu 23.04 switched to Pipewire sound server while 22.04 and earlier are using classic PulseAudio.
1. Add the new PPA
To add the PPA, simply press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then run command:
