Audacity 'scared and excited' to be bought and brought under Muse Group's roof, but promises to stay free and open source
- Reference: 1620128242
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/04/audacity_muse_group/
- Source link:
An [1]explanatory video was posted by Martin Keary (aka Tantacrul) at MuseScore, the content of which [2]was confirmed by the Audacity team over the weekend.
"We're scared and excited," the team behind the decades-old platform squeaked. "We hope you are too."
[3]
[4]
Muse Group itself [5]launched last week and the likes of Ultimate Guitar and Tonebridge are among its brands. It also includes MuseClass, still in closed beta, and MuseScore. Keary is head of product for the latter, which was founded back in 2008 [6]and acquired by Ultimate Guitar in 2018.
Ultimate Guitar, founded in 1998 and with a user count it says exceeds 300 million users, is the big beast in the room. Audacity, which will now be managed by Keary, lays claim to more than 200 million downloads (although the true number is a little difficult to pin down and could be considerably larger).
The cross-platform Audacity [7]received a major update (to version 3.0) in March, nearly 20 years since version 1.0 debuted. Among the features were a new file format, analyzer, and raft of bug fixes.
[8]
Keary was keen to reassure the platform's community that it would be remaining free and open source, factors in the tool's popularity. He also announced plans to hire "a few key positions for senior developers or designers who have experience in audio or music tech."
Non-destructive stackable Virtual Studio Technology (VST) effects are also on the cards as well as some tinkering with Audacity's user interface – "making things easier to find and use," explained Keary.
The latter is probably no bad thing. "Make it look less Windows 95, for the love of god," [9]said one user . Screenshots secreted among Keary's video hint that that wish may soon be granted. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWNvwLiXIQ
[2] https://www.audacityteam.org/audacity-musescore-announcement/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YJFvmkFkhmTSObXIqJO-4wAAAAI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YJFvmkFkhmTSObXIqJO-4wAAAAI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://mu.se/newsroom/tpost/3dkxig59m1-muse-group-launches-to-support-music-tec
[6] https://blog.musescore.com/post/171048706627/musescore-joins-ultimate-guitar
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/19/audacity_3/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YJFvmkFkhmTSObXIqJO-4wAAAAI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://twitter.com/yeahparanoia/status/1388164304877330433
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Is this good news?
Worst case, it can be forked from the last version that uses the current license.
" Make it look less Windows 95, for the love of god "
Why? It works.
Agreed. They really think Windows 10 or macOS looks "better"? They look tacky and naff!
Utterly agree. Please keep controls visually distinct from display content. That goes for any program really.
As an aside, I didn't even realise there was a new Audacity version out. Might give it a look but my 2.whatever still does the job. Not like I'm going to chuck out my BOSS ME-80 just because there's something newer and "cool".
That "One user"...
was a Twitter comment. Maybe if another user with a different view posted a twatter comment the articles author could update the piece to reflect the diverse and varied views available on the subject.
Cash is a powerful motivator
I think we'll see a "community edition" with most features and a Professional (read: paid ) edition.
Re: Cash is a powerful motivator
I think Audacity is popular enough that if they tried anything objectionable, there would soon be a fork. The Audacity-specific code is licensed under GPL, and it includes components with various other open-source licenses.
Best UI
The best UI is the one you're used to. Audacity's new UI would need to be MASSIVELY more functional to overcome decades of muscle memory.
If it ain't broke don't fix it
A saying proven right time after time, especially in SW
MuseScore
produce very decent music notation software - and it's also free and open source.
Here's hoping they'll keep both of them moving along in this same FOSS lane.
Is this good news?
If it allows Audacity to continue free, or nearly so, that would be great but usually a sale like this results in the application bing wrecked as a commercial tool ...