Everybody needs a good audio editor.
and you can get it for free !
Here, in the Wavosaur team we know what we are talking about ! If you need a freeware for audio editing, here’s a selection of the best free audio editors available in 2014 :
1. Wavosaur
Wavosaurus Rex
We created Wavosaur in 2006 because we needed a light / portable / VST compatible audio editor, with the same professional workflow you can find on Soundforge (this one wasn’t portable) or Wavelab.
By the years we added a lot of features, suggested by our users, and we’ll continue to improve the software !
pros:
- full VST support
- VST effect chaining
- batch processing
- loop point support
- can be controled with MIDI surface control (BCR 2000 or UC 33e, etc..)
cons:
- memory problems with very large file on “old” or small configurations
- redo is not yet implemented
2. Audacity
Audacity !
download : http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
Audacity exist since always. It’s not really the same philosophy as Soundforge / Wavelab etc.. => Audacity is multi track : you can play multiple audio files at a time : so it’s nice for basic sequencing.
pros:
- multi-track
- cross platform
- open many audio formats
cons:
- VST plugins are nearly unusable : you can just preview 5 seconds, and you can’t change the parameters while it’s running
- no support for loop points
- can’t zoom with mouse wheel
3. Ocenaudio
Ocen audio
Info & DL : http://www.ocenaudio.com.br/
Ocenaudio is available for Windows, Mac OS X & Linux, it supports VST plugins.
Some may prefer its look over the more “classic” audio editors.
It’s one of the most featured audio editor, and has many configuration options.
pros:
- cross platform
- full VST support
- VST effects available from the Effects menu (we have to add this to Wavosaur 🙂 when you don’t need to chain effects, and just want to load a single VST effect)
- loop points support !
cons:
- can’t have two (or more) waveforms view at the same time, the navigator windows is easy and fast to use but sometimes we need to have two or more files (old school MDI style !)
- i experimented some recurrent bug ( like a playing problem when hitting “play”)
- bugs with many VST plugins we tested (the magic of VST…)
4. TWE by Yamaha
Tiny Wave Editor
direct download : TWE for Windows
In the last century, Yamaha was giving this useful tool for free.
It works on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.
The workflow and the philosophy of the software make it suited for small samples. The program is MDI, you can work on more than one file at a time. It doesn’t have many effects and of course is not VST compatible, but it has all you need for working on sample.
pros:
- light & efficient
- support for loop points !
- the time compress / expand is nice ! it has the good old school speed garage style (you have to apply many time the effect, as the max is set to 125%)
cons:
- development has stopped for a looong time
- no plugin support
- experienced some crash when using the effects on samples with duration > 1 ~2 minutes
