Audacity's new look is finally here, along with its largest feature update in years

Audacity released its Version 4.0 update today, bringing a fresh coat of paint and a number of new features for the popular free and open-source audio editor. This is the biggest update since Version 3.0 caused a ruckus over five years ago, and users have been waiting to see how radically the software would change with this latest release. But while the update includes plenty of departures from the way Audacity has traditionally worked, its Muse Group developers seem to have focused on maintaining continuity for users who don't want to relearn the program.

The biggest change most users will immediately notice is the new look, which finally gives Audacity a dark mode. The interface is more playful overall, with colored audio clips and more vibrant accent colors on UI elements like gain sliders. If it's not to your liking, don't panic. The classic Audacity look has been preserved as an option which can be enabled during setup, so you never even need to see the new design if you don't want to.

New editing workflows are here, too. Non-destructive editing, first explored in Version 3.2, is greatly expanded. Clips can finally overlap, and trimming back will reveal the covered-over audio if you go too far. Multiple clips can be selected and trimmed at once by dragging a single handle. They can also be grouped for complex edits.

Anyone who has used the automation features inside of Ableton Live or ProTools will instantly recognize the new envelope tool in Audacity 4. Users can click to create a draggable control point for things like gain. Waveforms will show changes on-screen in real-time, so you can see, for example, whether you're redlining one portion of a clip.

There's also a new splitting tool for one-click clip cutting. It should feel familiar to anyone who uses other creative software (not just audio software) as everything from Adobe Premiere to Logic Pro include a similar capability. It's yet another way in which Audacity 4 feels like a leap forward for what has traditionally been a basic audio editor.

You can now edit down to the sample level by zooming in far enough on a clip, which is a powerful ability when one of your clips is almost perfect but requires fine micro-adjustments. Each track also has an accompanying meter now, so you can figure out which of your tracks is clipping the mix.

One of the most controversial changes here is likely to be the removal of sync-lock, which ensured that multiple clips could be edited in tandem. However, new keyboard shortcuts have been added to replicate that functionality.

Most of these editing changes will feel familiar to those who've used fully-featured DAWs like Ableton Live 12 or ProTools. Given that most of those programs cost hundreds of dollars or more, it's great to see Muse bringing them to Audacity for free. There are plenty of other changes in this release, such as more robust plugin support, and you can find deeper dives on the Audacity 4 webpage or in an accompanying YouTube video.