Audacity is a high-quality sound recording application, designed to be easy to use. We recommend Audacity to most computer users, because it is simple but it has many features and capabilities. You do not need to understand advanced computer audio concepts before using Audacity. If you can connect your microphone to your computer, you know enough to use Audacity.
5.1. Learn When to Use Audacity
Audacity has a simple user interface, it is easy to use, and it has many advanced capabilities. Audacity does not require advanced knowledge of computers, music, or recording. Audacity is the right tool to use for editing a single audio file, and it can also coordinate multiple audio files simultaneously. Most users will prefer Audacity over the other applications in the Musicians' Guide which can record.
If you need to record quickly, and you do not have time to learn complicated software, you should use Audacity.
If you have professional-quality audio equipment, if you want to do highly advanced processing, or if you need fine-grained control over the recording, you should use Ardour, Qtractor, or Rosegarden. If you have not used any of these applications, we recommend learning Qtractor before Ardour or Rosegarden. Ardour and Rosegarden are more complicated than Qtractor, and you may not need their advanced features.
