People are always saying that software updates are necessary. That’s true: they close security gaps in installed applications and should therefore find their way onto your computer as soon as they are released. Audacity is not exempt from this. However, there is sometimes (more than) one hair in the soup that updates bring with them. Read about our Tenacity in our interesting Ai-lookup guide.
A short introduction
Improved background technology, new functions, fixed bugs and more security – you can put a check mark behind all of that, it’s all desirable. But if the operating concept changes, long-term users will sit up and take notice. Then it’s time to get used to things, unless the usability modifications introduced with a fresh software version can be undone by adjusting the settings. Due to dissatisfaction on the part of some developers, forks are sometimes created: These are based on the source code of a program that has existed for a longer period of time and are slightly different in terms of features, handling and philosophy. Users who feel bruised have the option of switching to these forks or performing a parallel installation to a software that has fallen out of favor with them.
Forks are forks, they practically always take an existing source code of an open source application as a basis. Based on this, a reworking takes place, often with a smaller development team. A proprietary application, i.e. one whose source code is locked, would be difficult to fork because it would require source code theft. That’s tricky. With open source applications, on the other hand, it is common not only for them to be used free of charge, but also for them to be adjusted by knowledgeable people.
Below we introduce Tenacity, which was created due to faux pas on the part of Audacity’s creators. Tenacity forks Audacity app. Even at first glance, the operation here seems familiar and classic.
The story behind Tenacity app
In April 2021, Muse Group acquired the well-known audio editor “Audacity”. Their goal for Audacity was to bring much needed improvements to the application. However, shortly after, there was an attempt to add telemetry (“calling home”, the technical term for this is “call home”) to the program, which caused controversy in the community. Fortunately, the new developers withdrew their proposal, retaining only basic bug reporting and update checks, where the software does not collect personal data.
In July 2021, Audacity again ran into controversy when it introduced a new privacy policy recommending that users under the age of 13 should not use the program. Despite rowing back, the community had – and has – had enough.
After some disagreements, Tenacity was born. It initially started as “temporary-audacity” on Microsoft’s developer platform GitHub, as it had no name. To find a new name for the project, the main maintainer at the time held a vote. Among the new names were “Audacium,” “Sneedacity” and “Tenacity.” The name “Sneedacity” would later find favor with users of the web community 4chan – this brought a large number of votes for the name “Sneedacity”.
In response to the many votes from 4chan members, the project maintainers held an emergency vote and chose “Tenacity” instead of “Sneedacity” as the title. This angered some people, which led to the creation of a new fork with virtually the same intentions. This fork was named “Sneedacity”. There were several Audacity forks with some activity. Tenacity was later merged with the “Saucedacity” project. This reached its conclusion in November 2022.
Key features of Tenacity
- Recording from any audio devices (support for mountable drives and virtual playback devices).
- Export/Import a huge list of available audio formats.
- High quality including support for up to 24 and 32 bit floating point audio.
- Plugins, providing support for VST, LV2 and AU plugins
- Scripts in Nyquist built-in scripting language or Python, Perl and other languages
- Random Sample and Multitrack Timeline Editing
- Accessibility, including keyboard editing (hotkey support), screen reader support.
- Tools useful in analyzing audio signals and more.
Tenacity: Tutorial – like Audacity, but partly better
Tenacity is based on Audacity and does not reinvent the wheel. The range of functions and the operation are cut from the same cloth. However, there are some differences and there will be more in the future if the Tenacity makers continue to work on their software independently of the original. With Audacity, it was previously necessary to retrofit a special MP3 codec in the form of a “L.a.m.e” DLL file (Dynamic Link Library, see our DLL guide) to save (encode) an MP3 file. Meanwhile, this is obsolete in the original software project. Tenacity app is not inferior to this and also dispenses with the act of having to purchase an additional module specifically for generating standard audio files.
Likewise, Tenacity avoids nesting various menu bar commands. The audio editor allows you to perform two main tasks, just like its predecessor: record your own voice by clicking on the red recording icon at the top; and modify existing audio files – for example, after importing them into the Tenacity interface via drag & drop. In the latter area, Audacity is currently stagnating: If you need the functions for amplifying the audio signal and for changing the pitch, you need more mouse clicks than before to call them up.
Some of the differences
In Audacity, users now go to “Effect > Volume and Compression”, then “Amplify”; or they press “Effect > Pitch and Tempo”, then “Change Pitch”. As an alternative to clicking on the second button, a mouseover can also be performed. If you use the features frequently, the nesting will result in several additional mouse clicks. With Tenacity, you simply select “Effect > Amplify” or “Effect > Change Pitch” after selecting the music file section to be edited. The aforementioned click paths used to be identical in Audacity.
Audacity has fewer entries in the “Effect” menu than before and also a smaller number than Tenacity. The current Audacity version uses cascading menus here. These increase the overview and do not “overwhelm” creators with menu options, but undermine a workflow that has been trained in some people with older releases. In this respect, Tenacity seems wonderfully old-fashioned. Only time will tell whether an update will bring this segment closer to Audacity in the future.
Tenacity in test: Conclusion and alternatives
With Tenacity app you get a program on your PC that is capable of replacing Audacity. With many an application, one wishes for parallel operation, since the original is still necessary after all. This is different in the case of Tenacity app: It is the spitting image of its source code base, and is also better if you find the slipped history and/or various usability blunders on the part of Audacity unpleasant.
Currently, the latter application has been quiet in terms of criticism, so you can also download it to your computer. By the way, the program name “Tenacity” is English and means “tenacity” or “perseverance”. According to the Tenacity provider, their own project history correlates with the name, they are persistent.
Tenacity has potential and subjectively offers a more pleasant usability than its predecessor. Meanwhile, the software has reached the beta stage. You should keep that in mind. Thus, programming errors are still possible. If you value maximum stability, you will be better off with Audacity. It is up to you whether you run Audacity plus Tenacity or Tenacity standalone – both are acceptable.
Tenacity is available for the Linux and macOS platforms in addition to Windows. The keyword here is multi-platform compatibility. You may download the source code from GitHub, as is typical for open source. Only professionals need to take notice of this. Source code downloads are not necessary to get the coherent usable (compiled) programs up and running; moreover, they are often gigabyte-heavy, so they are significantly more extensive than their easily downloadable counterparts.
Alternatives to Tenacity app
Those who are not tech-savvy will probably prefer to use Audacity, since it is already well known. The latter and Tenacity share the code base – but also the disadvantage that they do not allow multiple markers of sound sequences. This is where Ocenaudio comes into its own, as it offers power users this comfort feature and is geared towards a fast workflow; see the article “Audacity alternative: Ocenaudio – guide to the fast audio editor”.
Not bad is also the Nero WaveEditor, which comes from the software forge of a well-known burning suite. Do you want to record the sound that goes through your sound card, that is, that your PC plays? Older, but still usable, is the No23 Recorder, which enables you to do this. It complements Audacity & Co.
