Adobe Audition vs. Audacity

Adobe Audition vs Audacity

Adobe Audition is premium, while Audacity is free. Both work fine if you want to start recording audio for yourself. The problem begins when you want more features.

This is where you think of an open Adobe Audition vs. Audacity comparison. Let’s discuss both and see which one is right for you.

Quick overview

Both Adobe Audition and Audacity are audio and music recording programs. Adobe Audition offers a rich interface and tools, but it is costly.

Audacity has a dated interface, but it is free and good enough for beginners to start their journey.

Interface

Adobe Audition has a sleek design, while Audacity gives an old vibe. It uses basic colors and an old layout.

Audition has distinctive options, including file properties, radio production mode, waveform editor, and help section.

Audacity has a few options, such as a playback loop, microphone, speaker volume bars, project rate, etc.

Effects

In Audition, you find effects categorized in the effects navigation menu. Audacity displays them alphabetically.

The table below compares all the effects both programs offer.

AuditionAudacity
Invert
Reverse
Silence
Generate noise
Generate speech
Generate tone
Match loudness
Selection auto-heal
Amplify
Channel mixer
DeEsser
Dynamics
Dynamics Processing
Fade Envelope
Gain Envelope
Hard Limiter
Multiband
Normalize
Single-band
Speech Volume
Tube-modeled Compressor
Analog Delay
Delay
Echo
DeClicker
DeClipper
Delete Silence
Mark Audio
FFT Filter
Graphics Equaliser (10, 20, 30 Bands)
Notch Filter
Parametric Equaliser
Scientific Filter
Chorus
Chorus/Flanger
Flanger
Phaser
Capture Noise Print
Noise Reduction
Learn Sound Model
Sound Remover
Click/Pop Eliminator
Hiss Reduction
DeNoise
Adaptive Noise Reduction
Automatic Click Remover
Automatic Phase Correction
DeHummer
DeReverb
Convolution Reverb
Full Reverb
Studio Reverb
Surround Reverb
Distortion
Doppler Shifter
Guitar Suite
Mastering
Loudness Meter
Loudness Radar Meter
Vocal Enhancer
Center Channel Extractor
Graphic Phase Shifter
Stereo Expander
Automatic Pitch Correction
Manual Pitch Correction
Pitch Bender
Pitch Shifter
Stretch and Pitch
Amplify
Auto Duck
Bass and Treble
Change Pitch
Change Speed
Change Tempo
Click Removal
Compressor
Distortion
Echo
Fade In
Fade Out
Filter Curve EQ
Graphic EQ
Invert
Loudness Normalisation
Noise Reduction
Normalize
Paulstretch
Phaser
Repair
Repeat
Reverb
Reverse
Sliding Stretch
Truncate Silence
Wahwah
Adjustable Fade
Clip Fix
Crossfade Clips
Crossfade Tracks
Delay
High-Pass Filter
Limiter
Low-Pass Filter
Noise Gate
Notch Filter
Spectral Delete
Spectral edit multi-tool
Spectral edit shelves
Studio Fade Out
Tremolo
Vocal Reduction and Isolation
Vocoder
Generate Chirp
Generate DTMF Tones
Generate Noise
Generate Silence
Generate Tone
Generate Pluck
Generate Rhythm Track
Risset Drum
Audition vs. Audacity Effects

Audition vs. Audacity: Features

Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition Overview

Highly customizable interface: The interface is customizable, allowing you to add, remove, and change sections to suit your style.

Compatibility: Adobe Audition is connected with other Adobe apps. For example, you can send Premiere Pro sequences to Audition. You can also export audio from Audition to Premiere Pro and Media Encoder.

Radio production: A separate editing mode for radio shows.

One window for all projects: The program supports managing multiple recordings in one window. Audacity opens up a new window for the new project.

More removing tools: Compared to Audacity, you will find multiple background noise removal options.

Audacity

Repeat the last edit: Audacity has a great option to repeat the last process. The option is visible at the top of the effect menu after an effect has been applied.

Meta Tags: Before exporting the file, you can insert the file details, such as artist name, track title, album title, and year.

Similar features

History: Both offer an option to view and restore edit history.

Audio effects: You get many audio effects to enhance your recording.

Markers: Both allow you to add markers.

Shortcuts modification: You can modify the shortcuts to make programs your own.

Video editors comparison: Filmora versus Premiere Pro

Even though Audition offers more effects, the most common effects are also in Audacity.

Noise reduction

In this round, I reduced the noise of an audio file in both. In Audition, the noise was reduced using the DeNoise effect at 31%. In Audacity, the default settings were used to eliminate noise.

The audio file without noise reduction
The audio file noise reduced in Adobe Audition
The audio file noise reduced in Audacity

Amplify

Like noise reduction, I applied the Amplify effect on the same audio file in normal settings. Let’s hear the difference below.

The audio file without amplify
The audio file amplify in Adobe Audition
The audio file amplify in Audacity

Consider reading next: Photopea vs. Photoshop

Multitracking

The way both handle multitrack recording is different. Audition offers two modes: waveform and multitrack.

The waveform mode focuses on the single track, while you focus on multiple tracks in the multitrack mode.

Audacity allows adding tracks with one click. It does not follow the concept of the modes mentioned above.

Saving and exporting

Adobe Audition does not use projects. In the waveform mode, it saves the audio as a WAV file that can later be opened in Audition and other audio and video editing apps.

It natively supports over 20 audio formats, including OGG, MP3, MP2, and AIFF.

In the multitrack mode, the program saves projects as sessions.

Audacity saves the project with its file format. You can also export files in other formats.

Pricing

As discussed, Audacity is free. Audition is a subscription-based program with several pricing options. You can use it by subscribing to one of the below plans:

  • $20.99 per month (yearly contract)
  • $31.49 per month
  • $239.88 per year. The plan costs about $19.99 per month.

If you are into video editing, photo editing, and graphics, you might consider the Creative Cloud package, which gives access to 22 Adobe apps. The plan starts at $54.99 on the annual contract.

Summary

If you are starting and want to save some bucks, I suggest starting with Audacity. Its interface is old but has all the options you will need.

Once you understand how those DAWs work and want more advanced settings, Adobe Audition will be appropriate.

It’s also great for those who already have experience and are not afraid to spend some money.

Its relation and compatibility with other Adobe apps make it a great platform to record your voice and music.

Adobe Audition vs. Audacity: Links

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