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Win 7 Compatible sound Recorder / Editor (Free) 1

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MasterRacker

Active member
Oct 13, 1999
3,343
US
I've used Audacity for years and it's worked well for my needs. However, their curently recommended version for Win7 is also a beta.
Can anyone recommend an equivalent free program for recording (and editing) that is in full release mode for Windows 7?

Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]
 
Depends on what features you really need. Win 7 has a built in Recorder you may want to try, usually found in Accessories in the start menu. Its a little on the simpler side though.

Have you tried the non beta version of Audacity on Win 7. Since it seems to support Vista, I'd assume it would run on 7 too, but its just not mentioned. you can even try running it in compatibility mode.

Having Support and actually running on an Operating system are two very different things.



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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
 
I want a little more control than Windows Recorder gives and a better display of what's being recorded. (I'm in a situation where I need to record a closed meeting without the operator actually hearing the meeting, hence the waveform or VU meter type display requirement.)

Since the intended users are not technical and are workingoutside my normal work hours I want to provide something non-beta if I can.


Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]
 
In that case: Have you tried the non-beta version of Audacity on Win 7.

For you know it may just work fine.

You might also want to look at this:



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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
 
Well, if you had Creative Labs Sound cards, you could use their software for free, and it works strait to the point, and is pretty simple. I know it handles recording very easily, and at least some handle editing as well.

You could get some Audigy (whatever number) or the X-Fi series - the X-Fi series has better software, but they all work very well... and it should give you at least somewhat better quality than the onboard audio... gap isn't as big anymore as it used to be, of course. Also, Creative Labs' software seems to work MUCH better with Windows 7 than it did with Vista AND XP from my personal experience.

Another option? Look at NirSoft's software. I think they have some pretty decent free recording and editing software. I know of some church folks who use those for recording and editing sermons, etc... at least I think that's the company that I'm thinking of. Same folks that made or put out SearchMyFiles (my current favorite search app).

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me
 
Nirsoft:
If you can buy the Creative Labs cards, you can probably get them on the cheap on eBay if you can go used..

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me
 
Phil, the beta version is specifically recommended by the authors over the stable version on 7 so I'll trust them on that. For this application, recording with a good display is much higher priority than editing and both of your links look interesting. I'll check them out.

kjv1611 - you make a good point. I ma indeed need to buy a card, in which case I would get software with it.


Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]
 
At our church, we used the Creative Media Source Player until I found a deal on an M-Audio Delta 1010-LT, and now use Adobe Audition (not a free choice, of course). I still use the Creative labs software at home, as I'm running an X-Fi card, and in every way imaginable, it's a dream. I had actually lost all hope while using Windows XP with it for a while, b/c their software support seemed to go down the drain for the past couple years... and then there was 7. [wink]

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me
 
I would have a go with V3 (the beta series) I used it in earnest last year, and the only problem I had was with the Project overwrite thing, I believe the latest update gets round this.
In most ways V3 is far superior. But they do need to get on with getting V3 out of Beta, now that 2.6 isn't really compatible with Vista/W7, I think they will.

Steve: N.M.N.F.
If something is popular, it must be wrong: Mark Twain
 
For those who are interested, I'm going with Free Sound Recorder (the first recommendation from Vacunita.) It has good on screen indications of volume as well as record status. In addtion, it can automatically name the files which makes things foolproof for the operators - they simply have to click stop and start.

Should work very well.

Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]
 
Glad you found my suggestions useful.

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
 
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