Audacity

Raised as a usability problem by 55 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2012–2026), in 26 threads.

People raised many different problems with Audacity, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.

Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.

The newest 50 complaints

Project sometimes fails to save and clips get clicking noise at edges needing manual fades2026-09-03
Temporary JACK client disappears and reconnects unpredictably, with confusing shared names, making routing hard to manage2026-09-03
Cannot find installed filters in a long, slow scrolling menu2026-09-03
Open source apps have a poor, outdated user experience hindering mainstream adoption2026-09-03
New UI has no light mode, forcing users to switch back to the old UI2026-09-03
Editing workflow is hard to use2026-09-03
The user interface is described as not good2025-11-04
Editing modes are horrid and not intuitive to use2025-10-31
Requires hours of learning to do simple audio editing tasks2025-10-30
Loses track of which files are in use and can't tell what's what after deleting from timeline2025-10-06
Installer pushes cloud storage choices and save locations confuse non-technical users2025-10-04
Removing the cut button broke users' delete workflow; they had to complain on the forum2023-11-05
The current interface is clunky to use2023-11-03
Adding clips to tracks hides beat and bar markings, making manual alignment difficult2023-11-03
Plugin scan takes too long and gives no reason why plugins are flagged incompatible2023-11-03
Doesn't work with screen readers on Linux2023-09-04
Zoom shortcuts and menus are idiosyncratic; no option zooms to full clip easily2022-12-15
UI is severely dated despite being a powerful tool2022-12-14
Audacity's performance and small bugs bother the commenter2022-06-28
Clunky, doesn't work like other DAWs, editing behaviors lag behind2022-02-12
Everything must be a project needing export, even for a single file2022-02-12
Popup windows open at minimum size and must be resized before mouse use2021-07-19
UI feels dated and crashes unless the user tiptoes around it2021-07-06
Professionals find the interface weird, nonstandard and confusing, making it borderline unusable2021-07-06
Highlighted button pushes people toward agreeing to telemetry2021-05-08
Spends time searching menus for rarely used functions, lacks a command palette2021-05-01
Search is poor and the in-app back button is hard to use2021-05-01
Monochrome icons are hard to tell apart, so finding a tool means clicking through many2021-05-01
UI is cluttered and difficult to work through; demands great patience2021-05-01
Interface is completely broken on Linux HiDPI displays2021-04-30
User finds the overall interface cumbersome to work with2021-04-30
Dialog demands selection before applying effect, forcing extra Ctrl+A step2021-04-30
Menu structure and wording of regular Audacity are awkward to use2021-04-30
Commands are hard to group, so users struggle to find the one small thing they need2021-03-18
UI is clunky because it packs in too many features2021-03-18
Dropdown boxes overlap on KDE HiDPI because positions and sizes use different scaling2021-03-18
Settings windows block control of the main window, unlike iZotope RX, making workflows harder2021-03-18
UI is clunky and visually distracting, making it hard to keep using2021-03-18
Plugins grouped poorly, making them hard to find and use2021-03-18
Applying noise reduction takes many repeated steps: reopening menus, re-finding the effect, and closing windows2021-03-17
Must switch separate tools to edit envelopes and move events2021-03-17
The user interface is clunky and needs a rebuild2021-03-17
UI is very slow on 4K displays; muting or soloing a track takes about a second2021-03-17
Useful alternatives are hidden behind undiscoverable keystrokes while defaults annoy users2020-11-22
Volume slider controls system volume instead of playback, so ears get hurt at safe settings2020-07-22
UI doesn't follow platform conventions, feels weird to switch to2020-07-22
Selecting, dragging and zooming audio is quite annoying to do2020-05-28
Can never figure out how to unzoom; it is clunky2020-05-28
A promotional banner for another app appears every time the app opens2017-11-04
Initial few minutes of confusing UI before shortcuts are memorized2017-11-04