November 4, 2025
Rage against the telemetry
Tenacity – a multi-track audio editor/recorder
Audacity fork fights data tracking; users split over bugs and browser recording
TLDR: Tenacity is a volunteer‑built fork of Audacity aiming for a privacy‑first, cross‑platform audio editor. The crowd is split: some cheer ditching telemetry, others report Linux UI glitches, and a fiery debate rages over whether browser studios like BandLab can truly replace installable apps.
The open‑source audio crowd is buzzing: Tenacity, a volunteer‑run, cross‑platform editor is stepping into the spotlight with a “no data snooping” vibe and a long list of features, from plug‑ins to scripting and accessibility. Fans cheered the fork’s origin story after ktpsns highlighted the Audacity “attempts at adding telemetry,” turning Tenacity into a privacy poster child. Internet sleuth evgpbfhnr even found a broken “legacy” link and dropped the fix, spawning the obligatory 404 jokes.
Then the big question hit: Mashimo pointed to Audacity’s five‑year UI overhaul video and asked if Tenacity will merge the glow‑up or go its own way—cue a split between “keep it pure” and “please polish it.” On the ground, Linux drama popped off when squarefoot said Tenacity “messes with the desktop panel toolbar” and botches fonts on Manjaro XFCE, sparking a mini brawl of “works for me” vs. “not on my machine.”
Meanwhile, mulhoon kicked off the caffeine‑fueled debate of the day: can multitrack recording thrive in the browser? BandLab’s slick web studio got props for low latency and ease, but skeptics grumbled about ads and trust. Tenacity’s vibe is clear: open‑source, community‑first, Codeberg‑centric (GitHub PRs are ignored), with help via Matrix and Lemmy. The mood? Hopeful, spicy, and very online.
Key Points
- •Tenacity is an open-source, cross-platform multi-track audio editor and recorder developed by volunteers.
- •It supports recording from real or virtual devices, editing on a multi-track timeline, and arbitrary sampling.
- •Import/export covers many audio formats, extendible with FFmpeg, and includes up to 32-bit float audio support.
- •Plugin standards supported include VST, LV2, and AU; scripting is available via Nyquist and external languages (Python, Perl) using named pipes.
- •Development and releases are hosted on Codeberg; a GitHub mirror exists for CI; help is available via Matrix, with community on Mastodon and Lemmy, and contributions also via SourceHut.