If you need an easy to use audio editor to efficiently produce creative content for sharing, Ocenaudio (opens in new tab) is for you. Being free is a big bonus, but there’s more here than price to recommend this app, which lives up to its pitch as being “fast and functional” in the getting things done department.
Ocenaudio: Pricing & plans
- Completely free for all
Ocenaudio is free and multi-platform, so there’s no room for complaints there. In these regards it’s like Audacity, although unlike Audacity, it’s not open-source software – it started life as a university research project. Although the developers accept donations from its approachable welcome page, the app doesn’t constantly bombard you with repeat requests, even when re-opening.
Ocenaudio: Features
- Clean and simple interface, easy-to-find tools, customizable to an extent
Ocenaudio has all the features you need if you’re recording speech, importing speech files to clean up, or mixed down music files to add to speech. It’s pleasantly simple and easy to use.
Not only that but the color choices of the basic workspace together with hot keys mean it’s customisable visually and nice to look at. You can choose from six basic themes including ‘light’ and ‘aqua’. Your recordings and imported files are stored in the hide-able left-hand sidebar, so it’s really easy to move from one to another and then close the sidebar down.
The Levels Monitor can be opened on the right of the screen in two sizes. Intelligent file management and energy saving features include the preference of shutting down the mixer when the screen goes to sleep.
Under the view menu you can customize the toolbar on your Mac with features like the audio scrubber and markers.
Ocenaudio: Recording, capture & editing
- Full set of filters and effects, bulk transform markers into regions
The record functions are simple and easy to use. There are excellent recording options like moving the cursor to record stop position as well as preroll. You can select to overwrite and do basic configuration of both recording and editing mixers.
Just because you get such a clean and customizable look, doesn’t mean you’re short of editing tools either. There are plenty of effects to choose from starting with normalization, which is a good idea to use when you first load up the files.
You can choose files through the menus or just drag them in. Ocenaudio will open up a workspace for your sound wave where you can select mono or stereo. You can also open in spectral view or a combination of the two. Regions and markers make editing easy and you can very simply make markers into regions either singly or altogether.
As well as all the normal functions allowing you to rearrange and rationalize your material, like cut copy and paste, you have a whole pallet of other filters, compressors, and an 11 or 31 band graphic equalizer, and mixer.
Low pass, high pass, banks pass, and band stop and noise gate allow for potential rescue and definite enhancement of sounds. All the effects have real time one touch previews making it easy to make choices.
- Recording, capture & editing: 4.5/5
Ocenaudio: Complex editing
- Pitch correction and adjustment tools, spectrogram views, and VST support
Ocenaudio has a quantise button in the effects menus under specials. You can then choose your BIT rate from 8, 12, 24 or 32 PCM linear, or various other adaptive options.
There are several audio manipulation, correction, pitch and tempo changers. A very useful noise reduction button can be either manual or automatic. This intelligently lowers the volume of background music or other noise within a track to allow the speaker’s voice to be heard.
The software supports many plug-ins including your VSTs. Within its smart and simple workspace the program is visually quite flexible, and is especially great in Spectrogram view where you are offered even more choices, including plasma and greyscale options and the very gorgeous copper.
Ocenaudio’s energy saving practicality goes on as you can speed up your workflow using key strokes which are easy to find in preferences. While there you can choose to disable the mixer when the screen sleeps. You’ll be reminded, on returning to the computer, that the mixer needs re-enabling.
Ocenaudio: Analysis & export
- Wide options for export, MP4 useful for video creatives, easy file management works in background
Ocenaudio can provide file analysis through FTT or Statistics. FTT offers many analytical views including Han and Flat-top and you can then choose the level of detail by choosing between all the way to 65,536.
Statistics include information about markers, artwork, extensions size on disk, resolution size on memory.
Once you’ve completed editing, you’ll be ready to master and export your audio into one of several formats including FLAC MPEG CAF Apple Lossless, MP3 MP4 and 32 bit float. Other specialized formats include NSP Computerised speech Lab.
Ocenaudio is a fine piece of kit for podcasting, or as video editing software for filming live events or moments without much textured musical incidentals. Normalization and correction tools are great for editing lectures and talks. It would stand out as an app for events like filmed theater shows and radio plays.
You’ve got a really simple and easy to operate system, that can generate tones and phone number dialing tones for simple foley effects and you could easily edit other pre-recorded effects within the app to whatever level of detail you want. Then you can mix them all down for easy listening before exporting.
Lots of sound editing packages say they are aiming for simplicity and effectiveness, Ocenaudio really means it. This is a really clean and appealing app for plenty of uses and with a great feel about it.
Ocenaudio: Scorecard
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Row 0 – Cell 1 | Row 0 – Cell 2 |
| Pricing & plans | Free for everyone, donations accepted | 5 |
| Features | Clean interface, easy to navigate | 4 |
| Capture & editing | Plenty of effects and filters | 4.5 |
| Complex editing | Lots of tools for more advanced audio technicians | 4 |
| Analysis & export | Great range of export formats | 4.5 |
Should I try?
Try it if…
You want free audio editing software that’s as easy to use as possible while still packing in complex features. The attention to detail means that you aren’t overwhelmed with knobs and buttons you don’t really need, so you can concentrate on your overall sound. Very classy free software.
Don’t try it if…
If you’re looking for all the bells and whistles of a full featured musical DAW, or you want more built-in effects, you’ll struggle but that’s not what this is about.
Ocenaudio: Audio editor alternatives
Other excellent free audio editors worth checking out are Audacity and Apple Garageband. For premium and paid-for audio editing software, try Adobe Audition, Apple Logic Pro, and CyberLink AudioDirector. Working to a freemium model, WavePad may also suit those looking for a value for money download.
