Descript Reviews

It is user friendly and doesn't require much experience in video and audio editing. Filler words and word gap detection and removal are great features. The export and publish features allow for sharing and publishing the content to other applications. It transcribes very fast and it's great in identifying and assigning speakers. It is easy to cut and paste words while moving the audio waveforms. It also does a great job of matching separate audio files.

Stability of the software is a great concern. Sometimes it just freezes and you can't access the project you are working on. There is also more that can be done on the sound effects.

Being able to edit text and have that automatically edit the audio is an amazing time saver. I was skeptical of the quality of edits this would provide, but 95% of the time the cross fades etc. it adds are spot on. For that 5% of the time where it's not quite right, you can easily adjust things using the waveform editor.

The transcription service seems to have been primarily trained on white/European-descent speakers. I've edited several episodes with African guests and the transcription is awful. You can still use it to edit the audio OK, with some laughs at the mistakes it made. But, if you want to publish a transcript then you're basically rewriting the whole thing.

love that the transcripts are very accurate
the product has so many features and i am learning new features everyday
love that i can eliminate 4-5 pieces of software
love that i can create audio grams
very easy for editing text and video

there are so many features, it does have a long learning curve with some of its functions
the demo videos are a little confusing and I had to watch them a few times to figure out how exactly to do certain things.

The killer feature of this product is the ability to edit text and audio or video simultaneously. You can edit each and the other immediately updates, so it's possible to "read" your entire show as well as edit in depth by words or by frames or samples when necessary.
It's wonderful to have the whole project in the cloud with comments shared like a Google Doc for collaboration.
The automatic transcription works pretty well with clear speakers.
Exporting to audio files or DAW projects works well.

The automatic edits at word boundaries can be a little rough and need hand touching up.
Sometimes the software needs to be restarted to take into account a new update.
Occasional slipping of time or data due to software updates or collaboration.
Could still use a "stem" export function in addition to flattened audio and DAW projects.
It would be great to improve automated transcription further, but this is a hard problem.

The transcription and editing capabilities is are what I use most. I can edit a podcast and have it blog ready in a very short amount of time. I like that I can edit out filler words painlessly with the touch of a button. Also, the tutorials have been a huge help AND the couple of times I've needed to reach out for help, I've found the Customer Support to be responsive and friendly. No downtime necessary to get my questions answered in a fast and timely manner.

I'd like to see the voice recognition and transcription continue to be improved. Descript does a great job, but the better it becomes, the faster I get due to having less corrections. Still, my editing is a simpler process now than it was before.

The difference Descript has over other transcription services is that you can
1. Create variations by making different projects
2. Export XML to Final Cut or Premier for an edited version that speeds up workflow for interviews and the spoken word.

Learning the software is pretty straight forward and they have great tutorials when you run into a snag.

Descript has been a game changer for my corporate and personal profile video workflow. I share the script with my client and ask them to highlight stuff they want me to try and keep in their spoken word. When I’m done putting a rough together, I send them a link from the site. Super easy and looks really professional.

I can’t really say there are any con’s at the moment. This software tops the other transcription services that I was using and wouldn’t go back because of the features and cost of descript.

Ease of editing by working with the transcript and not the video & audio only.

The continual updates. Seriously this has got to stop. Every single week a button has moved or been added or changed shape. Please stop. I would pay triple to stop the changes.

It does so many things that I need it to do. It handles the end-to-end process of recording, editing, polishing and presenting audio and visual self-created media, and does it with class.
The 'hook' that originally set me on to the software was the functionality of being able to edit text and have the audio automatically edited. Previously I was using standard audio editing software, and because I do a lot of editing (mid sentence edits, changing the location of words) I would probably have had a breakdown if I hadn't found Descript.

I think it's not quite right to describe these as 'cons' as the software is continually being updated, and users finding areas for improvement is part of the process.
As you use the software more, you discover things that you would like to have differently. For example, at the moment, you can't pause the Screen Recorder - not a massive issue because you can delete gaps automatically - but still something that should be fairly easy to add.
These issues don't bother me, because I know I can send an email and there is a high likelihood that the issue will be fixed.

I really like that as a person with no audio or video editing experience, I can create useable short audio and video content for social media, websites and for sharing information. I no longer have to outsource this editing work to Fivrr.

As the product grows and more features are added, it become harder to learn the system if you have no editing background.

Having visual access to an audio edit is a game changer! Gone are the days of time-coded confusing and long winded client feedback, Descript allows me and my edit team access to quickly create and amend transcribed podcasts.

I would like to see improved audio mixing capabilities, via Waves and Izotope plug in integrations.

Collaboration features a very good transcription and a friendly interface.

Other languages, translation services, and possibly the Greek language.

easy to use in the main, could do with clearer instructions to maximize the ROI

translation can be off, not to good at regional UK accents

I love having a global perspective of the content in a video or audio file by reading the automatic transcription. When I have a video in a traditional linear editor I have no perspective of what content falls where, this requires me to watch the content in full, take notes, and then start editing. With Descript I can get context by skimming the text and start editing almost immediately!

Playback and editing controls are not intuitive, opposite functionality of other mainstream products.

I love the fact that I get a transcription right away. I also like using the transcription to edit. Very cool and different.

The screen recording feature needs work. Every time I use it I have issues. It would also be nice to upload my audio and it not be touched. Sometimes I have already run it through leveling and such and I have to do it over again after export because it lowers the volume.

Editing a video or audio on the basis of the transcription, i.e. practically editing text, makes life so much easier. I love that it's the only tool I need for editing videos and audios.
The support is outstanding - quick and always personal and nurturing.
Love that it's being improved constantly too.
It's the first tool ever that I upgraded even before the free trial hours were used.

The only trouble I had was sharing projects with a team member and messing about until we managed to all access what we need to access.

I was truly deeply excited when I first used the software. And that's rare for me! Jam packing so many features into one software. Amazing.

Video editing by editing text.
Amazing automatic transcriptions.
Closed captioning.
Overdubbing with a robot voice clone that's just like my own.

This is truly amazing!

I really have nothing to complain about. the automatic transcriptions are not perfect out of the box, but they can't be. I don't expect them to be. But I'm sure AI technology will continue to improve in this area exponentially.

I really like having the transcript to make navigation of the audio file much easier. It is also super helpful in identifying editing points. I also appreciate how easy it is to edit individual tracks within the larger audio project and easily drag-and-drop files.

I was brand new to podcast and audio editing, which is why I chose Descript. I needed to do outside research for advice about audio levels and how to adjust them. It also took some trial and error to figure out the best way to normalize levels. Generally I have found the tutorials and help forums moderately helpful, but hard to search for certain terms.

I love using this for podcast editing because it's so easy! I can edit out filler words quickly, and I love having a transcript of the episode ready for some quick edits.

It's a little hard to get used to some of the other features, but the tutorial videos help.

For how robust the software is, it's remarkably affordable. The amount of included automatic transcription hours is quite generous, especially compared to other tools.

The automatic transcription - although very good, missed a LOT of nuances, words and phrases that sometimes made editing the transcription a real pain and a lengthy process.

My favorite feature is color-coded highlighting and exporting. I can export just the selections I need - it helps me when I need to bang out a produced story on a deadline and I am sorting through hours of tape! Editing and selecting the words my subjects have said is so useful. It also helps me write my script for my story - I can copy/paste the text of what my subject says.

It's not totally intuitive how to select or expert ambient noise, and I make all of my teeny-tiny edits (ums, uhs) in a different audio editor. But I use Descript for organizing and exporting files and selections.

This software is very user friendly and as a beginner it's exactly what I needed!

at first it was difficult to confirm who was speaking and had to manually edit.

My favorite thing is just how simple it is to go from a video file to a .srt file for Youtube.

Sometimes I have a major difficulty getting the text edit to register my clicks and keystrokes.

Because of Descript, not only are all my filler words eliminated with a couple punches on the keyboard, but by seeing the entire podcast episode laid out in front of me, I can also eliminate repeating words and anything else that makes my show sound unprofessional.

I feel the filler words section could be expanded, and if the software could identify spots where words are repeated and can be reviewed on a case by case basis, that would help even more.

The transcribing ability in this software is truly lifechanging. It has made video editing so much faster and easier. We do a lot of editing so this makes life so much better.

The program opens so many windows sometimes and takes up a lot of RAM especially when exporting, my machine can handle it just fine but it may be an issue for others. Also there are a lot of updates which is good in some ways but often I am in the middle of editing and get prompted to restart the program.

I love that I can use Descript to edit out material by reading it simultaneously to listening

I still find the transcripts are often incomprehensible