Autohotkeys is cool but its a windows prog, so won't work for me on linux.

When you speed up/slow down the recording, it has to process the whole file. That takes a while. You can't just slide a slider to different pitches to see what's right. Then you have to save the file someplace, think of a file name, put it somewhere reasonable etc. Or remember the pitch and do everything over again next time.

Audacity's implementation is not just clunky, it isn't good either. Compare that to Music Speed Changer on Android and you'll hear a huge difference in quality.