OpenDaw

A free, open-source Digital Audio Workstation for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Built with Qt 6 for the UI and Tracktion Engine (JUCE) for the audio backend. Audio and MIDI tracks, a built-in piano roll, sheet music notation, a destructive audio clip editor, VST3 instrument support, bus routing, track automation, audio export, 8 built-in effects, an AI assistant powered by Claude — all free and open source.

Signal routing view — drag cables between inputs, tracks, buses, and outputs

Grab the latest release from the Releases page:

• Starts with 4 audio tracks by default
• Multi-track audio and MIDI arrangement with horizontal scrolling
• Drag-and-drop audio files (.wav, .mp3, .flac, .ogg, .aiff) and MIDI files (.mid, .midi) from the built-in file browser onto any track
• Waveform display on audio clips; note preview on MIDI clips
• Move clips by dragging -- snaps to the grid horizontally and locks to track lanes vertically
• Move clips between tracks by dragging up/down
• Split clips at the playhead (S key or toolbar button)
• Delete selected clips (Delete / Backspace)
• Non-destructive clip fades — drag fade-in and fade-out handles at the top corners of any audio clip
• Clip copy/paste — Ctrl+C / Ctrl+X / Ctrl+V to copy, cut, and paste clips at the playhead position
• User-assignable clip colors — right-click any clip > Set Color to pick a custom color
• Clip context menu: Edit in Piano Roll, Quantize, Duplicate, Set Color, Delete
• Timeline context menu: Add Audio Track, Add MIDI Track, Create Empty MIDI Clip, Remove Track
• Grid snapping with 5 modes: Off, 1/4 Beat, 1/2 Beat, Beat, Bar
• Horizontal and vertical zoom (Ctrl+= / Ctrl+-)
• Drag the right edge of a clip to loop it (non-destructive clip looping)
• Freeze tracks to reduce CPU load; bounce MIDI tracks to audio via the track context menu
• Animated playhead cursor that tracks playback in real time

• Toggle automation lanes per track from the track header
• Automate any parameter: volume, pan, and all effect parameters
• Add breakpoints by double-clicking the automation lane
• Freehand drawing tool for painting automation curves
• Drag individual points or rubber-band select and move groups of points
• Drag curve segments between points to reshape them
• Automation lanes resize vertically by dragging the lane border
• Bypass automation per parameter via the lane header
• Parameter selector dropdown to switch which parameter the lane displays

• Add MIDI tracks via Edit > Add MIDI Track (Ctrl+Shift+T)
• Create empty MIDI clips or import .mid / .midi files by dragging them onto a track
• Multi-track MIDI file import with automatic merge
• Full Piano Roll editor (docked as a tab alongside the Mixer):
  • Add notes with Ctrl+click or double-click
  • Move and resize notes by dragging
  • Delete notes with Delete / Backspace
  • Select all notes (Ctrl+A)
  • Quantize notes to grid
  • Velocity lane for per-note velocity editing
  • CC lane for MIDI continuous controller editing (modulation, expression, sustain, etc.) with freehand and line draw tools
  • Snap modes: Off, 1/4 Beat, 1/2 Beat, Beat, Bar
  • Zoom in / out
  • Right-click context menu: Select All, Delete Selected, Quantize, Add Note Here

Piano Roll — edit MIDI notes, velocity, and timing with snap-to-grid precision

• Renders MIDI clips as standard music notation in a dedicated Sheet Music tab (alongside the Mixer, Piano Roll, and other bottom panels)
• Grand staff display with treble and bass clefs, proper beam grouping, and ledger lines
• Automatic note spelling with key signature support — choose from all 15 major/minor key signatures via a toolbar dropdown
• Correctly quantizes MIDI note durations to whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes (with dotted variants)
• Rests are automatically inserted to fill gaps in each measure
• Measure numbers and bar lines for easy orientation
• Zoom slider to adjust the horizontal scale
• Scrollable score area with click-and-drag panning for navigating longer pieces
• Opens automatically when you double-click a MIDI clip (alongside the Piano Roll)

Sheet Music View — see your MIDI clips rendered as standard notation with key signatures and proper engraving

• Dedicated waveform editor for audio clips — double-click any audio clip to open the Audio Clip tab at the bottom
• Destructive editing with full undo/redo — edits modify the source audio file directly, with a warning banner and confirmation prompt
• Waveform display with time-based selection (click and drag to select regions)
• Snap modes: Off, Beat, Bar
• Mini transport controls: play from start, play/pause, stop, with real-time position display
• Non-destructive gain slider with normalize and bake-gain buttons
• Loop toggle, reverse toggle, and auto-tempo detection
• Selection-based editing operations:
  • Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete selection
  • Silence selection
  • Fade in / Fade out
  • Normalize selection
  • Reverse selection
  • Adjust volume
  • Insert silence
  • DC offset removal
  • Swap channels / Mix to mono
  • Crossfade
• Bake clip fades into the audio file
• Info bar showing BPM, beat count, duration, format (sample rate / bit depth), and file path

Audio Clip Editor — destructive waveform editing with cut, fade, normalize, reverse, and more

• Scan for installed VST3 plugins (Edit > Scan VST Plugins)
• Plugin list cached to %AppData%/OpenDaw/plugin-cache.xml
• VST3 instruments — assign to MIDI tracks via a searchable selector dialog
• VST3 effects — add scanned VST3 effect plugins to any track's effect chain alongside built-in effects
• Open native plugin editor windows for full parameter control
• Instrument button on MIDI track headers and mixer channel strips (click to open editor, right-click to change instrument)
• VST3 plugin parameters are automatable via the automation lane system

• Play, Stop, Record, and Loop buttons
• Click the time ruler to jump the playhead (snaps to grid)
• Click and drag the ruler to scrub smoothly without snapping
• BPM control (20-300 BPM)
• Time signature control (numerator / denominator)
• Dual position display: elapsed time (mm:ss.ms) and bars.beats.ticks
• MIDI Panic (Ctrl+Shift+P) — sends all-notes-off on every channel to silence stuck notes

• File > Export Audio (Ctrl+Shift+E) opens the export dialog
• Three export formats: WAV (uncompressed), FLAC (lossless), OGG Vorbis (lossy)
• WAV: configurable bit depth (16 / 24 / 32-bit float)
• FLAC: configurable bit depth (16 / 24)
• OGG: configurable quality (0-10)
• Sample rate: 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 kHz
• Optional normalize on export
• Progress bar with cancel support during rendering
• Remembers format, quality, and export directory between sessions

• Edit > Audio Settings opens the device configuration dialog
• Select audio driver type (WASAPI, ASIO, DirectSound)
• Choose output device, sample rate, and buffer size
• Shows calculated latency in milliseconds
• Settings persist across sessions

• OpenDaw automatically saves your work periodically in the background
• If the application closes unexpectedly, a recovery dialog appears on next launch
• Lists all recoverable sessions with timestamps
• Choose to restore a previous session or discard recovery data

• Per-track controls: name, Mute (M), Solo (S), Record Arm (R), Mono/Stereo toggle
• Track type badge: AUDIO, MIDI, or BUS
• Input source selector and output destination selector (Master or any bus)
• Instrument button on MIDI tracks (opens VST editor)
• Horizontal volume slider and pan knob per track
• Real-time level meters (green/yellow/red) that react to playback audio
• Drag to reorder — drag track headers up/down to rearrange track order
• Vertically synchronized with the timeline scroll

• Channel strip per track with: vertical volume fader, pan knob, Mute/Solo/Record Arm, level meter
• Bus channel strips alongside regular tracks
• Master channel strip on the right
• Instrument selector on MIDI track channel strips
• Two FX insert slots per track (quick-add Reverb, EQ, Compressor)
• Drag channel strips to reorder tracks directly in the mixer
• Always left-aligned, horizontally scrollable

Add any of these to a track with one click from the Effects panel or mixer FX slots:

• Visual node-based signal routing with drag-and-drop cable connections
• Five column layout: Input Channels → Tracks → Buses → Master → Output Channels
• Color-coded cables show signal flow at a glance
• Bus tracks — create buses to submix groups of tracks, with independent effects processing
• Route any track's output to Master or to a bus
• Sidechain input support on bus tracks with per-effect sidechain source selector
• Rename input devices with custom labels
• Auto-layout button or freely drag nodes to arrange the view
• Right-click cables to disconnect; right-click empty space to add buses
• Node positions persist across sessions
• Zoom and pan navigation

• Select a track to see and edit its effect chain
• Add effects via the "+ Add Effect" button and dialog
• Per-effect bypass and remove controls
• Rotary knobs for up to 4 parameters per effect

• Browse your file system filtered to audio and MIDI files
• Quick-jump locations: Desktop, Music, Documents, Home
• Drag files directly from the browser onto timeline tracks

OpenDaw ships with a built-in AI assistant powered by Anthropic's Claude that can control the entire DAW through natural language. This isn't a chatbot that tells you what buttons to click — it actually executes operations directly on your project, calling up to 30 different tools in an autonomous loop until your request is fulfilled.

Press Ctrl+Shift+Space from anywhere to open the quick prompt overlay, type what you need, and watch it happen.

AI Assistant — describe what you want in plain English and watch it build tracks, compose MIDI, set up routing, and more

Most DAW workflows involve dozens of repetitive clicks: creating tracks, naming them, setting up routing, dialing in effects. The AI assistant collapses these into a single sentence. It reads your current project state — every track name, every effect chain, every routing connection — and figures out the right sequence of operations to get you where you want to be.

Skip the tedious part of starting a new project. Describe what you need and the AI builds it:

"I'm recording a jazz quartet. Set up tracks for upright bass, piano, drums, and tenor sax. Route them all to master. Add a light reverb to every track and set the tempo to 132 BPM in 4/4."

The AI creates four named tracks, adds reverb to each one, sets the tempo, and confirms what it did — all in one go. What would take 30+ clicks takes one sentence.

"Set up a full orchestra template: Violins 1, Violins 2, Violas, Cellos, Basses, Flutes, Oboes, Clarinets, Bassoons, French Horns 1-2, Trumpets 1-2, Trombones 1-2, Tuba, Timpani, Harp, and Percussion. Create a Strings bus and a Brass bus. Route the string sections to the Strings bus and the brass to the Brass bus."

Twenty-plus tracks, two buses, and all routing — done before you could have right-clicked twice.

Make sweeping changes across your entire project with plain English:

"Mute everything except the vocals and drums."

"Set all tracks to -6 dB and pan the guitars hard left and right."

"Rename every track by adding 'Session 3 - ' to the front of each name."

"Solo only Track 1 and Track 4."

The AI reads the current state, figures out which tracks need changing, and calls the right tools for each one.

You don't need to know that the reverb's "room size" parameter is at index 0 and normalized to 0.0–1.0. Just describe what you want to hear:

"Make the reverb on the vocal track sound much longer and more ethereal."

The AI inspects the current reverb parameters, understands that "longer" means increasing room size and decay, and "ethereal" means pushing wet mix higher while reducing damping — then sets the values accordingly.

"The delay on the guitar feels too busy. Reduce the feedback and pull back the mix."

"Add a compressor to the drum bus. Set it up for gentle glue — low ratio, medium attack, fast release."

"Bypass all the effects on Track 3 so I can hear it dry."

Building complex routing by dragging cables is powerful but slow. The AI handles it conversationally:

"Create a bus called 'Reverb Send' and route tracks 1, 2, and 5 to it."

"Move the bass and kick drum to a new 'Low End' bus."

"Disconnect the output on every track except the master bus."

"What are my available input devices? Assign the first one to Track 1."

This is where OpenDaw's AI goes far beyond any traditional DAW assistant. You can describe musical ideas in plain English and the AI will compose and write actual MIDI notes directly into your project — no scripting, no templates, no manual entry.

Under the hood, the AI uses create_midi_clip and add_midi_notes to place real notes with precise pitch, timing, duration, and velocity into your piano roll. It understands music theory and translates your intent into actual note data.

"Create a string arrangement for the chord progression C, Am, F, G. Four bars, lush and cinematic."

The AI creates MIDI tracks for Violins, Violas, and Cellos, works out the correct chord voicings and inversions for each part, adds movement and passing tones so the arrangement breathes, and writes all the notes directly into the piano roll — ready to play back immediately with your VST strings.

"Write a bass line following the root notes of C, Am, F, G over two bars. Eighth notes, punchy."

"Harmonize that melody with thirds above it on a new MIDI track."

"Add an arpeggiated piano part over the C Am F G progression — broken chords, gentle, three beats per chord."

"Double the violin line an octave lower on a cello track."

The AI knows which notes belong to each chord, how to voice them across registers, and how to make an arrangement feel intentional rather than mechanical. It can also read your existing MIDI clips and build on what you already have.

More composition scenarios:

"I have a 4-bar loop with drums and bass. Add a Rhodes piano comping Em, D, C, G in a syncopated style."

"Generate an 8-bar melody over C major that peaks at bar 5 then resolves."

"Create a countermelody that responds to the main melody on Track 2."

"Set up a full string section: Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass — each on its own MIDI channel."

This is real MIDI note generation backed by actual tool calls — not suggestions, not instructions on what to click. The notes appear in your piano roll, ready to edit, play, and export.

Keep your session organized without breaking flow:

"Delete all the empty tracks."

"What effects are on each track? Give me a summary."

"Save the project."

"Undo that last change."

"What's the current tempo and time signature?"

The AI knows what tools it has and can explain your project to you:

"I'm new to mixing. Can you explain what each of my tracks is doing right now?"

"What effects do I have available?"

"Walk me through a basic mixing approach for my 8-track rock session."

Because it can read your actual project state, its advice is grounded in what you really have — not generic suggestions.

The assistant uses agentic tool use: when you send a message, it decides which tools to call, executes them, reads the results, and continues calling more tools if needed — up to 20 rounds per request. It's not scripted or template-based; it reasons about your request and your project state dynamically.

30 tools cover the full surface of the DAW:

Key features:

• Streaming responses — tokens appear word-by-word as the AI thinks, so you see progress immediately
• True agentic behavior — the AI calls tools, inspects results, and loops until the task is complete
• Destructive action safety — optionally prompts for confirmation before deleting tracks or removing effects (on by default)
• Tool output toggle — click "Tools: OFF/ON" to show or hide detailed tool call information (off by default for a clean experience)
• Dynamic project awareness — the system prompt is rebuilt with your current project state at each conversation, so the AI always knows exactly what tracks, effects, and routing you have
• Persistent chat sessions — conversations are saved alongside your project file and restored when you reopen the project
• Audio analysis — the AI can analyze track and master levels, frequency balance, stereo image, transients, and inter-track masking to give mix advice grounded in actual measurements
• Conversation memory — the AI remembers what you've discussed and done within a session
• Privacy-first — bring your own Anthropic API key, stored locally in app settings, never sent anywhere except Anthropic's API

• File > New Project -- start fresh with 4 empty audio tracks
• File > Open Project -- load a .tracktionedit file
• File > Save / Save As -- save your arrangement
• File > Export Audio -- mix down to WAV (Ctrl+Shift+E)
• Edit > Add Audio Track / Add MIDI Track / Remove Selected Track
• Edit > Audio Settings -- configure audio device, sample rate, buffer size
• Edit > Scan VST Plugins -- scan for installed VST3 instruments
• View > Toggle Mixer, Toggle Routing, Toggle Browser, Toggle Effects, Toggle AI Assistant, Toggle Sheet Music, Toggle Piano Roll, Toggle Audio Clip Editor
• Transport > MIDI Panic (Ctrl+Shift+P) -- silence stuck notes
• Help > About OpenDaw

You need the following installed on Windows:

If you only have the MinGW Qt kit, you can add the MSVC kit without the Qt Maintenance Tool:

pip install aqtinstall
aqt install-qt windows desktop 6.10.2 win64_msvc2022_64 --outputdir c:\qt

All commands are for PowerShell on Windows.

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/glenwrhodes/OpenDaw.git
cd OpenDaw

If you already cloned without submodules:

git submodule update --init --depth 1

Tracktion Engine requires a specific JUCE commit. After cloning:

cd libs/JUCE
git fetch origin 7c89e11f6b7316c369f3d3f22227c60e816e738b
git checkout 7c89e11f6b7316c369f3d3f22227c60e816e738b
cd ../..

This must be run from a Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt (or use the vcvarsall.bat wrapper below):

cmd /c "`"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat`" x64 && c:\qt\Tools\CMake_64\bin\cmake.exe -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=c:/qt/6.10.2/msvc2022_64 -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cl -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=cl -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=c:/qt/Tools/Ninja/ninja.exe"

Adjust paths if your Qt or Visual Studio installation differs.

cmd /c "`"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat`" x64 && c:\qt\Tools\CMake_64\bin\cmake.exe --build build"

The first build takes 2-4 minutes (compiling JUCE and Tracktion Engine). Subsequent rebuilds are fast (10-15 seconds).

Instead of the manual steps above, you can use the included build.ps1 PowerShell script:

# Incremental build (fast, ~10-15 seconds)
.\build.ps1

# Full reconfigure + build (needed after CMakeLists.txt changes or new git tags)
.\build.ps1 -Clean

The script automatically sets up the MSVC environment, configures if needed, and builds. It will also kill any running OpenDaw instance before building. Use -Clean after updating a git tag so the new version number gets picked up.

# Add Qt DLLs to PATH for runtime
$env:PATH = "c:\qt\6.10.2\msvc2022_64\bin;" + $env:PATH

# Launch
.\build\OpenDaw_artefacts\Debug\OpenDaw.exe

Or deploy Qt DLLs alongside the executable:

c:\qt\6.10.2\msvc2022_64\bin\windeployqt.exe .\build\OpenDaw_artefacts\Debug\OpenDaw.exe
.\build\OpenDaw_artefacts\Debug\OpenDaw.exe

1. Launch OpenDaw. The window opens with 4 empty audio tracks, a transport bar at the top, track headers on the left, the timeline in the center, the mixer at the bottom, and the file browser / effects panel tabbed on the right.

2. Set your tempo. In the transport bar, adjust the BPM spinner (default 120). Change the time signature with the two spinners next to it (default 4/4).

3. Set your snap mode. Use the "Snap" dropdown in the transport bar to choose grid resolution: Beat (default), Bar, 1/2 Beat, 1/4 Beat, or Off.

1. In the Browser tab (right panel), navigate to a folder containing audio or MIDI files. Use the dropdown at the top for quick access to Desktop, Music, Documents, or Home.

2. Drag an audio file (.wav, .mp3, .flac, .ogg, .aiff) or MIDI file (.mid, .midi) from the browser and drop it onto a track lane in the timeline. The clip will snap to the grid at the drop position.

3. Audio clips display their waveform; MIDI clips display a note preview. You can drag any clip to reposition -- it snaps horizontally to the grid and vertically to track lanes.

4. To add more tracks, go to Edit > Add Audio Track (Ctrl+T) or Edit > Add MIDI Track (Ctrl+Shift+T).

• Click Play (or press Space) to start playback from the current playhead position.
• Click Stop to stop and return the playhead to the beginning.
• Click on the time ruler (the bar/beat numbers at the top) to jump the playhead to that position (snapped to grid).
• Click and drag on the ruler to scrub smoothly through the timeline.
• Toggle Loop to loop playback over the current region.

Each track has controls in two places:

Track headers (left of timeline):

• M -- Mute the track
• S -- Solo the track (only this track plays)
• R -- Arm for recording
• Mono/Stereo toggle -- switch between mono and stereo processing
• Input selector -- choose an audio input device
• Output selector -- route to Master or any bus track
• Volume slider -- horizontal, adjusts track volume
• Pan knob -- drag up/down to pan left/right
• Level meter -- shows real-time audio level (green = good, yellow = hot, red = clipping)

Mixer panel (bottom):

• Same controls in a traditional vertical channel strip layout
• Volume fader -- vertical, drag up/down
• Pan knob -- rotary control
• FX 1 / FX 2 dropdowns -- quick-add Reverb, EQ, or Compressor
• Master strip on the far right -- controls overall output level

1. Switch to the Routing tab (tabbed alongside the Mixer, Piano Roll, Audio Clip, and Sheet Music at the bottom).
2. The view shows your signal chain as draggable nodes: input channels on the left, tracks in the middle, buses and master on the right, and output channels on the far right.
3. Create a bus by clicking the "+ Add Bus" button in the toolbar, or right-click empty space and select "Add Bus".
4. Connect tracks to a bus by dragging a cable from a track's OUT jack to a bus's IN jack, or use the output selector dropdown on the track header.
5. Add effects to a bus using the Effects panel — select the bus track first, then add effects.
6. Rearrange nodes by dragging them freely. Click "Auto Layout" to reset positions.
7. Remove a cable by right-clicking it and selecting "Disconnect".

1. Add a MIDI track via Edit > Add MIDI Track (Ctrl+Shift+T).
2. Create a MIDI clip by right-clicking a MIDI track lane and selecting "Create Empty MIDI Clip", or drag a .mid file from the browser.
3. Open the Piano Roll by double-clicking a MIDI clip (or right-click > Edit in Piano Roll).
4. Add notes with Ctrl+click or double-click on the grid. Drag notes to move them, drag edges to resize.
5. Edit velocity in the velocity lane at the bottom of the Piano Roll -- drag the bars up/down.
6. Quantize notes from the right-click context menu or the Piano Roll toolbar.
7. View as sheet music — switch to the Sheet Music tab at the bottom to see your MIDI clip rendered as standard notation. Use the key signature dropdown to change enharmonic spelling.

1. Double-click an audio clip in the timeline to open the Audio Clip tab at the bottom.
2. The waveform editor shows the full audio file. Click and drag to select a region.
3. Use the toolbar buttons for Cut, Copy, Paste, Silence, Fade In/Out, Normalize, Reverse, and more.
4. Edits are destructive (they modify the source file) but fully undoable — the editor maintains its own undo/redo stack.
5. Adjust the non-destructive Gain slider, or click Norm to normalize, then Bake to write the gain into the file.
6. The info bar at the bottom shows BPM, duration, sample rate, bit depth, and the source file path.

1. Scan for plugins via Edit > Scan VST Plugins. This only needs to be done once (results are cached).
2. Assign an instrument to a MIDI track by clicking the instrument button on the track header or mixer channel strip.
3. Open the plugin editor by clicking the instrument button on a MIDI track that already has an instrument assigned. Right-click to change the instrument.

Quick method: In the mixer, use the FX 1 or FX 2 dropdown on any track's channel strip and select Reverb, EQ, or Compressor.

Full method:

1. Click on an FX dropdown in the mixer to open the Effects tab in the right panel.
2. Click + Add Effect to open the effect selector dialog.
3. Choose from 8 built-in effects and click OK (or double-click).
4. The effect appears with parameter knobs. Adjust to taste.
5. Click Byp to bypass an effect, or X to remove it.

1. Set your API key. Click the AI tab in the right panel, then click Settings. Enter your Anthropic API key (sk-ant-...) and click OK. The key is stored locally and only sent to Anthropic's API.

2. Quick prompt (Ctrl+Shift+Space). Press Ctrl+Shift+Space from anywhere in the app. A floating text input appears — type your request and press Enter. The AI panel opens and the assistant begins working.

3. Chat panel. Click the AI tab on the right panel to open the full chat interface. Type in the input box at the bottom and press Enter (or click Send). Shift+Enter adds a new line.

4. Watch it work. The AI streams its response in real time. If tools are needed (creating tracks, changing settings, adding effects), it calls them automatically and continues until the task is done.

5. Tool output toggle. Click the Tools: OFF button in the header to see detailed tool call information — useful for understanding exactly what the AI did. Toggle it back off for a cleaner view.

6. Destructive action safety. By default, the AI will ask for confirmation before deleting tracks or removing effects. You can toggle this in Settings.

7. Clear conversation. Click Clear to start a fresh conversation. The AI will re-read your current project state at the start of the next message.

• File > Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) -- save your project as a .tracktionedit file.
• File > Save (Ctrl+S) -- save to the current file.
• File > Open (Ctrl+O) -- load a previously saved project.
• File > New (Ctrl+N) -- start a fresh empty project.
• File > Export Audio (Ctrl+Shift+E) -- mix down your project to WAV, FLAC, or OGG Vorbis. Choose format, sample rate, bit depth (or quality for OGG), and whether to normalize.

Global

Piano Roll

AudioMixer/
  CMakeLists.txt                          Root build configuration
  README.md                               This file
  LICENSE                                 GPLv3 license
  CONTRIBUTING.md                         Contribution guidelines
  build.ps1                               PowerShell build script (incremental / -Clean)
  .github/
    workflows/
      release.yml                         CI/CD: build + release on tag push
  installer/
    opendaw.iss                           Inno Setup installer script
  resources/
    splash.png                            Splash screen artwork
    icon.png                              Application icon (PNG)
    OpenDaw.ico                           Windows application icon
    routing-view.png                      Routing view screenshot
    piano-roll.png                        Piano roll screenshot
    sheet-music-view.png                  Sheet music view screenshot
    audio-clip-editor.png                 Audio clip editor screenshot
    ai-assistant.png                      AI assistant panel screenshot
    fontaudio.ttf                         Icon font for audio controls
    MaterialSymbolsOutlined.ttf           Material Design icon font
    Bravura.otf                           SMuFL music notation font
    mixerStripBG.png                      Mixer channel strip background
  libs/
    JUCE/                                 JUCE framework (git submodule)
    tracktion_engine/                     Tracktion Engine (git submodule)
  src/
    main.cpp                              Entry point, JUCE-Qt bridge
    app/
      OpenDawApplication.h/cpp            Application lifecycle, recovery check
      JuceQtBridge.h/cpp                  QTimer-based JUCE message pump
    engine/
      AudioEngine.h/cpp                   Wraps tracktion::engine::Engine, MIDI device enumeration
      EditManager.h/cpp                   Manages the current Edit: tracks, clips, routing, export, autosave
      PluginScanner.h/cpp                 VST3 plugin scanning and cache
    ui/
      MainWindow.h/cpp                    Main window with menus, docks, toolbar
      SplashScreen.h/cpp                  Borderless splash screen (click to dismiss)
      dialogs/
        ExportDialog.h/cpp                Audio export dialog (WAV, sample rate, bit depth, normalize)
        RecoveryDialog.h/cpp              Crash recovery session picker
        AudioSettingsDialog.h/cpp         Audio device and buffer configuration
      timeline/
        TimelineView.h/cpp                Arrangement view with track headers and automation
        TimeRuler.h/cpp                   Beat/bar ruler with click and drag
        TrackHeaderWidget.h/cpp           Per-track controls, level meter, instrument button
        TrackLane.h/cpp                   Track lane data model
        ClipItem.h/cpp                    Audio/MIDI clip with snapped dragging
        GridSnapper.h/cpp                 Snap-to-grid logic
        AutomationLaneItem.h/cpp          Parameter automation lane (curve, points, freehand draw)
        AutomationPointItem.h/cpp         Draggable automation breakpoint
        AutomationLaneHeader.h/cpp        Parameter selector, bypass, close for automation lane
        EnvelopeUtils.h                   Beat/pixel/value math and envelope path building
      pianoroll/
        PianoRollEditor.h/cpp             Piano roll dock widget container
        PianoRollRuler.h/cpp              Beat/bar ruler for the piano roll
        NoteGrid.h/cpp                    Note editing grid (add, move, resize, delete)
        NoteItem.h/cpp                    Individual MIDI note graphics item
        VelocityLane.h/cpp                Per-note velocity editor
        CcLane.h/cpp                      MIDI CC editor lane (freehand / line draw)
        PianoKeyboard.h/cpp               Piano keyboard sidebar
        ChannelColors.h                   16 fixed colors for MIDI channels 1-16
      sheetmusic/
        SheetMusicView.h/cpp              Sheet music tab container with toolbar
        NotationModel.h/cpp               MIDI-to-notation model (measures, beams, rests)
        ScoreScene.h/cpp                  QGraphicsScene renderer for engraved notation
      audioclip/
        AudioClipEditor.h/cpp             Audio clip editor tab with destructive editing
        AudioWaveformView.h/cpp           Zoomable waveform display with selection
        AudioFileOperations.h/cpp         Cut, fade, normalize, reverse, etc.
        AudioFileUndoManager.h/cpp        Undo/redo stack for destructive file edits
        WaveformSelection.h               Selection model for audio waveform view
      mixer/
        MixerView.h/cpp                   Horizontal mixer panel
        ChannelStrip.h/cpp                Per-track mixer strip with instrument selector
      transport/
        TransportBar.h/cpp                Play/Stop/Record/Loop/BPM controls
      controls/
        RotaryKnob.h/cpp                  Custom painted rotary knob
        VolumeFader.h/cpp                 Custom painted vertical fader
        LevelMeter.h/cpp                  Animated green/yellow/red level meter
        WaveformWidget.h/cpp              Waveform rendering widget
      effects/
        EffectChainWidget.h/cpp           Per-track effect chain editor
        DelayEffectWidget.h/cpp           Delay effect UI with tempo-sync mode
        EffectSelectorDialog.h/cpp        Effect picker dialog
        PluginEditorWindow.h/cpp          Native VST plugin editor window
        VstSelectorDialog.h/cpp           Searchable VST instrument selector
      routing/
        RoutingView.h/cpp                 Node-based signal routing view
        RoutingNode.h/cpp                 Draggable routing node (input/track/bus/master/output)
        CableItem.h/cpp                   Color-coded cable connecting jacks
      browser/
        FileBrowserPanel.h/cpp            File system browser with drag support
    ai/
      AiTypes.h                           Shared types: messages, tool calls, roles
      AiToolDefs.h/cpp                    30 tool JSON schemas for Anthropic API
      AiToolExecutor.h/cpp                Dispatches tool calls to engine APIs
      AiService.h/cpp                     Anthropic API client with SSE streaming
      AiChatWidget.h/cpp                  Chat panel UI with streaming & markdown
      AiChatStore.h/cpp                   Persistent chat sessions (saved alongside project)
      AiQuickPrompt.h/cpp                 Ctrl+Shift+Space overlay prompt
      AiAudioAnalysis.h/cpp               Mix analysis: levels, spectrum, stereo, transients, masking
    utils/
      WaveformCache.h/cpp                 Audio file waveform thumbnail cache
      ThemeManager.h/cpp                  Dark theme color management
      IconFont.h                          Icon font registration and glyph constants

OpenDaw bridges two frameworks:

• Qt 6 Widgets handles all GUI rendering, layout, and user interaction
• Tracktion Engine (built on JUCE) handles all audio: playback, recording, effects processing, plugin hosting, and the project data model

A QTimer pumps JUCE's MessageManager every 10ms from Qt's event loop, allowing both frameworks to coexist. Tracktion Engine's audio processing runs on its own real-time thread, independent of either GUI event loop.

Contributions are welcome! Whether it's bug reports, feature requests, or pull requests — all help is appreciated.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details on how to get started, coding conventions, and the PR process.

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 — see the LICENSE file for details.

OpenDaw uses Tracktion Engine (GPLv3) and JUCE (AGPLv3), both of which are compatible with this license.