Top Alternatives to Ardour

LMMS is a free and open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) that provides comprehensive tools for music production. It allows users to compose, mix, and automate music, offering features like a piano roll, beat/bassline editor, sampler, and support for various plugins. Ideal for both beginners and experienced producers seeking a cost-effective solution.

FL Studio is a comprehensive Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) offering a complete music production environment. It provides tools for composing, arranging, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering professional-quality music, making it suitable for beginners and experienced producers alike.

GarageBand transforms your Mac into a complete music creation studio, offering everything you need to learn, play, record, and share your music. It’s designed for both beginners and experienced musicians, providing intuitive tools and a vast library of sounds.

Adobe Audition is a comprehensive digital audio workstation and audio editor designed for professional audio mixing, mastering, and sound effect design. It combines multitrack, waveform, and spectral editing capabilities in a single integrated package.

REAPER is a comprehensive and efficient digital audio workstation (DAW) known for its flexibility, power, and affordability. It offers extensive multitrack recording, audio and MIDI editing capabilities, built-in effects, and deep customization options, making it suitable for musicians, audio engineers, and producers.

Ableton Live is a powerful digital audio workstation (DAW) for macOS and Windows, designed for music creation, production, and live performance. It uniquely combines a traditional linear arrangement view with an innovative non-linear session view.

Reason is a comprehensive Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) renowned for its virtual studio rack workflow, allowing musicians and producers to create, record, mix, and master music with a wide array of virtual instruments, effects, and mixing tools. Its intuitive, visual interface simulates a hardware studio environment, fostering creativity.

Logic Pro is a powerful digital audio workstation designed for macOS, providing a comprehensive environment for professional music production, recording, editing, and mixing.

Cubase is a comprehensive digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for professional music production. It offers powerful tools for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering audio, along with extensive MIDI sequencing capabilities.

Sony ACID Pro is a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) renowned for its innovative loop-based music creation capabilities and robust audio editing tools.

Rosegarden is a free digital audio workstation (DAW) for Linux users, tailored for music composition, editing, and recording, integrating MIDI and audio capabilities with a strong emphasis on scorewriting.

Avid Pro Tools is the industry-standard digital audio workstation (DAW) for composing, recording, editing, and mixing music and audio for film, TV, and other media. Known for its powerful features and professional-grade tools.

Bitwig Studio is a comprehensive Digital Audio Workstation designed for music creation, production, performance, and DJing across multiple platforms. It emphasizes flexibility and efficiency through innovative tools like its modular environment, The Grid, and a fluid workflow for both linear arrangement and non-linear clip launching.

Renoise is a distinctive Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that leverages the tracker interface paradigm, offering a unique and powerful approach to music creation. Combining the speed and efficiency of tracking with modern features like VST support, scripting, and live performance capabilities, it caters to producers seeking an alternative workflow.

Qtractor is a powerful open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) designed specifically for the Linux operating system. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for multitrack audio recording, editing, and mixing.

WavePad is a powerful yet accessible audio editing software that allows users to record, edit, and manipulate audio files. It supports a wide range of formats and offers features suitable for both beginners and experienced audio professionals.

PreSonus Studio One is a comprehensive digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for creating, recording, mixing, and mastering music. It offers a streamlined workflow and powerful tools suitable for musicians, producers, and audio engineers of all levels.

Soundation Studio is a web-based digital audio workstation (DAW) offering a comprehensive suite of tools for music production. It includes audio recording, virtual instruments, effects, a large loop library, and MIDI support, all accessible directly within your web browser.

MuLab is a portable and powerful digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for music production, recording, mixing, and live performance. It features a unique modular architecture, extensive VST plugin support, and a user-friendly interface, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced musicians.

Cakewalk SONAR is a powerful digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for professional music production, recording, and mixing. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for composing, arranging, editing, and producing audio and MIDI.

Free Audio Editor is a comprehensive audio editing suite designed for both beginners and experienced users. It offers a wide range of tools for recording, editing, and enhancing audio files, along with features for batch processing and disc burning.

Radium is a unique music editor and tracker that brings a fresh perspective to digital audio workstations. It combines elements of traditional trackers with modern features like VST support, spectral editing, and a modular system, offering a distinct workflow for audio production.

WaveShop is a free, open-source audio editor for Windows, designed for efficient bit-perfect editing of audio files. It focuses on precise audio manipulation without altering samples unless necessary, making it ideal for tasks like trimming, fading, and format conversion.

Tracktion is a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for music production, recording, editing, and mixing. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for handling audio and MIDI, supporting a wide range of workflows from songwriting to mastering.

Frinika is a free, open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) providing a comprehensive suite of tools for music creation, including sequencing, audio editing, and virtual instrument support.

Ohm Studio is an innovative cloud-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) uniquely designed for real-time collaborative music production. It allows musicians and producers to work together on projects simultaneously, regardless of location, facilitating seamless creativity and teamwork.

Harrison Mixbus is a digital audio workstation (DAW) specifically designed for music mixing and audio production, integrating Harrison's renowned console processing directly into the software environment. It focuses on delivering a console-like workflow with exceptional sound quality.

Luppp is a free and open-source music creation and looping software designed primarily for live performance. It enables musicians to build tracks layer by layer using loops, MIDI input, and audio recording, offering a flexible environment for improvisation and rapid musical idea development.

Traverso DAW is a comprehensive cross-platform digital audio workstation designed for multitrack audio recording, editing, and mastering. It offers a non-linear processing workflow and includes support for essential audio tasks like mixing and effect application.

energyXT is a versatile and user-friendly digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for music production. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering audio and MIDI, all within a flexible and customizable interface.