Ardour
Ardour is a hard disk recorder and digital audio workstation application. Record, edit, and mix on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
Cost / License
- Pay once
- Open Source
Application typeApplication types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Features
Ardour News & Activities
Recent News
- Maoholguin published news article about Ardour
Ardour 9.8 adds keys, scales, improved session recovery, and advanced MIDI editingArdour 9.8 introduces initial support for musical keys and scales, allowing MIDI tracks to identify...
- POX published news article about Ardour
Ardour 9.7 streamlines control surfaces, enhances MIDI editing and adds vertical scrollbarArdour 9.7 introduces major updates to digital audio workstation workflows by restructuring the Con...
- Maoholguin published news article about Ardour
Ardour 9.5 adds pianoroll chord editing, MIDI workflow boosts, and MCP serverThe open-source digital audio workstation Ardour has launched version 9.5, with a strong focus on M...
Recent activities
- bendo liked Ardour
- Pavlin replied to a comment / review on Ardour
Feo-Matif added Ardour as alternative to HyperION DAW
ClipCraft added Ardour as alternative to Clip Craft- Derekman liked Ardour
jafarizhr7 added Ardour as alternative to Sofeh Music Studio- Payonisher liked Ardour
- brodertotte88 liked Ardour
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What is Ardour?
Ardour Videos
Ardour information
Developed by
The Ardour Community Licensing
Open Source and Commercial product.Pricing
One time purchase (perpetual license).Written in
Rating
Average rating of 3.9Alternatives
100 alternatives listedNews
12 news article related to ArdourBadge
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AlternativeTo Categories
Audio & Music, Photos & GraphicsGitHub repository
- 5,283 Stars
- 961 Forks
- 49 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
Best Open Source Audio Recorder & Editing Software for Linux :-)
Unstable, complicated, regularly had to spend ages digging through forum posts and complicated setting windows to get audio input and output working. Ended up buying Bitwig instead after giving it a try, a decision that I absolutely don't regret.
Ardour is a great DAW to use for musicians or anyone working in sound design, audio engineering, podcasting, film, music, all-around basic audio editing sessions, etc. Even as a Pro Tools / Logic Pro user for years, Ardour is a great alternative and it was pretty easy to learn to use. Use their website manual, forum page or even ask Bing Chat to find the features you are looking for on it. I was glad to see all the features I used in Pro Tools / Logic were there, and more. Most of your essential editing features are easy to find though. It's one of my main DAWs I use regularly. Although it was made natively on to run Linux, you will enjoy that the developers also make it available for download on macOS and Windows through their website too. I especially enjoy that this software is licensed in GPLv2 which allows me to install Ardour on all of my computers with ease. Highly recommend Ardour!
dont get me wrong its a great Open Source/FLOSS DAW.
BUT: it is Open Source but its not free if you want to use it on for example Windows.
either you have to Compile the software from source on your own, pay a subscribtion or do a single payment. the only way to get it free is to use a Linux distro and download it for free through flatpak or from the built in "app store".
The Software is FLOSS, but not accessible for all as someone else says in a comment here. Because not all users have the time or knowledge to compile from source. "its so Proffessional", yeah sure. but so is Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic Pro and every other DAW you pay for. its not saying it costs money on the frontpage, its when you try to and click the download button, you get paywalled.
Edit: its easy to compile on Linux, but on Windows, there not even a guide how to do it...
Having a paywall makes it hard to try out the software first. This seems to be a trend recently (like StreamFX for OBS). It's probably going to continue, but at least the cost is low. They should make it clear that you have to pay on the front page. Hopefully we're not far off from being able to ask Bing to compile the source code for us on Windows.
Actually, Ardour includes a free demo. You can use it for 10 minutes before the audio goes silent. After that, playback remains available, but the allowed playback time gets shorter with each cycle-for example, 5 minutes, then 2, and eventually 1. You can also choose the “Give me more time” option, which is free as well, so there’s no need to pay for the full version.
Ardour is a professional-grade DAW that's accessible to all. It can be compiled from source for free, or installed by packages for a small donation ($1). Fully-featured, actively developed, and with plenty of extensibility through plugin support.
Is there any comprehensive compilation guide out there for Windows users?
sadly no
I am recently moving from Bitwig (say no more) and am looking for alternative software and i must say that i am impressed with Ardour 5. The payment system is very fair by allowing the user/s to pay what they think it is worth which is a good and honest model which is clearly working. Ardour is working seamlessly on linux and, after playing around with the demo, will definately be contributing to this project in the near future.