Comparison of free software for audio

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This comparison of free software for audio lists notable free and open source software for use by sound engineers, audio producers, and those involved in sound recording and reproduction.

Contents

Audio analysis

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
BRP-PACU YesYesDual channel FFT tool for equalization of sound systems using the transfer function. GPL-2.0-or-later
Praat Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of AmsterdamYesYesYesA program for the analysis of speech in phonetics. GPL-2.0-or-later
Sonic Visualiser Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary, University of London YesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
WaveSurfer YesYesYes BSD-like

Converters

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
FFmpeg Fabrice Bellard YesYesYesYesAudio & video. LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later
fre:ac Robert KauschYesYesYesYesformerly BonkEnc GPL-2.0-or-later
Libav Libav teamYesYesYesYesAudio & video. LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later
MPlayer YesYesYesYesAudio & video. GPL-2.0-or-later

DJ software

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
Mixxx Mixxx Development TeamYesYesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
Xwax Mark HillsYesNoNoNo GPL-2.0-only

Distributions and other platforms

Various projects have formed to integrate the existing free software audio packages.

NameCreatorDescriptionNoteLicense
AVLinux Linux distribution various
dyne:bolic Linux distribution various
Musix GNU+Linux Linux distribution various
Planet CCRMA set of packages (in RPM format)
Ubuntu Studio Linux distribution various

Modular systems

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
Integra Live Birmingham Conservatoire NoYesNoYes GPL-2.0-or-later
LibvisualYesYesYesYes LGPL-2.1-or-later
VisualAp YesYesYes GPL

Notation

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
LilyPond Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan NieuwenhuizenYesYesYesYesa music engraving program GPL-3.0-or-later
MuseScore Werner SchweerYesYesYes Various BSDs [1] Yesa WYSIWYG scorewriter with midi playback and audio exportv4: GPL-3.0-only
v0-3: GPL-2.0-only
with font exception, Proprietary (mobile app and online service)
Impro-Visor Bob KellerYesYesYesYes lead sheet notation, jazz improvisation, auto-accompaniment GPL-2.0-or-later

Players

NameGUIProgramming languageDatabase Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NotesLicense
Amarok Qt C++ MySQL YesYesUnstableInactive since 2018 GPL-2.0-or-later
aTunes Swing Java YesYesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
Audacious GTK / Qt C YesYes BSD 2-Clause
Banshee GTK+ C# SQLite YesYesYesInactive since 2014 MIT
Clementine Qt C++ SQLite3 YesYesYesInactive since 2016 GPL-3.0-or-later
DeaDBeeF GTK+ C, C++, Objective-C, Assembly YesYesYes GPLv2, zlib
Exaile GTK Python Pickle YesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
Guayadeque wxWidgets C++, C SQLite3 YesDevelopment ceased as of September 29, 2023 GPL-3.0-or-later
JuK Qt C++ YesYesYes Linux (KDE) GPL-2.0-or-later
Miro WebKit in GTK/Cocoa Python YesYesYesDiscontinued in 2013 GPL-2.0-or-later
Muine GTK# C# YesCan use GStreamer and xine GPL-2.0-or-later
Nightingale XULRunner C++ SQLite?YesYesYesFork of Songbird; inactive since 2014 GPL v2, MPL, BSD
Quod Libet GTK Python Pickle YesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
qmmp Qt C++ YesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
Rhythmbox GTK C YesYesNot GNU Data Access GPL-2.0-or-later
Sayonara Player Qt C++ YesYes GPL-3.0-or-later
Songbird XULRunner C++ SQLite?UnofficialYesUnofficialYesAbandoned, final release on February 4, 2013 GPL v2 with exceptions, Android client closed source
Tomahawk Qt C++ SQLite YesYesYesAbandoned, final release on April 15, 2015 GPL-3.0-or-later
XMMS GTK+ C++ YesYesDiscontinued in 2007 GPL-2.0-or-later

Programming languages

Many computer music programming languages are implemented in free software. See also the comparison of audio synthesis environments.

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
Csound Csound community, Barry Vercoe YesYesNo?Yes LGPL-2.1-or-later
ChucK Ge Wang, Perry CookYesYesNo?Yes GPL-2.0-or-later (Mac, Linux, Windows versions)

Proprietary (iOS version)

Nyquist Computer Music Project at Carnegie Mellon University, Roger B. DannenbergYesYesYesYes
Pure Data Pd Community, Miller Puckette YesYesYesYes BSD-3-Clause
Sonic Pi Sam AaronYesYes ?YesMIIT
SuperCollider SuperCollider community, James McCartneyYesYesYes?Yes GPL-3.0-or-later
TidalCycles Alex McLean et alYesYesYesYes GPL-3.0-or-later

Radio broadcasting

See also streaming below.

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
Airtime (software) Sourcefabric YesNo ?NoSuccessor to Campcaster
From 2.5.2: AGPL-3.0-only
1.6 to 2.5.1: GPL-3.0-only
Campcaster Sourcefabric YesNo ?No GPL-2.0-or-later
OpenBroadcaster OpenBroadcaster YesNoYesNo AGPL-3.0-or-later
SDRangel YesYesYesYes GPL-3.0-or-later

Recording and editing

The following packages are digital audio editors.

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?GUI toolkitNoteLicense
Ardour Paul Davis YesYesYesYesGTK+multi-track audio recorder and editor GPL-2.0-or-later
Audacity Dominic MazzoniYesYesYesYeswxWidgetsmulti-track audio recorder and editor GPL-2.0-or-later, CC BY 3.0 (documentation)
Ecasound YesYesYesYes limited support through Cygwin command lineaudio recorder GPL-2.0-or-later
Gnome Wave Cleaner Jeff WeltyYesNoNoGTK+audio editor GPL-2.0-or-later
Jokosher Jokosher communityYesNoYesGTK+ GPL-2.0-only with exception
LMMS Tobias DoerffelYesYes as of 0.4.0 with Qt4YesQtmulti-track audio editor intended as a replacement for Cubase-like software (DAW) GPL-2.0-or-later
MusE YesNoNoQt MIDI sequencer GPL-2.0-or-later
Qtractor YesNoNoQtA non-destructive multi-track audio and MIDI Workstation (DAW) GPL-2.0-or-later
Rosegarden Chris CannamYesNoNoQtMIDI sequencer and multi-track recorder GPL-2.0-or-later
SoX YesYesYesYescommand-linemulti-track audio editor/processor LGPL-2.1-or-later,

GPL-2.0-or-later

Sweep Conrad ParkerYesNoYesNo GPL-2.0-or-later
Traverso DAW Remon SijrierYesYesYesmulti-track audio recorder and editor GPL
WaveSurfer Centre for Speech Technology at KTH YesYesYesYesTk BSD-like
Stargate DAW Stargate DAWYesYesYesYesmulti-track audio recorder and MIDI Workstation (DAW) GPL-3.0-or-later

Softsynths

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
FluidSynth YesYesYesYes SoundFont player/renderer LGPL-2.1-or-later
TiMidity++ YesYesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
Yoshimi Alan CalvertYesNoYes Various BSDsNoForked from ZynAddSubFX in 2009 GPL-2.0-or-later
ZynAddSubFX Paul NascaYesYesYesYes GPL-2.0-or-later
WildMIDI Yes ? ? ?Some alternative to TiMidityPlayer: GPL-3.0-or-later
Library: LGPL-3.0-or-later

Streaming

These programs are for use with streaming audio.

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
Firefly Media Server YesYesYesstreams music to DAAP clients like iTunes and Rhythmbox GPL-2.0-or-later
Icecast YesYesYesa broadcast server, serves audio signals to clients over the HTTP protocol GPL-2.0-only
VLC media player YesYesYesYesmedia and server programs for video and audio streamingVLC: GPL-2.0-or-later
libVLC: LGPL-2.1-or-later

Technologies

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)Yesthe sound card driver and management system in the Linux kernel GPL-2.0-or-later
LGPL-2.1-or-later
aRts Yesan audio programming API and sound server for general desktop, no longer in development GPL
DSSI Yesa plugin architecture for software synthesizers LGPL-2.1-or-later
GStreamer YesYesYesYesa graph-based multimedia framework LGPL-2.1-or-later
JACK Audio Connection Kit (JACK)JACK Team, Paul Davis YesYes (JACK OS X)Yes (jackdmp)a sound server for integration of general and low-latency pro audio applications, including timebase transport GPL-2.0-or-later
LGPL-2.1-or-later
Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin API (LADSPA)Yesa plugin architecture for digital signal processing LGPL-2.1-or-later
Open Sound System YesYesa sound card management and driver system for Unix operating systems BSD-2-Clause
CDDL-1.0
GPL-2.0-only
Proprietary (formerly)
PipeWire Wim TaymansYesYes (FreeBSD)a media daemon, unifying JACK Audio Connection Kit, PulseAudio, and GStreamer MIT License
PortAudio & PortMidi Ross BencinaYesYesYesa cross-platform, open-source C language library for real-time audio & midi I/O MIT License
PulseAudio YesYesYes (Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD)Yesa sound server for general desktop and multihost LAN applications LGPL-2.1-or-later
sndio YesNoYes (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD)No sound and MIDI server ISC

Trackers

These music sequencer programs allow users to arrange notes (pitch-shifted sound samples) on a timeline: see tracker (music software).

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
MilkyTracker YesYesYesYesAlso runs on various other platforms including Windows Mobile, PlayStation and AmigaOS 4. GPL-3.0-or-later
MilkyPlay: BSD-3-Clause
OpenMPT Olivier LapicqueNoNoNoYesReleased as free software in 2004 BSD-3-Clause (since OpenMPT 1.17.02.53) / GPL-2.0-or-later, partly public domain
SoundTracker YesNoYesNo Fast Tracker clone GPL-2.0-or-later
SunVox Alexander ZolotovYesYesYesYesAlso runs on Windows CE. Proprietary (Music Creation Studio)
BSD-3-Clause (Engine)
Noise Station Mark SheekyNoNoNoYes CC BY-SA 4.0

Other

NameCreator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows?NoteLicense
Gnaural YesYesYesYes Binaural beat and pink noise generator GPL-2.0-or-later
Hydrogen YesYesPartialPartialan advanced drum machine GPL-2.0-or-later
libsndfile YesYesYesYeslibrary for reading and writing many sound formats LGPL-2.1-or-later
EasyEffects Wellington WallaceYesNoYesNoEffects processing for applications using PipeWire sound server GPL-3.0-or-later

See also

Related Research Articles

A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. Codec is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital audio workstation</span> Electronic device or application software used for recording, editing and producing audio files

A digital audio workstation is an electronic device or application software used for recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software program on a laptop, to an integrated stand-alone unit, all the way to a highly complex configuration of numerous components controlled by a central computer. Regardless of configuration, modern DAWs have a central interface that allows the user to alter and mix multiple recordings and tracks into a final produced piece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max (software)</span> Visual programming language

Max, also known as Max/MSP/Jitter, is a visual programming language for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. Over its more than thirty-year history, it has been used by composers, performers, software designers, researchers, and artists to create recordings, performances, and installations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual programming language</span> Programming language written graphically by a user

In computing, a visual programming language, also known as diagrammatic programming, graphical programming or block coding, is a programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols, used either as elements of syntax or secondary notation. For example, many VPLs are based on the idea of "boxes and arrows", where boxes or other screen objects are treated as entities, connected by arrows, lines or arcs which represent relations. VPLs are generally the basis of Low-code development platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhythmbox</span> Free and open source audio player

Rhythmbox is a free and open-source audio player software, tag editor and music organizer for digital audio files on Linux and Unix-like systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sound Juicer</span> CD ripper

Sound Juicer is the official CD ripper program of GNOME. It is based on GTK, GStreamer, and libburnia for reading and writing optical discs. It can extract audio tracks from optical audio discs and convert them into audio files that a personal computer or digital audio player can play. It supports ripping to any audio codec supported by a GStreamer plugin, such as Opus, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and uncompressed PCM formats. Versions after 2.12 implement CD playing capability. Last versions produce lossy formats with default GStreamer settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PulseAudio</span> Sound server for Unix-like operating systems

PulseAudio is a network-capable sound server program distributed via the freedesktop.org project. It runs mainly on Linux, including Windows Subsystem for Linux on Microsoft Windows and Termux on Android; various BSD distributions such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and macOS; as well as Illumos distributions and the Solaris operating system. It serves as a middleware in between applications and hardware and handles raw PCM audio streams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LMMS</span> Free software digital audio workstation

LMMS is a digital audio workstation application program. It allows music to be produced by arranging samples, synthesizing sounds, entering notes via computer keyboard or mouse or by playing on a MIDI keyboard, and combining the features of trackers and sequencers. It is free and open source software, written in Qt and released under GPL-2.0-or-later.

The table below provides an overview of notable computer-aided design (CAD) software. It does not judge power, ease of use, or other user-experience aspects. The table does not include software that is still in development. For all-purpose 3D programs, see Comparison of 3D computer graphics software. CAD refers to a specific type of drawing and modelling software application that is used for creating designs and technical drawings. These can be 3D drawings or 2D drawings.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to software:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Studio</span> Software application

Free Studio is a freeware set of multimedia programs developed by DVDVideoSoft. The programs are available in one integrated package and also as separate downloads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Image Processing with Sound</span>

DIPS (Digital Image Processing with Sound) is a set of plug-in objects that handle real-time digital image processing in Max/MSP programming environment. Combining with the built-in objects of the environment, DIPS enables to program the interaction between audio and visual events with ease, and supports the realization of interactive multimedia art as well as interactive computer music.

References

  1. "Download". MuseScore.org. Retrieved 2021-10-05.