Audio tracks
Import wav, aiff, flac, mp3 and ogg by dragging them in. Record several armed tracks at once, each from its own input, with live monitoring through the track's effects.
Record, sequence and mix.
Abducted by sound.
UFODAW is a small, free digital audio workstation for Windows. Audio and MIDI tracks, VST3 plugins, a sampler, a drum rack and deep automation, in a warm dark interface that stays out of your way.
VST3instruments & effects
ASIOlow-latency audio
.mdawself-contained projects
C++ / JUCEnative, no bloat
Everything you need to finish a song
MIDI & synth
Piano roll with velocity editing, quantize, swing and humanize. A built-in polyphonic synth with ADSR and low-pass, or any VST3 instrument.
Drum rack & sampler
16 pads, each a small sampler with velocity layers and round-robin. A Simpler-style sampler with slicing by hits, slices to MIDI, and BPM detection.
Loop recording & comping
Every loop pass becomes a take. Punch in and out, comp the best parts together in the comp view, and drag takes as blocks.
Mixer & effects
EQ, compressor with sidechain, delay and reverb on every track, plus buses and sends, a master channel, and plugin delay compensation of up to two seconds.
Automation
Breakpoint envelopes for volume, pan, every built-in effect and any plugin parameter, with automation rides, takes and comping.
Warp & stretch
Warp audio clips to the project's beat grid, time-stretch and pitch-shift powered by Rubber Band, with clip gain, fades and crossfades.
Metering & mastering aids
LUFS loudness meter, clipping lamps on every meter, a reference-track A/B switch, and a CPU readout so you see trouble before it crackles.
Hardware friendly
MIDI clock, external analog synths, controller support, sequencer plugins like Stochas driving any instrument, and a built-in chromatic tuner.
Go deeper
The complicated parts, explained step by step in the guide.
Takes & compingLoop record, swipe-comp, punch in and out
Automation ridesTouch, Latch and Write with take comping
Sampler & slicingSlice by hits, slices to MIDI, tempo detection
Warping audioMarkers over the beat grid, pitch kept
MIDI routingOne sequencer driving many synths
Hardware & clockExternal synths and MIDI clock out
Sidechain & busesDucking, sends and plugin delay compensation
Stems & exportAligned stems, 32-bit float, six formats
Read the full guide
Built around how you actually work
- Command palette. Press Ctrl+K and type what you want to do.
- Your own shortcuts. Every command can be rebound.
- Project tabs. Several projects open at once, with a clipboard shared between them.
- Arrangement sections. Name verse, chorus and bridge, and navigate by them.
- Safe by default. Autosave and crash recovery, time-stamped backups on every save, and a version history.
- Move your project anywhere. Save with all audio in one folder and take it to another disk or PC.
- Export your way. WAV 16/24/32-bit float and more, plus stem export with every track as its own file.
- Quick tour. A short guided tour on first launch gets you playing quickly.
What's new
0.8.7.3 latest
- Plugin delay compensation up to 2 seconds (was 0.5 s), with a 10 ms crossfade when a plugin changes its latency while playing: no gap or click.
- What you do inside a plugin's own window is now part of undo.
- macOS build can host Audio Units (untested).
0.8.7.2
- Ctrl+K and the other shortcuts work right after start-up, without clicking in the project first.
0.8.7.1
- A new icon: a UFO in front of an orange planet and an asteroid field.
0.8.7
- Command palette (Ctrl+K) and rebindable shortcuts.
- Sidechain compression, a master meter with LUFS, and a reference track with A/B switching.
- Copy clips and whole sections between projects.
Download
Grab UFODAW-0.8.7.3-win64.zip (the latest version) from the Releases page, unzip it and run UFODAW.exe. Double-click any .mdaw file to open a project directly.
Missing something?
UFODAW is shaped by the people who use it. Tell us which feature you want next, or vote for ideas that are already on the list.
FAQ
Is it really free?
Yes. UFODAW is free software under the GNU AGPLv3. You can use it, study it and modify it.
Does it run on macOS or Linux?
Not yet. UFODAW is built and tested for Windows. The code has a macOS build that can also host Audio Units, but that is untested because it needs a Mac. There is no Linux build.
Can I use my audio interface's ASIO driver?
Yes. ASIO is supported when built with Steinberg's ASIO SDK. Otherwise WASAPI and DirectSound drivers are available, or an aggregate driver from your interface maker.
Which plugins work?
VST3 instruments and effects, with their own editor windows. Plugin state is stored in the project, and what you do in a plugin window is part of undo. VST2 and CLAP are not supported.
Can I build it myself?
Yes. It is C++17 with CMake and JUCE 8: cmake -S . -B build, then cmake --build build --config Release. Use Release, since Debug is too slow for audio.