| BEAST | |
| Programming Language: | C++11 |
| Genre: | music composition and Modular synthesiser |
| License: | GNU LGPL |
Beast is a music composition and modular synthesis application released as free software under the GNU GPL and GNU LGPL licenses, that runs under Unix. It supports MIDI, WAV/AIFF/MP3/OggVorbis/etc audio files and LADSPA modules. It is capable of multitrack editing, unlimited undo/redo support, real-time synthesis support, 32-bit audio rendering, full duplex support, multiprocessor support, conditional MMX/SSE utilisation for plugins, precise timing down to sample granularity, on-demand and partial loading of wave files, on the fly decoding, stereo mixing, FFT scopes, MIDI automation and full scriptability in Scheme. The plugins, synthesis core and the user interface are actively being developed and translated into a variety of languages, regularly assimilating user feedback such as from the Beast_Feature_Requests page. BEAST is an abbreviation for Better Audio System. BSE is an abbreviation for Better Sound Engine, and it implements all the necessary music processing logic required by BEAST in a separate reusable library. The "Better" portion of the names refer to the complexity and many iterations involved in implementing such a "BEAST".
As of 2013, the Beast code base has been migrated to LGPL and is mostly written in C++,[1] notable release include:[2]