Comparison of digital audio editors explained

The following tables compare general and technical information among a number of digital audio editors and multitrack recording software.

Digital Audio Workstations

Basic general information about the software: creator/company, license/price etc.

Digital audio editor	Creator / developer	Software license	Microsoft Windows	MacOS	Linux	iOS	Android	Network storage	External hardware
ACID Pro	Magix
Ardour	The Ardour Community							NFS
AudioDesk	Mark of the Unicorn
Audition	Adobe Systems
BandLab	BandLab Technologies	(Freeware)
Bitwig Studio	Bitwig
Cakewalk by BandLab	BandLab Technologies	(Freeware)
Cubase	Steinberg
Digital Performer	Mark of the Unicorn
Fairlight	Blackmagic Design	Freeware
FL Studio	Image-Line
GarageBand	Apple
Harrison Mixbus	Harrison Consoles							NFS
Kristal	Kreatives	(Freeware)
Live	Ableton
LMMS	Tobias Doerffel							NFS
Logic Pro	Apple		(last version: 5.5.1)
Luna	Universal Audio	/ needs UAD/Universal Audio audio interface to run
Magix Music Maker	Magix	/ Freemium
Mixcraft	Acoustica				^[1]	^[2]
mp3DirectCut	Martin Pesch	Freeware
MuLab	MuTools
MultitrackStudio	Bremmers Audio Design
MusE	MuseE							NFS
n-Track	Fasoft
Nuendo	Steinberg
Podium	Zynewave	/ Freemium
Pro Tools	Avid							MediaNet (proprietary)
Pyramix_DAW	Merging Technologies
Qtractor	Qtractor							NFS
REAPER	Cockos				(after version 6.0)
Reason	Propellerhead Software
Record	Propellerhead Software
Renoise	Renoise Team
Rosegarden	Rosegarden							NFS
Samplitude/Sequoia	Magix
SADiE	Prism Sound
Sonoma	Sony	/ only works on dedicated Sonoma PC							8x8 Meitner audio interface
Soundscape 32	Mackie								External 2U rack unit
Studio One	PreSonus							SoundCloud
Waveform	Tracktion Software Inc
Digital audio editor	Creator / developer	Software license	Microsoft Windows	MacOS	Linux	iOS	Android	Network storage	External hardware

Wave editors

Basic general information about the software: creator/company, license/price etc.

Digital audio editor	Creator / developer	Software license	Microsoft Windows	MacOS	iOS	Linux	BSD	Online	Network storage	External hardware
Acoustica	Acon Digital
Audacity	Audacity Team				^[3]				NFS
Audiotool	Hobnox								NFS	Optional MIDI support
BIAS Peak	BIAS
Diamond Cut ART	Diamond Cut Productions
Ecasound	Kai Vehmanen
Goldwave	Goldwave Inc.	Shareware
Jokosher	Jokosher								NFS
NU-Tech	Leaff Engineering
RiffWorks	Sonoma Wire Works
Sound Forge	Magix			(last version: 3)
Soundbooth	Adobe Systems
Sound Studio	Felt Tip Inc.
SoX	Chris Bagwell, et al.
SpectraLayers	Steinberg
Sweep	Conrad Parker
Total Recorder	HighCriteria	Shareware
Traverso DAW	Traverso								NFS
WaveLab	Steinberg									External gear, MIDI
WavePad	NCH Software	/ Freemium
WaveSurfer	Centre for Speech Technology at KTH
Digital audio editor	Creator / developer	Software license	Microsoft Windows	MacOS	iOS	Linux	BSD	Online	Network storage	External hardware

Support

Plugin support

The plugin types the software can run natively (without emulation).

	ReWire	JACK	VST	VST3	LADSPA	LV2	DSSI	RTAS	AU	DXi	MAS
ACID Pro
Acoustica
Ardour
Audacity				(3.2.0 and newer)					^[4]
AudioDesk
Audiotool
Audition	(Pre CS5.5 - Yes, CS5.5 - No)									(Pre CS5.5 - Yes, CS5.5 - No)
BIAS Peak
Bitwig Studio
Cakewalk by BandLab
Cubase										(SX3.1)
Diamond Cut ART
Digital Performer								(with Digi TDM or HD hardware via DAE)
Ecasound
FL Studio
GarageBand
Goldwave
	ReWire	JACK	VST	VST3	LADSPA	LV2	DSSI	RTAS	AU	DXi	MAS
Harrison Mixbus
Jokosher
Kristal
Live				(Live 10.1 and newer)
LMMS
Logic Express/Studio
Mixcraft
mp3DirectCut
MuLab
MusE
n-Track
Nuendo
NU-Tech
Podium
Pro Tools
Qtractor
	ReWire	JACK	VST	VST3	LADSPA	LV2	DSSI	RTAS	AU	DXi	MAS
REAPER
Reason
Record
Renoise
RiffWorks
Rosegarden
Samplitude
Sound Forge
Soundbooth
Soundscape 32
SoX
SpectraLayers
Studio One
Sweep
Total Recorder
Waveform
Traverso
WaveLab
WavePad
WaveSurfer
	ReWire	JACK	VST	VST3	LADSPA	LV2	DSSI	RTAS	AU	DXi	MAS

File format support

The various file types the software can read/write.

	OMF	AAF	MIDI	WAV	MP3	AAC	Ogg	REX2	AIFF	FLAC	width=22%	Others
Acoustica											W64
Ardour	^[5]	^[6]									W64, libsndfile library formats^[7]
Audacity											AMR
AudioDesk											SDII (native)
Audiotool
Audition			(unsupported since CS5)								AU, IFF, RAW/PCM, SMP, VOC, VOX, WMA
BIAS Peak
Bitwig Studio											WMA
Cakewalk by BandLab											W64, CAF, SDII, AU, SND, DSF, DFF, RCY, ASF, WMA, WMV
Cubase											WMA, W64
Diamond Cut ART
Digital Performer											SDII (native)
Ecasound
FL Studio											XI, REX
GarageBand
Goldwave											Windows Media Audio, AU, Monkey's Audio, VOX, mat, snd, voc
Harrison Mixbus											AIFC, NeXT AU/SND, Headerless RAW, PAF, IFF/SVX, Sphere Nist WAV, IRCAM SF, VOC, W64, MAT4, MAT5, PVF, Fasttracker 2 XI, HMM Tool Kit HTK, CAF, SD2
	OMF	AAF	MIDI	WAV	MP3	AAC	Ogg	REX2	AIFF	FLAC	width=22%	Others
Jokosher
Kristal
Live											SDII (Mac OS X Only)
LMMS											AU, DS, RAW, SPX, VOC. Can also open .flp files
Logic Pro
Mixcraft
mp3DirectCut
MuLab
MusE
N-Track											WMA, EDL, WAV64
Nuendo
NU-Tech
Podium
Pro Tools								(7.4)			SDII (Mac OS X Only)
Qtractor											CAF, HTK, IFF/8SVX, MAT4/5, PAF, PVF, RAW, SDII, SDS, SF, VOC, W64, XI
REAPER											APE, BWF, MOOG, W64, WavPack
Reason											SF2, ReFill
Record											SF2, ReFill
	OMF	AAF	MIDI	WAV	MP3	AAC	Ogg	REX2	AIFF	FLAC	width=22%	Others
Renoise											MP4, MP4A, CAF, SFZ
RiffWorks
Rosegarden			^[8]	^[9]							Csound, Mup, MuxicXML, h2song^[10]
Samplitude											WMA, RealAudio
Sound Forge											SWF (open only), RealAudio & RealVideo (export only), WMA and WMV, AVI, AIF, SND, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, AU, DIG, IVC, PCA, W64, FRG, VOX, AA3, OMA, CDA, AC-3 studio (save only), RAW
Soundbooth
Soundscape 32
SoX					External LAME						AU and other audio file formats
SpectraLayers											.caf, .alac, RAW/PCM, .rm, .au, .snd, AVI, MXF, MP1, MP2, MP4, MKV, Quicktime, .vob, .wmv, WMA
Studio One											OpenTL, BWF, RF64, PreSonus Capture Session, Steinberg Cubase Track Archive, Steinberg Sequel Project, Kristal Audio Engine Project^[11]
Sweep											Various versions of WAV (integer, floating point, GSM, and compressed formats); Microsoft PCM, A-law and u-law formats; AIFC and RIFX; various AU/SND formats (Sun/NeXT, Dec AU, G721 and G723 ADPCM); RAW header-less PCM files; Amiga IFF/8SVX/16SV PCM files; Ensoniq PARIS (.PAF); Apple's Core Audio Format (CAF) and others.
Total Recorder											PCM (uncompressed), WMA, Monkey's Audio (APE).
Waveform
Traverso											WavPack
WaveLab											AU, MP2, RAW
WavePad											import midi, Sun AU, MPEG4 audio, GSM, RAW, Dialogic VOX, AMR Narrowband, Musepack, Monkey's Audio Codec, others
WaveSurfer											Import: AU, CSL, SD Export: AU
	OMF	AAF	MIDI	WAV	MP3	AAC	Ogg	REX2	AIFF	FLAC	Others

See also

• List of music software

Notes and References

1. Web site: Can I run Mixcraft on a Linux computer using Wine?.
2. Web site: Free Remote Control App for Mixcraft (IOS or Android) Acoustica.
3. Web site: Download .
4. http://web.audacityteam.org/download/plugins Audacity: Plug-Ins and Libraries
5. Web site: What's about OMF support ? - ardour. 7 January 2007 . 24 December 2016.
6. In development
7. Web site: Supported File Formats . Ardour Manual . 2020-04-21.
8. Web site: doc:manual-en - Rosegarden Wiki. 24 December 2016.
9. Web site: doc:audiomanager-en - Rosegarden Wiki. 5 July 2021.
10. Web site: doc:manual-en - Rosegarden Wiki. 24 December 2016.
11. Web site: Randall . Brent . Interview with Jim Odom- President Of Presonus . prorec . 2010-03-02 . 2006-01-31 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120922081256/http://www.presonus.com/news/press_releases/Tape-Op-Magazine-Interviews-PreSonus-President-and-CEO-Jim-Odom . September 22, 2012 .