The open source and cross platform (Linux / Mac / Windows) DAW Ardour just upgraded to version 7.4, bringing some new features along with bug fixes. Of the few DAWs I’ve tried running under Linux, Ardour sure looks the most polished and I’ve been wanting to give it more of a real go soon.

New features in Ardour 7.4 is:

• Support for MIDI subgroup busses
• Support for the Lua DSP processor (downmix 5.1 audio to stereo)
• Added a volume control to the clip picker
• Added a preference item for the PPQN value in exported MIDI files
• Added an option to use a neutral color for new tracks & busses

Now as for improvements and bug fixes you can see the whole list on their what’s new page, but there’s been improvements in handling Faderport8 and Ableton Push 2 as well as a lot of UI-fixes and VST/VST3 bug fixes.

Ardour is free to download and use if you can compile the source tarball on your own machine, but for those not so tech-savvy there’s binaries for Linux, Windows and Mac available for purchase (either a pay-what-you-want starting at $1/mo or single payment from $45). Demo versions that goes silent after 10 minutes are available for those wanting to give it a go as well.

Download Ardour at Ardour.org

The popular tracker Renoise (and the companion sampler sequencer for other DAWs, Redux) now features native support for Apple M1 with the ability to load intel plugins via a plugin bridge and Rosetta as well as Metal based GUI rendering for MacOS. Happy times for tracking on a modern Mac!

Besides M1 Renoise now have 32 and 64 bit ARM Linux builds optimized for Raspberry Pi 3/4, which made my mind start to wander off wondering if it’d be cool to build a little tracker-specific box…

Other features with the 3.4.0 version includes WASAPI audio device support (Windows) and Ableton Link.

The tracker is free to try out (as far as I know it just limits exporting if you don’t buy a license) and I’d highly recommend anyone either having a tracker background to try it out to see where trackers are in 2022 or for the first time to have a go at something more alternative to the classic DAWs.

Read more on Renoise.com

PaulStretch has been around for quite a while to create extremely lush sounds by stretching audio to the extreme, but only for Windows (well, there’s been ways of building it for Macs but with quite the hassle, apparently). Now, this isn’t for nifty timestretching to fit loops, this is stretching done to create pretty awesome soundscapes. Want to turn Darude’s Sandstorm into an ambient soundfest? Here you go.

Enter PaulXStretch, a free VST/AU plugin for Windows, Mac and Linux that solves all that for you.

Get the free PaulXStretch plugin here: xenakios.wordpress.com/paulxstretch-plugin/

Check out this lush version of No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” slowed down 8 times:

(If you want to find the original PaulStretch you can always find it here)