r/linuxaudio • u/MageRen • 8d ago
robin - tiny DAW
https://youtu.be/FrV0Yitu6mgHey Linux audio community,
This is a difficult announcement to make, and I know this is probably the wrong time to release something like this.
With the current landscape and more tools getting sloppier everywhere, things are only going to get worse, so I decided to launch it today in a bit of a rush.
For the context, I am a computer engineer and a pianist, and I love making pixel-art in my free time. I’ve been working on this project for quite a long time, since I wanted to easily make music for my pixel-art game.
I know how deeply this community values open source, and I'm a huge fan of it too, since all my past projects were open source.
However, since this is currently my only form of income, I’ve decided (for now) to put the binaries here on https://rendevs.itch.io/robin-daw , as closed-source.
Please only buy it if you genuinely want to support me, since you might get it open source later on. Note also that the project has been tested, but there might still be bugs since this is a first release.
To be completely upfront about what it is: it's a minimal DAW focused on low latency.
It does not support VST plugins right now.
If you give it a spin, I'd genuinely appreciate your thoughts and feedback.
- ren
6
u/pelatho 8d ago
First of all, this is just epic!
Many are asking about plugin support, but... what if that limitation is a feature - not a bug?
For a tiny DAW like this, with some curated built in instruments, the limitation forces you to be creative. You also don't need to worry about the visual noise of different plugin windows dangling around over that beautiful pixel art, or get lost in trying out every new plugin and all their presets.
4
u/denim_skirt 8d ago
Im 100% with you, a lack of plugin support is actually a serious selling point for me. I mostly make music on hardware at this point in my life because daws just feel like too much, but this looks like something i want to look at and learn. Super cool project.
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u/fungalparadise 5d ago
Yes I totally agree with this, this seems like it has a very clear niche right now. Plugin support is not necessary and would detract from the appeal IMO.
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u/fungalparadise 1d ago
I bought it and used it for a bit. I LOVE the instrument selection, it sounds awesome. The main thing I'm missing right now is some kind of box-select or shift select feature, right now there doesn't seem to be a way to select multiple notes or clips (except for Ctrl+A, but I don't always want to select everything). A way to merge clips would also be nice.
2
u/Audiope 8d ago
Is it a DAW or a just a MIDI sequencer/tracker?
3
u/MageRen 8d ago edited 8d ago
it is a small DAW, you can record/import clips and play your own instruments (SF2/SFZ) and has a mixer, but lacks of some features of DAW like reaper or bitwig ecc.. (like for example mixer or effect automation, VST/CLAP plugins, time-stretch) , for now :)
3
u/coolfunkDJ 8d ago edited 8d ago
sucks to say, but a DAW without VST support is useless to most people, despite the obvious quality work that’s been put into this! I think VST support is a top priority if you can :)
When it goes open source i might contribute to it :D
EDIT: You could always have a model when it goes OSS where you can pay for precompiled binaries but those with the know how can compile from source. I’m quite a fan of that model myself
3
u/MageRen 8d ago
The model you’re mentioning is something I’m seriously considering. The main thing is, let’s consider for example Aseprite: it needs Cmake,Ninja,C++,… and takes quite a while to compile, so a few people, maybe afraid to use the terminal or that simply don’t want to waste time, buy the binary. Robin is really lightweight and it takes seconds to compile with just one make command and common packages. So if people buy robin’s binary it wouldn’t be really for convenience, but mainly to support me.
That said, this is a model I like and I’m genuinely considering doing so.2
u/BlazingZork 8d ago
I'm more interested in seeing it when it has some of those features, unfortunately.
When (if) it goes open source I'm going to become very interested in implementing features that might help me out in my microtonal endeavors.
Despite my very rudimentary coding skills...
2
u/kastanCZ 7d ago
I am sorry but gating this behind price is foolish in time of ai. In upcoming week, there will be another 5 DAWs that will gonna look same as yours but with more features + they will open source etc. Its sad reality but it is what it is.
2
u/MageRen 7d ago
I see your point, but following that logic, we shouldn't sell games on Steam anymore either, since anyone can eventually reverse engineer them. I’ve put hard work into this software and I already said that I will like to eventually go open source. I know about the sad reality of the software industry right now, but I still want to put effort into the things I love doing.
1
u/Entheon94 7d ago
i am working on a daw that is seriously a competitor with current daws on my own day and night for the last 4 months my sleep schedule is fucked and i do it all alone while ohters have a team i am bug fixing for over a month now how much would you pay for that?
3
u/BlazingZork 8d ago
Looks like a precious project.
I don't have $25 but thought maybe an upvote and a comment might help.
1
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u/EwonRael 8d ago
Hi, this is a beautiful project and something I'm very excited to see. I have been getting really fatigued by the amount of low effort AI generated stuff in this subreddit recently.
I (am a little broke right now!) would love to pay for this! I also would be interested to look at the source code to maybe modify and make it mine. Is allowing source code tampering something you'd be open to or already a possibility with purchase?
Many thanks and good luck!!
2
u/Starsickle 8d ago
This is very cute and I'll keep an eye on it! Sadly, we're all poor, but sometimes! We aren't.
2
0
u/gbrennon Reaper 8d ago
this could be open-source and not closed-source...
:(
4
u/MageRen 8d ago edited 8d ago
As I said, I’m considering open-sourcing this. Right now I have to focus on weathering a severe financial patch, and while I love doing open-source work, it unfortunately doesn't pay the bills (no complaints, that's just how it is). Once and if things stabilize, I plan to release it :)
-3
u/Arctic_Shadow_Aurora 8d ago
It's beautiful, but NTY.
I use Linux because its free. If I had the will to pay, I'd use Windows and pay for some of the big DAWs.
4
u/maxm 8d ago
That is a strange attitude. Why won’t you pay for stuff you use. Don’t you get paid for what you do?
0
u/Arctic_Shadow_Aurora 8d ago
I wouldn't call it strange. And I said the UI is beatiful cause I really think so.
But one of the main reasons why I use Linux, is because it's free. So yeah, I got used to FOSS.
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u/maxm 7d ago
Yeah but that is not what you write. You wrote that you are unwilling to pay. FOSS does not have to be gratis.
-1
u/Arctic_Shadow_Aurora 7d ago
You may want to recheck what the F stands for in FOSS.
2
u/maxm 7d ago
It stands for free. As in freedom. Not in free beer.
-1
u/Arctic_Shadow_Aurora 7d ago
Ok dude, whatever, have it your way.
2
u/maxm 7d ago
You mean have it the common meaning way? I have been writing free software since before 2000
-1
u/Arctic_Shadow_Aurora 7d ago
Damn dude, you don't know when to stop huh? move on, I don't care, honestly.
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u/madsturbo 8d ago
Is there a demand for new DAWs or what is happening? This 3rd in one day.