Editing Digital audio workstation (section)

==Software==
{{See also|Comparison of digital audio editors|Comparison of MIDI editors and sequencers|List of free software for audio|List of music software}}
[[Image:Ardour_6.7_Recorder_Editor_Mixer.png|thumb|A screenshot of a typical software DAW ([[Ardour (software)|Ardour]])]]

DAW can refer to the software itself, but traditionally, a computer-based DAW has four basic components: a [[computer]], a [[sound card]] or other audio interface, [[audio editing software]], and at least one user input device for adding or modifying data.  This could be as simple as a mouse and keyboard or as sophisticated as a piano-style [[MIDI keyboard|MIDI controller keyboard]] or automated [[audio control surface]] for mixing track volumes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bianchi |first1=Daniele |last2=Avanzini |first2=Federico |last3=Baratè |first3=Adriano |last4=Ludovico |first4=Luca A. |last5=Presti |first5=Giorgio |date=2022 |title=A GPU-Oriented Application Programming Interface for Digital Audio Workstations |journal=IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems |volume=33 |issue=8 |pages=1924–1938 |doi=10.1109/TPDS.2021.3131659 |s2cid=244784611 |issn=1558-2183|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The computer acts as a host for the sound card, while the software provides the interface and functionality for audio editing.  The sound card typically converts analog audio signals into a digital form, and digital back to analog audio when playing it back; it may also assist in further processing of the audio.  The software controls all related hardware components and provides a [[user interface]] to allow for recording, editing, and playback.

Computer-based DAWs have extensive recording, editing, and playback capabilities (and some also have video-related features).  For example, they can provide a practically limitless number of tracks to record on, [[polyphony]], and virtual [[synthesizer]]s or sample-based instruments to use for recording music. DAWs can also provide a wide variety of [[effects unit|effects]], such as reverb, to enhance or change the sounds themselves.

Simple [[smartphone]]-based DAWs, called mobile audio workstation (MAWs), are used (for example) by journalists for recording and editing on location.

As software systems, DAWs are designed with many [[user interface]]s, but generally, they are based on a [[multitrack tape recorder]] metaphor, making it easier for [[recording engineer]]s and [[musicians]] already familiar with using tape recorders to become familiar with the new systems. Therefore, computer-based DAWs tend to have a standard layout that includes transport controls (play, rewind, record, etc.), track controls and a mixer. A waveform display is another common feature.

Single-track DAWs display only one ([[monaural|mono]] or [[stereo]] form) track at a time.{{efn|The term ''track'' is still used with DAWs, even though there is no physical track as there was in the era of tape-based recording.}} [[Multitrack recording|Multitrack]] DAWs support operations on multiple tracks at once. Like a [[mixing console]], each track typically has controls that allow the user to adjust the [[Gain (electronics)|gain]], [[Equalization (audio)|equalization]] and [[stereo panning]] of the sound on each track. In a traditional recording studio additional [[rackmount]] processing gear is physically plugged into the audio signal path to add reverb, compression, etc. However, a DAW can also route in software or use [[audio plug-in]]s (for example, a [[Virtual Studio Technology|VST]] plugin) to process the sound on a track.

Perhaps the most significant feature available from a DAW that is not available in analog recording is the ability to undo a previous action, using a command similar to that of the undo function in [[Word processor|word processing software]].  Undo makes it much easier to avoid accidentally permanently erasing or recording over a previous recording.  If a mistake or unwanted change is made, the undo command is used to conveniently revert the changed data to a previous state.  Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo are familiar and common computer commands and they are usually available in DAWs in some form. More common functions include the modifications of several factors concerning a sound. These include wave shape, pitch, tempo, and filtering.

Commonly DAWs feature some form of [[mix automation]] using procedural line segment-based or curve-based interactive graphs.  The lines and curves of the automation graph are joined by or comprise adjustable points.  By creating and adjusting multiple points along a waveform or control events, the user can specify parameters of the output over time (e.g., volume or pan).  Automation data may also be directly derived from human gestures recorded by a [[Audio control surface|control surface]] or [[MIDI controller]].

[[MIDI]] recording, editing, and playback is increasingly incorporated into modern DAWs of all types, as is [[synchronization]] with other audio or video tools.

[[File:Qtractor-screenshot11.png|thumb|[[Qtractor]] screenshot]]

There are many [[free and open-source software]] programs that perform DAW functions. These are designed to run on a variety of [[operating system]]s and are usually developed non-commercially. Some of these include [[Ardour (software)|Ardour]] and [[LMMS]].

Personal Composer created by Jim Miller for Yamaha was the star of the [[NAMM Show]] in 1983.<ref>{{Cite book |author=FREFF |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-gI2W-3JwkC&dq=%22personal+composer%22+%22jim+miller%22&pg=PA39 |quote= Yamaha personal-composer jim-miller |title=MIDI interface |date=1984-04-03 |publisher=Ziff Davis, Inc. |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Jim |date=1985 |title=Personal Composer |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3679620 |journal=Computer Music Journal |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=27–37 |doi=10.2307/3679620 |jstor=3679620 |issn=0148-9267|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Personal Composer runs under MS DOS 2.0 and includes a MIDI sequencer, synth editor (such as Yamaha's DX7), universal librarians and a score editor. The software was later released as Personal Composer System/2 (1988).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chapman |first=Jay |date=December 1988 |title=Personal Composer System/2 (SOS Dec 1988) |url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/personal-composer-system-2/4036 |journal=Sound on Sound |issue=Dec 1988 |pages=78–84}}</ref>

In 1996, Steinberg introduced a revamped Cubase (which was originally launched in 1989 as a [[Music sequencer|MIDI sequencer]] for the Atari ST computer, later developed for Mac and Windows PC platforms, but had no audio capabilities until 1993's Cubase Audio) which could record and play back up to 32 tracks of digital audio on an Apple Macintosh without the need of any external DSP hardware. [[Cubase]] not only modeled a tape-like interface for recording and editing, but, in addition, using [[Virtual Studio Technology|VST]] also developed by Steinberg, modeled the entire mixing desk and effects rack common in analog studios. This revolutionized the DAW world, both in features and price tag, and was quickly imitated by most other contemporary DAW systems.

Digital audio applications for [[Linux]] and [[BSD]] fostered technologies such as [[Advanced Linux Sound Architecture]] (ALSA), which drives audio hardware, and [[JACK Audio Connection Kit]]. JACK allows any JACK-aware audio software to connect to any other audio software running on the system, such as connecting an ALSA- or [[Open Sound System|OSS]]-driven soundcard to a mixing and editing front-end, like [[Ardour (software)|Ardour]] or [[Rosegarden]]. In this way, JACK acts as a virtual audio [[patch bay]], and it can be configured to use a computer's resources in [[Real-time computing|real time]], with [[Flat memory model|dedicated memory]], and with various options that minimize the DAW's [[latency (audio)|latency]]. This kind of abstraction and configuration allows [[DJ]]s to use multiple programs for editing and synthesizing audio streams, or [[Computer multitasking|multitasking]] and [[duplexing]], without the need for analog conversion, or [[wikt:asynchronous|asynchronous]] saving and reloading files, and ensures a high level of [[High fidelity|audio fidelity]].

Members of the Linux Audio Development (LAD) mailing list have contributed to development of [[standardization|standards]] such as the [[LADSPA]], [[Disposable Soft Synth Interface|DSSI]] and [[LV2]] plugin architectures. The [[Virtual Studio Technology]] (VST) plugin standard is supported by some programs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Plug-Ins |url=https://www.audacityteam.org/download/plug-ins/ |access-date=2021-04-20}}</ref>

===Plug-ins===
{{Main|Audio plug-in}}
{{See also|Software effect processor|Software synthesizer}}
There are countless software [[audio plug-in|plugin]]s for DAW software, each one coming with its own unique functionality, thus expanding the overall variety of sounds and manipulations that are possible. Each have their own form of generating or manipulating sound, tone, pitch, and speed of a simple sound and transform it into something different. To achieve an even more distinctive sound, multiple plugins can be used in layers, and further automated to manipulate the original sounds.

===Generative Audio Workstations===

{{Promotional section|date=February 2025}}

Recent developments in [[generative artificial intelligence]] are spurring innovation in DAW software. A research paper from [[Georgia Tech]], titled "Composing with Generative Systems in the Digital Audio Workstation", proposed the term ''Generative Audio Workstation'' to describe this emerging class of DAWs.<ref>{{Cite web
| url = https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3359/paper15.pdf
| title = Composing with Generative Systems in the Digital Audio Workstation
| access-date = 2023-09-08
| last = Clester
| first = Ian
| author-link = 
| date = 2023-06-17
| publisher = CEUR Workshop Proceedings 
| pages = 3
| language = English 
}}</ref>

Three examples of notable GAWs are [[AIVA]], WavTool, and Symphony V. AIVA provides parameter-based AI MIDI song generation within a DAW. WavTool offers a browser DAW equipped with a [[GPT-4]] composition assistant and AI text-to-sample generator. Symphony V provides generative vocal synthesis, note editing, and mixing tools.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web
| url = https://www.audiocipher.com/post/generative-audio-workstation
| title = Generative Audio Workstations: AI VSTs & The Future of DAWs
| access-date = 2023-09-08
| last = Sandzer-Bell
| first = Ezra
| author-link = 
| date = 2023-09-07
| publisher = AudioCipher Technologies 
| format = Article
| language = English 
}}</ref>

Generative AI services have also become available through plugins that integrate with conventional DAWs, such as [[IZotope|Izotope Neutron 4]], TAIP, and Synthesizer V. Neutron 4 includes a ''mix assistant'' that uses machine learning to analyze audio and automatically apply processing effects. TAIP provides tape saturation powered by AI neural networks that imitate traditional [[Digital signal processing|DSP]] processing. Synthesizer V offers several AI vocalists whose notes can be manipulated.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Top 14 AI Plugins and Tools for Music Producers in 2023 (for Mixing, Mastering, Composition, Sequencing & More) |url=https://www.productionmusiclive.com/blogs/news/top-14-ai-plugins-and-tools-for-music-producers-in-2023-for-mixing-mastering-composition-sequencing-more |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=Production Music Live |language=en}}</ref>

To reduce the strain on computer memory, some plugin companies have developed [[thin client]] VSTs that use resources from a cloud server. For example, the audio-to-[[MIDI]] plugin Samplab offers a desktop application with user authentication and API calls that perform stem separation and MIDI transcription off of the computer's local device.<ref name=":0" /> This can improve load speeds or prevent applications from crashing.