Ardour is a hard disk recorder and digital audio workstation application. Record, edit, and mix on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
Cost / License
- Paid
- Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD




The best Audio Editor alternative to REAPER is Ardour. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Tenacity or ComposeYogi. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to REAPER and loads of them are Audio Editors so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Audio Editor alternatives to REAPER are FL Studio, Ableton Live, Bitwig Studio and Cakewalk.
Ardour is a hard disk recorder and digital audio workstation application. Record, edit, and mix on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.




Tenacity is an easy-to-use, privacy-friendly, FLOSS, cross-platform multi-track audio editor/recorder for Windows, macOS, Linux and other operating systems.


A complete digital audio workstation featuring professional music creation tools for mixing, mastering, editing, and sequencing. It includes a responsive piano roll sequencer, lifetime license updates, visualizer plugins for video creation, and multi-touch support for advanced graphical interface navigation.




Music software facilitating idea creation, editing, and performance with Arrangement and Session Views. Enhanced interfaces, improved waveforms, and great EQs provide intuitive and detailed music-making for studio and stage experiences.




A free, open-source music composition tool for beat-making, loops, and arrangements — built with Web Audio, WASM, and modern web tech.

Bitwig Studio is a multi-platform music-creation system for production, performance and DJing, with a focus on flexible editing tools and a super-fast workflow.




Cakewalk, formerly SONAR, is a comprehensive audio software for music composition, audio recording, editing, mixing and mastering. It features a full suite of high quality audio and MIDI effects and instruments and composition tools ranging from drum sequencer and piano roll...




A comprehensive audio editing suite designed for commercial use with features like post-production refinement, video and podcast editing capabilities, minus composition tools. Equipped with Waveform and Multitrack modes for recording and editing, with new Clip and Session Markers.


Comprehensive studio app offering advanced DAW and MIDI tools, a creative interface, powerful software instruments, plugins like Beat Breaker, full mixer capabilities, and seamless integration with Mac and iPad for professional-sounding mixes.








Definitive desktop DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) for professional mixing, mastering, music production and sound design.



Bespoke is a software modular synthesizer. It contains a bunch of modules, which you can connect together to create sounds.


Ardour is a very powerful and capable DAW, it's just tough to learn since practically all features are exposed at all times. Reaper provides an arguably faster workflow, has a similarly powerful mixer and incidentally installs and loads faster than nearly every other modern DAW.