DAW for Linux, Ardour, debuts new scales feature
The Linux-native digital audio workstation added initial support for scales, plus an arpeggiating tool and better session recoveries.
The Ardour development team announced the release of Ardour 9.8 this week. Its first update since June brings several new features and improvements to the free and open source DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
What's new
- Scales: There's initial support for scales in Ardour 9.8, letting you see out-of-scale notes during composition and control what happens to them.
- The feature includes "rudimentary support" for setting per-track keys and scales.
- Ardour's developers noted in the release notes that these features are very rough and will require more refinement.
- "We are releasing this code with minimal useful features to get your feedback early on. Future development of this feature set will likely span across multiple releases."
- Arpeggio MIDI tool: When editing chords with the MIDI Tools menu, you now have the option to arpeggiate.
Jordan Gloor
What's getting better
- Session recovery: Audio recordings in Ardour 9.8 are now better-recovered after crashes. Ardour's developers promise no more than 5 seconds of audio can be lost with the new recovery function.
- Clip recordings: Now when you record a clip, there's a countdown of two bars, and those counts are included in the recording in case you come in early. You can easily slide to remove the countdown if not.
Zooming out
Why this update matters: Creating music and other complex media can be a challenge on Linux, but Ardour is one of the most highly-rated DAWs that natively supports Linux. It's also free and open source.
My take: My system doesn't handle Ardour well, so better recoveries from crashes are a good thing.
Diving in
The fineprint: I barely scratched the surface of this update, as there are several more smaller improvements for plugins, external gear, and more. Read Ardour's "What's New" page to catch up on everything.
Get it now: Ardour makes its download available for a donation at the Ardour download page. You can also find Ardour for free on Flathub, though last I checked the packaged version hadn't been updated to 9.8.
