Show HN: Vibez – Open-Source Rust Based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

mercutio932 pts0 comments

vibez: Perform, Arrange, Mix

Open source DAW · written in Rust

Perform<br>&rarr;<br>Arrange<br>&rarr;<br>Mix

One track, three workspaces, in that order. You Perform it from a pad grid,<br>you Arrange what you played on a linear timeline, and you<br>Mix it on a real console. Capture is the hinge between the first two: it<br>turns a live performance into editable arrangement.

Download v0.1.4<br>Source on GitHub<br>Linux &middot; macOS &middot; Windows &middot; GPL-3.0

Press a key, or click a pad

The real grid uses the same keys: 1234 / QWER / ASDF / ZXCV, rebindable in the app.

Sections

Perform

Workspace 01

Sections are reusable multitrack loops that share your project's tracks, instruments,<br>effects and mixer. You author one with the same editor you use in Arrange, then launch it<br>from the pad grid. The same 16 pads do three jobs, and F1 to F3 pick which.

Sections mode Launches on a musical boundary: immediate, 1 beat, 1 bar, or end of section. A Section triggered slightly late still lands where you meant it.

Instrument mode The same 16 pads become a playable instrument for the selected track, with Full Level, 16 Levels and Note Repeat.

Track Mutes mode Mute and unmute tracks on that grid, through an anti-click ramp so tails gate cleanly instead of clicking.

Swing Modelled on the MPC2000XL. Set it per project, per track, or per clip, and automate it.

Perform &middot; Sections mode &middot; Bank 1 &middot; the Section editor on the right

Arrange

Workspace 02 &middot; where the performance lands

Arrange is the linear timeline. Multi-track audio and MIDI, clip drag, resize, split and<br>join, time selection, looping, an overview minimap, warping with tempo follow, a piano<br>roll, and automation across tracks, devices, plugins, buses, sends and master.

Capture is how a performance gets here F5

Capture records an entire performance, Section launches, live playing, mutes and<br>automation gestures, and writes it into Arrange as ordinary clips and automation lanes you<br>can edit afterwards. It is timed against the audio engine's sample clock, not the UI frame<br>rate. Captured material keeps no reference back to its Sections, so editing a Section later<br>never rewrites a take you already recorded, and everything Capture writes is material you<br>could have drawn by hand.

Arrange &middot; a captured take &middot; Track Mute automation written alongside the clips

Mix

Workspace 03

A real console rather than a row of faders. Every channel has its own four band EQ, pan,<br>fader, metering, mute and solo. There are buses, returns and sends, the master is an actual<br>channel, and the device rack below follows the selected one. It hosts the built-in synth,<br>sampler and drum rack alongside VST3 and CLAP plugins with their native interfaces.

Mix &middot; channel EQ &middot; master channel &middot; device rack

Keys

The whole keyboard

The pads are the four rows in the middle of the keyboard. Everything else is transport and<br>editing, and the app never steals a key from a text field you are typing in.

Esc<br>F1F2F3F4<br>F5F6F7F8<br>F9F10F11F12

1234<br>5678<br>90-=<br>Bksp

Tab<br>QWER<br>TYUI<br>OP<br>[]

Caps<br>ASDF<br>GHJK<br>L;'<br>Enter

Shift<br>ZXCV<br>BNM<br>,./<br>Shift

CtrlCmdAlt<br>Space<br>AltCmdMenuCtrl

The 16 pads<br>Does something on its own<br>Only with Ctrl, Cmd or Alt<br>Unused

Perform

F1Sections mode

F2Track Mutes mode

F3Instrument mode

F4Section Record on and off

F5Capture into Arrange

1QAZThe pads, four rows of four, rebindable

[]Previous and next pad bank

NNote Repeat while held, in Instrument mode. Reserved, so no pad can take it

ShiftShow the instrument target overlay while held

EscCancel a key rebind

Transport and view

SpacePlay and stop

CtrlLLoop the arrangement

Ctrl0Zoom to fit

Ctrl1 2Narrow and widen the shared grid

Ctrl3Triplet grid

Ctrl4Snap to grid

Ctrl5Adaptive grid

CtrlZUndo

CtrlShiftZRedo, or Ctrl Y

EscStop the audition, then cancel whatever is being edited

Arrange and clips

CtrlTAdd an audio track

CtrlShiftTAdd an instrument track for MIDI

Ctrl&uarr; &darr;Move the selected track up and down

CtrlC X VCopy, cut and paste clips

CtrlDDuplicate the selected clip

CtrlESplit at the playhead

CtrlJJoin the selected clips

CtrlMCreate a clip from the time selection

CtrlShiftLLoop the selected clip

DelBkspDelete selected notes, otherwise selected clips

ShiftHold to add to the selection

Piano roll and Browser

BToggle draw mode

CtrlASelect every note in the clip

&larr; &rarr;Nudge selected notes by one grid step

&uarr; &darr;Transpose selected notes by a semitone

&uarr; &darr;With no notes selected, moves through Browser results

EnterImport the selected Browser sample into the arrangement

Alt&larr; &rarr;Make the Browser narrower and wider

On a Mac, press Cmd. Everywhere these tables say Ctrl, macOS uses Cmd instead.<br>The app resolves a single command modifier per platform, so a shortcut never wants Cmd<br>for one thing and Ctrl for another.

What it does not do yet

v0.1.4

It is an alpha and worth saying so plainly. Linux is the primary...

middot selected arrange track grid mode

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