Open-source alternatives to Bitwig Studio

Bitwig Studio is a workstation for producing and performing music, combining a clip launcher for improvising with a timeline for arranging, along with its own instruments, effects and modulation tools. The open-source workstations below cover that production job on a Mac.

Ardour pairs a timeline for recording, editing and mixing audio and MIDI with a Cue page for launching clips, and it hosts third-party plug-ins for instruments and effects. Stargate focuses on electronic production with a pattern-based sequencer, built-in synthesizers and effects, and a routing matrix that makes sidechaining simple, but it works only with its own plug-ins.