Open-source alternatives to Cubase

Cubase is a digital audio workstation for writing music with MIDI and virtual instruments, recording audio, editing performances and mixing a finished track. The open-source workstations below are built for the same production work on a Mac.

Ardour concentrates on multitrack recording, non-destructive editing and mixing, with MIDI sequencing and support for third-party plug-ins and control surfaces. Stargate is an all-in-one workstation with a pattern-based sequencer, its own instruments and effects and a basic wave editor, which makes it quick to start with but closed to outside plug-ins.