Ardour (open-source DAW)

by Ardour community

Cross-platform open-source DAW that hosts AI VST3/LV2 dialogue plugins.

TL;DR

Cross-platform open-source DAW that hosts AI VST3/LV2 dialogue plugins.

Best for linux audio engineers running open-source AI plugins for dialogue cleanup. Pricing: free (build from source) · $1+/mo or $45+ one-time for binary downloads.

Category
Desktop apps
License
—
Stars
—
Last push
—
Pricing
free (build from source) · $1+/mo or $45+ one-time for binary downloads
Platforms
macOS, Windows, Linux

What it is

Ardour is the long-running open-source DAW. Hosts LV2 + VST3, runs on every desktop OS, and is the home of community AI-speech plugins like neural-amp-modeler and open-source de-noise builds.

Best for: Linux audio engineers running open-source AI plugins for dialogue cleanup.
Watch out for: No first-party AI speech features; community plugins fill the gap.

Install / use

ardour.org

Features

Speaker diarizationNo
Word-level timestampsNo
Streaming / real-timeNo
Languages supportedNone
HIPAA eligibleNo

Ardour (open-source DAW) vs Whipscribe

FeatureArdour (open-source DAW)Whipscribe
CategoryDesktop appsTranscription APIs
Pricingfree (build from source) · $1+/mo or $45+ one-time for binary downloadsfree beta
Speaker diarization—Yes
Word timestamps—Yes
Streaming—No
Languages—99
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, LinuxWeb, API, MCP

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Whipscribe is a managed faster-whisper + whisperX service. If you want transcripts without running infrastructure, paste a URL or drop a file in the form below — you'll have a transcript in seconds.