Giada

Giada is an open source, multiplatform, modern, powerful, feature-rich and free graphical software project designed for live performers, electronic musicians and DJs. It can be used as a loop machine, sequencer, audio effect host, live sampler or drum machine.

Features at a glance

Key features include an ultra-lightweight internal design, multi-thread and multi-core support, a 32-bit floating point audio engine, support for an unlimited number of audio channels that can be controlled via a computer keyboard, beat and bpm syncs, as well as a patch-based system.

In addition, the application features a built-in wave editor, support for up to 32 samples, a sample-accurate loop engine, support for MIDI input and output, live quantizer and sampler, a Piano Roll editor, an action recorder, and support for several playback modes.

The software has no dependencies and it is based on the ALSA driver for the audio layer and the FLTK GUI toolkit for the graphical user interface. The JACK, ALSA, CoreAudio, DirectSound, Transport and ASIO sound servers are also fully supported by Giada.

Another interesting feature is that the built-in support for all major uncompressed audio file formats. The application also supports instruments via the VSTi and VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plugins.

Getting started with Giada

After installing Giada on your GNU/Linux operating system using the native installers provided on the download section above, you can open it from the Main Menu of your desktop environment. Then, all you have to do is to pick up a channel, fill it with MIDI events or samples and let the party begin.

Supports all mainstream operating systems

Giada is a cross-platform application that has been engineered to run on all mainstream operating systems, including GNU/Linux (Ubuntu, Debian and their derivatives), Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It can be installed on computers supporting either of the 64-bit (x86_64) or 32-bit (x86) instruction set architectures.

What is new in this release:

• Several GUI improvements - resizable columns, better column handling mechanism, many graphical glitches fixed;
• upgrade to FLTK 1.3.3;
• support for MIDI devices without Note Off message - some controllers use a different Note Off technique: they send a Note On with velocity at 0 or 127. Now Giada can understand it, thanks to the brilliant work of our friend blablack;
• many bugs fixed and internal improvements.

What is new in version 0.9.2:

• New grid tool for the Sample Editor - cutting and chopping samples as never seen before;
• load samples via drag and drop;
• fix compilation issues on some Linux distros;
• many internal optimizations and bugs fixed.

What is new in version 0.8.3:

• Experimental MIDI timing output with MTC and MIDI clock;
• New pitch operators x2 and /2;
• Many nasty bugs fixed and other minor improvements done.

What is new in version 0.8.2:

• Pitch control exposed via MIDI;
• New tools in Sample Editor (linear fade in/out, smooth edges);
• Enhanced VST MIDI event support;
• Tons of bugs fixed and internal improvements.

What is new in version 0.8.1:

• This version provides a new high quality pitch control based on libsamplerate, plus new "spread sample to bar" and "spread sample to song" functions.

What is new in version 0.7.3:

• This version features an experimental 64-bit version for Linux, many improvements in the Piano Roll tool, a massive internal cleanup, fixes for many bugs, and minor improvements.

What is new in version 0.7.2:

• initial MIDI output support on multiple channels (1-16);
• a complete rewrite of the VST GUI part on OS X: better design, more stability, less/no crashes;
• many improvements on the internal MIDI routing;
• usual bugfixing and cleanups.

What is new in version 0.7.1:

• This version features initial Jack Transport support, lots of improvements for the Piano Roll Editor and MIDI output, and many bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.7.0:

• This version celebrates the beginning of MIDI output development, including VSTi (instrument) support and a new Piano Roll widget.

What is new in version 0.6.4:

• This version features lots of fixes, the resolution of many memory leaks, stability improvements, enhanced project portability, and useful internal cleanups.

What is new in version 0.6.3:

• This version features a new "solo" button, a sortable project system, a new 'Single Endless' channel mode, GUI enhancements, and minor fixes.

What is new in version 0.6.2:

• This version features the new volume envelope widget, big enhancements in the action editor (zoom with the mouse wheel), a GUI redesign, and many other improvements and bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.6.1:

• This version features support for an unlimited number of channels, as well as a deep internal refactoring.

What is new in version 0.6.0:

• A revamped Sample Editor - with full screen support and zoom with mouse wheel;
• Sound bug in OS X fixed.

What is new in version 0.5.8:

• This version features automatic sample rate conversion, rewritten "internal mute" behavior, and the ability to automatically bring channels to full volume on sample load.

What is new in version 0.5.7:

• This version adds a visual grid and snap-to-grid for the Action Editor, better zoom behavior in the Action Editor, enhanced VST support (many new opcodes implemented), and lots of under-the-hood improvements and fixes.

What is new in version 0.5.6:

• This version features the new overdub mode for live recording, support for VST presets, and many optimizations and fixes.

What is new in version 0.5.5:

• "Hear what you're playing" feature;
• Fx processing on the input side;
• Ability to add different action types (Action Editor);
• Desktop integration on Linux (via deb package);
• Upgrade to FLTK 1.3.2.

What is new in version 0.5.4:

• This version adds VST GUI support, general improvements to plugin support, better subwindows management, graphical beautifications in the Action Editor, and minor bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.5.3:

• This version features the new live beat manipulators, revamped sub-windows management, an optional hard limiter on the output side, and many optimizations and improvements to the action editor.

What is new in version 0.5.2:

• This release adds the ability to handle actions and record mute actions for loop-mode channels.
• Additionally, it provides enhanced usability for the action editor and several internal optimizations.

What is new in version 0.5.1:

• Includes an initial and naive implementation of the Action Editor.

What is new in version 0.4.13:

• This release fixes several bugs and marks the end of the 0.4 series.

What is new in version 0.4.12:

• VST parameters are now stored in patch files, PulseAudio support in Linux (thanks to RtAudio 4.0.11), revised .deb package and much more.

What is new in version 0.4.10:

• This version has the ability to shift up and down VST plugins in the stack, has an enhanced patch system, and fixes many potential crashes while adding and removing VST.
• A good number of bugs have been fixed.

What is new in version 0.4.9:

• no more mandatory inputs, enhanced audio layer, lots of usability improvements, tons of bugs fixed.

What is new in version 0.4.8:

• experimental VST support
• raw pitch controller (no resampling)
• Minor enhancements and bugfixing

What is new in version 0.4.7:

• Enhanced waveform editor featuring cut, trim and silence tools
• Lots of waveform drawing speedups
• Fixed compilation on 64 bit systems

What is new in version 0.4.5:

• This version brings a complete GUI redesign along with a refreshed website, multiple usability improvements, and tons of bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.4.4:

• This version features a new input/output channel selector, fixes for several usability issues and bugs, and minor internal optimizations.

What is new in version 0.4.3:

• This version features the ability to store the entire project in a working directory ("project folder"), the ability to export samples to disk, several usability improvements, code cleanup, and bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.4.2:

• This version provides an initial implementation of the live sampler, many critical bugfixes, and some updates to documentation.

What is new in version 0.4.1:

• This version features a complete mixer engine refactoring, lots of fixes for action recorder/reader, many minor bugfixes, and a critical bugfix in the Mac OS X version.

What is new in version 0.4.0:

• It provides support for all major uncompressed audio files (thanks to the switch to libsndfile), enhanced support for Windows and OS X compilation, and minor optimizations and fixes.

What is new in version 0.3.6:

• This version provides an initial Mac OS X version, complete access to all active drives on Windows, bugfixes, and internal optimizations.

What is new in version 0.3.4:

• With this version Giada finally goes open source, plus several internal improvements and a couple of critical bugs fixed.

What is new in version 0.3.3:

• This release provides a "normalize" function, more editing tools inside the sample editor, waveform beautifications, and some bugfixing.

What is new in version 0.3.2:

• New "mute" button inside the main window
• Usability improvements and minor bugs fixed for the sample editor

What is new in version 0.3.1:

• This release introduces volume boost, fine volume control, draggable (via mouse) start/end handles, and several usability improvements.

What is new in version 0.3.0:

• This version added a new sample editor window, the ability to set start/end points within a sample, and several fixes and internal improvements.

What is new in version 0.2.7:

• New way to handle recorded channels as loops
• Enhanced rewind with quantization support
• Several minor improvements and fixes

What is new in version 0.2.6:

• Internal metronome
• Minor optimizations and fixes

What is new in version 0.2.5:

• Full redesign of the control panel
• New control options
• Progress bar when loading patches
• Updated documentation

What is new in version 0.2.4:

• New loop repeat mode
• Improved patch system
• Sub-beat management
• Optimizations and bugfixing

What is new in version 0.2.3:

• This release provides ASIO support for Windows, improved patch reading, and several bugs fixed.

What is new in version 0.2.2:

• This release introduces a new open-source patch system, a large number of audio/interface improvements, and several bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.2.1:

• This version focused exclusively on Windows porting.

What is new in version 0.2.0:

• Full ALSA and JACK support (thanks to RtAudio)
• GUI glitches and minor bugs fixed

What is new in version 0.1.8:

• This release provides several new editing functions (clear all samples, clear all recs, etc.), a new resizable window browser, and other usability improvements.

What is new in version 0.1.7:

• This release brings enhanced recording deletion and minor bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.1.5:

• decimal bpm adjustment
• ability to shrink/expand actions when changing the global beats
• improved GUI for beats and bpm controllers
• improved routines for action management
• actions are now updated when you change bpm

What is new in version 0.1.4:

• This version gives the ability to save recorded actions, plus several recording improvements.

What is new in version 0.1.3:

• action recorder (first implementation)
• expanded documentation

What is new in version 0.1.2:

• master volume
• improved sound meter
• internal optimizations
• bugfixing

What is new in version 0.1.1:

• This version offers a live quantizer, expansion to 32 channels, GUI restyling, and improved documentation.

What is new in version 0.1.0:

• ability to mute channels
• interaction and channel handling improvements
• bugfixing
• improved documentation

What is new in version 0.0.12:

• This version features the ability to free a channel, a "stop" button to suspend the general program, several interaction improvements, and new documentation in HTML format.

What is new in version 0.0.11:

• The ability to customize keyboard shortcuts was added.
• Several bugs were fixed.
• Minor improvements were made.

What is new in version 0.0.10:

• A "single-mode retrig" mode was added.
• The number of channels was expanded to 16.
• A new advanced file browser was added.
• Startup crashes were fixed.

What is new in version 0.0.9:

• New loop-once mode, a new graphical beat meter, some GUI reorganization, and several bugfixes.

What is new in version 0.0.8:

• fixed a critical crash while loading a sample
• several usability enhancements

What is new in version 0.0.7:

• new peak meter with clip warning and system status report
• several usability and graphical improvements