New freeware DAW - Sandyne

[tuaminen]

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Hi all,

For the past 6+ months I have been building a new freeware DAW called Sandyne.



I have now released it as a preview (beta) for Windows and macOS.

I would be super grateful of any feedback to guide me forward.

Check it out at https://sandyne.com (https://sandyne.com)

The app has a tutorial section under Browser -> Tutorials.

Some fun things you might want to try:
- Terrain and Water instruments
- Visual mixer
- Browser-based GUI

I'm especially interested in feedback on:
- First-launch experience
- What feels confusing or missing
- Crashes, audio/MIDI issues, plugin issues, or UI problems

Post your feedback here, or use the app's Help -> Feedback form.

Thanks!

Petri

[reusenoise]

I'll give It a test run, thanks

[tumface]

Hi, was this coded with AI? I ask because there are many people posting their AI coded projects right now, but 90% of them give up and abandon their project within a week even though they create websites etc. that look like a fleshed out project, and most of them do not disclose they are using AI.

[No_Use]

edit

[Benedict]

Hi, was this coded with AI? I ask because there are many people posting their AI coded projects right now, but 90% of them give up and abandon their project within a week even though they create websites etc. that look like a fleshed out project, and most of them do not disclose they are using AI.

From their site: "How it's possible
Software of this scope used to take a large team and a long runway. Modern AI tooling changes that math. We use AI extensively across the build, which is what makes it possible to ship a studio this ambitious — and to keep it free during the preview while we find out whether it's something people genuinely want to use."

So yes, AI. As such that may be ok (until bugs arrive or they need changes that don't break legacy).

The concern with walk-away is there and they already indicate something in that: 'The goal
Honestly? To find out if we can make something that many people use and love. SANDYNE is in private preview while we get it right. If you try it and have thoughts — what works, what's confusing, what's missing — we'd love to hear from you."

This says it is not a passion project but a trial to see if there is any money in this game. Not reassuring when even the big names can be selling themselves to cover failing expectations. That is not to say that there is not a coin in DAWs but sadly most expect too much. Expect a baseline (as I suspect Justin of Reaper does) and it can stay viable.

My issue before opening is that I see fru-fru features and not really useful things like viewing several Track's MIDI at once to ensure harmonies are as hoped. Locking to Scale sounds impressive, like the work is done, but nothing useful compared to seeing the notes in the composition as more evolved DAWS have for ages. That is a core feature far more than lazy DIFYers.

Still, I will try it, but with expectations being it is not really free at all and the above about novelty over basics I worry it may be an hour before it is dumped and back to Reason.

[tumface]

...

Well said. I agree.

[Benedict]

Opening now (Win 11 Dell XPS 8940 i7 Desktop):

Initial open is lightning.

Then I get a string of warnings (I can't copy) about the MacOS versions of my own SynthEdit VST seeing they get put in the folder on coagulation as VST3. Never had that before. A bit pedantic.

MIDI is one octave off - Yamaha standard which is annoying. There seemed to be a fix but that was for something else. Lack of a fix suggests a bit clueless as Yamaha is the lesser standard, not the standard standard. So if choosing that, gotta provide for sane people for whom C3 is C3 (and not C4)

It seems to run on Project Folders and I am a fan of a self-contained File (rather than a folder full of stuff per song) but I get some like that (mess). No formal fail as such.

The Browser Remote UI thing I don't expect to try, amusing perhaps or just a bit of a spank - not sure. Low priority for me. In time I would try it but let's see if it makes it off the first hour...

Basic Analog SynA is fine. Basic but expandable with mod sources like Bitwig. Feels a bit like a typical freeware synth designed by someone with no experience with a real synth. Yay AI at the helm. Not everything responds to Ctrl Z so I lost some work to a "what does this do" click. Grrr. Some things like Mod being Inverse seem never to have been considered. And why on Earth is Osc Level before Fine Tune? Took me ages to work that out.

Synth Filter has all the subtlety of something like a Wasp, but to be expected. Could be better, but knobs have ill-considered curves. In the case of Reso it seems to go from 0 to 100% in about 5 degrees, then the knob is useless.

Delay Feedback is handled by an ADSR. Odd. Maybe interesting, maybe annoying. Deffo different. BUT, modulating the echo time (free) was insta-distortion BIG FAIL for me. Modulated Echoes are everything. Ok I can try a VST, but why should I??? It's broken.

I get similar distortion from the Tape Wow & Flutter so yup, systemic lack of thought/checking.

Mixer Faders are gumby as they sit in the middle of the throw, like whoever dreamed them up never mixed so much as "Ice Ice Baby" into "Agga Do" as a teen disco. There are tech details but none of the basics we rely on. Similarly, Masters seem to only show dBfs (peak) and then LUFS in small print. No VU/RMS which is a fail for me. LUFS are a bit of a novelty to me. Can't really mix like this.

In the MIDI Piano Roll they made up strange metrics for quantize timings. What is so wrong with universal standards like 16th when noooo we have to sort out Grid & Quantize to 1/4 to get that 16th. Why two settings to do one job? Cakebalk got a blast from me for it so only fair here - maybe the AI just cloned Cakebalk coz it sees it is popular (among the clueless) and the "Dev" has no idea at all??

Manually swapping Tools! OMG. That and Ctrl Drag to clone/duplicate worked in the Piano Roll but not the Arranger. Oh I see, there is another tool for that - just make it that tool and not the useless options.

I'm stopping here as clearly I cannot really make music here without wanting to smash things. When I can do what I want easily in Reason. Sure I know Reason inside and out and been in this for 13 seconds (give or take) but most quality environments I can get a handle on pretty fast. This one is just yet another clunky fail.

Sorry to the Dev, but if you want to compete with the big boys you need to offer more than disjointed novelties (FL already majors in that and has street cred).

[tuaminen]

Hi, was this coded with AI? I ask because there are many people posting their AI coded projects right now, but 90% of them give up and abandon their project within a week even though they create websites etc. that look like a fleshed out project, and most of them do not disclose they are using AI.

Hi, yes, it was coded with AI.

The project longevity remains to be seen, but this has been a very big project so far.

[tuaminen]

This says it is not a passion project but a trial to see if there is any money in this game. Not reassuring when even the big names can be selling themselves to cover failing expectations. That is not to say that there is not a coin in DAWs but sadly most expect too much. Expect a baseline (as I suspect Justin of Reaper does) and it can stay viable.

Well, this surely is a passion project, and it ultimately will not matter whether there is any money involved or not.

I think creating a DAW for commercial reasons in 2026 is very risky idea, and I can think of several better
business ideas than this

So I am not expecting anyone to throw away their existing DAWs away and switch to mine at this stage. The goal is to get feedback, perhaps encouragement, and then keep on improving towards something useful and hopefully unique.

Benedict, thank you for the detailed feedback, I will look into it in detail.