Freedom251 › Audio Editing Software
Tsunami
What Tsunami is
Tsunami is a free, GPL-3.0 open-source digital audio workstation for Linux, Windows, and macOS. It was mainly developed for personal home recording and includes multitrack mixing, multi-version recording, audio effects, synthesizers, samples, signal chains, MIDI editing, sequencing, and persistent sessions. Its plugin system uses a dedicated language and just-in-time compiler, allowing plugin classes such as audio effects; it supports x86_64 and aarch64 processors. Tsunami began as a Linux project, with build instructions requiring GTK 4, zlib, and FFTW3 and recommending PulseAudio and ALSA. Windows support is described as experimental and uses Visual Studio 2022 instructions. macOS support is also experimental: installation is unsupported, while an app bundle can be built. Repository documentation covers building, running, plugins, internal design, and development, but the usage guide currently says “TODO.”
Who it suits
Tsunami fits people seeking a free workstation for home recording, multitrack audio, MIDI work, and extensible plugins. Platform support is available across Linux, Windows, and macOS, with experimental status on Windows and macOS.
What it does well
- Free and open-source under GPL-3.0
- Multitrack mixing and MIDI editing
- Effects, synthesizers, samples, signal chains
- Persistent sessions for continuing work
- Plugins support x86_64 and aarch64
What to know first
- Windows support is experimental
- macOS installation is unsupported
- Usage guide currently says “TODO”
- Linux setup requires listed libraries
Verdict
Tsunami offers a broad recording and MIDI feature set without a license fee. Linux is its original platform, while Windows and macOS involve experimental or unsupported installation paths.
Facts from Tsunami's own pages
- Audio and MIDI
- The listed features include audio effects, MIDI editing, synthesizers, samples, signal chains, and persistent sessions. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Audio tools
- Listed features include audio effects, synthesizers, samples, and signal chains. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- CPU support
- The plugin system supports x86_64 and aarch64 CPUs. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Dependencies
- The Linux build guide lists GTK 4, zlib, and FFTW3 as required libraries, with audio libraries including PulseAudio and ALSA recommended. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Free plan
- Yes · github.com, 20 Sept 2026
- Intended use
- The maker says it was mainly developed for personal home recording needs. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- License
- The repository identifies its license as GPL-3.0. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Linux
- The project was initially written for Linux and provides Linux build instructions. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Linux support
- Tsunami was initially written for Linux, and the maker provides Linux build instructions for dependencies including GTK4, zlib, and fftw3. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- macOS
- macOS support is described as experimental; the build guide says installing is unsupported and explains how to build an app bundle. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- macOS support
- macOS support is described as experimental, and the guide says installation is unsupported while an app bundle can be built. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Maker
- The project README says it was mostly written by Michael Ankele. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- MIDI and sessions
- Tsunami supports MIDI editing and persistent sessions. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- MIDI sequencing
- Yes · github.com, 20 Sept 2026
- Multitrack editing
- Yes · github.com, 20 Sept 2026
- Plugin architecture
- Plugins can define classes such as audio effects that can be used inside Tsunami. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Plugins
- Tsunami has a plugin system using its own language and just-in-time compiler for plugin code. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Processor support
- The plugin system supports x86_64 and aarch64 CPUs. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Product
- Tsunami is an open-source Digital Audio Workstation designed for ease of use. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Recording and mixing
- Features include multi-track mixing and multi-version audio recording. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Support and documentation
- The repository links to build and run, usage, plugin-writing, internal-design, and development-plan documentation; its usage guide currently says “TODO.” · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
- Supported platforms
- Linux, Windows, macOS · github.com, 20 Sept 2026
- Use case
- The maker says it was mainly developed for personal home-recording needs. · github.com, 12 Oct 2026
- Windows
- Windows support is described as experimental and documented for Visual Studio 2022. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Where Tsunami stands on Freedom251
- Audio Editing Software#71 of 130