[opensourcedex]

nota is a free, open source media & streaming project written in C# and released under AGPL-3.0. It has 524 GitHub stars, 44 forks and 160 open issues, and was last pushed 10 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #40 of 41 tracked projects in Media & Streaming, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available.

What is nota?

Nota is a free, open-source digital audio workstation for macOS, Windows and Linux that opens without a subscription, an account or feature tiers, and is aimed at musicians and producers who want to arrange, record and mix on their own machine.

What it is

Nota is a cross-platform music studio application, distributed under the AGPL-3.0 licence and written primarily in C#, with Avalonia, JUCE and C++20 named in the repository's topic list alongside audio, MIDI, DSP, Audio Unit and Linux-audio tags. It bundles the pieces a producer normally assembles from several purchases: a linear Arrangement timeline, a clip-launching Session grid, a Modular signal-graph editor with CV modulation, a mixer with audio, MIDI, group, return and master tracks, and roughly 35 built-in instruments and effects. The same application runs on macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon and Intel, on Windows 10 and 11 including ARM, and on Linux, and it follows the system's dark or light mode.

The concrete problem it solves is access: commercial DAWs commonly gate features behind paid editions, subscriptions or account sign-ups, and Nota replaces that with a single free edition — no paid tier and no upgrade to unlock. It also removes the usual hunt for free plugins by letting users install more than 200 open-source plugins, including Surge XT, Dexed and Dragonfly Reverb, in one click from Settings, while still hosting whatever VST3 plugins are already on the machine and Audio Units on macOS. Sessions and songs stay as local projects on the user's own computer, with every save retained in the project's version history.

Key capabilities

  • Three working views: an Arrangement timeline, a Session clip grid with material moving freely between the two, and a Modular signal-graph editor with CV modulation from LFO, envelope follower, MIDI→CV, ADSR, Macro and Math sources patched onto any parameter.
  • Around 35 built-in instruments and effects, covering subtractive, wavetable, FM, granular and physical-modelling synths, a drum machine, EQ, compressors, reverbs, delays, saturation, an arpeggiator, chord and scale tools, and racks with macros.
  • Plugin hosting with VST3 on every platform and Audio Units on macOS, plus one-click installation of free open-source plugins from Settings.
  • Nota Remote, which turns a phone into a controller for pads, keys, an XY pad and the mixer over Wi-Fi or USB, with nothing to install on the phone.
  • Recording from inputs and internal buses, import of WAV, AIFF, FLAC and MP3, per-clip fades, gain and envelopes, warp and time-stretch, a piano roll with quantize and velocity, .mid drag-and-drop, and audio-to-MIDI conversion for melody, harmony, drums and slices.
  • Version history in which every save is kept, so a song can be returned to an earlier version or branched from it.
  • Export of the master or stems to WAV at 16/24-bit or 32-bit float, with true-peak normalize and dither.

Who uses it and how

  • Producers working across several machines, who get the same application and the same project behaviour on macOS, Windows and Linux rather than a platform-specific tool.
  • Plugin-heavy users who bring their existing VST3 collection on any platform, or Audio Units on macOS, and supplement it with the built-in devices and the one-click plugin catalogue.
  • People who want to audition material before committing to it, using the browser to preview presets, drum kits, effects and samples.
  • Performers and jam-oriented users who scan a QR code and ride the mixer or play pads from a phone, and macOS users who can play from a gamepad or the computer keyboard.
  • Open-source contributors, with the project at 524 stars and 44 forks, and users who want optional AI assistance: a local MCP server lets an assistant such as Claude work in the open project, off by default.

Getting started

Download the file for the system from the latest release on GitHub — a Nota-…-arm64.dmg or -x86_64.dmg for macOS 13 or later, a Nota-Setup-…-x64.exe or -arm64.exe for Windows 10 and 11, or the Linux build listed in the same table — and open it.

How it compares

No competing DAW is named in the facts, and the only other audio software mentioned — Surge XT, Dexed and Dragonfly Reverb — are plugins that Nota hosts rather than alternatives to it. Within this registry's Miscellaneous / Media & Streaming category it therefore stands alone as a downloadable desktop workstation.

When to use it — and when not to

Nota is a desktop application with no server component described, so a user operates nothing beyond the app itself, but anyone who modifies and redistributes a build takes on the source-availability obligations of the AGPL-3.0 licence. Distribution runs through the GitHub release page rather than a package manager, which means Linux users in particular must fetch and update the build by hand. The 160 open issues against 44 forks indicate a project with a substantial backlog, so users who need vendor support contracts or a long-term commercial support relationship should look elsewhere.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Nota

A free music studio for macOS, Windows and Linux.
No subscription, no account, no feature tiers — just open it and make music.

Download for macOS, Windows and Linux   Website   Join our Discord

Latest release Build status Downloads License: AGPL-3.0 Platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux Documentation

Upstar: #3 Riser Of The Week in Audio, November 2026

Nota playing a song in the Arrangement view, with the selected track's devices open below

▶ Watch the demo with sound (1:45, YouTube)

Why Nota

  • Free, for good. Open source, no paid edition, no "upgrade to unlock".
  • Arrange and jam. A linear Arrangement timeline and a clip-launching Session grid, with material moving freely between them — plus a Modular view for patching modulation by cable.
  • A full kit out of the box. ~35 built-in instruments and effects: subtractive, wavetable, FM, granular and physical-modelling synths, a drum machine, EQ, compressors, reverbs, delays, saturation, arpeggiator, chord and scale tools, racks with macros.
  • Your plugins too. VST3 on every platform, Audio Units on macOS. Popular free plugins (Surge XT, Dexed, Dragonfly Reverb …) install in one click from Settings.
  • Your phone is a controller. Scan a QR code and play pads, keys and an XY pad, or ride the mixer — over Wi-Fi or USB, nothing to install.
  • Easy on the eyes, and yours to change. A flat grey shell where the track colours carry the music, and orange only for what is playing or picked. Dark or light, the warm Ember themes, the classic look, or a theme of your own — and your phone follows along.
  • Works where you do. The same app on macOS, Windows and Linux, on Intel/AMD and ARM.

Demo

Screenshots


Arrangement — the song, with the selected track's devices below
Modular — patch LFOs and modulators onto any parameter

Piano roll — draw, then arpeggiate, strum or ornament in one click
Built-in devices — every one draws what it does to the sound

Mixer — faders, sends and live meters
Downloads — 200+ free open-source plugins, one click to install

Studio Light — the same look in light greys, for daytime sessions
Appearance — Studio or Ember themes, the classic look, or your own theme

Features

A quick digest — see FEATURES.md for the full, categorised list.

  • Three views — Arrangement timeline, Session clip grid, and a Modular signal-graph editor with CV modulation (LFO / envelope follower / MIDI→CV / ADSR / Macro / Math, patched onto any parameter).
  • Tracks & mixer — audio, MIDI, group (nestable), return and master tracks; sends; MIDI routing between tracks; peak/RMS and true-peak meters.
  • MIDI — piano roll with quantize and velocity; play from a MIDI keyboard, the computer keyboard, a gamepad (macOS) or your phone; drag in .mid files; turn audio into MIDI (melody / harmony / drums / slice).
  • Audio — record from inputs and internal buses; import WAV/AIFF/FLAC/MP3; fades, gain and per-clip envelopes; warp / time-stretch.
  • Automation & MIDI Learn — draw or record automation on any parameter; map hardware knobs to almost anything.
  • Browser — preview presets, drum kits, effects and samples before you load them.
  • Version history — every save is kept; go back to any earlier version of a song, or branch off from it.
  • Export — the master or stems to WAV (16/24-bit or 32-bit float), with true-peak normalize and dither.
  • Colour themes and looks — Studio Dark (the default), Studio Light, Ember Graphite and Ember Paper, or follow the system's dark / light mode; an accent colour and a text size of your own; the Classic look of earlier versions; and your own themes — a theme file sets the colours, a typeface and the corner roundness. Nota Remote on your phone wears the same theme.
  • AI control (optional) — a local MCP server lets an AI assistant such as Claude work in the open project. Off by default.

Install

Download the file for your system from the latest release:

System File Notes
macOS 13+, Apple Silicon (M1 and later) Nota--arm64.dmg
macOS 13+, Intel Nota--x86_64.dmg
Windows 10/11, most PCs Nota-Setup--x64.exe
Windows 11 on ARM Nota-Setup--arm64.exe
Linux, most PCs Nota--x86_64.AppImage
Linux on ARM Nota--aarch64.AppImage

First launch

Nota isn't signed with a paid Apple or Microsoft certificate yet, so the system asks you to confirm the first time:

  • macOS — see Opening Nota on macOS below.
  • Windows — if SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway.
  • Linux — make the AppImage executable (chmod +x Nota-*.AppImage, or Properties → Permissions in your file manager) and run it.

Opening Nota on macOS

  1. Open the downloaded .dmg and drag Nota into Applications.
  2. Open Nota from Applications. The first time, macOS stops it with "Nota" Not Opened — Apple could not verify "Nota" is free of malware… (older macOS: "Nota" can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software). Click Done — not Move to Trash.
  3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll down to Security. You'll see "Nota" was blocked to protect your Mac. Click Open Anyway, confirm with your password or Touch ID, then click Open Anyway once more.

That's it — from now on Nota opens like any other app.

Still won't open, or macOS says Nota "is damaged"?

That message is the same check with scarier wording — the download isn't actually broken. Open Terminal (Applications → Utilities) and run:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Nota.app

This removes the "downloaded from the internet" mark from Nota only. Then open Nota normally.

On macOS 13–14 there's also a shortcut for step 3: in Finder, right-click (or Control-click) Nota in Applications → Open → Open.

Why the extra step? Signing an app so macOS trusts it right away needs a paid Apple developer certificate, which Nota doesn't have yet. Nota is open source and built in public by GitHub Actions from the code in this repository.

Nota checks for updates itself and shows what's new after each update.

Status

New to Nota? The user manual (English and Russian) walks through every view and device.

Nota is young and moving fast — new releases come out every week or so (see the changelog). It's already used to make real music, but expect rough edges. Found a bug or missing something? Open an issue — every report gets read. Want to help with code? Start with a good first issue. Every change needs an issue approved by a core contributor first (the approved label) — pull requests without one are closed unreviewed. Ask before you build; see Start with an approved issue. Development here is spec-driven: non-trivial changes start as a written spec in specs/ — requirements, plan and tasks before any code — following the Spec Kit workflow in CONTRIBUTING.md. Questions, ideas or music to share? Join the Discord server.

For plugin developers

Nota has its own plugin registry — nota-daw/nota-plugins-registry — the list of open-source VST3 plugins that Nota installs from Settings → Downloads. Add yours with a pull request and every Nota user can install it in one click; the registry's README explains what gets in and how.

Building from source

The audio engine and DSP are a portable C++20 core; the UI is .NET 10 / Avalonia 12 (C#); plugin hosting runs through JUCE, isolated in its own module so the engine core stays JUCE-free.

git clone https://github.com/nota-daw/nota.git
cd nota
scripts/build.sh            # Build on macOS.
scripts/build-linux.sh      # Build on Linux.
scripts/build-win.ps1       # Build on Windows.
dotnet run --project src/managed/Nota.App

About

Nota is made by Egor Khindikaynen aka Ambertape (music). It started as a tool I built for my own music and was later opened up as open source. Most of the code was written with AI assistance, with every design decision, the sound and the workflow guided and shaped by me.

License

Licensed under AGPL-3.0-only — see LICENSES/ for the terms, and LICENSES/third-party.md for the dependency register.

Nota links JUCE, which is AGPLv3, so the open build is AGPL rather than GPL — see LICENSES/README.md.

Greptile: The War on Bugs

Frequently asked questions

Is nota free to use?

nota is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does nota do?

Nota — a free DAW for macOS, Windows and Linux. No subscription, no account — just open it and make music.

What is nota written in?

nota is primarily written in C#. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/nota-daw/nota, and it has 524 GitHub stars.