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Add to SafariWhen comparing Waveform vs LMMS, the Slant community recommends LMMS for most people. In the question“What are the best DAWs? ” LMMS is ranked 14th while Waveform is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose LMMS is:
LMMS is available for free with source code licensed under GPL and available on [GitHub](https://github.com/LMMS/lmms) allowing anyone to edit and extend the software as they see fit.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Free version available
Older releases are available for free when new versions come out.
Pro Clean interface
Pro ARM/ARM64 support
Runs on SBC (single board computer) systems like the Raspberry Pi3, Pine64, and ODroid development boards, as well as systems like the Pinebook and Chromebooks with ARM based SoC CPU's that have been reformatted with a Linux OS.
Pro Easy to understand
Very logically structured.
Pro Linux support
Runs great on Linux(except LV2 Support).
Pro Creative Tools
Has a Chord Track, MIDI pattern creator and great included tools.
Pro Very stable
Pro Ideal for beginners
Self-explaining interface.
Pro Free and open source
LMMS is available for free with source code licensed under GPL and available on GitHub allowing anyone to edit and extend the software as they see fit.
Pro Cross-platform
LMMS works on Linux, Windows and OSX.
Pro Is a great open-source alternative to FL Studio
- Interface look like FL Studio interface.
- Has many of the same windows such as step-sequencer, piano roll, playlist, mixer, etc.
Pro VST Support
Uses VeSTige as the VST plugin. It has some bugs but most VSTs work with it.
Pro Portable
LMMS is lightweight enough to be run off of a flash drive.
Pro MIDI controllers support
Just plug in and play. Plug in the MIDI keyboard before opening LMMS and it'll automatically pick up that you've connected the keyboard.
Pro JACK Audio Connection Kit support
Pro LADSPA plugins support
Pro VST plugins support
Pro Multiple languages support
Pro Works with many VSTs and effects
Pro Preloaded with basic VST instrument plugins and modifiers
LMMS comes with a triple oscillator, Gameboy sound emu, NES sound emu added into the software, which makes it easier to create sounds without the inclusion of external plugins. It is very accessible for beginners.
Pro Computer Keyboard to MIDI
You can use your computer keyboard as a MIDI controller.
Pro Easy to use
LMMS is ideal for beginners, as it is easy to use and comes with tons of ready to use instruments and samples.
Pro Sandbox layout
All windows in the DAW can be moved around freely and are not attached to a grid.
Pro No Scanning VST instruments/FX in LMMS
You can load a VST Instrument plugin directly from your desktop if you want to and it supports most of the ddl plugins, both 32-bit 64-bit. FX plugins need to be placed into your directed plugin folder e.g C :/Program files/LMMS/Plugins.
Cons
Con Not open source
Con Not suited for live performance
No session based Workflow (like Live/Bitwig), hiccups upon loading projects.
Con Crashes a lot
Con No option to easily cut a file
There is no scissors tool or similar....
Con No merging or splicing options
There is no feature that allows you to merge or splice tracks in LMMS.
Con Cannot listen other tracks while recording
Can't listen to other track while record or playing other track .
Con Limited mixer rack
You can only add Virtual Instrument tracks into the mixing console/rack.
Con Program crashes a lot
This happens more frequently when loading VST files.
Con Limited effect plugin support
A lot of 3rd-party effect plugins don't work.
Con Pitch bending could be more native
Sometimes you can pitch bend with the Piano Roll Editor but with many instruments you cannot and are limited to the pitch knob in the main plugin interface.
Con GUI is ugly
