LYNX is a lightweight, fully open-source DAW with the FL Studio workflow you already know — Channel Rack, Piano Roll, Playlist and Mixer — built in modern C++ to run smoothly on any PC. It even opens your .flp projects.
A lock-free engine that spreads channels and mixer tracks across your CPU cores, skips idle channels and streams long audio from disk.
faster than real time — our 46 s demo renders in 0.93 s
FL Studio native plugins recreated or converted on import
automated checks run on every build
free forever, open source under AGPL-3.0
Multithreaded audio graph, disk streaming and a GPU-friendly UI. Runs on old laptops too.
Step sequencer, patterns, Piano Roll, Playlist and a Mixer with inserts, sends and sidechain. Same shortcuts.
Imports FL Studio projects: channels, samples, patterns, arrangement, automation, mixer and native plugins.
Behaviour studied and documented, then written from scratch. Not a single line of Image-Line code.
Patterns, audio and automation clips side by side, with markers, arrangements, time selection and a knife tool.
Snap, chords and scales, slide and porta notes, velocity and pitch lanes, strum, arpeggiate and randomize tools.
Up to 127 inserts, 10 effect slots per track, sends, sidechain, delay compensation and smart disable.
LYNX ships its own native plugins inspired by the third-party plugins producers use most: EQs, limiters, reverbs, vocal tuning, channel strips. Open a project that uses one you don't have installed and LYNX loads its equivalent in that slot, keeping the original's settings for when it's back.
A tiny taste of the Channel Rack, running in your browser. The real thing has unlimited channels, swing, patterns and much more.
The demo song ships with the app (LYNX.exe --showcase). Every sound you hear is LYNX's own synths, drums and effects.
124 BPM · kick, clap, reese bass, pad, pluck and supersaw. Click the waveform to seek.
Each engine is written natively in LYNX, inspired by an FL Studio plugin and checked against the original running unmodified. Exact means bit-identical output.
The plugins FL Studio users reach for most, all at Exact or Near-exact quality, plus LYNX's own reverbs fitted to measurements of producers' favourites.
Status, test coverage and what is still missing for each one: docs/PLUGINS.md.
FL Studio and its plugin names are trademarks of Image-Line Software, used here only to describe compatibility. LYNX is not affiliated with Image-Line. No Image-Line code or audio data ships with LYNX; built-in waves are read from your own FL Studio installation.
C++20 and JUCE 8. Every feature comes with tests, and every FL Studio behaviour we reproduce is documented. Star the repo, open an issue, send a pull request.
For Windows, macOS and Linux. No account, no subscription.
LYNX is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Image-Line. FL Studio is a trademark of Image-Line Software.
Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation.
Release files are built from the public source by GitHub Actions, and every signing request is approved by hand.
Authors, reviewers and approvers: Ka1-S (repository owner).
This program will not transfer any information to other networked systems unless specifically requested by the user or the person installing or operating it. Privacy policy