Many OS X users are anxiously awaiting a binary release of 2.5 for their platform. I thought I should update everyone on the situation there. (Updated July 18th, 2008)

As happens all too often, its been longer than expected between releases, but finally Ardour 2.5 is ready to ease the path, soothe the brow and excite the heart of musicians and audio engineers worldwide. Tons of bug fixes and several new features will make it worthwhile for everyone and anyone to try this out. Read more below for details ...

I will be speaking at the Catalan Free Software Conference in Barcelona, July 2nd-5th. There should be a good mix of talks in Spanish, English and Catalan, and of course the guys behind the wonderful CLAM project will be around too. If you're in or near Barcelona, stop in and say hello. I will be giving 2 talks - one on Linux/Libre multimedia/audio software in general and another specifically on Ardour.

In 2006 and 2007, Google's Summer of Code program helped support Dave Robillard's work on MIDI sequencing (which continues in the 3.0 branch). I did not apply to have Ardour to be a part of the Google Summer of Code program this year, but it turns out that Google is not the only SoC program. We were lucky to discover that Sakari Bergen, an open source enthusiast and student at the Helsinki University of Technology, was chosen to be a part of the Summer Code Finland program. Read more below to find out more about what Sakari will be doing ...

You might wonder (or you might not) what Ardour’s lead developer does when he’s not busy fixing bugs, adding features and responding to users’ requests and ideas. This coming weekend (Memorial Day in the USA) … (read more below)

Yes, its time for the usual bug-fix-after-the-real-release. 2.4.1 primarily fixes two significant bugs in 2.4 (no undo after region dragging being the most important). But it also has a couple of new features and several other nice fixes and improvements, particularly for users of AudioUnit plugins on OS X. Read below for more ...

Well, its over a month later than expected, but Ardour 2.4 is finally here. A respectable list of new features, many small improvements and an important set of bug fixes make up the news for this one. Read more below ...

Dave “MIDI” Robillard writes: Hi all. Thought I’d make a little post on MIDI stuff so things appear alive to you weirdos who aren’t on IRC 24 hours a day. Just some random not-very-prepared screenshots.

An older shot showing multi-line controllers, and the editor controllers: Editor controls. On MIDI controller tracks (CC) the bar controllers can be used to record/touch, or twiddled in realtime to control MIDI apps/gear.

MIDI import was introduced yesterday (Importing MIDI is done with the same dialog as audio, though it doesn’t look appropriate yet..). Here’s some Mozart imported into Ardour from a (single, multi-track) Standard MIDI File: Mozart Import.

Read more below ….

To address some of the issues that surround using Ardour on OS X, there is now a new IRC channel, #ardour-osx at irc.freenode.net. Its where we will announce new test releases of the native verion, and where people can visit to seek help for problems that are specific to starting up/installing on OS X. More general ardour questions and issues still belong on the general #ardour channel. For those without IRC software (we recommend xchat, though colloquy on OS X is good too), visit the OS X channel or the regular channel via the mibbit web interface.