chipbox

chipbox is an open-source desktop DAW written in Rust.

Context

This repository is currently set up for my own convenience — the project is in early development.

The current setup uses a QuickJS-based runtime to run a SolidJS frontend written in TypeScript inside the application.

By default, the frontend code is embedded into the final executable. During development, a Vite development server is used to host it instead, which allows for hot reloading through Hot Module Replacement. Since the execution environment is not a browser, it also implements a custom HMR client.

The frontend uses a custom DSL/framework based on the DOM to describe its UI. It maps to graphics primitives, as well as explicit layout and behavioral elements. These are then processed by the Rust application to produce a scene graph, which is finally rendered with Vello, a GPU renderer.

Planned features

The following is subject to change, although things already listed here are of high priority.

• An audio node graph system that enables users to create flexible synthesizers and effects chains.
• VST, CLAP, SF2, SFZ support.
• High configurability, with a user-friendly interface.
• Editor extensibility through custom WebAssembly modules, Lua and/or JavaScript scripting.
• At least ASIO, WASAPI, JACK, ALSA audio backends.
• MIDI I/O.
• Microtonal support.