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Transcend with a song open: the arrangement, its tracks and samples, and the browser

Start fresh,
or bring it all.

An Innovative DAW built for what’s next, with new features every week. Start from nothing, or bring your FL Studio, Ableton Live, REAPER or Studio One songs, plugins and all. It’s easy to pick up, and what it doesn’t do yet, you can add.

$24.99 during the public beta, $50 from version 1.0. One edition, with everything in it.

$24.99during the public beta

$50 from version 1.0, which is included if you buy now.

Everything.
One edition.

No tiers, and nothing locked behind an upgrade. Use it on up to three computers, and it works offline.

  • Every Transcend instrument and effect
  • Audio to Instrument and Audio to MIDI
  • FL Studio, Ableton Live, REAPER, Studio One and DAWproject import
  • Project versions, kept and compared by ear
  • Extensions, themes and layouts
  • Windows and Mac

Transcend is still in development. Expect rough edges, and keep a backup of songs that matter. Report a bug and it gets fixed fast.

You're buying a licence to use Transcend, not the software itself. See the terms.

Everyone who buys or tests is invited to the Discord, where testers, bug reports and feature ideas shape what comes next.

What the full edition costs in its first year (USD)
  • Transcend Public beta $24.99 Version 1.0 included. $50 from version 1.0. Every plugin included
  • Studio One 8 Now Fender Studio Pro 8 $199/version Each major version is paid. Every new version is another $199
  • Logic Pro Mac app $199.99 Updates have been free so far. Mac only
  • REAPER Commercial licence $225 Free upgrades through version 8. $60 discounted licence for small earners
  • Pro Tools Subscription $300/yr Updates while you keep paying. Paid every year
  • Bitwig Studio Full version $399 12 months of updates, then renew
  • FL Studio All Plugins Edition $449 Lifetime free updates
  • Cubase Pro 15 $579.99 Each major version is paid. List price
  • Ableton Live 12 Suite $749 Each major version is paid

Prices as of 25 September 2026, for the edition with all of each vendor's own instruments and effects. Pro Tools is a yearly subscription and Studio One is paid again for each new version; the rest are one-time purchases. Transcend's is the public beta price. Point at a row for its update terms.

Nightdrive.flp

FL Studio 2025 (25.2) (supported) · 140 BPM · 18 tracks · 146 clips · 11 plugins

Replaced with Transcend plugins

Transcend plugins standing in for FL’s own, where FL had them.

  • Fruity Reeverb 2 → Transcend Reverbon Insert 4, with FL’s settings
  • Fruity Parametric EQ 2 → Transcend EQon Insert 1, with FL’s settings
  • Fruity Limiter → Transcend Limiteron the master, with FL’s input gain and ceiling

This is a new, unsaved Transcend project. Saving it will ask where to put it; your .flp is never changed.

Illustrative project. The sections and what they report are the importer's own. Click a section to read it.

Your projects come with you.

FL Studio doesn’t open Ableton sets. Ableton doesn’t open FL projects. Transcend opens both, and tells you exactly what came across.

  • .flp

    FL Studio

    FL Studio 12 to 2026

    704 projects read

  • .als

    Ableton Live

    Live 10 to 12.4.x

    1,557 sets read

  • .rpp

    REAPER

    REAPER 5 to 7.80

    2,002 projects open

  • .song

    Studio One

    Studio One 5.5 to 8.1.2

    92 songs read

  • .dawproject

    Bitwig, Cubase and more

    DAWproject 1.0

    the published spec

And to leave: File ▸ Export ▸ DAWproject.

Will my project open?

Drop a project file to see which version wrote it, and whether we’ve tested that version. It never leaves your computer.

Transcend's start screen: Blank Project, Recording and Import from Another DAW, with recent projects underneath, one of them imported from FL Studio.
Import from Another DAW, on the start screen.
0.0 dB
between REAPER’s render and ours, on a REAPER test project
0.01 dB
between Live 12.4.6’s export and ours, on Ableton automation
1 dB
at most, between FL and our rebuilt Soundgoodizer and Multiband
19,424
Ableton effects from our test sets arrive with their settings

How close is every import? See the scorecard.

Turn any sound into an instrument.

Record a note, or drag in a sample you love. Transcend builds an instrument that sounds like it, then hands you every control.

Transcend matching a recorded bass pluck: the recording on top, six candidate sounds below, the closest 86% alike.
  • From one note

    Right-click a clip and choose Convert to Instrument, or drop a sound on the instrument. One clear note works best.

  • Six to choose from

    Hear each candidate, keep the best, or ask for more like it. Each one says how close it got.

  • A real instrument

    It plays on every key, and every part of the sound is a control you can change. Not a sample stretched across the keyboard.

Every save, remembered.

Go back through your saves like a stack of snapshots. Pick one to read what changed since, in plain words, hear it next to the song as it is now, and go back to it if you liked it better.

Every save from today is kept, then one an hour, one a day and one a week as they age. Name a version and it stays.

Transcend in the Midnight theme

Make it yours.

Change how it looks, arrange it like the DAW you came from, and soon, rebuild the whole interface your way.

Themes and wallpapers

Five themes come with Transcend, and more are in the Store. Put a picture behind the timeline, your own photo too. It stays still while you scroll.

The layout of the DAW you came from

One click arranges the window like the DAW you already know, with its keyboard shortcuts for FL Studio and Ableton Live. Every shortcut can be changed.

Overhaul the whole interface In development

We’re building a new extension system that can redraw and rearrange every part of the window.

Transcend's layout picker: Transcend, FL Studio style, Ableton Live style, Pro Tools style, Studio One style and REAPER style, each drawn as the window it makes.
The layout picker in Settings: Transcend, FL Studio, Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Studio One and REAPER styles, each drawn by Transcend from the layout itself.
  • Concept: Five panes at once Five panes at once
  • Concept: Mixer first Mixer first
  • Concept: A light, edit-first room A light, edit-first room
  • Concept: The mix inside every track The mix inside every track
Concepts of interfaces the new extension system will make possible. Not built yet.
scripts/main.lua Chord Helper
local T = transcend
local theory = require("theory")

local PANEL = T.panels.create("chords", {
    title = "Chords", placement = "sidebar",
    minWidth = 220, minHeight = 320 })
...
-- The chord at the playhead is recomputed on every playhead
-- move, but the panel only redraws when its NAME changes --
-- a sustained chord costs nothing.
T.events.on("playheadMoved", function(e)
    lastMode = e.mode or lastMode
    if not T.panels.isVisible(PANEL) then return end
    refresh(false)
    local name = chordAtPlayhead()
    if name ~= view.now then
        view.now = name; T.panels.invalidate(PANEL)
    end
end)
...
-- API level 12: told when the notes, the open pattern or the
-- tempo change, instead of polling.
T.events.on("notesChanged", function(e)
    if e.patternId == view.patternId then projectChanged() end
end)
Terminal
> Transcend --test-extension velocity-fade
Testing Velocity Fade 1.0.0 (io.github.your-name.velocity-fade)
  on Transcend 0.7.3.1, API level 13
tests/fade_test.lua
  ok    a fade in rises evenly from soft to loud
  ok    notes keep their pitch, place and length
  ok    velocities stay between 1 and 127
  ok    an empty pattern stays empty
tests/panel_test.lua
  ok    the panel shows the open pattern
  ok    Fade In from the command palette rewrites the open pattern
  ok    clicking Fade out on the panel fades the notes down
  ok    with no pattern open it says so and changes nothing
8 passed, 0 failed

Chord Helper, a real extension, and the test run of the extension template.

Add what it doesn’t have.

Extensions add tools, pages and windows to Transcend. Write your own in Lua, install one from a GitHub link or a file, or pick one from the Store.

  • Write your own

    Lua, with a documented API. Link your folder and Transcend reloads it every time you save. Transcend --test-extension runs its tests against a pretend project.

    Read the extension docs
  • From a link or a file

    Paste any GitHub repository or release link, or drop a .tpkg file onto Transcend. Anything that runs code asks before it installs.

  • From the Store

    Reviewed extensions were read line by line by us. Community ones come straight from their makers on GitHub.

    The extension Store in Transcend: Chord Helper featured, then Reviewed themes, layouts and tools.

The Clip Launcher

Launch clips and whole scenes on the next bar, lined up over the mixer. 444 lines of Lua, using the same API you get. Still in development.

Chord Helper

Names the chord under the playhead and writes a progression into your pattern, one click a bar.

What an extension can reach

  • Whole pages and floating windows
  • Entries in the right-click menus
  • Notes, patterns and their instruments
  • The tempo map, meter, key and markers
  • Told when notes, tempo or key change
  • MIDI in and out, with permission

The API is still growing, and is provisional until 1.0.

Keyroom editor
Reverb editor
Transcend Strings editor
TranSynth editor
Sampler editor
Amp editor
Autotune editor
Shuffle editor
Auto Pan editor
Convolution editor
Multiband editor
TranBass editor
Meter editor
Saturation editor
Limiter editor
EQ editor
Transcend FM editor
Filter editor
Vocoder editor
Chorus editor
Delay editor
Phaser editor
Pump editor
Flanger editor
Compressor editor
Gate editor
Bitcrush editor
De-Esser editor
Imager editor
Utility editor
TrioSynth editor
Drum Machine editor

KeyroomInstrument

Grand, upright and electric pianos, organs and more.

01 / 32

The numbers are measured, and more are coming.

Every instrument and effect is tested with real audio through the shipping plugin, and the suite keeps growing with the updates. Transcend Strings and Auto Pan are the newest.

35.1 dB
less aliasing, with Saturation’s 4x oversampling
0.42 dB
at most, between the EQ’s drawn curve and what you hear
0.04 dB
of level drift across Saturation’s whole drive range

Built for the details.

The parts you notice when another DAW gets them wrong.

  • Audio to MIDI

    Turn a recording into notes. On 360 real guitar takes it beats Basic Pitch, the model it builds on.

  • Audio that follows the tempo

    Warped clips follow every tempo change. Detect read 91% of 615 real loops exactly.

  • Takes land where you played

    Within 0.54 ms of the grid, measured at every buffer size.

  • A mixer 128 tracks deep

    Folders, VCAs, sends, and sidechains that work on third-party plugins too.

  • Send it to anyone

    Share Project renders what needs your plugins to audio and zips the rest.

  • Survives a crash

    Unsaved work is snapshotted as you go and offered back on the next launch.

Coming soon

Watch the trailer.

Just over a minute of what Transcend does, set to a beat made in Transcend.

And so much more.

What’s coming, and what you’d like to see. Pin an idea: Javid reads every one, and the ones he picks go up here.

  • Drag a sung note to a new pitch

    In testing, from Javid

  • See and hear what a collaborator changed in your song

    In testing, from Javid

  • Take one pattern or mixer chain from another song

    Designed, from Javid

  • A new extension system for designing your own interface

    In development, from Javid

Notes appear once approved. No links, and be kind.

Windows and Mac.

The same Transcend on both, and your projects open on either.

Windows

System
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
Plugins
VST3, VST2 (64 and 32-bit), CLAP
Audio
ASIO, or Windows’ own audio
Get the public beta

The beta installer isn’t code-signed yet, so Windows may warn you the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

Mac

System
macOS 13 Ventura or later
Plugins
VST3, CLAP, Audio Units
Audio
Core Audio
Get the public beta

The Mac download follows once Apple has notarised it. Tested on Intel Macs so far.

Want to test it for free?

A few testers get a free licence in return for reporting what they find. Apply, and if you’re picked, we’ll email you.

We keep your email, the link you came from and the date, only to answer your application. We never share or sell it. Ask on Discord and we'll delete it. More in the privacy policy.