This bizarre experimental DAW is a sound designer's wet dream [blockhead]

In an age where every DAW is super streamlined for production, one developer dares head in the opposite direction with "blockhead", an experimental DAW that embraces the idea of breaking all the rules.
Find blockhead at the developer's Patreon page:
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00:00 Intro to Blockhead
00:47 Workspace
01:34 Destructive Clip Editing
02:44 Lane Effects
04:50 Multiple Simultaneous Tempos
06:37 Block Synth
08:38 Carnival (Noise Generator)
09:33 Loopback Recording
10:51 Final thoughts
12:49 Demo (Outro)

[@CypiXmusic]

Throw it at Burial, see what he comes up with :P

[@ColdComp]

@@CypiXmusic lol for real!

[@wasabifinessed]

Underrated comment

[@richardsmithson4453]

Thought the same ha

[@jordanmillon8904]

I’d wanna see what aphex twin does with this too

[@katurian666]

That's the first thing I thought when I saw "no grid."

[@Cassanti]

It's a raw piece of software right now but I can see the vision. Traditional DAW's have a lot of hoops to jump through to get this level of detail in your song so it's refreshing to see a new concept and have it just make sense. Right now, it looks like it takes the flexibility and ease of use of popular DAW's and combines it with the detailed editing of trackers. Very interested to see where this goes.

[@WhizPill]

this should be a plug in, not a DAW

[@kewdi2254]

Right? This totally reminded me of absolute macro control you'd have on a tracker. This seems so cool and makes me want to mess with it.

[@UndarZ]

​@WhizPill there's no way this could work as a plugin

[@ALTAMICHANNEL]

This feels like opening up a DAW for the first time as a kid, I kinda wanna try it haha

[@soundlearn]

It’s $3, so it’s worth a shot just to mess around with!

[@killer3544]

more like opening paint as a kid

[@le-jesuve]

my cpu wheezin watchin this

[@reddleyTV]

I was kinda like, “yeah that’s cool I guess” until <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="608">10:08</a> and my jaw hit the floor. That is unbelievably dope. I can’t count the number of times I was messing around and made something cool only to mess with the settings and lose it, never to figure it out again.

[@privatedomicile6627]

You should check out the rolling sampler from bird bird. It will do exactly this in whatever saw you want and it’s only $20.

[@Radgerayden-ist]

Also a feature in BespokeSynth

This is actually a concept I've seen before in a Mr Bill video tutorial - he sets a resampling track recording and then just has fun messing around with things, then comes back and clips what he likes. He called them 'idea jams'. I love using this technique to make sample packs!

[@kevinkrebs1412]

legitamately excited to hear what music is going to sound like in 10-20 years with tools like this available to the next generation

[@ColdComp]

One day, this is going to be INSANE

[@Andrew-rz7qt]

Unfortunately it's really difficult to break into a market that is already saturated with many other products and then try get people to change after they're used to working on another one.

[@VeganKebabDoRuky]

@@Andrew-rz7qt you don't always have to change, you can just add. If Blockhead remains to be a unique playground, people won't see it as a replacement DAW, rather an enrichment. There already are people who use more than one DAW because they prefer certain operations to be split up across. Like using a different DAW for mixing and mastering.

[@Andrew-rz7qt]

@@VeganKebabDoRuky personally speaking I started on Ableton version 4 and have tried them all, reason, cakewalk, pro tools and always come back to Ableton.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

I use Reaper for recording and Harrison Mixbus for mixing (basically a Harrison Mixbus branded console version of Ardour) and VCV Rack quite a bit. I am in the market demographic for this, I think lol

[@Andrew-rz7qt]

@@neilpatrickhairless that's the problem with bringing a new DAW to market, once people have found a set up that works for them, it's very hard to get people to switch.

[@jackmono]

The lane effects create a way better workflow and ease of use of the effect than for instance using an effect on a track in ableton, toggling the on and off and then automating the effect. This seems more in line with how a producer want's to use those effects. Very nice.

[@theorize999]

this looks great for sound design, like the type of sound design you would do for movies and games, where you’re layering many sounds into one

[@ViRiXDreamcore]

Great point! Layering here is goiunt to be great.

[@cardonbmusic]

Polyrhythmic music would go crazy in this

[@GeorgeLocke]

Without a wider palette of effects and synthesis tools, it's more of a sound design toy or experiment. I love the interface for drawing automation, and i love the clarity of just "sound over time." So, as a big sound design nerd, I see it as a place to go after sound design, where the limitations force me to stop sound design and focus on composition/layout.

[@tzadcannotbeleftblank9765]

so excited for this kind of alt-DAW

[@stereo-soulsoundsystem5070]

Video games, shows, animations and indie music is about go crazy

[@bangkokcanon]

thanks for taking the time to make this short film. i found it inspiring. it's great to see tools that encourage manageable, accessible play; building blocks that are simple to put in place yet rich with possibilities. i'd love to see more on it and will probably end up downloading / supporting.🎉.

[@JoshuaDb_The_Witness]

This reminds me of my first "DAW", Acid Pro - back in 1996(?) I think. It was my introduction to making music with a computer - had to keep everything on external disks - had 12k of memory and a shitty Turtle Beach sound card - that I had to install myself. lol... I swear I made better music when I had shitty gear and no idea what I was doing. Since then I have gone to music school and audio engineering school - worked as a professional bassist, an engineer, and sound designer for film and theater - all kinds of gear has passed through my hands since then - but Id give all of it up - to go back to that time when everything was still an adventure - and I had no clue. lol.

[@JoshuaDb_The_Witness]

Okay - spoke to soon - MUCH cooler than ACid! lol

[@JoshuaDb_The_Witness]

This would REALLY benefit from a touch screen - a port to iOS would be fantastic.

[@ennayanne]

I feel that, I feel like the most fun I had producing was when I first started and really sucked at it lol

[@onlyusernameleft2]

I was just reminiscing about Acid Pro yesterday how weird

[@JoshuaDb_The_Witness]

@@onlyusernameleft2 it's what got me into making music with computers back in the day

[@VeganKebabDoRuky]

This is cool, I can definitely see myself making choppy glitchy whacked out breakbeats in this DAW, seems like the perfect environment for it. I'll keep my eyes on this development.

[@Joey_Headset]

Great video! I don't have the sort of galaxy brain that could create entire tracks in this, but I could totally see myself using it for sound design.

[@soundlearn]

Trust me, neither do (as you can clearly hear in what I created), but it’s fun to play around with nonetheless!

[@timdanyo898]

I like the clean sketch aspect. It’s open and exploration beckoning.

[@spawel1]

BwO-esque

[@supernatural802]

Oooooh me like! Thanks for the quick demo! Tht always recording feature should be in all daws.

[@abrotherinchrist]

I really like the idea behind this UI.

[@nicstoohigh]

dude this has some crazy potential, definitely make more videos on it

[@soundlearn]

Definitely plan on following the development. Next time I’ll be a bit more well versed in it and do a proper walkthrough.

[@GiulianoDiaz-cn2rd]

CPU GONE WILD🗣🗣🗣🗣

[@stereo-soulsoundsystem5070]

Two Tempos what was this madlad on thats wild

[@uazuazu]

I like this approach. It seems minimalist and simple (once you've got the basics), but with endless possibilities and few limitations.

[@FelixArchive]

thank you for showing this off, this is sick!

[@jackmono]

That's it I'm creating a new moniker to release blockhead tracks with named: "no icon"

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

this is really cool, well made video

[@michaelshea-wright7940]

this looks incredible, thanks for sharing

[@gesslr]

A brilliant video. Really helpful too. Many thanks!

[@RichCochrane]

First I've seen of this so thanks for posting about it -- I've got interested in non-traditional workflows recently and this one looks tremendous.

[@lichtfilme]

It’s cool, thanks for figuring it out for us!

[@scotthjohnson1558]

Thank you...Wonderfully creative, and super interesting.

[@Emily_M81]

thanks for sharing, this looks awesome.

[@Amangiechsin]

this is pretty sick! it reminds me of seeing these old computer programs that aphex twin would use to make his music back in the 90s

[@BeritzLofi]

Looks so interesting !!

[@pattyluss]

Wow, what a unique approach to the DAW!

[@mundainmonstre2372]

oh snap he got audio inputs working! TO THE LAB!!!!!

[@DileepNow]

Audacity is destructive. I would even call this non destructive Audacity.

[@nupreznz]

Sophie reincarnated into a DAW rip

[@MalcolmBlakeSeeAndHear]

Ivy Lab just dropped a new single called "blockhead" ...wander if they used this thing

[@samthesomniator]

Damn. That is pretty much like adjustment clips in Video editing. 😲

[@PeteGunnShow]

this is interesting. cool video! always fun too see a video not about the same stuff everyone else is doing lol even if its all stuff you can do in reaper using takes and free lane positioning (outside of the carnival thing). The only difference being the way you implement the effects, you would have to use bypass envelopes for it, but still doable. I guess the creative advantage here being the workflow. Even the loopback recording is available via the global sampler script. All that said, the way the effects are implemented gave me some cool ideas to try in reaper!

[@afrosymphony8207]

that carbibal thing is the wetdream portion of this..omg its insane!

[@kassih.musica]

Carnival is crazy! I want to try it! Noise music gona love this!

[@rallokkcaz]

As somebody who knows a bit about how DAWs and Audio DSP work, this is an incredibly inventive and innovative approach to sound design... I need this.

[@neuralmodulator]

Great video and demonstration! Kind of seems a bit lackluster, but if they flesh it out a little more I could see it being really cool. It kind of reminds me of Audiomulch or something, but hopefully won't stagnate in development as much as that did :)

[@soundlearn]

It’s very much in what I would consider to be pre-alpha at this stage, but I just really dig the direction it’s taking so I’ve been supporting the dev on patreon for some time now. He’s been consistently dropping updates since release so I’m excited to see where things will be a year or two from now.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

Most DAWs stagnate in development without a fat budget or generous development team. A lot of plugin development is the same way, especially when you're talking Linux it seems

[@baduino]

lol that looks fun but tbh it also looks like a very very simplified version of the generative abilities of Synplant 2.

[@f33fifofum]

That looks awesome

[@Shnowz]

I love this daw, y'know, because of the implication.

[@Atrazeal]

It's magix music maker, the first one. Just without the grid. I really liked editing with magix.

[@browncauk]

Love the multi-tempo guide idea in a DAW! Midicake ARP can do this for MIDI.

[@unduloid]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="130">2:10</a> "Destructive." It's not changing the original samples. So no, it's really not.

[@soundlearn]

According to the dev, it is manipulating the actual waveform of the sample in realtime. I guess you could argue that you can you can easily reset parameters to get back to the original sample though so I see what you’re saying.

[@Gusrikh1]

Most intriguing. The future DAW or … a DAW within a DAW.. Certainly very unique.

[@rudolfsilkens604]

This is like a super neat Visual Scripting interface for Audio in a Game Engine.

[@peffken8834]

This looks fresh. A cool tool to get or stay creative. At least for new inspiration. I like unconventional concepts - whether good or bad, they are innovative to begin with.

[@koenignero]

Thank you very intressting

[@Myexpectationsarerealistic]

Where do I sign up?

[@jonelversus]

This would be dope for sample based songs

[@Inhibitd]

im gonna see if it works with vcv rack.. 🤞🤜have to work out the loopback stuff... let you know if i get it working.

[@notnoaintno5134]

seems like fun

[@Maplefoxx-vl2ew]

the noise generator is similar to Aparillo synth, its not as complicated as you think. its actually very simple to understand.

[@johannasbjoernson918]

Its back to the start, just with a nice interactive GUI. aphex twin had to do that in consoles, text files and tracker-style tables. its a nice idea to galvanise the many software synth engines which were lost to the advances in OS, filesystems and hardware. its not like the techniques aren't in use anymore: they come carefully curated and neatly packed into synth cases, vst files, modulation and effects boxes. but before they ship out as products they still have to be created. taking a step back to the point where every oscillator can touch any point of every other oscillator.. is a great option to have. cross-, pulsewidth-, audiorate-modulations, wavefolding, feedback, using noise instead of envelopes to modulate amplitude etc. there's a shit ton of sounds to be had when shooting at waveforms for target practice. nice!

[@ueberlicht_]

You can drag in SAMPLES into the CARNIVAL and hit RND also (Sample stays). Glitch heaven.

[@fionaskittle]

Would love that carnival thing as a vst :o

[@kassih.musica]

nice track!

[@theorize999]

does it load vst effects? or are there a good amount of fx? i’m looking to destroy audio, the way it’s set up granular tools should be in it amazing things could happen

[@theorize999]

Wow it does have granular as soon as I found that out I went straight to patreon lol

[@synthoelectro]

something for experimental artists for a change.

[@ennayanne]

omg it has an in-built rolling sampler

[@madhavraghu]

you can do this in reaper too with BirdBird's global sampler script (also a plugin for other DAWs, just called rolling sampler)

[@TheQxY]

This would be sick with MIDI and plugin support.

[@kevinlovelace6772]

This would be great for workflow with modular synths.

[@GoogleAccount-kw1mz]

I wonder how importing and exporting stems would work, because it looks like automation and stem processing would be fun

[@dpfxz]

I mean its just cycling, sample looping etc. ....whats the quality and how many kinds of bugs or 'common problems/limitations etc.' does it have? Ableton does all this already. This has a quick workflow but at what cost ...if I was to switch?

[@soundlearn]

By no means is this DAW ready for prime time. I wouldn’t use it as a replacement even if it was, personally. I think it’s a great tool for sketching ideas or creating specific sounds.

[@RealityTB]

How do you download this?

[@soundlearn]

It’s available on the developer’s Patreon. It’s linked in the description. You can sub for $3 and you’ll have access to the downloads.

[@thelinkofperfectioncharity9469]

This Is very very interesting

[@ricebowllaunch7106]

Looks incredible! Such a good demo! does anyone know where to download this for a mac? found an exe but no mac version

[@soundlearn]

A Mac download is available via the patreon page. Just check his latest post and scroll past the windows download.

[@ricebowllaunch7106]

@@soundlearn big thanks!

[@jimmypierson1980]

Very Thom Yorke that track

[@nikbl4k]

ef'ing brilliant

[@GeorgeLocke]

Why is the spring reverb stereo?

[@GeorgeLocke]

I have no other comments.

[@tonybeatbutcher]

Bro you made a juke track in it ❤

[@spawel1]

do you think this would make burial stop using 2005 soundforge

[@alltheserobotsshallfall]

Meshuggah will love this

[@mylivetubetv]

Thank you for sharing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Andrew-rz7qt]

But from the get go you are clipping, so mixing down is going to be a task.

[@synthoelectro]

There was software during 2000 that gave you the ability to make strange sounds, this reminds me of that.

[@unduloid]

You mean, like pretty much _every_ software that lets you manipulate sounds? Yeah, this reminds me of those too.

[@mvsr990]

Metasynth?

[@synthoelectro]

@@mvsr990 actually no, I can't remember but this is very nice.

[@22222Sandman22222]

soundshaper? (edit: that one is even weirder and much harder to use... :D)

[@synthoelectro]

@@22222Sandman22222 I just don't remember but it was something odd.

[@callmesleeper]

This feels like an evolved thing from Cubase's old *Direct Offline Processing* (which can be done per individual clip or how ever many selected, but can still be reverted back how ever many steps) I can't really agree on "not knowing your way around" being helpful if you are surgical in your sound design, since you really need to know the tools and where to access them. BUT. If you rely heavily on "happy accidents" in the production. Sure, a new "confusing" thing can be helpful I guess. This is interesting nonetheless

[@soundlearn]

Thanks for a bit of background on DOP. Sounds interesting. I don’t doubt a good sound designer can master a program like this or a synth like the OP-1, I just think there’s something charming about diving in headfirst into unorthodox methods to making music. It definitely makes for something inspiring happy accidents early on that I think tend to disappear once you master any specific tool. Thanks for watching!

[@B-Nice]

“BLOCKHEAD Got ANIMAL BEATS”

[@ElDaumo]

Is blockhead the producer connected to the daw in any way?

[@privatedomicile6627]

This would be so sick as a VST with multi out, or maybe even an auv3 on iPad.

[@Arkansya]

or just rewire compatible

[@privatedomicile6627]

@@Arkansya yeah that would be cool too. Though I think require has lost quite a bit of support in recent years unfortunately.

[@Artek604]

I wish the dev did something equally weird & inspiring with MIDI. I'd buy a DAW like this in a heartbeat :)

[@periurban]

He is!

[@voolfga]

good stuff man

[@cosmiclattemusic]

aphex twin daw

[@Pinak1264]

Lmao my first thought yes

[@ZHENG_Music]

The Yorke daw

[@lemming7188]

Dude I've been following blackhead since .12, it's gone so far as an independent project

[@soundlearn]

Same! I wanted to make a video when it first went public but I also felt like it was still too barebones. I think at least now it’s more usable to create with.

[@abbadonvr9045]

ya think i could do a riddim in it?

[@justinwilliam4644]

Seems like fun, but seems like something for , just fun, if I wanted to make a song like I would in fl or ableton I would have to work very hard to get desired results without vsts, and the tempo change thing you can do by just shifting drum samples or even midi drums in piano roll, but, it does look interesting

[@G.ProgOsto]

very cool win or only mac?

[@soundlearn]

Available on both.

[@denyel_]

feels like when i played video games before i could read lol this makes sense in a neurodivergent way

[@hanstaagen2066]

The concept that music has evoled so much blows my mind. Songs used to be different by the instruments you would play, then it became what your sheet music was made songs differ, then synths came along and songs interchanged as they were playing and now songs differ depending on the daw you use to record them. Shits pretty wild

[@PRISMS_Music]

That alt beat grid for different tempos is a game changer

[@myfeedis]

if aphex twin made a daw