I think I heard of Ardour. Was interested at some point as it is open-source. But I didn't continue due to a steep learning curve I guess.

Jeremie, I would like to share this thought with you:

I think Protools is like the Java(high-level language) of Daws. I remember then people saying without using Protools, you are not making quality music that could be notimated for stuffs like Grammy etc.

But just like java, it didn't take long for that Protools narrative to change. Fl Studio has been the go-to for beginners with so many out-of-the box tools even though it had the narrative of less quality/strength just like javascript was a go-to for frontend developers then but with the low-quality narrative.

For me, the narrative changed due to the fact that people would always choose what makes their life easier and better even if it means trading off quality. If there are numbers, the quality has a high chance of improving eventually. As the big enterprises and individuals would rather invest in numbers. And as we see these days, the quality narrative has changed for both javascript and fl studio. Fl studio can now compete in strength with Protools. Just like Javascript/Typescript can compete in strength with Java.

Another thought is that even though people want something that would make their life easy, they would rather prefer simplicity to minimalism. Javascript and FL studio could be simple but not minimal. Mixcraft, Ardour and some other open source tools were minimal and subjectively simple. Just like Php/perl for PL. So it's a use and dump relationship with them really. People used them to do projects as quick as possible and dump them. Things built with that kind of architecture has a way of getting extinct as people start getting unserious with them even though there might be many quick/legacy projects built with them. That's why I never invested in Ardour anyway.

For Gwion, I think we should keep in mind that whatever we are building is simple enough for users but not minimal as it should do much more than can be imagined. So that in the future, individuals and big companies could build even something bigger from it. Hence, we have the numbers.

Btw, I think I have developed a generative music pseudo-algorithm. I have been keeping fl studio scores(.fsc) of afro music especially and I have been experimenting. I think I would translate some of my scores to Gwion code. And if I can translate many perfectly, I could as well build a library for translating .fsc or other score extensions to Gwion code.