What is a DAW?
A DAW (digital audio workstation) is the software where music gets made: you record, edit, arrange, mix and export every part of a song as tracks on one shared timeline. Veena, the free AI DAW with a personal music producer built in, adds what no DAW used to have: describe the song, and CoProducer builds it with you as real tracks.
What is a DAW made of?
Every DAW, from a browser tab to a studio install, is built from the same six parts:
| Part | Its job | In Veena |
|---|---|---|
| Timeline | Clips on tracks, laid out in bars and beats | Opens with 6 tracks for audio, MIDI, drum, sampler or video clips |
| MIDI editor | Draw and edit notes | Piano Roll with a velocity editor; Beat Maker for drums |
| Audio editing | Cut, stretch and fix recordings | Cut, time-stretch, Match BPM, Pitch Shift, Reverse Audio |
| Instruments | Turn MIDI into sound | 61 presets on 7 shelves, 7 drum kits, a 16-pad sampler |
| Mixer and effects | Balance and shape each part | Faders, pan, mute, solo; 10 built-in effects on every clip |
| Transport and export | Tempo, key, record, play, bounce | 40–300 BPM, 24 keys, 8 time signatures; WAV, MP3, MIDI, stems |
One session, start to finish
Say you're making a 90 BPM boom-bap beat in A minor. You program swung drums on track 1, play electric piano chords into track 2, record a guitar line through your mic on track 3 and add a sub bass. You arrange an 8-bar intro, a 16-bar verse and an 8-bar chorus, compress the drums, EQ the keys behind the guitar, balance the faders and export a 24-bit WAV. Write, record, arrange, mix, export: that is the job a DAW exists to do.
Not to be confused with
- An audio interface is hardware that gets sound in and out of your computer. The DAW is the software it feeds.
- A plugin is an instrument or effect that runs inside a DAW. See what a VST plugin is.
- An AI music generator hands you one finished audio file. A DAW gives you the tracks. More in what an AI music generator is.
Start a DAW project in Veena
- Open Veena's free AI DAW in your browser and sign in with Google.
- Type what you want: "a 90 BPM boom-bap beat in A minor with dusty drums and electric piano chords".
- CoProducer plans the song and offers three options for each part; your picks land as real tracks.
- Change anything by hand, or in plain words to CoProducer.
- Export the mix or every track, with no cap and no watermark.
Veena is the free DAW with a producer inside. Read on: what an online DAW is and what an AI DAW is.
Try this in Veena
Make a 90 BPM boom-bap hip hop beat in A minor with dusty swung drums, a warm sub bass, jazzy electric piano chords and a short bell-like synth hook, 8-bar intro, 16-bar verse and 8-bar chorus
Frequently asked questions
Is Veena a DAW?
Yes, and one with a producer inside. Veena is an AI DAW with a personal music producer built in. Describe the song you want and CoProducer builds it with you — beats, chords, melody, arrangement and mix — as real tracks you can edit, mix and export. Free, in your browser.
What is a DAW used for?
Recording vocals and instruments, programming drums and MIDI, arranging sections, mixing levels and effects, and exporting the finished song. Veena does all of it in one browser tab, and CoProducer can build any of those parts from a plain-English request, then hand every track back for you to change.
Do I need to pay for a DAW to start making music?
No. Veena is free to start: open daw.veena.studio in Chrome or another modern browser on a Mac, Windows, Linux or Chromebook laptop, sign in with Google and make a song. Exports carry no watermark and have no cap — WAV, MP3, MIDI or stems, as often as you like.
Meet your personal music producer
Free, in your browser. Describe the song you want and CoProducer builds it with you.
Make music free