Ardour released Ardour 7.0

After more than a year since Ardour 6.9, Ardour 7.0 is now available. This new release features major new features for the software, as well as substantial (even if largely invisible) internal engineering changes. We are happy to bring “clip launching” functionality into Ardour for the first time, along with many other significant improvements, including lots of enhancements for MIDI editing ….

This release also sees the addition of official builds for Apple Silicon systems (previously available only via the nightly build site). It is also the end of 32 bit builds for Ardour for all platforms as part of the official download site. Some will remain available on the nightly site for the near-term future.

Trim or extend the effective length of clips and choose how many times they will repeat before they trigger a follow option.
You can build automated sequences with controlled randomness, using follow options: Forward, Reverse, Jump and Multi-Jump (which randomly picks between specific slots). A great way to add random fills and unexpected twists to your drum tracks!
Unlike some other DAWs, MIDI clips in Ardour can have 16 MIDI channels, and every clip can have its own patches (sounds) assigned. You can use multi-timbral MIDI files for various effects, including layering or “true flams” (same note, different channels),
In this release, only Ableton’s Push 2 surface can be used as a controller to control cues, but future dot releases of 7.x will bring support for Novation Launchpads and other related devices. The existing Push 2 support is fairly deep – most of the features of Live’s “Session” mode for the device are implemented.
Although we modelled much of Ardour’s clip launching behavior on Ableton Live, there are differences. You can read more about them if you’re interested.

More info and free download here: Ardour 7.0 released