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WaveEdit by ZQ SFX

A fast, sample-accurate, cross-platform audio editor inspired by Sound Forge Pro

License: GPL v3 Built with JUCE Build Status

Developer: ZQ SFX Copyright: © 2025-2026 ZQ SFX License: GPL v3

Overview

WaveEdit is a professional audio editor designed for speed, precision, and keyboard-driven workflow. Built with JUCE and inspired by Sound Forge Pro, WaveEdit focuses on getting your audio editing done fast without friction.

Why WaveEdit?

  • Instant startup: Sub-1 second cold start, no splash screens, no project files
  • Sample-accurate editing: Professional-grade precision
  • Keyboard-first: Every action has a shortcut (Sound Forge layout by default)
  • Fully customizable: Remap any keyboard shortcut
  • Cross-platform: Native builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux
  • Free and open source: GPL v3 license

Perfect for: Audio engineers, podcasters, sound designers, game developers

Screenshots

Main window

Main window with selection

Waveform, transport controls, selection markers with duration readout, and the status bar showing sample rate, channel count, bit depth, length, snap mode, time format, and zoom.

Region List

Region List panel

Color-coded region browser with name/start/end/duration columns, in-place search, and one-click Batch Rename. Cmd+Shift+R to open.

Parametric EQ

3-Band Parametric EQ

Low Shelf / Mid Peak / High Shelf with frequency, gain, and Q controls. The standardised footer (Preview · Bypass · Loop · Cancel · Apply) is shared across every Process dialog. Shift+E to open.

Spectrum Analyzer

Spectrum Analyzer

Real-time FFT with logarithmic frequency axis (20 Hz – 20 kHz), peak hold (yellow), and a colour gradient from low to high magnitude. Cmd+Alt+S toggles it on while playback runs.

Batch Processor

Batch Processor

Apply a DSP chain (gain, normalise, fades, EQ presets, plugin chain) to many files at once with output naming patterns, format/bit-depth/ sample-rate conversion, and savable presets. Cmd+B to open.

Quick Start

Launch the App

Already built?

# macOS
open ./build/WaveEdit_artefacts/Release/WaveEdit.app

# OR use the script
./build-and-run.command run-only

Not built yet?

./build-and-run.command

Basic Usage

  1. Open: Drag & drop WAV file or press Cmd+O
  2. Select: Click and drag on waveform
  3. Edit: Delete, Cmd+X (cut), Cmd+C (copy), Cmd+V (paste)
  4. Play: Press Space
  5. Save: Press Cmd+S

No project files, no import wizards. Just open → edit → save.

Features

What Works Now

Core Editing:

  • ✅ Multi-file support with tab-based UI
  • ✅ Cut, copy, paste, delete
  • ✅ Per-channel editing (double-click to focus individual channels)
  • ✅ Undo/redo (100 levels per file)
  • ✅ Drag & drop multiple files
  • ✅ Save/Save As with error handling

Playback:

  • ✅ Play, pause, stop, loop
  • ✅ Selection-bounded playback
  • ✅ Real-time level meters (peak, RMS, clipping detection)
  • ✅ Real-time spectrum analyzer (FFT-based frequency visualization)

DSP Operations:

  • ✅ Gain adjustment (±1dB with Shift+Up/Down)
  • ✅ 3-band Parametric EQ (Low/Mid/High shelves)
  • ✅ 20-band Graphical EQ (Bell, Shelf, Cut, Notch, Bandpass filters with real-time curve)
  • ✅ Normalize (0dB peak)
  • ✅ Fade in/out with 4 curve types (Linear, Exponential, Logarithmic, S-Curve) and visual preview
  • ✅ DC offset removal
  • ✅ Silence selection
  • ✅ Trim (delete outside selection)

Regions 🆕:

  • ✅ Create, rename, delete, navigate
  • ✅ Region list panel with search/filter
  • ✅ Batch rename (pattern/find-replace/prefix-suffix)
  • ✅ Batch export (each region as separate WAV)
  • ✅ Merge/split/copy/paste regions
  • ✅ Edit boundaries with snap to zero crossings

Metadata 🆕:

  • ✅ BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) support
  • ✅ iXML metadata with UCS v8.2.1 categories (753 mappings)
  • ✅ SoundMiner Extended fields (FXName, Description, Keywords, Designer)
  • ✅ File Properties dialog (Cmd+Enter) with UCS suggestions
  • ✅ Persistent metadata embedded in WAV files

Navigation:

  • ✅ Sample-accurate selection at any zoom
  • ✅ Snap modes: Off, Samples, Ms, Seconds, Frames, Zero
  • ✅ Keyboard navigation honors snap mode
  • ✅ Go to position (6 time formats supported)

Keyboard Shortcuts:

  • ✅ Sound Forge Pro compatibility (default)
  • ✅ Fully customizable with GUI editor
  • ✅ 3 built-in templates (Default, Sound Forge, Pro Tools)
  • ✅ Import/export custom templates

Quality:

  • ✅ Automated test suite (372 groups / ~207,000 assertions locally; CI is similar with a handful of device-dependent groups skipped via WAVEEDIT_CI=1, 100% pass rate). Runs locally via ./build-and-run.command and in CI on every push.
  • ✅ Sub-1 second startup, 60fps rendering
  • ✅ <10ms waveform updates, <10ms playback latency

Status: Production-quality for core editing workflows.

Spectrum Analyzer 🆕:

  • ✅ Real-time FFT visualization during playback
  • ✅ Configurable FFT size (512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192 samples)
  • ✅ Multiple windowing functions (Hann, Hamming, Blackman, Rectangular)
  • ✅ Logarithmic frequency scale (20Hz-20kHz) with peak hold
  • ✅ Color gradient visualization (blue → green → yellow → red for magnitude)
  • ✅ Toggle with Cmd+Alt+S or View → Spectrum Analyzer
  • ✅ Configure FFT size and window function from View menu submenus

Batch Processor 🆕:

  • ✅ Process multiple audio files with identical DSP settings (Cmd+Alt+B)
  • ✅ DSP chain: Gain, Normalize, DC Offset, Fade In/Out, EQ presets
  • ✅ Plugin chain support (apply VST3/AU effect chains)
  • ✅ Save/load chain presets via the Plugin Chain window's "Presets..." button — saved presets bundle automation lanes too
  • ✅ Output settings: directory, naming patterns, sample rate/bit depth conversion
  • ✅ Error handling: stop on error, continue, or skip and log
  • ✅ Save/load batch presets for recurring workflows

Plugin Parameter Automation 🆕:

  • ✅ Record plugin knob movements during playback (Plugins → Arm Automation Recording)
  • ✅ Visual lane editor (Cmd+Alt+L or Plugins → Show Automation Lanes)
  • ✅ Click empty space to add an automation point; drag to move; right-click to delete or change the curve type (Linear, Step, S-Curve, Exponential)
  • ✅ Cmd-click to multi-select; Cmd+A all; drag empty space for rectangle select (Shift+drag adds); Cmd+C/Cmd+V copy/paste (cross-lane supported); Delete removes selection; Esc clears; drag any selected point to move the whole selection
  • ✅ Every point edit is undoable (Cmd+Z / Cmd+Shift+Z); a whole drag is one undo step
  • ✅ Per-lane Enabled / Record toggles, live playhead during playback
  • ✅ Automation persists in a <file>.<ext>.automation.json sidecar
  • ℹ️ Right-click on individual knobs in third-party plugin UIs is not yet supported — use the editor window's "Automation" toolbar button to arm parameters instead

Crash recovery 🆕:

  • ✅ Auto-save runs every minute on modified documents (configurable in Preferences → Auto-Save)
  • ✅ When you reopen a file with unsaved changes from a previous session (crash, force-quit, closed without saving), WaveEdit offers to Recover, Discard, or Keep & Continue
  • ✅ Saving a file evicts its auto-saves (superseded)

Theme system 🆕:

  • ✅ Three built-in themes ship out of the box: Dark (default), Light, and High Contrast (accessibility-tuned, pure-black surfaces with neon-cyan accents). Switch from Preferences → Display; the choice persists across launches.
  • ✅ Theme is wired through every visible surface: waveform area, tabs, plugin chain UI, region/marker list panels, automation lanes, command palette, settings panel, shortcut editor, keyboard cheat-sheet, toolbar, and every processing dialog (Gain, Normalize, Fade In/Out, Parametric/Graphical EQ, Head & Tail, Strip Silence, Looping Tools, Auto Region, Offline Plugin, etc.). All re-skin live without a restart.
  • ✅ Custom themes — Preferences → Display has Import/Export buttons next to the picker. Themes round-trip to a single JSON file (id, name, plus an 8-digit ARGB hex per token), so you can drop in a hand-tuned palette without rebuilding the app.

What's Next

Planned features:

  • Additional DSP operations (reverb, compressor, noise reduction; time-stretch + pitch-shift via SoundTouch already shipped under Process menu)
  • More export formats
  • Plugin preset management improvements

Installation

Pre-built binaries

Tagged Releases are published automatically by GitHub Actions when a v* tag is pushed. Grab the latest from the Releases page — download the archive for your platform, extract, and run.

The binaries are unsigned. WaveEdit is a personal-scale project and does not currently ship signed binaries; to launch on macOS or Windows you'll have to bypass the OS's first-run warning once:

  • macOS: right-click WaveEdit.app → Open → Open. macOS remembers the choice; subsequent launches behave normally. (Or: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/WaveEdit.app from a terminal.)
  • Windows: SmartScreen will say "Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway.
  • Linux: chmod +x WaveEdit and run.

All builds bundle the LAME MP3 encoder, libFLAC, and Ogg Vorbis. No extra install steps are required.

If you'd rather build from source (or you want to grab the work-in-progress build between releases, available as a 30-day artifact under Actions), follow the developer steps below.

Build from Source (For Developers)

Prerequisites:

  • CMake 3.15+
  • C++17 compiler
  • JUCE 7.x (included as submodule)
  • LAME library (for MP3 encoding support)

Quick build (recommended):

git clone https://github.com/themightyzq/WaveEdit.git
cd WaveEdit
./build-and-run.command

Additional options:

./build-and-run.command              # Build and launch
./build-and-run.command run-only     # Launch without building
./build-and-run.command clean        # Clean build
./build-and-run.command debug        # Debug build
./build-and-run.command help         # Show all options

Manual build (if you prefer CMake commands directly):

git clone https://github.com/themightyzq/WaveEdit.git
cd WaveEdit
git submodule update --init --recursive

mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . --config Release

# Launch
open ./WaveEdit_artefacts/Release/WaveEdit.app  # macOS
./WaveEdit_artefacts/Release/WaveEdit           # Linux
.\WaveEdit_artefacts\Release\WaveEdit.exe       # Windows

Developer dependencies:

macOS:

# Xcode command line tools
xcode-select --install

# LAME MP3 encoder (required for MP3 support)
brew install lame

# SoundTouch (required for Time Stretch and Pitch Shift)
brew install sound-touch

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

# Build tools and audio dependencies
sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake libasound2-dev \
    libjack-jackd2-dev libfreetype6-dev libx11-dev libxrandr-dev \
    libxinerama-dev libxcursor-dev libgl1-mesa-dev

# LAME MP3 encoder (required for MP3 support)
sudo apt-get install libmp3lame-dev

# SoundTouch (required for Time Stretch and Pitch Shift)
sudo apt-get install libsoundtouch-dev

Windows:

Note for developers: LAME is only required for building from source. Release builds automatically bundle LAME, so end users don't need to install it separately.

Testing

Build and run tests:

cmake --build build --target WaveEditTests
./build/WaveEditTests_artefacts/Debug/WaveEditTests

Test output:

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║         WaveEdit Automated Test Suite by ZQ SFX             ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Total test groups: 372
Total assertions: 206947
Passed: 206947
Failed: 0

✅ All tests PASSED

Test infrastructure:

  • Unit tests: Individual components (AudioEngine, AudioBufferManager, etc.)
  • Integration tests: Components working together
  • End-to-end tests: Complete workflows (open → edit → save)

Keyboard Shortcuts

All shortcuts are customizable. The default layout (Default.json) is the source of truth; the table below is generated from it. On Windows/Linux, replace Cmd with Ctrl.

To see, search, or remap shortcuts inside the app: Cmd+/ opens the shortcut reference and Cmd+, → Keyboard Shortcuts tab opens the editor.

File

Action Shortcut
New File Cmd+N
Open File Cmd+O
Save Cmd+S
Save As Cmd+Shift+S
File Properties Alt+Enter
Edit BWF Metadata Cmd+Alt+B
Preferences Cmd+,
Quit Cmd+Q

Selection

Action Shortcut
Select All Cmd+A
Extend selection (by snap) Shift+Left/Right
Extend to visible start/end Shift+Home/End
Extend by page Shift+PageUp/PageDown

Editing

Action Shortcut
Cut Cmd+X
Copy Cmd+C
Paste Cmd+V
Delete Delete
Silence Selection Shift+Alt+S
Trim (delete outside selection) Cmd+T
Undo Cmd+Z
Redo Cmd+Shift+Z

Playback

Action Shortcut
Play Space
Pause Enter
Stop Escape
Toggle Loop L
Loop Region Cmd+Shift+L
Record Cmd+R

Navigation

Action Shortcut
Move cursor (honors snap) Left/Right
Jump to start/end Cmd+Left/Right
Jump to visible start/end Home/End
Page left/right PageUp/PageDown
Center view on cursor .
Go to Position Cmd+Shift+G

Zoom

Action Shortcut
Zoom In Cmd+=
Zoom Out Cmd+-
Zoom to Selection Cmd+E
Zoom to Region Cmd+Alt+Z
Zoom to Fit Cmd+Shift+0
Zoom 1:1 Cmd+0

Snap & Time

Action Shortcut
Cycle Snap Mode T
Toggle Zero-Crossing Snap Z
Cycle Time Format Shift+T

Processing (DSP)

Action Shortcut
Gain Dialog G
Increase Gain (+1 dB) Shift+Up
Decrease Gain (-1 dB) Shift+Down
Normalize Cmd+G
Fade In Cmd+F
Fade Out Cmd+Shift+O
DC Offset Removal Cmd+Shift+D
Parametric EQ Shift+E
Graphical EQ Cmd+Alt+E
Channel Converter Cmd+Shift+U
Batch Processor Cmd+B

Plugins

Action Shortcut
Show Plugin Chain Cmd+Shift+P
Apply Plugin Chain Cmd+P
Show Automation Lanes Cmd+Alt+L

Regions

Action Shortcut
Add Region R
Strip Silence to Regions Shift+R
Region List Panel Cmd+Shift+R
Batch Rename Cmd+Shift+B
Batch Export Cmd+Alt+R
Merge Regions Cmd+J
Split Region Cmd+K
Copy Regions Cmd+Alt+C
Paste Regions Cmd+Alt+V
Delete Region Cmd+Delete
Next / Previous Region ] / [
Select All Regions Cmd+Alt+A
Invert Region Selection Cmd+Shift+I
Nudge Region Start Cmd+Alt+Left/Right
Nudge Region End Shift+Alt+Left/Right
Edit Boundaries Right-click → Edit Boundaries

Markers

Action Shortcut
Add Marker M
Marker List Panel Cmd+Shift+K
Next Marker Shift+]
Previous Marker Shift+[
Delete Marker Cmd+Shift+Delete

View

Action Shortcut
Auto-Scroll Cmd+Shift+F
Auto-Preview Regions Cmd+Alt+P
Spectrum Analyzer Cmd+Alt+S

Tabs

Action Shortcut
Next Tab Ctrl+Tab
Previous Tab Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Close Tab Cmd+W
Close All Tabs Cmd+Shift+W
Select Tab 1-9 Cmd+1 … Cmd+9

Help

Action Shortcut
Keyboard Shortcuts Reference Cmd+/
Command Palette Cmd+Shift+A

Note: Cmd key on macOS = Ctrl key on Windows/Linux.

Configuration

All user state — settings.json, plugin scan caches, keymaps, toolbars, batch presets, autosave files — lives under a single parent directory:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/WaveEdit/
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\WaveEdit\
  • Linux: ~/.config/WaveEdit/

Top-level files: settings.json (recent files, audio device, auto-save), plugins.xml, plugin_blacklist.txt, custom_plugin_paths.txt, plugin_incremental_cache.xml, scan_log.txt.

Subfolders: autosave/ (in-progress auto-saves), Keymaps/ (built-in + user keyboard templates), Toolbars/ (toolbar layouts), Presets/Batch/ (batch processor presets).

Migration note (macOS): builds before 2026-04-29 wrote settings.json and the plugin scan cache to ~/Library/WaveEdit/ instead of the canonical Application Support path. On first launch the new build copies anything from the legacy location into the new one and leaves the old folder in place as a backup; you can rm -rf ~/Library/WaveEdit once you've confirmed your recents and plugin list look right.

UI preferences (window size, dB scale, refresh rate):

  • macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/com.waveedit.app.plist (managed by the system; use defaults read com.waveedit.app to inspect).
  • Windows / Linux: stored alongside settings.json above.

Application log — useful when reporting bugs:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Logs/WaveEdit/WaveEdit.log
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\WaveEdit\WaveEdit.log
  • Linux: ~/.config/WaveEdit/WaveEdit.log

The log records startup, audio-device init, errors, and unsaved-changes events. Attach it when filing an issue.

Crash reports: if WaveEdit hits a fatal signal, a single timestamped report (time, version, OS, stack backtrace) is written next to the session log under a crashes/ subfolder (e.g. ~/Library/Logs/WaveEdit/crashes/crash-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.txt). Attach the most recent one when reporting a crash.

To uninstall completely (macOS):

# Quit WaveEdit first, then:
rm -rf "~/Library/Application Support/WaveEdit"
rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/WaveEdit
rm -rf ~/Library/WaveEdit         # legacy path; only if you used a pre-2026-04-29 build
defaults delete com.waveedit.app
# Optional: remove the app bundle itself
rm -rf /Applications/WaveEdit.app

Customizing keyboard shortcuts? Open Preferences (Cmd+,) → Keyboard Shortcuts tab. There is no keybindings.json — keymap templates live as named JSON files inside Keymaps/.

Development

Tech Stack

  • Framework: JUCE 7.x
  • Language: C++17
  • Build System: CMake
  • Audio I/O: JUCE audio engine (CoreAudio/WASAPI/ALSA)

Contributing

  1. Open an issue before major work
  2. Follow coding standards below
  3. Write tests for new features
  4. Update documentation

Coding standards:

  • C++17 or later
  • 4-space indentation, Allman braces
  • PascalCase classes, camelCase methods
  • Document all public methods

Pull request process:

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create feature branch (feature/your-feature)
  3. Follow Conventional Commits
  4. Push to your fork
  5. Open pull request with clear description

Performance Targets

  • Startup: <1 second
  • File load (10min WAV): <2 seconds
  • Rendering: 60fps
  • Playback latency: <10ms
  • Save: <500ms

FAQ

Q: Why JUCE instead of Electron/Tauri? A: JUCE is purpose-built for audio with sample-accurate timing and low-latency I/O that web frameworks can't match.

Q: Will you add multi-track editing? A: No. WaveEdit is a stereo/mono editor, not a DAW. Use Reaper or Ardour for multi-track.

Q: Can I use WaveEdit commercially? A: Yes! GPL v3 allows commercial use.

Q: How do I customize keyboard shortcuts? A: Open Preferences (Cmd+,) → Keyboard Shortcuts tab.

Q: Does WaveEdit support destructive editing? A: Non-destructive with undo/redo. Original file only overwritten when you save.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0

  • ✅ Use for any purpose (personal, commercial)
  • ✅ Modify and distribute
  • ✅ Must distribute source code with binaries
  • ✅ Derivative works must also be GPL v3

See LICENSE for full details.

Credits

Developed by: ZQ SFX

Built with:

Thanks to:

  • JUCE community
  • Sound Forge Pro for setting the standard
  • All contributors and testers

Contact

Version: 0.1.0 Last Updated: 2026-05-05

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A fast, sample-accurate, cross-platform audio editor

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WaveEdit v0.1.0 Latest
Apr 29, 2026

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