JDX Audio

Update log

Every version, newest first. The same notes ship with JDX Audio: Help > Release Notes (PDF).

1.27 — Novum Synth, Impact, lower latency

4 November 2026

New

  • The Synth is now Novum Synth and the Drum Synth is now Impact, each with artwork of its own on its card.
  • Novum Synth: warp on both oscillators (Bend, Sync, Pulse), three new wavetables, unison Blend and Phase, sub shapes, Hard and Fold drive, 24 dB and formant filters, four Macros, eight matrix slots, a built-in delay and reverb, nine new presets and a Growl kind in Randomize. Its controls sit on one-row pages, so nothing scrolls. Old patches sound as they did.
  • Impact: Kick Sub and Kick Tail for real low end, Body on the snare and clap, and six new Randomize kit styles (808, House, Techno, DnB, Pop, Hip-Hop).
  • MIDI Mappings (Options, or right-click MIDI Learn): every learned control in one list, with Invert (the controller turns the knob the other way), delete, and Delete all. Right-click a mapped knob to remove its mapping.
  • Delete automation: right-click a track > Automation to delete one control's automation or all of it; or in Automation mode select points (click, Shift-click, or drag across a stretch) and press Delete.
  • A level strip under every device: how much it turns the sound up or down (a compressor's gain reduction, an instrument's output), on every device including VST3s.
  • Warp editor: clearer markers with handles, each stretch tinted and labelled with its speed (amber slower, blue faster), the bar ruler showing again, and a crisper grid with bars, beats and subdivisions told apart (also in the piano roll).
  • Fold any track to a thin bar with the arrow by its name (or right-click > Collapse).
  • Auto recording offset in Audio Settings: takes land in time from the driver's figures, and Measure (with a cable from an output back to an input) makes it exact.
  • Icons on the track, Devices, piano roll, clip editor and browser bars, with the track header controls lined up in columns.

Changed

  • + MIDI and + Return add an empty track; add instruments and effects from Devices.
  • Rec automation is now Record automation, an on/off toggle: while it is on, every play or recording writes what you turn, so a take and its automation go down together.
  • WASAPI exclusive starts at the device's shortest buffer (8 ms instead of 21 ms on a typical output); shared mode uses Windows' low-latency mode where the driver has it.

Fixed

  • Song previews in Open Recent: most songs had none, because Windows briefly held the new file. Previews already saved come back on their own.
  • Cleaner play buttons in Open Recent.
  • A MIDI light by the DSP meter flashes on every note or control from a keyboard (hover it for the devices and the last note).
  • Drum Rack pads flash when hit, even with no sample on them.
  • Return tracks are tinted so they stand apart from audio and MIDI tracks; the track fold arrows are straight; the window is square edge to edge and the close button is no longer cut off.

1.26 — JDX Audio, Drum Synth

3 November 2026

New

  • JDX Studio is now JDX Audio, in the app, the installer, the shortcuts and the manual. The old JDX Studio shortcuts are replaced when you update; your projects and settings carry over.
  • Help > About JDX Audio, and the ASIO Compatible logo in Audio Settings.
  • The installer asks you to accept the licence agreement (with a link to read it) and installs it as Licence Agreement.txt. The publisher shown in Windows is JDX Security Limited.
  • Drum Synth, a new instrument: twelve synthesized drums (kick, rim, snare, clap, closed and open hat, three toms, crash, ride and a percussion voice), each with its own models and knobs, played from C1 upward.
  • Randomize kit, the first button on the Drum Synth: makes a whole kit whose drums fit together, levelled against each other and kept apart in pitch so they don't muddy one another. Pick a style beside it first if you like.
  • Punch on the kick and snare: a tighter, harder attack in the first few milliseconds, with the level kept steady as you turn it.
  • Each drum folds into a narrow strip. Click a strip to hear it and open its knobs; the others fold away (Ctrl+click keeps them open).

Fixed

  • Sideways text, such as the names on folded device cards, is sharp instead of blurred.
  • Licence activation is ready for when JDX Audio goes on sale. Nothing is locked in this version.

1.25 — Record automation by hand, safer saving

2 November 2026

New

  • Rec automation in the Devices header: the song plays with armed tracks disarmed, and any device knob or switch, or a track's volume or pan, that you turn is written into its automation while it moves. Let go and it follows its automation again 0.6 s later. One Ctrl+Z undoes the pass.
  • Save a Copy (Ctrl+Shift+S) replaces Save As: it saves a copy under another name, with its recordings, and you keep working in the song you're in.
  • Backups. Save always saves over the song and never asks for a name. The version it replaces is kept in the song's folder as Backup <date> <time>.jds (one a minute, the newest 20). Double-click one to open it.
  • Gain on several clips: right-click one clip of a selection and the gain knob moves them all by the same amount.
  • Hold Ctrl+D to keep duplicating: one copy per press, then repeats after half a second.

Fixed

  • Song previews in Open Recent: a song you played without changing it now gets its preview updated when you switch or quit; a saved copy gets its own preview; a preview stops when the File menu closes.
  • The menu bar mark reads just JDX.

1.24 — JDS is now JDX Studio

2 November 2026

New

  • A new name and mark. JDS is now JDX Studio: the JDX letters in violet across a vinyl record, on the icon, the Start menu and desktop shortcuts, the installer and the menu bar. Your projects, settings, plugins and shortcuts carry over untouched, and the old JDS shortcuts are replaced when you update.
  • Help > Licence. Shows this computer's ID and lets you install a licence when they go on sale. Nothing is locked in this version: saving is on and no trial is counting down.
  • Drag a note's start in the piano roll to change where it begins; its end stays put. Either edge of a note now resizes it.
  • Clearer wording in every tooltip, description and message.

Fixed

  • Notes no longer start playing on their own after clicking Randomize (or a preset) on the Synth while keys are held.

1.23 — Synth Randomize, better presets

1 November 2026

New

  • Randomize on the Synth: a new sound with every click. Choose what kind in the box beside it (Any, Bass, Lead, Pad, Pluck, Keys, Brass, Bell, Arp, Texture). Each one is built the way a sound designer would start that kind of patch (an Acid line, a Reese, an 808, FM keys, PWM strings, a wavetable drone), then played silently first so it never comes out silent or harsh, and set to the presets' level. Ctrl+Z goes back.
  • The presets, reworked. Leads and brass have vibrato that arrives after the attack; brass brightens as you play harder and opens just after the note starts; basses have punch and key click; pads drift a little on every note and spread wide; String Ensemble is a string machine (two octaves of saws, heavy ensemble) and Analog Strings breathes with pulse-width modulation; Electric Keys is an FM tine with stereo tremolo; Organ has key click and a rotating-speaker shimmer; Choir sings through vocal wavetables. Bass: Sub is now Bass: Sub Thump.
  • Every preset at the same level. Switching presets no longer jumps from very quiet to very loud: each sits within 2 dB of the others of its kind.

Changed

  • Removed four presets: two duplicates (Lead: Super Saw, FX: Rising Noise Sweep) and the two comb plucks, which played far quieter than everything else. Clav, Growl and Noise Whistle are clearer and no longer quiet. Songs that used any of them sound as they did.

1.22 — A new look: Machined

1 November 2026

New

  • Machined theme, now the default. Near-black panels, each set in a metal tray with a faint light along its top edge. Buttons that are switched on look like pressed silver keys. Red now means one thing: record. Pick it, or any other theme, in View > Theme. If you chose a theme before, JDX Audio keeps it.
  • Softer shapes in every theme. Panels have rounded corners and buttons are rounded keys without outlines; menus and floating windows keep a thin edge. The record button is one bright red in every theme.

Fixed

  • The volume and pan knobs in the track headers stayed in the start-up colour after changing theme. They now follow the theme.

Nothing was removed or moved: every button, menu and shortcut works as before.

1.21 — Previews, Undo History, progress windows, rebuilt Chorus

1 November 2026

New

  • Hear a project before you open it. File > Open Recent has a play button beside each project. It plays the loudest 20 seconds of what you last heard in that song. A new preview is made every time you save: what you last heard, or (if you haven't played the song since opening it) a quick mix of its recordings without effects. Saving stays instant.
  • Undo History. Edit > Undo History lists every change with what it was and when ("Bass: Synth Cutoff", "Added track Vocals"). Click any step to jump straight back, or forward again. The history is saved with the project, so it is still there after you switch projects or close JDX Audio.
  • Progress windows. Opening a project, rendering a track or clip, Mix & Master, Analyse the Song, Check an Export, Find Masking and Clean Cut now show a progress bar instead of freezing the window.
  • Chorus, rebuilt. Chorus with up to 4 voices; Flanger with a Through Zero tape mode; Phaser with 2 to 12 Stages; Doubler with Detune (each side a few cents apart). The sweep can follow the song's tempo (Sync), take a sine, triangle or drifting Shape, or move with how hard you play (Envelope). Low Cut keeps the effect off the low end. 20 presets.
  • 43 new chains built on the newer effects: Shimmer Halo, Wide Micro-Shift Double, Fifth & Octave Harmony, Rising and Falling Spiral Throws, Multi-Tap Bounce, Snare split crack & room, Kick split tight, Ambient Swell Guitar, Shimmer Clean, Frozen Drone and more.
  • Synth Rigs (Chains > Keys & Synths > Synth Rigs): the Synth with its effects, ready on a MIDI track (Wavetable Pad, Arp Pluck, Sync Lead, Comb String, FM Bell, Vocal Lead, Dark Drone).
  • 41 more Synth presets: basses, leads, pads, keys (including an FM electric-piano tone), plucks, arpeggios, effects and a synth drum kit (kick, snare, hat, tom, clap).

Fixed

  • Transient Split crackled and distorted whenever the attack and body were set differently. It now reads each sound's level smoothly and changes its gain gently, so steady notes pass untouched.
  • Turning Multi-Tap Delay's Time no longer clicks: the repeats glide to the new time.
  • Count controls (Unison, Taps, Voices, Arp Octaves) show whole numbers.
  • The bottom of the window (status line, browser list) no longer runs off the screen.

1.20 — Synth upgrade, four new effects, count-in area

1 November 2026

New

  • Count-in notes kept aside. Notes played during the count-in now sit just before the clip, where you played them. The piano roll shows that area greyed: drag a note into the clip to use it, or pull the clip's left edge back. Notes no longer jump onto beat 1 or land out of order.
  • The Synth, much bigger (six pages beside its Presets):
    • Oscillators: 8 wavetables that morph as you move their position (harmonics, pulse, vocal, sync, FM, organ, digital, odd/even) beside the classic waves; pulse width, FM, ring modulation, oscillator sync, coloured noise, sub.
    • Filters: ladder, low/band/high-pass, notch and comb filters, plus a second filter in series or parallel; unison up to 8 voices spread across the stereo field.
    • Envelopes and LFOs: a third envelope, LFO shapes (including sample & hold and drift), tempo sync, fade-in delay, a second LFO.
    • Matrix: six routings from any source (LFOs, envelopes, velocity, key, mod wheel, pressure, random) to any target (pitch, wave position, filter, volume, pan and more).
    • Arp & Play: an arpeggiator (Up, Down, Up/Down, Random, As Played, Chord) over 1 to 4 octaves with gate and swing, in time with the song.
    • 18 new presets.
  • Ambient Reverb: tails up to a minute, Swell (the tail builds up first), Shimmer (each pass an interval higher), Mangle (distortion in the space), Freeze (holds the tail). 8 presets.
  • Harmonizer: two delayed, pitch-shifted voices: a few cents apart for wide doubling, intervals for harmonies, feedback for endless spirals. 8 presets.
  • Multi-Tap Delay: up to 32 repeats over one span, spaced evenly or bunched, fading out or swelling in, each in its own band (Band Sweep), smeared into a wash, chopped in time. 7 presets.
  • Transient Split: the attack and the body of a sound handled separately (level, tone, drive for the attack, width for the body). 6 presets.

Changed

  • The modelled Piano and Keys (electric piano) left the instrument menu. Projects that use them still open and play. For piano sounds use a piano VST3, the Sampler, or the Synth's FM keys presets.

1.19 — Works with any sound card; MIDI Replace or Overdub

31 October 2026

New

  • WASAPI audio. JDX Audio no longer needs an ASIO driver: pick WASAPI Shared (any device, any rate) or WASAPI Exclusive (lowest latency) in Options > Audio Settings, with its own input choice. If a device is unplugged, JDX Audio picks it up again when it is back.
  • MIDI Replace or Overdub. One toolbar switch, Overdub: off, a new take replaces what's under it and the old clip goes quiet while you record; on, you hear the old notes and the new ones are added to them.

Fixed

  • Loop recording started part way round the loop piled stray notes at the start of the take.

1.18 — Device I/O, headroom, Input FX, amps

30 October 2026

  • In / Out / Mix / Auto Gain on every device, automatable. Auto Gain keeps a device's output at its input's loudness, so you judge tone, not volume.
  • Preserve Headroom (Mix menu): no device can push the signal over 0 dBFS; a light on the card shows when it stepped in.
  • Input FX: devices before the recording on an audio track (Input Gain, Gate, Compressor...), printed into the take. New Input Gain device with Auto Set.
  • Saturator characters: tube, pentode, tape, transformer, console and fuzz curves.
  • Amps: more realistic power amps and cabinets, 13 new amp presets and 6 bass presets.
  • EQ: bands from 1 Hz to 96 kHz with a Full Range view.
  • Toolbars grouped with labels.

1.14 — 108 chains, lighter on the computer

26 October 2026

  • Chains regrouped into a two-level menu, 47 new ones.
  • JDX Audio draws fewer frames while another program is in front.
  • Fixes from a full bug hunt (halftime glitches, reversing clips without a file, a drum gate that could open on the snare).

1.10 — Themes, velocity lane, title bars

26 October 2026

  • Five more themes; cleaner neutral backgrounds.
  • Piano roll: grids down to 1/64 with triplets, a velocity lane, and drum kits showing only the pads in use.
  • Only armed tracks take input; preview notes go to the selected track and are never recorded.
  • Window and plugin title bars in the JDX Audio look, with Windows snap layouts.

1.7 — Tempo changes, measured reverbs, clean signals

21–24 October 2026 (1.7.0 to 1.7.8)

New

  • Changing the tempo moves the song: clips, notes, automation and loop follow, and audio is time-stretched.
  • Plate Reverb and Hall & Chamber, built from published measurements of real plates and concert halls.
  • Monitor checks: hear the mix in mono, on a small cube speaker, on classic studio monitors or on a phone, and Dim (speakers only, never in exports).
  • Capture MIDI (Ctrl+Shift+C): what you just played without recording becomes a clip. Computer MIDI keyboard (M).
  • Piano roll: box selection, moving groups of notes, arrow-key nudges; count-in notes kept.
  • Device groups (Ctrl+G) and the My Groups library.
  • Autosave every 2 minutes with crash recovery; missing plugins keep their settings; a crashing plugin is silenced instead of taking JDX Audio down.
  • Input Level Guide; a speaker guard that limits what reaches your speakers at -1 dBFS.
  • Faster warping; Warp to Bars; select all clips and move them together; ducking on delays and reverbs; Utility device.
  • The GPU visualiser.

Fixed

  • No device adds noise: silence in gives exact silence out. Export dither defaults to off.
  • The first notes after Play were skipped when the master had a high-latency device.
  • A constant hiss from the old automatic input levelling.

1.5 — Drum Rack, browser, automation, creative effects

17–18 October 2026 (1.5.0 to 1.5.3)

  • Drum Rack: 16 sample pads, each with its own effects; kits; Tune to Song.
  • Samples browser with previews; drum breaks library.
  • Automation of volume, pan and device controls.
  • Song structure strip; Save As; resizable panels and a default layout.
  • Clean Cut: removes the noise and silence between the real sounds on audio tracks.
  • Creative devices: Chorus, Stereo Imager, Lo-Fi, Glitch, Tremolo; 29 vocal effect chains.
  • Console, Air EQ, Exciter; IR Loader and more amp models.
  • Synth: MPE, chorus, 46 presets. MIDI clips keep pedal and controllers.
  • Multi-select clips; mix visualiser.