Shaw 0.2.0

Real instruments, write melodies without the mouse, and a lot more sound quality.

Install

1. Download Shaw.zip below and unzip it.
2. Drag Shaw into your Applications folder, replacing the old one.
3. Open it. macOS blocks it the first time because it isn't from the App Store, so go to System Settings, Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway.

Shaw needs macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer and runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. From now on, Shaw → Check for Updates tells you when there's a new version.

What's new

Real instruments. Ten recorded instruments with a SAMPLE badge in the Browser: Grand Piano, Upright Piano, FM Piano, Vibraphone, Concert Marimba, Kenyan Kalimba, Glockenspiel, Harp, Tenor Sax, and Pipe Organ. There's also a recorded Acoustic Kit, and 14 hand percussion hits in the Samples tab. They come from the Versilian Community Sample Library, which is public domain, so you can use them in anything.

Write melodies without the mouse. In the piano roll, the arrow keys move a cursor and Return adds a note there. Hold ⇧ and press a note key to add that note at the cursor. ⇧ and the arrow keys draw a box to select notes, Tab steps through them, and the arrow keys move them. The note keys on their own only play, so you can try ideas first. Press ? to see every key.

Your own sounds. A Sampler plays any audio file across the keyboard, drum kits take your own files for any sound, and the Samples tab lists your sample folders.

Better sound everywhere.

• Studio-quality Reverb, Chorus, and Delay, and a clean Limiter, Compressor, and Saturator.
• Rebuilt drum kits, a new Drill kit, and an upgraded synth with an FM envelope and cleaner oscillators.
• Synth sounds now spread across the stereo field and get brighter when you play harder.
• Redesigned presets, including Future Bass, Dubstep & Bass House, and Hyperpop sounds.

Make it yours. The Instrument Editor shows a sound as cards you can stack. Save any sound to My Instruments, or build one from scratch.

Three new demo songs in File → Open Demo Song: Starlight FM (UK garage), Afterburn (bass house), and Lanterns (melodic dubstep).

Smaller things.

• ↑ and ↓ walk the Browser and play each sound.
• File → Open Recent.
• Click a blue number to type a value.
• Linked copies show a dashed outline.

Fixes.

• A note moved while it rang no longer keeps ringing.
• The piano roll no longer goes blank when a synth pattern becomes a drum kit.
• The Instrument Editor scrolls with the trackpad again.

Shaw 0.1.0

The first release of Shaw, a music app for the Mac that works like After Effects.

Install

1. Download Shaw.zip below and unzip it.
2. Drag Shaw into your Applications folder.
3. Open it. macOS blocks it the first time because it isn't from the App Store, so go to System Settings, Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway.

Shaw needs macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer and runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

What's in it

• One timeline with a loop bar, linked clips, and compositions inside compositions
• Effects on clips, layers, and compositions, with After Effects-style keyframes
• A piano roll for melodies and drums, and your computer keyboard as a piano
• 35 synth presets, 7 drum kits, and 14 effects
• Two demo songs: Neon Drive and First Light