QJams: Unleash yourself!

QJams. Practice. Watch. Edit. Loop. Perfect.

The video-synced jamming and practice DAW with 12-track recorder, full track editing and real time gain staging. Built for musicians on Linux. It started as a Quad Cortex practice tool. It Evolved. Connect anything!

Plug in your guitar modeler and start jamming. Switch to your mic an let yourself be heard! Combine the live 12-track recorder with perfectly synced video capture so you can look back at exactly how you nailed that take. Built natively in C for Linux for maximum performance and zero latency.

QJams on Github

Install Qjams

Documentation

Why is QJams different than other DAWs?

QJams has a super fast workflow. Made to edit your take on the fly. Everything you need is packed in a single screen.

No screen switching.
It packs most of the essential audio editing functions.
No separate recording application needed.
Crucially, synchronization of audio and video is fully automated
No camera? No problem. QJams automatically adjusts it's interface.
-> In fact it autonomously detects new and removed devices and makes adjusting your settings super easy.

QJams beta 2.0

Beta 2.0 has successfully completed all technical and functional testing.
The final build will be packaged and released on Saturday, September 19, 2026

MAJOR CHANGES

The biggest change is the removal of the separate multi track and video modes earlier version had. Video is now 'just' an extra layer in the 12 track recorder. Everything happens in a single window with the live video permanently living above the recording canvas.
Video can now be added anywhere on the track but it is limited to 1 take and one undo/redo.
A red line on the session canvas now indicates the presence of a video and when recording the red indicator is drawn as the recording progresses. This enhancement tells you immediately if a session is audio only or not.
Track editing functions have been greatly enhanced. With the QJams fast workflow and audio edit functions, you don't have to reach for a full fledged DAW each time. But, if you must you can, all multitrack sessions with our without video can be exported to a QJams session file. The file can be opened and unpacked as tarball.
Every session can now be saved and added to each of your ten quick playlists. You can even mix regular audio files and session files in one playlist. Tip: use dedicated playlists for e.g. drum tracks, drones, sessions, experiments, etc.

Real time gain staging has now been upgraded to a non-destructive post-buffer action and can be applied to each of the 12 track individually. These (and other) settings are stored if you save your session, so they will be available the next time.
Several architecture improvements allow QJams to make better use of available memory (RAM), thus allowing for more (complex) edits. QJams now has a large undo/redo buffer with maximum of 64 steps (depending on available RAM).
The existing real time gain staging, track slowdown and speedup functions have been improved.
We now have a Length (mm:ss) button that can automatically remove the empty tail en of a (mutli) track.

OTHER CHANGES

Every edit function now has a keyboard and/or mouse shortcut.
KDE related icons on buttons replaced by Unicode characters to be fully distro agnostic.
All unsaved destructive changes to audio, video and sessions are now intercepted and give a appropriate user warning.

Practice Perfect

Watch Your Hands Don't just listen to your takes. Record perfectly auto-synced video alongside your audio so you can analyze your technique, spot bad habits, and see exactly how you played that impossible riff.

Hone Your Timing Practice smarter, not harder. Load up a backing track, lock in your groove, and let the low-latency audio engine capture every nuance of your performance with pinpoint precision.

Unleash Your Creativity Build massive soundscapes on the fly. Twelve available tracks lets you lay down backing tracks, recordings, whatever you want. All completely non-destructive and ready to export.

Save your session Revisit your work, change the set, edit the tracks at any time.

QJams features

Low Latency & Native Built in C using GTK4 and the JACK API. It plays incredibly nicely with PipeWire and class-compliant USB interfaces (I built and tested this using a Neural DSP Quad Cortex).

Video-Synced Capture Automatically muxes your live (web)cam feed with your audio take so you can analyze your technique.

Multi-Track Mode Lay down a drone or rhythm, stack overdubs, and solo over it live in each of the 12 tracks.

Multi- And Single Track Editing Select one or more tracks and copy, cut, paste, global paste, delete, ripple delete, fade or cross-fade (blend) selected parts of your tracks.

Live gain staging On each of the 12 tracks, when recording, even wile taking a video.

Drag & drop your files In your playlists and any track in Multi-Track mode, even while you're already recording!

Undo/Redo buffers Depending on available memory max 64 audio edit undos/redos.

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