1
Load up
9 instruments, each with its own sound bank. Pick drums, bass, synth, vocal - whatever fits your vibe.
Make beats. Layer instruments. Play with FX.
A game about making music.
Drop drums, layer melodies, twist effects, shape your mix, and turn sketches into finished tracks. Built on a real audio engine with custom DSP, MIDI support, and WAV export. Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and Steam Deck. Free beta available now.
Never made music before? Make your first beat in 5 minutes.
9 instruments
Drums, bass, synth, groove, guitar, arp, sampler, electric, vocal
81 voices
Custom DSP engine with zero-GC audio thread
5 platforms
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Steam Deck
16 languages
Free & open early access
Inside DAWG
Everything you need to make a full track.
From the first kick to the final master. 9 instruments, a mixer, FX rack, arrangement view, and WAV export - all in one focused environment.
9 instruments
Drums, bass, synth, groove, guitar, arp, sampler, electric, vocal.
- Drums - kick, snare, hat, perc. Multiple kits.
- Bass - sub, synth, 808, pluck, reese, 303
- Synth - lead, supersaw, acid, hoover, brass, digital
- Groove - rhodes, wurli, clav, hammond, pad, vintage, piano
- Guitar - acoustic, clean, crunch, distort, funk, nylon
- Arp - classic, trance, acid, chip, bellish, sweep
- Sampler - 8-slice sample playback
- Electric - vocoder, talkbox, daft, choir, robot, whisper
- Vocal - formant synthesis (aah, eeh, ooh, choir, robot vox)
Dual grid modes
Step sequencer + piano roll. Switch freely.
Simple mode: tap cells on a grid to build patterns. Each row is a pitch or drum sound. 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 steps. Scale-locked so everything sounds good.
DAW mode: full piano roll with chromatic viewport. Draw notes with variable length, adjust velocity, drag to reposition. Marquee selection, quantize, snap-to-grid.
Switch between modes anytime. Your notes carry over - nothing lost.
Step sequencer guide →
Live mixer
Per-channel faders, VU meters, LUFS monitoring.
Every instrument gets its own channel strip: volume fader, pan knob, mute, solo. The master bus has a real-time spectrum analyzer, VU meters, and integrated LUFS loudness monitoring.
- Per-channel sidechain compression
- Pattern slot switching (A/B/C/D scenes)
- Velocity control per channel
- Touch-friendly faders on all platforms
How it works
From blank grid to finished track.
Four steps. That's the whole workflow.
2
Tap it out
Hit cells on the grid, play keys on a MIDI controller, or finger-drum on your phone. The sequencer does the rest.
3
Twist the knobs
Filter, drive, reverb, delay - per instrument. Open the mixer, ride the faders, watch the VU meters bounce.
4
Ship it
Render to WAV. Drop it on SoundCloud, use it in a video, send it to your friends. It's yours.
Watch
See it in action.
Gameplay and development in motion.
Audio tuning and testing
Dialing in the sound engine, one knob at a time.
DAWG in action
Watch a full beat get built from scratch.
100 days of development
From first prototype to 9 instruments.
Gallery
The full picture.
Click a card to explore. Themes, mixer, sound design, studio worlds.
10 visual themes
Cyberpunk neon to minimal charcoal. Every theme applies to the entire interface.
Mixer and FX
Per-channel faders, spectrum analyzer, VU meters, and an XY effects pad with filter, delay, reverb.
Sound design
Oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFOs, delay, reverb, saturation. Per instrument.
Studio worlds
Each location is a different vibe. More coming with Story Mode.
Yo Dawg
We heard you like DAWs...
"Yo Dawg I heard you like DAWs, so we put a DAW inside yo DAWG so you can produce while you play"
Under the hood
Built on a real audio engine.
Custom DSP. Per-voice processing. Sample-accurate scheduling. No shortcuts.
Signal flow
Every note runs through the same real-time pipeline - from key press to speaker output.
Input — Note trigger
Grid tap, MIDI key, gamepad button, or touch. Velocity-sensitive.
Click
Tap
MIDI
Gamepad
DAWG
Every input feeds the same velocity-sensitive note trigger. No configuration needed.
Voice — Per-voice synthesis
Dual oscillators, wavetable + PolyBLEP, FM, unison, filter, ADSR envelopes.
Every voice runs its own filter, envelope, and LFO stack. 81 simultaneous voices, zero garbage collection.
FX — Effects chain
Saturation, reverb, delay, chorus. Per-instrument. All sample-accurate.
Drag the FX pad to morph filter and delay in real time. Per-instrument effects, synced to BPM.
Mix — Mixer bus
Per-channel volume, pan, mute, solo. Master VU meters + LUFS monitoring.
7 channels, each with volume, pan, and send/return. Master bus with VU meters and LUFS monitoring.
What makes it real
- Zero-GC audio thread. No garbage collection in the synthesis path. Real-time performance, not offline rendering.
- 81 simultaneous voices. Full polyphony across all instruments. No voice stealing under normal use.
- Sample-accurate scheduling. Notes land exactly on the tick. No drift, no jitter.
- No DAW required. Self-contained environment. Open it, make music, export. DAWG is the DAW.
- Adaptive interface. The grid reshapes for each instrument. Drums get pads, melodics get piano rolls.
Ways to play
Play it your way.
DAWG supports every input method Unity can handle. Plug in a MIDI keyboard, use touch on a tablet, or play with a gamepad on the couch.
Touch
Tap pads, drag notes, twist knobs. Fingers first.
- Single tap - toggle grid cells on/off
- Drag across cells - fill a row quickly
- Multi-touch - play chords in real time
- Tilt device - modulate FX via accelerometer
- Shake - randomize patterns
Works on Android phones, tablets, touchscreen laptops, and Steam Deck touchscreen.
Touch production guide →
Mouse & keyboard
Click, drag, scroll. Full shortcut set.
- Space - play/stop
- 1-9 - switch instrument tabs
- T - open tuning panel
- C - clear current tab
- Ctrl+Z/Y - undo/redo
- Arrow keys - navigate grid
MIDI
USB and Bluetooth. Plug in and play.
- Any class-compliant USB or Bluetooth controller
- Note on/off with velocity
- Pitch bend, mod wheel, sustain pedal
- CC mapping for hardware knobs
- Record performances live into patterns
Gamepad
Xbox, PlayStation, Steam Deck. Couch ready.
- A/Cross - toggle pad / confirm
- D-Pad - navigate grid
- LB/RB - switch tabs
- Right Stick - FX XY pad control
- Triggers - BPM up/down (analog)
- Start - play/stop
Also supports accelerometer and gyroscope for motion-based expression, microphone input for sampling, and USB audio interfaces (ASIO on Windows) for low-latency monitoring.
Real setups
From pocket to studio.
Every device connects to your main device. Phone, PC, or Steam Deck is always the hub.
On the go
Phone + headphones. Make beats anywhere.
Phone
Headphones
or earbuds
or earbuds
Tap the grid, twist effects, export WAV. Touch-first interface means your fingers are the controller. Wired earbuds for zero latency, Bluetooth for convenience, USB-C for lossless digital audio.
Android guide →
Backpack studio
Phone + MIDI keyboard + headphones.
MIDI
keyboard
keyboard
Phone
Headphones
MIDI keyboard connects to your phone via Bluetooth or USB OTG. Headphones via Bluetooth, 3.5mm, or USB-C. Play melodies by hand, hear the result instantly. Fits in a backpack. DAWG Approved: RockJam Go 25.
Recommended gear →
At the desk
PC or Mac + MIDI keyboard + headphones.
MIDI
keyboard
keyboard
PC / Mac
Headphones
MIDI keyboard plugs in via USB or pairs over Bluetooth. Headphones via the audio jack, USB, or Bluetooth. Mouse and keyboard for the grid and mixer. The most common DAWG setup.
Keyboard shortcuts →
On the couch
Steam Deck or PC + gamepad + headphones.
Gamepad
PC / Steam
Deck
Deck
Headphones
Lean back with a gamepad - Xbox, PlayStation, or 8BitDo. Steam Deck has controls built in. D-pad to navigate, triggers for BPM, bumpers to switch tabs. Headphones via 3.5mm, USB, USB-C, or Bluetooth. DAWG Approved: 8BitDo Ultimate.
Steam Deck guide →
Home studio
MIDI keyboard + audio interface + monitors.
MIDI
keyboard
keyboard
PC / Mac
Audio
interface
interface
Studio
monitors
monitors
MIDI keyboard connects via USB or Bluetooth. If your keyboard has 5-pin DIN MIDI output, connect it to the audio interface's MIDI input instead - the USB cable carries both audio and MIDI to the PC. Monitors connect to the interface over balanced TRS or XLR. Low-latency ASIO output, proper monitoring, VU metering. This is what DAWG is developed on. DAWG Approved: RockJam Go 25 + MOTU M4.
Recommended gear →
Recording
Mic + audio interface + PC. Sample real sounds.
Microphone
Audio
interface
interface
PC / Mac
XLR or 6.3mm mic into the audio interface, USB to the PC. Monitor through the interface's headphone jack with zero-latency direct monitoring. Record into the Recording Booth - build custom drum kits from real objects, or feed the Looper for auto-sliced beat loops. On mobile, your phone's built-in mic or a wireless mic like the DJI Mic 2 works too. DAWG Approved: MOTU M4.
Recording Booth →
The studio
About DAWG Tools.
A solo-built studio focused on music creation software and professional Unity packages.
DAWG
A game about making music. Drop drums, layer melodies, twist effects, shape your mix, and export finished tracks. Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and Steam Deck.
DAWG Tools for Unity
Production-tested packages extracted from the DAWG engine. OKLab color science, frame-rate independent smoothing, DSP primitives, and text animation.
Built with care
One codebase, one developer. No committee design. Every feature earns its place. Actively developed and updated regularly.
Custom DSP
Every oscillator, filter, and effect is written from scratch. No middleware.
Privacy-first
No accounts, no analytics, no tracking. All data stays on your device.
16 languages
HQ fonts for CJK, Devanagari, Thai, Arabic. Not placeholder squares.
Solo-built
One developer, zero bloat. Every feature earned its place.
Download
No account. No bloat. No catch.
Download DAWG and start making music in under a minute. 9 instruments, real-time DSP engine, MIDI support, dual grid modes, mixer, and WAV export. Runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and Steam Deck.
Professional packages from the DAWG engine
The same DSP, color science, and animation tech that powers DAWG - extracted into standalone Unity packages. OKLab Pro, Smooth Pro, DSP Primitives, and more. Production-tested, zero-allocation, fully documented.