soundcraft/ROADMAP.md

# SoundCraft roadmap

**Stage: pre-alpha** · next: alpha, ~5% and ~110–180 h away (the alpha gate's three failing workflows)

> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-10 · **Change:** minor (readiness by audience with hours to ~95 %) · **Target:** Avid Pro Tools Ultimate 2026.4.1

SoundCraft is a clean-room, pure-Rust digital audio workstation that aims at full parity with
Avid Pro Tools, and then beyond it: faster, open, scriptable and agent-controllable. This page is
the one-page summary; the detail is in [`docs/target-app-parity.md`](docs/target-app-parity.md)
(assessment), [`docs/gaps.md`](docs/gaps.md) (ranked work list), [`docs/roadmap.md`](docs/roadmap.md)
(milestones and beta plan) and [`docs/parity-checklist.md`](docs/parity-checklist.md) (generated
menu checklist).

## Headline numbers

| Number | Value | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Menu breadth | **482 / 512 Pro Tools menu leaves (94.1 %)**; engine alone 397 / 512 | measured (`cargo xtask parity` + UI-layer aliases) |
| Feature breadth | **~70 %** | estimated (menus plus plugins, hardware, formats, immersive, cloud) |
| **Ready for real work** | **~40 %** | estimated, weighted by dimension |
| Mainstream practitioner (tracking/mixing engineer) | **~36 %** | estimated: 50.6 % weekly-area depth × 0.90 interaction × 0.92 stability × 0.85 file exchange ([how](docs/target-app-parity.md#mainstream-practitioner-and-essentials-user)) |
| Essentials user (song or podcast, defaults) | **~57 %** | estimated: 72.4 % core-feature depth × 0.90 launch/stability × 0.90 discoverability × 0.97 files ([how](docs/target-app-parity.md#mainstream-practitioner-and-essentials-user)) |
| Remaining to alpha | **~110–180 Opus 5.5 agent-hours** (the failing gate rows) | estimated, calibrated on PR history |
| Remaining to beta | **~350–570 Opus 5.5 agent-hours** (includes the alpha work; ~60–70 % parallelizable) | estimated |
| Remaining to full parity | **~950–1,450 Opus 5.5 agent-hours** | estimated |

| Audience | Ready % | Agent-hours to ~95 % | Work that dominates |
|---|---:|---:|---|
| Full target (ready for real work) | ~40 % | ~950–1,450 h | Hardware, the stock plugin catalogue, AAF/OMF and immersive, localization, fidelity |
| Mainstream practitioner | ~36 % | ~380–600 h | Interface and MIDI recording, AAF/OMF, stock-plugin depth, core-path bugs |
| Essentials user | ~57 % | ~110–200 h | Launch and platform fixes, onboarding, effect panels and presets, MP3/AAC export |

Hours are Opus 5.5 agent wall-clock hours, calibrated on this repo's PRs; 60–70 % parallelizes.
Detail: [target-app-parity.md](docs/target-app-parity.md#readiness-by-audience).

**Why pre-alpha:** the core-workflow gate in [docs/roadmap.md](docs/roadmap.md#alpha-gate) fails.
Editing, mixing, bouncing, and saving and reopening work end to end. But a Pro Tools user can't
record from a chosen audio interface at a chosen buffer size (only the default devices, a fixed
512-sample block, and takes held in RAM). They can't record MIDI from a keyboard (there is no
MIDI device layer). And they can't bring a session in or hand one back (no AAF/OMF/`.ptx`).
Readiness (~40 %) sits right at the alpha bar, but a gate failure keeps the app pre-alpha. The
2026-10-07 estimate ("~65 % overall, 110–150 h to 100 %") counted feature presence. This one
measures readiness and adds hardware, localization and field bug reports.

## By dimension

| Dimension | Ready | Remaining (h) | Doc |
|---|---:|---:|---|
| Features | ~45 % | 520–810 | [target-app-parity.md](docs/target-app-parity.md#feature-areas) |
| UI/UX fidelity | ~55 % | 60–100 | [ui-parity.md](docs/ui-parity.md) |
| File formats | ~40 % | 70–120 | [file-format-parity.md](docs/file-format-parity.md) |
| Hardware (interfaces, MIDI, surfaces, sync) | ~12 % | 110–180 | [hardware-parity.md](docs/hardware-parity.md) |
| Localization | ~12 % (1 of Pro Tools' 8 languages) | 70–110 | [localization-parity.md](docs/localization-parity.md) |
| Performance | ~35 % (unmeasured) | 40–70 | [hardware-parity.md](docs/hardware-parity.md#performance) |
| Stability | ~45 % | 50–80 | [gaps.md](docs/gaps.md) |
| Platforms | ~65 % (5 platforms built, macOS exercised) | 20–40 | [gaps.md](docs/gaps.md) |
| Ecosystem / plugins | ~30 % | in Features + Hardware | [plugin-parity.md](docs/plugin-parity.md) |
| AI features | ~5 % | 30–50 | [gaps.md](docs/gaps.md) |
| Agent control | ahead of Pro Tools | 3 | [control-protocol.md](docs/control-protocol.md), [mcp.md](docs/mcp.md) |

## Features

| Area | Breadth | Ready | Remaining (h) |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| Recording and monitoring | 75 % | 40 % | 40–60 |
| Editing | 92 % | 65 % | 40–60 |
| Mixing and routing | 85 % | 60 % | 35–50 |
| Automation | 80 % | 55 % | 20–30 |
| Built-in plugins and AudioSuite | 40 % | 35 % | 80–120 |
| Third-party plugin hosting | 70 % | 45 % | 40–60 |
| MIDI and instruments | 70 % | 30 % | 50–80 |
| Score and notation | 60 % | 35 % | 20–30 |
| Elastic Audio, TCE, Beat Detective | 70 % | 35 % | 40–60 |
| Surround and immersive | 55 % | 35 % | 50–80 |
| Video and post | 60 % | 40 % | 40–60 |
| Session, file management, interchange | 55 % | 35 % | 60–100 |
| Collaboration and cloud (Avid services) | 0 % | 0 % | owner decision |
| Agent control | 100 % | 100 % | 3 |

Weights and evidence per row: [target-app-parity.md](docs/target-app-parity.md#feature-areas).

## Languages

| Language | Code | Status | Translated |
|---|---|---|---:|
| English | en | full | 100 % |
| Simplified Chinese | zh-Hans | none | 0 % |
| Spanish | es | none (PR #143 open) | 0 % |
| Hindi | hi | none | 0 % |
| Arabic | ar | none | 0 % |
| French | fr | none (PR #143 open) | 0 % |
| Portuguese | pt | none | 0 % |
| Indonesian | id | none | 0 % |
| Japanese | ja | none | 0 % |
| German | de | none | 0 % |
| Korean | ko | none | 0 % |
| Vietnamese | vi | none | 0 % |

Other languages shipped: 0. Detail: [localization-parity.md](docs/localization-parity.md).

## Upcoming

Ranked; the alpha gate, the alpha checklist and the beta plan are in [docs/roadmap.md](docs/roadmap.md).

1. **Alpha blocker:** audio interfaces: device and buffer-size choice, duplex stream, ASIO; record to disk (G-01, G-06). 35–55 h.
2. **Alpha blocker:** MIDI devices: record from keyboards, play instruments live, output (G-02). 20–35 h.
3. **Alpha blocker:** AAF/OMF import and export (G-03). 50–90 h.
4. macOS plugin entitlement (#153), then AU editors (G-05). 1 h for the entitlement (needed for the mix row), then 15–25 h.
5. Land the open bug-fix PRs and clear the correctness backlog (G-04). 15–25 h.
6. PR CI running `cargo xtask ci` on three OSes (G-14). 5–10 h.
7. Fidelity harness against Pro Tools (G-07). 20–30 h.

## Robustness

Property tests drive random edit sequences (with full undo), mutated session files and hostile
command parameters through the engine and mixer; they have caught fade, overflow and
unbounded-allocation bugs. Every command also runs with empty parameters on empty and demo
sessions. Hosted plugins live in isolated unsafe crates (`clap-host`, `vst3-host`, `au-host`) and
are created, loaded and destroyed off the audio thread. The video decoders survive hundreds of
mutated and truncated movies. Field reports from the first public week are tracked in
[gaps.md](docs/gaps.md) (G-04).

## Progress log

- **2026-10-10 (UI docking):** Tracks and Groups, Clips, MIDI Editor, Memory Locations, and Undo History use movable panels. Edit and Mix retain separate arrangements; Clips and MIDI Editor belong to Edit. Transport, plug-in, and specialist utility windows retain their existing hosts. Panel moves and reset are available as UI commands, and saved UI preferences retain arrangements. Common toolbar and track record-enable buttons share interaction, accessible labels and keyboard focus through `craft-ui`, retaining blue tool selection and red record-arm states. No readiness percentage change.
- **2026-10-10** — Stage re-normalized to **pre-alpha** by the core-workflow gate (interface recording, MIDI recording and session interchange fail). Full re-measure against Pro Tools Ultimate 2026.4.1 and the standard
  progress-docs set (this page, target-app parity, gaps, roadmap, UI/format/hardware/plugin/
  localization parity). v0.4.0 released. Community fixes: Cut All Automation, snap to neighbours,
  tempo stretch, I/O Setup, clip export names, menu-only dialogs, playback stop on new session.
- **2026-10-09** — Light theme and live system appearance, clip-gain fader and nudge, missing-media
  warnings, session audio health, malformed-JSON and encoder-extension checks in the CLI, macOS
  system menu bar, Windows DX12 default, Linux fontconfig, metronome click in playback.
- **2026-10-08** — v0.2.x–v0.3.0 released (Flatpak, AppImage zsync); VST3 quit crash fixed;
  Ctrl-as-Cmd shortcuts on Windows/Linux; plugin menus by vendor, AU inserts, instrument picker;
  rotating log file; branded DMG.
- **2026-10-07** — Repository published; About window credits; release CI on macOS runners.
- **2026-10-06** — Video track, Audio Unit hosting, plugin state and editors, Renderer; Mix
  window views; score export and print; surround mixing; VST3 hosting; property tests.
- **2026-10-05** — Foundation crates, Edit and Mix windows, playback, CLI/MCP, parity report,
  recording and punch, CLAP hosting, Elastic Audio, Beat Detective, release pipeline.

## Revision history

| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Readiness-by-audience table with hours: full 950–1,450 h, mainstream 380–600 h, essentials 110–200 h |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Added mainstream practitioner ~36 % and essentials user ~57 % to the headline numbers |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Stage alpha → pre-alpha: the core-workflow gate fails on interface recording, MIDI recording and session interchange; alpha distance added |
| 2026-10-10 | major | Rewritten to the progress-docs standard: stage alpha (re-normalized the same day), two numbers (breadth ~70 %, ready ~40 %), dimension/feature/language tables, hours re-calibrated; area table moved to docs/target-app-parity.md, milestones to docs/roadmap.md |
| 2026-10-07 | major | Menu parity 94 %, ~65 % estimated feature parity, alpha list |
| 2026-10-06 | minor | Alpha and parity estimates |