DAWbench 2026 Benchmark Suite

Official Release : Full Details and Specs !

DAWbench 2026 Benchmark Suite : Development : Tales from the Trenches !

After 3 years in development, today I officially release the DAWbench 2026 Benchmark Suite. My initial brief was to update all the sessions to be 100% cross platform compatible, use only Freeware plugins/instruments/libraries, move the plugins/instruments to the latest plugin protocols of VST3/AU, and to make the VI Kontakt session more accessible and easier to run.

The previous versions of DAWbench VI required a full version of Kontakt, and were using legacy library files from Kontak 3 that proved difficult to port to the later library format used. Although we could get the sessions running on the later library format, ideally the original legacy library files were required which were not available in current Kontakt versions. I was unable to offer the legacy library files publically, so testing was reserved to a small circle of trusted testers that could successfully access the legacy files.

1st box to tick was to move the original DAWbench VI session to Kontakt Player, and find compatible Freeware Libraries that could carry the VI test session. Over the course of the development, I investigated and tested a large number of library options during the extended BETA period, and quickly realised this was going to be harder than I thought, as many Freeware libraries, required the Full version of Kontakt, and were incompatible with the Freeware Kontakt Player. Say What ?

Add to that, a number of the Freeware Kontakt Orchestral Libraries were proving to be either very limited and/or inconsistent, so it took a lot longer than I had anticipated to find a solution that I was happy with.

The original Orchestral library sounds were from the core VSL sourced Full Kontakt Library, which weren’t anything overly spectacular, but worked very well in context, so I didn’t imagine they would be that difficult to replace. Famous last words.

2nd box to tick was to retire the legacy VST2 DSP plugins that had been used and were the staple over the years, and find stable Freeware plugins that would use similar levels of resources, which could be used across the expanding range of DSP test sessions. That proved easier than the sample libraries, but I went through quite a few different plugins before settling on the selection that made the final call.

3^rd box to tick was that I wanted to reintroduce other DAW’s back to the Suite, that had been gradually being scaled back to just Reaper over the last few revisions for reasons that I will not bore you with now. DSP sessions are now across 5 DAW’s - Bitwig, Cubase, Reaper, Sonar, Studio One.

4^th and last box to tick was to develop a VI test session based on Modeled Synths, which has been long overdue. Again using Freeware instruments to make the session more accessible.

O.K, with that out of the way, let’s get into the details.

DAWbench DSP 2026

DAWbench DSP/BUS have been updated using Analog Obsession VST3/AU Plugins, 640/960 extended plugin versions of the DSP session using the TUBA plugin running 4x oversampling, which has an individual resource footprint similar to the OG 1566 plugin. Difference here is that the 4x oversampling does introduce some inherent delay per plugin, so the DAW’s PDC is working through that as each plugin is enabled in real time.

The DSP/BUS session utilises TUBA on the standard incremental tracks as per the DSP session, but has additional FrankCS plugins in the BUSS’s that can be used to add additional processing either serially or in a combined parallel manner.

DAWbench DSP MIX is the new session based off a Real World mixing project which has Tracks/Groups/FX Buss’s/Sub Buss’s. The DSP MIX session rounds out the available test sessions, and adds the last element which moves it from being a purely empirical saturation test, to one based on a Real World Test session that can be used as not only a stand alone reference stress test of a large RW Mix session, but also includes an additional element of being able to incrementally and empirically increase the load to further saturate the systems that were capable.

A wider variety of plugins are used over and above the Analog Obsession used in the DSP/BUS sessions, and also includes plugins from Acon Digital, Chowdhury DSP and TDR

DAWbench VI SMP

DAWbench VI SMP ( Sampler ) is a heavily reworked and updated version of the OG DAWbench VI. Main instrument is now Kontakt 8 Player, and the libraries used are Kontakt Factory Selection 2, which is from the NI Komplete Start Freeware package, and Sonuscore’s - The Orchestra Elements Freeware library.

Session also uses Steve Slate Drums SSD5 Free Drum Sampler, and the Wave Alchemy Magic 7 Reverb. TDR NOVA Dynamic EQ is featured across all the instruments tracks as well.

Musical elements and arrangement have been edited, tightened up and remixed, fresh samples and patches tweaked and assigned for all instruments, drum groove is now MIDI playing through the SSD5, instead of a sampled drum loop.

DAWbench VI SYN

DAWbench VI SYN (Synth) is the newest and latest session that rounds out the suite for 2026. This has been long overdue, and I have been testing a stack of Freeware synths over the years to thin out the herd, so to speak, for viable candidates. My initial idea was to do a One Synth Challenge which I had completed using the Surge Synth Team’s Surge XT synthesizer. Full arrangement and all parts ( except main drums) were driven by Surge XT’s extensive palate of available sounds, but as I progressed further I decided to widen the umbrella a bit further and introduced OB-Xf, which is another project by the Surge Synth Team, and also Vital Audio’s Vital Wavetable synth, which is very popular and widely used.

Musical elements finished off with Drums driven by 99 Sounds Drumplayer, TDR NOVA Dynamic EQ is again featured across all the instruments tracks, with Wave Alchemy’s Magic 7 Reverb again handling master reverb duties.

Composition was written, programmed, produced, mixed by yours truly. I do prefer to spread the love re participation in creating the musical elements in these sessions, but I was getting weary of promises from several friends to write me an EDM banger, that never seemed to materialize after 2-3 years of asking. So, I channeled my PsyTrance Mojo and knocked out the track. I doubt it will set the World on Fire, and it is a very busy/crowded 8 Bars only, as I piled on the number of instruments in the arrangement to pad out the processing load. Does the job, watch out for the subs.

I’ll finish off by saying that I have no affiliation or vested interest with any of the company’s who’s products I have used to create the 2026 Suite. I have chosen the products purely on merit for being able to complete the required tasks reliably in the sessions, and I also actually really like and use the plugins, instruments and libraries myself, so if that encourages others to check them out, win/win, as there are some really nice tools available in the Freeware/Open Source Space.

That’s it for now, on to the next !

Sessions available for download @ DAWbench.com