I actually think established DAW developers may face some serious challenges in the coming years, but perhaps for very different reasons than those being discussed here.
Just look at this forum.
How many discussions have we had about missing features in Fender Studio Pro? How many requests for GUI improvements, workflow changes, or functionality that users have been asking for, sometimes for years?
Until recently, developing your own solution was simply unrealistic for most musicians. Even if you had a great idea, turning it into working software required extensive programming knowledge, time, and resources.
AI-assisted development is beginning to change that.
And I think this is where things could become really interesting.
Imagine a musician who has been requesting a particular MIDI feature for years. Instead of waiting for a developer to implement it, they could potentially build and test their own solution.
Maybe the idea works brilliantly. Maybe they discover that their original concept doesn't work nearly as well in practice as they imagined.
Either way, they've learned something.
And if it does work, perhaps other musicians will find it useful too. Perhaps it inspires an entirely different approach, or even gives established developers new ideas.
That's how innovation can happen.
For decades, software development has largely determined which ideas musicians could actually try. If a feature wasn't implemented, most users simply had to live without it.
AI-assisted development could gradually change that relationship.
Of course, building a reliable, professional DAW is still a massive undertaking. AI doesn't magically eliminate the need for testing, debugging, maintenance, or technical expertise.
But it can make experimentation and prototyping dramatically more accessible.
And perhaps that's the real challenge for established software companies: not that AI will simply copy their products, but that users may increasingly be able to explore ideas and develop tools that commercial developers never considered worth implementing.
Personally, I see that as an opportunity for innovation rather than something we should be afraid of.
I'm already collecting ideas I've had for years, and now I finally have the opportunity to test them.
I've also started creating smaller tools based on simple thoughts like, "Hey, this would be really useful to have!"
I've already spent several weeks developing my own ComfyUI workflows and custom nodes to automate repetitive tasks, speed up my workflow, and make the software easier to use. And guess what? It actually works!
For me, it's becoming less about saying, "It would be nice to have feature XYZ," and then waiting years for some company to finally implement it.
Instead, it's increasingly becoming a simple question of: "Okay, why don't I just try building it and see if it works?"
And that's exactly what makes AI-assisted development so exciting to me.
