Lyle Mills, founder of Rubato Audio, smiling in front of a misty mountainside.

Who's behind it

Hi — I'm Lyle.

Rubato Audio is currently a one-man operation (that's me), based in Portland, Oregon. I worked as a software developer for 12 years at some of the world's leading tech companies, writing music software occasionally on the side — including a couple of popular alternative firmwares for the Plaits and Rings Eurorack modules, and buoys, an experimental sequencer for the monome norns. But these days, Rubato has my full focus.

I've been a musician since I was four years old — first playing piano throughout my childhood, and later branching out to a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments as an adult. I've always preferred playing instruments over producing and editing, and I started Rubato Audio because I wanted to build tools to bridge the gap between how I most enjoy making music and the realities of music production in a DAW.

Philosophy

Keep the human at the center.

I believe in leaving the humanity in music as much as possible. It's so much better to start with a human performance and clean it up a little than to start with something made entirely on a computer and try to "humanize" it after the fact. With the right tools to help, I believe musicians who love to play can find their inner virtuoso and express themselves, even if their playing chops aren't virtuoso-level yet.

That belief drives everything. Rubato started with three devices; where it's going is a larger suite of tools for people who'd rather play than edit — software that helps you turn what you played into a finished track, keeping the best of your human ideas and performances while giving you smart, musical ways to build on them.

These tools should feel fun and inspiring, not like the tedious piano-roll editing most producers are stuck with today. They should be smart enough to recognize what's happening in your playing and hand you well-chosen levers to enhance it — without ever feeling like the computer is making the music for you. A person, with their own taste and ideas, stays at the center of the process. Always.

Where it's going

What's next.

From here, two directions. We'll keep expanding our line of creative tools for MIDI manipulation — and we'll work to bring these tools to platforms beyond Ableton. To see exactly what that looks like, stay tuned! Big things are coming.

Want to be the first to know? Join the mailing list — we'll treat your inbox with respect and only reach out when something new lands.

Made with love

What that really means.

Made by a musician

Rubato is run by a musician — so the tools are shaped by how playing music actually feels.

Small on purpose

One person means every detail is intentional and focused on a single vision — and nothing ships until it actually feels right.

Buy it once

One-time purchase, single-user lifetime license, free updates to the products you buy. No subscriptions, ever.

Here when you need me

Support comes straight from the person who wrote the code. Email me and you get me — not a ticket queue.

The name

Why rubato?

Rubato is the musical term for bending tempo for expression — stealing a little time here, giving it back there. It's a nod to where the studio started: tools that respect how you really play. But it's a flavor, not a cage. Rubato Audio makes whatever's worth making well — rubato-related or not.