[Apologies for cross-posting, please distribute]
29th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx26)
September 1–4, 2026
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
We are pleased to announce that the 29th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx26) will be organized at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts from September 1–4, 2026. The conference will be held in MIT's new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building, across the river from Boston. The conference will feature oral presentations, poster and demo sessions, keynote addresses, and tutorials. The social program will offer opportunities for more informal interactions.
Call for Papers
This annual conference brings together research practitioners across the globe working with digital audio processing for music and speech, sound design, sound art, acoustics, and related applications. Original contributions for DAFx26 are encouraged in, but not limited to, the following topics:
Signal processing and analysis
Creative audio effects, sound synthesis, and composition
Physical modeling and virtual analog
Spatial sound, room acoustics, and artificial reverberation
Music information retrieval, source separation, and audio restoration
Machine learning for audio
Audio coding and data representation
Perception and psychoacoustics
Hardware and software design
This year, we especially welcome papers on the topic of novel creative audio effects.
Prospective authors are invited to submit full-length papers (8 pages maximum) for oral or poster presentation by March 30, 2026. https://dafx26.mit.edu/call-for-papers/
Volumes 1998 to 2025 of DAFx proceedings are now indexed in Scopus, and this will apply similarly to DAFx26 proceedings.
Parameter Estimation Challenge
We are pleased to announce the 1st DAFx Parameter Estimation Challenge, proposed at DAFx25. The challenge sets up a benchmark for system identification of audio effects, centred on plate reverberation as a representative case of a dense, weakly damped acoustic system.
There are two main tasks:
Task A, Physical Parameter Identification: estimate a subset of the plate’s physical parameters (density, Young’s modulus, thickness, tension, etc.) from synthetic impulse responses.
Task B, Modal Parameter Estimation: recover modal parameters (natural frequencies, decay rates, and gains) from simulated or measured frequency responses.
Both tasks rely on data generated from a damped Kirchhoff-Love plate model, with baselines, metrics, and scripts provided in the public repo at https://github.com/LOGUNIVPM/1st-DAFx-Challenge.
Challenge participants should submit their results by May 31, 2026.
Other Calls
In addition to the paper session, there will be a devoted session for demonstrations. See https://dafx26.mit.edu/call-for-demonstrations/ for more information.
This year, we are running a Call for Tutorials, to be held on the first day of the conference. See https://dafx26.mit.edu/call-for-tutorials/ for more information.
Grants to help support conference costs will be available. See https://dafx26.mit.edu/grants/ for more information.
Finally, there is a Call for Sponsorships if you are interested in financially supporting DAFx26. More information can be found at https://dafx26.mit.edu/sponsors/.
Organizing Committee
Mark Rau (MIT), Co-Organizer
Kurt J. Werner (Soundtoys), Co-Organizer
Elliot K. Canfield-Dafilou (Yale University)
Jatin Chowdhury (MIT)
Champ Darabundit (McGill University)
Orchisama Das (King’s College London)
Kaylyn Holmes (Harvard University)
Jin Woo Lee (MIT)
Shahan Nercessian (Splice)
Paris Smaragdis (MIT)
Alex Tung (MIT)