looking for a substitute for LMMS, VST grief

[hudkins]

I'm trying to find a substitute sequencer for LMMS. It just crashes too much. I use some VST instruments and I need to be able to load them and automate the parameters in the synth. LMMS is crashing whether I use VSTi's or not. It's been this way in Ubuntu Studio 14.04, Kxstudio 14.04 and my stock Ubuntu lappy so I'm wanting to move on.

I've taken a look at Rosegarden and Muse, but I can't find a way to load my VSTi's. I did some searching and that didn't turn up anything past 2009 and wasn't helpful.

So I guess my question is 3 pronged:

1. Can Rosegarden or Muse automate parameters in the synths to begin with?
2. if so, how do I get either of them to load them? They don't show up.
3. Am I overlooking any other programs that would work?

I'm on a pretty severe budget so Reaper and Bitwig are out of the question.
The VSTi's I'm using are necessary. The Linux native synths don't have the right sound.

TIA for any advice.

[sysrqer]

Reaper is effectively free, maybe you meant renoise?

Your problem is probably in wine though, have you tried using an up to date version, perhaps with a PPA? I use quite a few windows vsts now and then and mostly they are stable, I always use the most recent release of wine though. If wine causes crashes in LMMS then it probably won't be much different in any other program. However, you could try using carla or airwave and ardour or qtractor.

[spamatica]

I've taken a look at Rosegarden and Muse, but I can't find a way to load my VSTi's. I did some searching and that didn't turn up anything past 2009 and wasn't helpful.

1. Can Rosegarden or Muse automate parameters in the synths to begin with?
2. if so, how do I get either of them to load them? They don't show up.
3. Am I overlooking any other programs that would work?

MusE dev here. I assume you mean Windows VSTis, not linux native VSTis.
The default way of loading Win VSTis in MusE is installing the dssi-vst package. With kxstudio the available packages should be all you need.
You need to put the *.dlls in a location that MusE reads, alternatively edit the VST_PATH environment variable so it points to the current directory
HOWEVER, since a year or so it only works if the operating system is 32-bit.. which is quite a big drawback these days :/

If you are on 64-bit there are two alternative softwares to load VSTis, Carla and Airwave which solves it in their own way. I really like how airwave does it but for the moment I think Carla support more plugins.
And yes, MusE can automate the parameters of the VSTi, you can check the tutorials here: http://muse-sequencer.org/index.php/Tutorials
Seems tutorial 2 for MusE 2.2 introduces automation.

As for other softwares, QTractor should also solve this. Not sure but doesn't ardour load VSTs also?

Regards,
Robert

[bluebell]

1. Can Rosegarden or Muse automate parameters in the synths to begin with?
2. if so, how do I get either of them to load them? They don't show up.
3. Am I overlooking any other programs that would work?

Rosegarden can only load LADSPA and DSSI plugins and has no automation. But if you can control the plugins with MIDI CC messages you can of course use clips with those messages. I did that once for a volume ramp.

You could try Qtractor.

[briandc]

For VSTs I usually use FeSTige or VstHost.
If you flag your crash details to the guys at LMMS I think they would appreciate it (although, as mentioned earlier, the problem might be your version of Wine).
I use LMMS and some VSTs work fine. (There's also a list of working VSTs over at the LMMS website.)


brian

[hudkins]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll definitely be sending crash reports to the LMMS Dev. It's a great program when it does run.....

I'm going to try Muse with Carla but it's good to also know some other options.

Much appreciated, folks!

[nieve-casata]

It's sad, isn't it?:

https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues/1875

I've tried ardour4 recently, and the interface is kind of weird, but once you get it, it's amazing! It's as if audacity had a midi editor. I still have to learn how to work with plugins, though. And I still miss lmms!

[nieve-casata]

Oh! But I forgot to mention that I haven't tried how it works with win vst's, which probably makes my ardour mention pointless.

[rghvdberg]

Airwave is THE solution (for me).
https://www.linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?t=13686
https://github.com/phantom-code/airwave

It is a bridge between the windows vst and linux vst
It makes the windows vst show up as linux vst in any host that supports linux vst
I used with Ardour 4 and Qtractor.
All parameters from the windows vst are available in the host.

I do test the plugin with Carla before using it in airwave, if it shows up in Carla it will work with Airwave.

quicktip
use carla-single to quickly test a windows vst

Code: Select all

carla-single win32 vst "path/to/vst.dll"

[Luc]

I use Airwave almost exclusively and I agree that it is an excellent solution. However,

1) I test plugins with dssi-vst, I think it's easier.

2) I think I have acquired enough experience to say that dssi-vst, Carla and Airwave have enough differences that any plugin that runs on one will not necessarily work on another. I have seen that happen a few times.