Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

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Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by sunrat »

This is a quick guide to install Debian Bullseye with KDE Plasma 5 desktop as an audio production rig. Working nicely for me so far. Note I started from the netinstall image to minimise extraneous packages. This will boot to command line from where the next step will install a minimal KDE Plasma 5.20 desktop.
Warning - If you multiboot, select manual partitioning and "Do not use" for the swap partition and add it later else it will be formatted and cause much pain for the other distros installed.

Get installer image from - https://www.debian.org/releases/bullsey ... installer/
Note - I installed using ethernet connection which is recommended. If you absolutely must install via wifi I suggest to use the non-free image with firmware - https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unof ... -firmware/
Note this is not guaranteed to work with all wifi devices.

Copy image to USB stick:
First check device name with lsblk - it will show as /dev/sdX where X is a letter. Then -

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cp <nameof.iso> /dev/sdX && sync

Reboot PC and select to boot USB stick with Boot Select menu (F12 on mine) and install base system. Deselect all options except for "Standard system utilities" (you need those).

Install:
Add contrib non-free to debian sources.list so it reads like -

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deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free

then:

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# apt install adwaita-qt alsa-utils apt-file apt-transport-https aptitude ark curl filelight firefox-esr firmware-misc-nonfree firmware-realtek gnome-themes-extra gwenview intel-microcode inxi kde-plasma-desktop linux-cpupower lm-sensors pavucontrol plasma-widgets-addons synaptic

Note - your hardware may require different firmware from mine. You can install the package firmware-linux which pulls in most of the available firmware (and a kitchen sink :D ) but it's better to work out which bits you need and install individually. The command above includes firmware for Intel, Nvidia and Realtek which you won't need if you don't have that hardware.

Additional general purpose packages I find useful:

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# apt install conky flameshot gimp gparted i7z imagemagick kcalc kcharselect ktorrent mlocate okular scrot thunderbird zim

Also purge a few automatically installed packages which could possibly cause xruns:

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apt purge plasma-discover*
apt purge unattended-upgrades modemmanager

Check what they do first in case you do want them.


Nvidia graphics cards:

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# apt install nvidia-driver nvidia-settings

(if you have recent Nvidia card, otherwise run nvidia-detect to find suitable driver for older cards. May be unnecessary if the default Nouveau driver works for you but I have 4K monitor and Nvidia one is definitely better. I recommend to use Liquorix kernel, as the default 5.10 Debian one used about 3 times as much DSP)
Nvidia setup:
Nvidia Settings (helps with GL plugins in Ardour or Mixbus) -
In OpenGL Settings - Uncheck Sync-To-VBlank, select High Performance in Image Settings

Warning - if you have a laptop with Optimus dual graphics, see the Debian wiki.


Plasma tweaks:
Global Theme - Plasma Dark
Display and Monitor > Display Configuration - Global scale - 150% (for 4K monitor)- try different settings to suit. It has fractional scaling with 6.25% steps.
Night Color - Activate Night Color !set location or manual
Startup & Shutdown:
Uncheck Confirm logout
Default Leave - Turn off computer
On Login - Start with an empty session

Dolphin -
Show Panels > Information
Configure Dolphin > Startup > Make location bar editable, Show full path in location bar
Details view mode
Show Additional Information > Size, Created(?)


/etc/fstab:

post install additions (my personal) You will need to add swap back if you omitted it during install. Find its UUID with [code]lsblk -f[/code]

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UUID=e740d3f4-6549-4d6b-ab0f-70fa1a682e22     none    swap    defaults  0   0

Now for the audio stuff:

Additional repo sources:
Stevo repo (for DeadBeef):
create /etc/apt/sourceslist.d/stevepassert.list with this content -

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deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevepassert/Debian_Testing/ /

Download http://download.opensuse.org/repositori ... elease.key then -

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# apt-key add Release.key

..........
Liquorix repo:
Set up the repo as per instruction at - https://liquorix.net/
Warning - do not install the kernel metapackages as advised there if you use nvidia-driver (it will break sometimes when kernel upgraded), but select an individual version. Check available versions with

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apt list *liquorix*

I did -

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apt install linux-image-5.13.0-19.1-liquorix-amd64 linux-headers-5.13.0-19.1-liquorix-amd64

..........
KXStudio repos:
Note: KX is not updating many 3rd party plugins and packages any more, only their own applications such as Carla and Cadence. I am slowly reviewing and replacing packages and plugins from here. So far I have replaced Dragonfly Reverb with upstream version from https://michaelwillis.github.io/dragonfly-reverb/ , Geonkick from https://github.com/free-sm/geonkick , and Ardour with v6.5 from Debian bullseye repo (6.9 is available from ardour.org for a tiny donation or subscription. I mainly use Harrison Mixbus instead). Plugin versions available from there still work fine in my experience. So far.
https://kx.studio/Repositories (check for latest version first):

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wget https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/+archive/kxstudio/+files/kxstudio-repos_10.0.3_all.deb

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# apt install ./kxstudio-repos_10.0.3_all.deb

..........
rncbc repo (latest Qtractor etc.):
create /etc/apt/sourceslist.d/rncbc.list with this content -

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deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/rncbc/apps-focal/ubuntu focal main 
# deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/rncbc/apps-focal/ubuntu focal main

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/rncbc/libs-focal/ubuntu focal main 
# deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/rncbc/libs-focal/ubuntu focal main

Run apt update to find ID no. of signing key, then -

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# gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 74407499CD30F338

gpg: /root/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key 74407499CD30F338: public key "Launchpad PPA for Rui Nuno Capela" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1

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# gpg -a --export 74407499CD30F338 | apt-key add -

Warning: apt-key is deprecated. Manage keyring files in trusted.gpg.d instead (see apt-key(8)).

OK

Audio packages:
Note: many of these are from KX Studio repo and may not be the latest version. They should work fine though.

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# apt install a2jmidid alsa-utils ardour audacity autotalent avldrums.lv2 calf-plugins carla  carla-bridge-linux64 carla-bridge-win64 carla-data carla-lv2 deadbeef distrho-plugin-ports dpf-plugins drmr drowaudio-plugins-lv2 drumgizmo easyssp-lv2 easytag fabla fluid-soundfont-gm fxload guitarix helm hydrogen infamous-plugins jackd2 juced-plugins-lv2 kxstudio-lv2-extensions lilv-utils linuxsampler lsp-plugins mda-lv2 mediainfo-gui mixxx mpv mudita24 obxd-lv2 pavucontrol pianobooster pulseaudio-module-jack qjackctl qmidiarp qsampler qsynth qtractor rtirq-init rubberband-cli simplescreenrecorder sndfile-tools sorcer sox tal-plugins-lv2 tap-lv2 vmpk x42-plugins yoshimi yoshimi-data zam-plugins zynaddsubfx

Audio module tweaks: (special config for my M2496 card to force it to be default. Yours may work OOTB or be different but technique is the same):
Create file /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf with this content -

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options snd_ice1712 index=0
options snd_hda_intel index=1

Onboard HDA card is disabled in UEFI setup


QJackCtl - for PulseAudio > JACK bridge setup:
Load sink only:
Uncheck Enable D_Bus in Misc tab or it will conflict with this.
Options > Execute script after startup -

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pactl load-module module-jack-sink channels=2 && a2jmidid -e &

This should be modified as required eg. you need PA source or load other modules.
I load a system room correction using LSP Parametric EQ additionally with -

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lsp-plugins-para-equalizer-x16-stereo -c </path/to/saved.cfg> & pactl load-module module-jack-sink channels=2 connect=no && a2jmidid -e &

(Replace </path/to/saved.cfg> with your actual path to saved settings file.)
and save the connections as a patch in QjackCtl Patchbay.


If you don't have audio when playing an audio file after setup, check levels in alsamixer and pavucontrol. Ensure the correct sink is showing for the application in pavucontrol; when JACK is running you may have to change it to "Jack sink"
Select Off for unused cards in pavucontrol Configuration tab.


Run RealtimeConfigQuickScan - fairly self-explanatary

Special kernel parameters:
On my Intel i5-6500 processor I found disabling C-States to reduce xruns noticeably, and threadirqs kernel parameter made a significant improvement as well (threadirqs is not required for RT kernel but is with Liquorix). In /etc/default/grub edit the kernel boot parameters:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_idle.max_cstate=0 processor.max_cstate=1 threadirqs"

Tested with xruncounter from https://github.com/Gimmeapill/xruncounter


LinuxSampler setup with QSampler:
Best guide I found is on Arch wiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LinuxSampler


WINE

WINE is a compatibility layer which enables Windows programs to run under Linux. It can be installed using instructions at https://wiki.winehq.org/Debian .
Note that normally it is recommended to install the latest wine-staging but there have been issues with some versions recently. I settled on installing the older winehq-stable which seems to run most plugins under LinVST. YMMV.
Run winecfg to set up its environment after install.


LinVST:
Note: It is probably preferable to use Yabridge rather than LinVST now as it supports Windows VST3 plugins and is more actively developed. Good guides can be found on LM forums and https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge ). Yabridge needs a supported version of wine-staging rather than the wine-stable I use with LinVST though.
Enables loading many (not all) Windows VST plugins in Linux. Download and install the .deb package from https://github.com/osxmidi/LinVst/releases/ , currently LinVst-64bit-32bit_4.2.0.deb
It uses WINE so install that first.
The guide at Github is a bit confusing but the essentials are:
Make a folder and place the Windows VST .dll files in it. *I use ~/.vst *.
For plugins which are installed with an .exe file, they will usually be in something like ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VSTPlugins (which is similar to where they are installed on Windows). You can convert them in there but I usually copy the *.dll files to ~/.vst .

Start linvstconvert and then select the linvst.so from the chosen embedded or standalone version folder. *Probably /usr/share/LinVst/64bit-32bit/linvst.so *

Point linvstconvert to the folder containing the windows vst's and hit the Start (Convert) button.

Start up the linux DAW and make sure the folder containing the windows VST .dll files is included in its VST plugins PATH, then run plugin scan.


Multiarch:
Enables running 32-bit programs or plugins, maybe. :)
https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/HOWTO


Special config for KDE Plasma 5 to make plugins and dialogs stay on top in Ardour or Mixbus:
https://manual.ardour.org/ardour-config ... -plasma-5/
Workaround for ancillary windows not staying on top in KDE Plasma 5

In order to force ancillary windows in Ardour to stay on top, the following steps are necessary:

  1. Launch the System Settings application.
  2. Open Workspace > Window Management.
  3. Select Window Rules in the left-hand sidebar.
  4. Click on the New… button. It should default to the Window matching tab.
  5. On the line that says Window class (application), set the combo box to Substring Match and type ardour (or mixbus) in the text entry field.
  6. In the list box that is labeled Window types:, click on the option Dialog Window, then press and hold Ctrl while clicking on the second option Utility Window.
  7. Select the Arrangement & Access tab.
  8. Check the box next to the Keep above option. On the same line, select Force from the combo box, then click on the Yes radio button for that line.
  9. Click on the OK button to dismiss the dialog.

At this point the System Settings application can be closed.


Additional Plugins compiled and/or from upstream:
Windows plugins:


Dead Duck Free Effects Bundle
DSK AsianDreamZ (32 bit only)
FETISH_5.0
Ignite_amps_pteq-x_1_1_1_win
Mini_DiZi (32 bit only)
TDRNova
u-he
Podolski
Zebra2
Valhalla
ValhallaSupermassive
Valhalla FreqEcho

Linux applications and plugins:

ABTester_Linux
Bertom_EQCurveAnalyzer
CollaB3
Dragonfly Reverb
FirComp
Geonkick
jalv, jalv+pulsebridge
LibreArp
Mamba
REW
SampleHive
sfizz
spectacle
TAL-Reverb-4_64_linux
ToneGenerator_Linux
xruncounter


Not such a quick guide after all by the time I added notes and warnings. Been intending to document it since I set up my similar Buster system. There are a few things I didn't include but had to stop somewhere. Hope it helps someone!
See also excellent guide by khz pinned in this subforum for other info - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=18436

Last edited by sunrat on Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:05 pm, edited 17 times in total.
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by khz »

Great, thank you.
# Just edit your post from time to time to expand/../add/... it.
That's how I do it ;-)
. . . FZ - Does humor belongs in Music?
. . GNU/LINUX@AUDIO ~ /Wiki $ Howto.Info && GNU/Linux Debian installing >> Linux Audio Workstation LAW
  • I don't care about the freedom of speech because I have nothing to say.
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by sunrat »

khz wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:34 pm Great, thank you.
# Just edit your post from time to time to expand/../add/... it.
That's how I do it ;-)
Cheers! KDE has long been my favourite DE and it has sadly been ignored by media distro makers for years. KXStudio 14.04 and Musix used older KDE but both are dead now. Took me a couple of years before I gathered enough tweaks to make it work properly. Plasma 5 now uses about the same resources as Xfce so it's reputation as a heavyweight is no longer accurate.
(I just came back now to edit after finding a glitch in the Liquorix repo setup script. If you set up KX or rncbc
repos before Liquorix it will put "bionic" in the sources where it should be "bullseye". Will post on their forum about it, seems to have hit other people there too.)
Liquorix developer damentz has fixed this; the install script now should properly detect your OS version.
Liquorix kernel uses about a third of the DSP the default kernel used although I hadn't set governor for that when I tried it.
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by digitsun »

sunrat wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:40 am ....

Copy image to USB stick:
First check device name with lsblk - it will show as /dev/sdX where X is a number. Then -

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cp <nameof.iso> /dev/sdX && sync
....
@sunrat congratulations for your work but...

There is a mistake. The X of dev/sdX is a letter not a number. More info in debian installation guide: https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ ... -copy-easy

Peace
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by sunrat »

digitsun wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 4:43 am
sunrat wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:40 am ....

Copy image to USB stick:
First check device name with lsblk - it will show as /dev/sdX where X is a number. Then -

Code: Select all

cp <nameof.iso> /dev/sdX && sync
....
@sunrat congratulations for your work but...

There is a mistake. The X of dev/sdX is a letter not a number. More info in debian installation guide: https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ ... -copy-easy

Peace
Thanks! I'll fix it. The guide needs an overhaul as I haven't updated it since Bullseye became stable. There are probably several things I would do differently now.
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

I think the multiarch stuff is for developers. In order to create 32-bit executables on a 64-bit operating system (or vice versa), you need all the 32-bit versions of shared libs. But of course, you don't want that to conflict with your 64-bit versions. So debian came up with a way to package all that stuff so that it can safely reside on your 64-bit system, and the compiler/linker can access it when you want to compile 32-bit software.

IIt's just a convenience for devs who still make both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of software.

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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by sunrat »

j_e_f_f_g wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 7:26 am I think the multiarch stuff is for developers. In order to create 32-bit executables on a 64-bit operating system (or vice versa), you need all the 32-bit versions of shared libs. But of course, you don't want that to conflict with your 64-bit versions. So debian came up with a way to package all that stuff so that it can safely reside on your 64-bit system, and the compiler/linker can access it when you want to compile 32-bit software.

IIt's just a convenience for devs who still make both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of software.
It's needed to run 32 bit applications on a 64 bit system. In my case it is to run a whole 2 plugins - DSK AsianDreamZ and Mini_DiZi which are 32 bit Windows plugins needing 32 bit WINE. Otherwise I wouldn't bother setting it up at all.
The guide assumes some familiarity and competence in running Debian so some things are not described in full detail and some choices are left to the user.

I just did a major update to the guide. Amazing how much has changed in 9 months. Most important are the rise of Yabridge with its rapid development and VST3 support. There is plenty of info available for using Yabridge instead of LinVST elsewhere so the LinVST section stays for now. And the sad situation that KX Studio repos are no longer being updated for much except falkTX own projects and a select few others. I just did a version comparison of everything listed from KX and quite a few are available in similar or newer versions from Bullseye default repo or rncbc repo. That's a project for another day - to do some apt pinning and replace some of the older KX packages where possible.
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by novalix »

Hi,

I 've tried to pin the KX repos down and could not figure it out. Those repos are willfully constructed to stay on top of the list. The reasoning behind that has been to cater the more or less informed user in her/his requirements for stability. That was - if at all - viable for KXStudio being actively maintained and updated, which is obviously not the case anymore.
That said, there is quite a number of software packages (especially plugins) which themselves are not going to be updated anyway. For those packages which are available in the debian repos one can install the debian version and put it on hold as a workaround. That is what i did.

Groetjes, niels
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by sunrat »

@novalix I just did some tests with pinning. With KX it was tricky as the default repos have 2 separate origins so needed 2 separate rules. This works to pin all KX to priority 1 which is to never prefer packages when available from elsewhere:
Create a file /etc/apt/preferences.d/99kxstudio with this content:

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# Never prefer packages from KX repo
Package: *
Pin: origin kx.studio
Pin-Priority: 1

Package: *
Pin: release a=bionic
Pin-Priority: 1
#Note - that will pin any other bionic repos as well.
then do apt update and check policy with apt policy, all KX repos should show priority 1.
This won't replace current KX versions with other repo versions though, but some packages in KX are still higher actual versions. KX has the annoying habit of prefixing package versions higher even though other repos may have higher actual version eg. ardour:

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apt policy ardour
ardour:
  Installed: 1:6.5.0+ds0-1
  Candidate: 1:6.5.0+ds0-1
  Version table:
     2:5.12.0-1kxstudio2v5 1
          1 https://kx.studio/repo gcc5/free amd64 Packages
 *** 1:6.5.0+ds0-1 500
        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:5.12.0-1kxstudio2 1
          1 https://kx.studio/repo stable/free amd64 Packages
Without pinning apt would install the KX version 5.12 over the Debian version 6.5 because of its higher prefix!

Synaptic will show all KX packages in the "Origin" tab. Or show installed KX packages with aptitude:

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aptitude search '?narrow(?installed, ?archive(bionic))'
You can even generate a list to copy/paste into apt policy if you have apt-show-versions installed. This enables you to compare versions of currently installed packages with any available from other repos:

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apt-show-versions |grep bionic | cut -d'/' -f1 |awk 1 ORS=' '
Isn't apt pinning and package management exciting?! :roll: :mrgreen:
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

sunrat wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:04 am [...]
I just did a major update to the guide. Amazing how much has changed in 9 months. Most important are the rise of Yabridge with its rapid development and VST3 support. There is plenty of info available for using Yabridge instead of LinVST elsewhere so the LinVST section stays for now.
How is support for VST3 in the DAW's and Carla versions in the repositories from your guide? A little while ago I tried to make my install of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to support VST3. After tips and info from YABride's developer (Robbert van der Helm, he was very patient with me) here on the Linuxmusicians forums I learned that not only your bridging software (read: YABridge) must support VST3 but also the versions of your DAW etc. Otherwise they won't "see" the bridged VST3's.

Certain bridging softwares bridge Windows VST3's to Linux VST2's which was very confusing to me. As of today that'll make sure that almost any Linux DAW "sees" those VST's (as a VST2), but it's not "really" VST3 of course.

To make a long story short: maybe you have to rewrite your excellent guide to include some info and/or how-to's about the whole VST3 thing. LinVST will do the trick but you'll need two versions of 'm: LinVST and LinVST3.

Good luck maintaining your guide! :)
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by sunrat »

@Linuxmusician01 sorry I have never used any Windows VST3 plugins. I have a few Linux VST3 plugins working nicely (highly recommend FirComp).
I'm sure @robbert-vdh is the most knowledgeable person for Win VST3s on the forum.
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

sunrat wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:05 am @Linuxmusician01 sorry I have never used any Windows VST3 plugins. I have a few Linux VST3 plugins working nicely (highly recommend FirComp).
[...]
Then your DAW, Carla version etc. are correctly set up for VST3 Linux wise. :)

P.S. I can recommend the VST(3) version of one of the most famous/notorious synths in history: Arturia's VST of the EMS VCS3, aka "The Putney" aka "The Synthi". Used on Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'. :wink:
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by novalix »

sunrat wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 10:20 pm Isn't apt pinning and package management exciting?! :roll: :mrgreen:
It is, indeed. I gave it another shot. My configuration was still there. I had also a combination of rules configured almost exactly as yours. What i did wrong was to indent the "Pin" and "Pin-Priority" for better readability. Obviously apt just ignores lines starting with a whitespace. Having dealt with pinning quite a bit over the years, this weird little detail has somehow slipped out off my mind. I am getting old, i guess.

Thanks for the help and for the fine tutorial, of course.

For completeness:

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Package: *
Pin: origin kx.studio
Pin-Priority: 1

Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-kxstudio-debian-apps
Pin-Priority: 1

Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-kxstudio-debian-plugins
Pin-Priority: 1

Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-kxstudio-debian-music
Pin-Priority: 1

Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-kxstudio-debian-libs
Pin-Priority: 1
Much more lines doing effectively the same with this priority. The only valid reason to prefer this solution would be, if one wanted to assign different priorities to some parts of the repo.
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Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by sunrat »

A couple of adjustments to the preferences pursuant to ongoing de-KXing. I removed the kxstudio-external.list , and commented out the LP-PPA-kxstudio-debian-music as it is deprecated. Current preferences file now is very simple:

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# Never prefer packages from KX repo
Package: *
Pin: release v=18.04
Pin-Priority: 1
I used "v=18.04" as it's common for all KX repos but also unique to them. "origin kx.studio" doesn't exist after removing the KX external list and I couldn't use "ppa.launchpad.net" as I also use the rncbc PPA repo.

It is still possible to assign higher priority if you want to prefer any KX packages like:

Code: Select all

#Prefer Carla only from KX repo
Package: carla*
Pin: origin ppa.launchpad.net
Pin-Priority: 900
Actually pointless to pin Carla as it is not available anywhere else, but you get the idea.
tiredsince1985
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun May 01, 2022 8:46 am

Re: Debian Bullseye with KDE Audio Workstation install guide

Post by tiredsince1985 »

This is awesome! I'm in the process of moving off of macOS/Logic Pro to Reaper, I'm tired of the constant shift with macOS and want to change it up to a more lean DAW and an OS that stays out of my way.

I liked AVLinux but the UI is very opinionated and more work to undo than to just start from scratch :) Ubuntu Studio is nice but Ubuntu always feels a bit sluggish for whatever reason on my hardware vs other distros.

Currently I'm testing Fedora "Jam" and Debian with backports/flatpak/liquorix and came across your setup. I see such differing opinions on low-latency kernels as "Jam" doesn't ship with anything special aside from some added audio applications. I basically solo record and use guitar/bass with external modular synth and some plug-ins. So perhaps a low-latency isn't needed in my case as I'm not recording a live band or kit. It's fun to test regardless.

I did manage to install some ValhallaDSP reverb/delays via their legacy installer using Wine and then running Carla with the Wine bridge loaded into Ardour/Reaper. "Bottles" is another interesting Wine project at the moment.

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