How do I run a plugin as standalone?

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Luc
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How do I run a plugin as standalone?

Post by Luc »

I believe I have asked this before, but I swear I spent some 10 to 15 minutes searching the forum and couldn't find it. Anyway...

What is the best way I could run a plugin as standalone? I want to run this plugin all the time, and it must be hidden/in background, but I also must be able to access its GUI or controls somehow.

Carla doesn't sound like a good option, because it won't be hidden and it doesn't connect inputs and outputs automatically. I intend to have aj-snapshot make the connections automatically, but I don't believe it would work because it will see Carla, not its internal patchbay. Unless I am mistaken.

I still haven't decided what plugin to use, so I don't know if it's going to be VST, LV2 or LADSPA, but I might want to add more plugins to the chain in the future.

Any ideas?
Luc
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Re: How do I run a plugin as standalone?

Post by Luc »

I don't remember Carla single ever working for me. For example:

Code: Select all

luc[16548-0]> carla-single /usr/lib/lv2/TAL-Reverb-3.lv2/TAL-Reverb-3.so 
['/usr/lib/carla/carla-bridge-native', 'internal', '(none)', '/usr/lib/lv2/TAL-Reverb-3.lv2/TAL-Reverb-3.so', '0']
libjack.so.0 loaded sucessfully!
Plugin failed to load, error was:
Invalid internal plugin
Luc
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Re: How do I run a plugin as standalone?

Post by Luc »

I've tried at least 30 plugins in all three formats, and still haven't found one that works. All of them output that same error. Maybe there is something wrong with my system.
Luc
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Re: How do I run a plugin as standalone?

Post by Luc »

Thanks. It kind of works now.

Running vst plugins that way is a breeze. I just have to point to the plugin itself, and leverage the shell's {tab}{tab} feature to find what I want. Purrrfect.

But running lv2 plugins is quite a pain in the posterior, isn't it? Why do we ever have to invoke a URL to run a plugin? How the heck are we supposed to know that? I vaguely remember there is a command that will return a catalogue, but it is an incredibly inconvenient arrangement. It even seems like someone wanted to discourage us from using it.

And what is the secret formula to run LADSPA plugins? Carla doesn't have a manual.

Code: Select all

luc[16569-16]> carla-single ladspa /usr/lib/ladspa/vocoder.so 
['/usr/lib/carla/carla-bridge-native', 'ladspa', '/usr/lib/ladspa/vocoder.so', '(none)', '0']
libjack.so.0 loaded sucessfully!
Plugin failed to load, error was:
null label
Also, these two examples you provide don't work for me:

Code: Select all

luc[16581-127]> /usr/bin/carla-single dssi /usr/lib/dssi/hexter.so hexter
['/usr/lib/carla/carla-bridge-native', 'dssi', '/usr/lib/dssi/hexter.so', 'hexter', '0']
libjack.so.0 loaded sucessfully!
Plugin failed to load, error was:
This plugin requires run_multiple_synths which is not supported

luc[16581-1]> /usr/bin/carla-single nekofilter
['/usr/lib/carla/carla-bridge-native', 'internal', '(none)', 'nekofilter', '0']
libjack.so.0 loaded sucessfully!
Plugin failed to load, error was:
Invalid internal plugin
And since you added it in your examples, can you actually run Kontakt 5? I tried once and it didn't work.

Sorry. This whole procedure is quite confusing.
Luc
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Re: How do I run a plugin as standalone?

Post by Luc »

OK. I'm saving your reply and keeping it as a cheat sheet. That will tide me over. Thank you again.
tramp
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Re: How do I run a plugin as standalone?

Post by tramp »

Luc wrote:But running lv2 plugins is quite a pain in the posterior, isn't it? Why do we ever have to invoke a URL to run a plugin? How the heck are we supposed to know that? I vaguely remember there is a command that will return a catalogue, but it is an incredibly inconvenient arrangement. It even seems like someone wanted to discourage us from using it.
Funny, I've just added the feature to copy the URI of the selected plug to the clipboard, to jalv.select.
So you could check out the plugs, and, if you would use them in a script direct with jalv, or with other apps like carla-single, you could just copy the URI with a right click, or, with ctrl+c to the clipboard and insert it with ctrl+v (in terminal you need to use the right click menu -> insert) were you need it.
https://github.com/brummer10/jalv_select
On the road again.
Luc
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Re: How do I run a plugin as standalone?

Post by Luc »

Sounds like a good idea, tramp.
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