LinuxMusicians' libre plugin picks, 2020 edition

[Basslint]

Hello and Merry Christmas to everybody!

2021 is right behind the corner and I thought it'd be nice to wrap up 2020 by sharing our favorite libre plugins so far. Our poll systems allows only up to 10 options, so we can't use it to create a mega-poll, but we can express our opinions.

I would be curious to hear what do you think is the state of the art FOSS plugin in each category. They don't have to be released in 2020, something older is fine. Here are my picks:

Equalizer: x42-eq (thanks @x42)
Reverb: Dragonfly Reverb (thanks @Michael Willis)
Synth: Yoshimi (thanks @folderol)
Compressor: LSP Compressor (thanks @sadko4u)
Pitch shifter: The infamous ewham

Have fun

[WforWoollyMammoth]

Ok, I'll play. People have been shy so far. My own problem is that I haven't thoroughly tested many of the new ones, as I've been mostly using the old favourites, some freeware and paid stuff.

I included three freeware plugins in parentheses, as the best FOSS alternatives have been so buggy. Guitarix stuff should be there instead of the Audio Assault one, of course, but I've just not used the Guitarix amp plugins for recording myself. I've also not tested the LSP stuff thoroughly, which I assume could offer better alternatives in some cases.

(Autotune - GVST GSnap)
Analog emulation - Airwindows Interstage
(Amp emulation - Audio Assault Sigma)
Bit reduction - mda Degrade
(Chorus - TAL-Chorus)
Distortion - Airwindows Slew2
De-esser - Calf Deesser
Delay - Airwindows TapeDelay
EQ - FIL4
Compressor - SC4
Limiter - Fast Lookahead Limiter
IR loader - HiFi-Lofi Klangfalter
Reverb - Dragonfly Hall Reverb (or GxZitaRev1)
Stereo tool - Invada Input Module
Tape emuliation - Airwindows ToTape5
Virtual instrument (sampler / soundfont player) - Carla
Virtual instrument (synth, VA / FM)- Dexed
Virtual instrument (traditional) - SetBFree
Vocoder - TAL Vocoder

Airwindows has a lot of great stuff, but it's hard to come up with categories for stuff like Surge and Distance2.

[milo]

I just have one submission for the year: FatFrog virtual high gain amplifier. I just love the sound out of that thing!

Okay, two: Xmonk is super fun to play with.

Thanks @tramp!

I also second @Basslint's picks, except that I haven't used that pitch shifter.

[glowrak guy]

I use rakarrack the most from the many linux plugins. Technically, it's a collection of plugins,
and the variety, quality, and versatility are great for my needs.
Cheers

[WforWoollyMammoth]

C'mon. More people should post their picks. The picks aren't limited to just 2020! KVR-style, anything that you think is "still the best" goes!

[folderol]

Sequencer -> Rosegarden

[glowrak guy]

If Yoshimi had a sequencer and/or arp with midi-out attached, it would be
my choice for best synth, and it is my favorite libre synth based on
16 layers, great sound selection, and some built-in effects.
With the best yet to come, no doubt...

[sysrqer]

I've been trying to think about what I have been using but I normally work in a way where I just use whatever gets the result I want so I would have to look back through my projects.

Recently I've been enjoying using VeeSeeVST, at least until VCV for DAWs is released.

Dragonfly Reverbs have definitely been used a lot, as well as Helm, Odin 2, Surge, Tal Dub, LUFSMeter, luftikus, Refine.

[merlyn]

I'd like to add my thanks to all the developers who have made Linux audio what it is today.

To add to the list of plugins above a relatively new plugin is CHOW tape model. I've only tried it briefly but it does seem good, subtly adding something that I liked.

Apparently this came out of a research project and the author's focus is digital models of non-linearities.

He's also written a model of a Klon Centaur which I find rather amusing since original examples of the hardware pedal now cost thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars for some resistors, capacitors and transistors in a box? The concept of 'proprietary' isn't limited to software. Original Klon Centaurs had the components potted in resin so no-one could work out the circuit. Oh well, they weren't counting on software models.

And for VCVrack users there are some ChowDSP-VCV modules.