Greetings - I'm re-learning the ropes

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8thman
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Greetings - I'm re-learning the ropes

Post by 8thman »

Hey there, Linux Musicologists!
Over the decades, I've worn many hats. Organist, physicist, IC designer, computer engineer, software & hardware QA. Now that I'm semi-retired, I'm catching up on all my creative outlets. Mostly, I've been delving into the written word (4 novels and 12 anthologies under my belt - visit www.christopherdochs.com to check it all out), but I also have several compositions that need to get written down and performed before I shuffle off this mortal coil.
I grew up on Unix in Bell Laboratories, and finally tossed Windoze out in favor of Linux (Ubuntu Studio). It's like coming home to a comfortable sofa.
The only problem - though an experienced user of Unix/Linux, I'm a noob when it comes to wearing an IT hat - I'd only been a plain-old user, and rarely had to delve into the dark mysteries of "sudo." I feel like I'm pulling the pin off a hand-grenade when I use commands like "dfconfig" and "make."
I'm sure in the near future, I'll have lots of DAW questions - especially why is so friggin' hard to get VSTs to work on Linux?!

Christopher D. Ochs - author at www.christopherdochs.com

asbak
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Re: Greetings - I'm re-learning the ropes

Post by asbak »

why is so friggin' hard to get VSTs to work on Linux?

It's relatively easy to get (Linux) VSTs working with great performance once a user knows how to set up their Linux OS.
With some luck and setup skill, some Windows VSTs may work with passable performance and reliability.

It's a very difficult job for a novice who doesn't have that experience to know how to set up their system (there are a number of design choices) and how to get good system performance.

Getting good performance partially depends on blind luck with components and partially depends on skill and applying knowledge and settings which are relevant.

Every man and his dog has a different idea about what settings and setups are relevant and have different ideas about how to apply them correctly. There is no one way and no one correct way to do it, much of it is poorly understood or documented, or not documented or described well. There is no authoritative literature on how to put the ultimate build together.

And that's why it can be so friggin' hard to get things right unless you've spent hard time figuring out how to do it.

--== The ULTIMATE Linux Audio Doze VST performance and success hack for lamers ==--
=== RUN UR DOZE VSTs ON DOZE ===

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bluebell
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Re: Greetings - I'm re-learning the ropes

Post by bluebell »

8thman wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:19 pm

why is so friggin' hard to get VSTs to work on Linux?!

It isn't. A novice Linux audio user can use an optimized distro for audio like avlinux.

It might get hard to get Windows VSTs work in Linux. But that's still much easier than to get Linux VSTs work in WIndows.

Linux – MOTU UltraLite AVB – Qtractor – http://suedwestlicht.saar.de/

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Re: Greetings - I'm re-learning the ropes

Post by glowrak guy »

8thman wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:19 pm

Hey there, Linux Musicologists!

Have a read in this topic for windows vst tips and successes:

viewforum.php?f=62

As mentioned, AVLinux is a great setup, and comes with wine-staging 9.21, and the yabridge plugin wrapper (with yadbridge, a custom gui for adding plugin paths)

Great cross-platform plugins exist with solid linux versions, Surge, the U-he collection, Vital, DecentSampler, and discoDSP collection cover many genres. Most small-shop windows plugins lacking special managers/authorization tools will work and authorize by serial numbers. KV331 (SynthMaster) and BlueCat (Axiom effects suite ) are great companies. Synth1 brings thousands of Nord Lead 2 sounds, and the commercial Thorn synth is one of the best. Most of the windows freebies from Computer Music and Beat magazine cd/dvds will work, as well as many pioneering Synthedit created plugins, like the HG Fortune collection.

Linux natives include Yoshimi (16 part multi-timbral with multi-effects using the zynaddsubfx engine) Odin 2, Phasex, Calf Monosynth,
Rakarrack multi-effects, and several effects collections, maybe LSP is one of the greats. We're all learning and re-learning at various paces with various needs, so dive in, and as Mr Marley advises, 'Be Happy!'

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