LinuxMusicians

I'm trying to switch to Linux. I'm still researching and today I was checking the VSTs that I use. Unfortunately none of them support Linux officially.
I'm using Reaper and I actually do use the stock plugins most of the time. Except for virtual instruments and amps.

Do you have any recommendations for the following four types of plugins? What should I pay attention to when planning the switch?

Drums now: Addictive Drums 1.5.something
I've been using addictive drums for years now and I am really really happy with it. The sounds, the interface and the MIDI drum tracks that come with it. This definitely the most important plugin for me. There is no Linux version, but I have some hope that it might run on wine. At least there are some ratings that imply this.

Guitar now: Ample Guitar F II
I like the sound. Programming palm mute and stuff like this can be a bit of a pain, but I guess that's the nature of these MIDI guitar plugins. I can imagine switching to something else here. I almost always end up recording guitar tracks myself and mostly use the plugin for writing and arranging.

Bass now: Ample Bass P II
I really dig the sound of this one and this VST does end up in finished pieces occasionally. I would definitely love to stick with a P-Bass sound here.

Amps/FX now: AmpliTube or Helix Native
I was using AmpliTube and Helix Native for amps and guitar fx. I liked both. Most important to me would be a good bass amp (preferably Ampeg SVT-ish). FX are cool, but I can get around without em.

Please let me know when you have a tip for me here.

Also, how well does wine work for win-VSTs in general? I mean are there basic problems regardless of the wine rating? Right now I'm not so sure what to make of the wine ratings for Addictive Drums. For example there is a "garbage" and a "gold" rating for AD2 on wine 4.0 and wine 4.18. But I have no idea when those wine version were released. I can't find a wine version/release history in the wiki and I also fail to see a date on the ratings or a history view for the ratings that might include a posting date. Any idea where I could find this context?
Or can I only use wine for stand-alone VSTis and not for DAW plugins?

First of all, get your wine from winehq, distribution wine packages are much older, and there has been huge progress there.

Pretty many windows plugins and programs work these days, but sure there is exceptions. Hardest are copyright protections and some which require online registration, there you may run into trouble. Specially, if you plugins use iLok, you are most likely out of luck. And more complex software it is, more likely it is to break.

In long term, I prefer to use native linux plugins if it is possible. I means sometimes loosing some features, and in your case, learning new tools. However, there is users like jonetsu who use lots of windows plugins all the time.

Some quick suggestions:

Drums: Drumgizmo

Bass/Guitar: no idea, sorry...

AmpFX: it's hard to compete with Helix, I think, but Guitarix, ToneLibGFX (paid) are the best options I know for guitar. For bass, and SVT, there is a gxSVT (by Guitarix) and Audio Assault's Duality Bass (paid).

I hope this helps some.

I just shared a DrumGizmo kit here.

DrumGizmo doesn't have the interface of AD, EZdrummer etc. but it's possible to get sounds that are as good. If you like working with pre-processed presets in AD, this is going to require more work since it's "raw" and you'll need to work the mix yourself. And it doesn't come with MIDI files either. (I might share track templates with my own mix and effect settings after I've worked with it a bit, and I'd try to stick to stock Reaper plugins and JS plugins so it would work on any OS.)

For guitar and amp sims: don't forget that JS plugins are cross-platform compatible, so they'll work in Linux. Here are a couple that sound really good to me:

BAMP (bass amp)

AmpEra (guitar amp)

JamesPeters wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:47 pm
For guitar and amp sims: don't forget that JS plugins are cross-platform compatible, so they'll work in Linux. Here are a couple that sound really good to me:

BAMP (bass amp)

AmpEra (guitar amp)

How do you load them in Ardour or Carla?

(Off topic: James Peters, I've just seen your web page. Those amps look really interesting!)

Thanks!

Those are Js plugins which are unique to Reaper. It's a kind of code that is not compiled. When Reaper loads the so-called plugin, it compiles it at that time to whatever operating system. So they are cross-platform compatible in that regard. They are not cross-platform compatible in that they will work with other DAWs.