Commercial Quality* Linux VSTs For REAPER Overview

[shosty]

Originally Posted by jjcale_guitar

But that's for OSX, isn't it?

Hmm actually the one I thought was for linux is actually a windows dll. The version I have is from kxstudio but it's probably possible to compile it as a vst. You could download the kxstudio package if you're not confident with building from source - https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debi...gins/+packages

It is a deb file but this can be extracted or installed with Alien.

[Held]

I've added the link for the kxstudio package of DrumGizmo. I hope that makes it easier to install for people. (I'm not using it myself)

@elcalen thanks for the hint. I updated the link for the free U-He synths.

[shosty]

I came across this recently, it's a very interesting filter plugin - https://mok.com/filtryg.php

Also, only just found out that TAL now have linux builds which is exciting - https://tal-software.com/

[jjcale_guitar]

Just compiled Drumgizmo as vst for Linux. And it seems to be working OK! The trick is to find the VST_SDK_2.4 source.

I'm testing it now and trying to get each piece of kit on its own midi channel. AVL Drumkit does this easily in Reaper.

[Held]

I've restructured the first post since the separation between instruments and fx became difficult to maintain. Instead, I'm now linking only to the websites of companies who offer Linux version.

I've kept the free section as it is now, but if someone has ideas on a better structure, I'm open to suggestions.

@Shosty I've added mok.com. I had already listed TAL Noisemaker, but I had not listed them in the general section. Thanks for the suggestion

[jjcale_guitar]

You might want to add DrowAudio, although it seems poorly maintained. And for Linux you have to compile it yourself. Link to Git repo: https://github.com/drowaudio/drowaudio

The reverb is really really nice for guitar!

[shosty]

Originally Posted by jjcale_guitar

You might want to add DrowAudio, although it seems poorly maintained. And for Linux you have to compile it yourself. Link to Git repo: https://github.com/drowaudio/drowaudio

The reverb is really really nice for guitar!

They are being maintained by kxstudio and have been ported as part of the distrho-ports package.

https://github.com/DISTRHO/DISTRHO-Ports
https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debi...-archive-extra

[Held]

Oh my god this is such a mess.

I've already linked to https://kx.studio/Repositories:Plugins which provides .deb for the DrowAudio plugins and DrumGizmo. Then there's also a link to the ppa somewhere.

Then there's https://distrho.sourceforge.io/ports.php which provides .so vst for some of the plugins.

And then there's issues with incompatible library versions, and the latest update of Vital doesn't work on Linux with NVidia drivers.

I'm starting to understand why so many people hate Linux. I'm having a better experience using wine than with native plugins.

[elcalen]

All operating systems suck. They just suck in different ways.

[Held]

I know. I love Linux for software development and it's much better than Windows in that regard. But for music production, Windows is the better choice.

If I ever build a computer dedicated to music production, I'll probably install Windows unless Linux support gets much better until then.

[Glennbo]

I'm doing the exact same music production in Linux as I did in Windows, and I'm using all the same Windows VSTi instrument plugins as I used in Windows.

All of my audio plugins OTOH are 100% Linux, and several hundred dollars worth of them are non-free commercial plugins available for Linux that I bought with my hard earned money.

Where you run into problems with native Linux plugins are some of the freebees that you either have to compile yourself, or are dependent on a bunch of libraries that might not be present on your machine or are the wrong versions. I don't see issues like that with any of the native Linux plugins that I've purchased.

Only two or three of the 36 songs on my music page were done in Windows from back two or more years ago before I fully switched to Linux.

[Held]

I'm happy it works well for you, but that doesn't change the fact that most of the plugins I like aren't available for Linux (yet) except for Vital, and that crashes after the latest update and it refuses to remember my login data under KDE since it uses a gnome specific library that I wasn't able to configure to unlock when I log-in.

I never said it can't be done, but there's a lot of friction for me that isn't there under Windows.

I love Linux so much that I keep using it anyway, but I don't want to pretend that everything is perfect like most Linux users do.

Edit: I guess a lot of the problems come from using Manjaro Linux while most companies only support Ubuntu 18.04, but if I can't use my preferred distribution, I might as well go back to Windows.

[shosty]

Originally Posted by Held

Oh my god this is such a mess.

I've already linked to https://kx.studio/Repositories:Plugins which provides .deb for the DrowAudio plugins and DrumGizmo. Then there's also a link to the ppa somewhere.

Then there's https://distrho.sourceforge.io/ports.php which provides .so vst for some of the plugins.

And then there's issues with incompatible library versions, and the latest update of Vital doesn't work on Linux with NVidia drivers.

I'm starting to understand why so many people hate Linux. I'm having a better experience using wine than with native plugins.

It's not really a mess at all. Generally, especially for open source plugins it is best to use your package manager or to add a ppa/addon to provide updated versions as is the case with Drow. Kxstudio provides binaries for all the distrho stuff and is being more regularly maintained than another other link so it makes sense to use that ppa or to use the binaries if you're on apt (or build with AUR if that's your way).

Not sure what you mean about imcompatible libraries. Vital has some bugs at the moment, regardless of which OS or GPU you are using. The latest update has flickering when I change/modulate cutoff (using AMD) but if you look at the forum there are users from many different distros and OSs experiencing some kind of problem.

Seems odd to make a thread like this if you are going to come to the conclusion that it's all crap and you'd rather use windows or an emulation layer for windows.

I've used ubuntu, manjaro, arch, gentoo, funtoo and they all have their issues like any OS does. I'm curious about what's so important about manjaro that means you would rather deal with issues which you admit most likely come from that particular distro.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by Held

I love Linux so much that I keep using it anyway, but I don't want to pretend that everything is perfect like most Linux users do.

I have zero issues using Xubuntu Linux as a 100% replacement for Win7, which was the last version of Windows I had any trust in.

All the software I was using in Windows is either available native Linux or can run in WINE, so I'm able to do 100% of what I was doing in Windows, and I'm not pretending.

[Held]

Originally Posted by shosty

Seems odd to make a thread like this if you are going to come to the conclusion that it's all crap and you'd rather use windows or an emulation layer for windows.

If I had already known it at that point, I wouldn't have made the thread, obviously. There are some nice Linux plugins, and I wanted to put them in one place. I didn't foresee all the obscure stuff that would come up here and all the developers that don't provide binaries for their plugins.

And I started this thread with, "While I'm pretty happy with the way windows plugins are working with LinVST, I'm always on the lookout for great native plugins, and I thought it might be helpful for others to document my findings here." So I never claimed to use Linux plugins only.

I made the mistake of thinking that Linux users wanted things to be easy, so I made this thread and realized that it's much more messy than I expected and shared my frustrations. But I guess that's illegal and "it works on my machine" is a good enough excuse to dismiss all criticism.

My main sources for Plugins are MeldaProduction and W. A. Production and neither offer Linux versions, but all the Linux plugins I use are also available for Windows, so it makes sense for me to use Windows for music production.

Like I said, I like Linux and want to keep using it, but I don't need the attitude here. I got frustrated trying to bring order into the mess of Linux plugins, and then people get pissed because I dare to question the sanctity of Linux, instead of helping. I don't need that.

Originally Posted by shosty

I've used ubuntu, manjaro, arch, gentoo, funtoo and they all have their issues like any OS does. I'm curious about what's so important about manjaro that means you would rather deal with issues which you admit most likely come from that particular distro.

I really don't need to justify my choice of distribution, and I've used all of those (except for funtoo) at some point. I like Manjaro because it is a good compromise between up to date and stable. And I like KDE, so gnome-keyring will be problematic regardless of the distro.

Originally Posted by Glennbo

I have zero issues using Xubuntu Linux as a 100% replacement for Win7, which was the last version of Windows I had any trust in.

All the software I was using in Windows is either available native Linux or can run in WINE, so I'm able to do 100% of what I was doing in Windows, and I'm not pretending.

So it works for YOU. Great. Congratulations for being the exception. But saying it has to be flawless for everyone because it works for you is pretty delusional.


@All If you want to add your favorite plugins, please copy the first post and start your own thread. I won't update this one anymore. But I guess it's pretty complete anyway

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by Held

So it works for YOU. Great. Congratulations for being the exception. But saying it has to be flawless for everyone because it works for you is pretty delusional.

You were in fact saying that because it doesn't work well for you, that it can't work well for others and that they have to pretend that it is working well.

I don't want to pretend that everything is perfect like most Linux users do

I was disputing your premise that most Linux users have to pretend that everything is perfect. Some like you, evidently do, while others like me, don't.

[Held]

Originally Posted by Glennbo

You were in fact saying that because it doesn't work well for you, that it can't work well for others and that they have to pretend that it is working well.

Where did I say that? I said

I'm happy it works well for you, but that doesn't change the fact that most of the plugins I like aren't available for Linux (yet) except for Vital, and that crashes after the latest update and it refuses to remember my login data under KDE since it uses a gnome specific library that I wasn't able to configure to unlock when I log-in.

I never said it can't be done, but there's a lot of friction for me that isn't there under Windows.

Originally Posted by Glennbo

I was disputing your premise that most Linux users have to pretend that everything is perfect. Some like you, evidently do, while others like me, don't.

I've used linux for about 15 years, and there are so many people who claim that everyone should using Linux and that GIMP is just as good as Photoshop among other things. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and kept things from improving. (And yes, I did the same thing for a while, but I've grown )

Maybe you're not one of them, but you do a pretty good impersonation.

[shosty]

Originally Posted by Held

I made the mistake of thinking that Linux users wanted things to be easy, so I made this thread and realized that it's much more messy than I expected and shared my frustrations. But I guess that's illegal and "it works on my machine" is a good enough excuse to dismiss all criticism.

I'm sorry you feel this way, I think everyone in this thread has tried to be helpful. I don't really understand why you are suddenly negative about it all because some of the links might have been duplicates.

However, I think your idea of making things easy was a bit redundant. Go to AUR, search for VST and you get lots of plugins. It already is easy, in your distro you have native(ish) access to lots and the same for other distros. It's messy because you are thinking about the plugins as binaries distributed by the maker. Of course, for non-free ones this is often the case, but it's a different paradigm for Free plugins for the most part.

Originally Posted by Held

My main sources for Plugins are MeldaProduction and W. A. Production and neither offer Linux versions, but all the Linux plugins I use are also available for Windows, so it makes sense for me to use Windows for music production.

Ok, no problem.

Originally Posted by Held

Like I said, I like Linux and want to keep using it, but I don't need the attitude here. I got frustrated trying to bring order into the mess of Linux plugins, and then people get pissed because I dare to question the sanctity of Linux, instead of helping. I don't need that.

I don't think there has been any attitude, people have been trying to help you build a resource but you suddenly decided you didn't want part of it. Many of us would be happy to try to help if you have problems.

Originally Posted by Held

I really don't need to justify my choice of distribution, and I've used all of those (except for funtoo) at some point. I like Manjaro because it is a good compromise between up to date and stable. And I like KDE, so gnome-keyring will be problematic regardless of the distro.

I did not intend to put you in a position where you felt defensive, I was just curious. Maybe it was that you're a gamer and need the kernel/graphics version or something, just didn't understand why you would persevere with a distro if you know that it could be causing issues with what you need to do with it.

At risk of being lumped in with the 'it works for me' crowd, I use KDE Neon and I haven't experienced any issues with gnome-keyring.

[shosty]

Originally Posted by Held

I've used linux for about 15 years, and there are so many people who claim that everyone should using Linux and that GIMP is just as good as Photoshop among other things. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and kept things from improving. (And yes, I did the same thing for a while, but I've grown )

Maybe you're not one of them, but you do a pretty good impersonation.

Seems like you're projecting a lot. There hasn't really been any discussion about linux being best or anything like that.

[Held]

Originally Posted by shosty

Seems like you're projecting a lot. There hasn't really been any discussion about linux being best or anything like that.

I never said anything like that? I just said it's complicated and I have issues and then you and Glennbo proceded to tell me that you don't have the same issues. That reminded me of previous experiences and I'm tired of that attitude. You do you, I'm out

Originally Posted by shosty

Go to AUR, search for VST and you get lots of plugins

Good luck finding U-HE and others in your repository

Maybe I'll keep the thread and remove all obscure plugins that need to be installed through the package manager or downloaded from sourceforge because I'm not interested in them anyway.

[shosty]

Nice paraphrasing.

[Held]

Originally Posted by shosty

Nice paraphrasing.

Thanks? This has been such a productive conversation. I'm soooo happy for all the friendly input. You really helped the community <3

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by Glennbo

You were in fact saying that because it doesn't work well for you, that it can't work well for others and that they have to pretend that it is working well.

Originally Posted by Held

Where did I say that? I said

Post #53

https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.ph...2&postcount=53

"I love Linux so much that I keep using it anyway, but I don't want to pretend that everything is perfect like most Linux users do."

I have no idea if most Linux users have flawless systems or if they are only pretending to have them. My gut feeling is that folks who try Linux and continue using it are not pretending that it does what they need.

I've used linux for about 15 years, and there are so many people who claim that everyone should using Linux and that GIMP is just as good as Photoshop among other things. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and kept things from improving. (And yes, I did the same thing for a while, but I've grown )

Maybe you're not one of them, but you do a pretty good impersonation.

I've got about 30 years of IT, programming, and computer building under my belt, and about 10 years ago built a dedicated machine to function as a MythTV server with a tuner farm of HDHomeruns. That was my first Linux box. It's been running 24/7 since then. (helped with cutting the cord a lot!)

When Windows 7 was near it's final end two years ago, I switched 6 additional machines I have in my house over to Linux and haven't looked back. Linux, and specifically Xubuntu works great for me on all of my machines that serve various purposes.

If you get stuff done faster in Windows, then use Windows.

I can use Linux or Windows and get the same level of work done, but that's me with a lot of technical background and on machines that I personally hand built, so I don't expect others to get the same kind of results I get.

[Held]

I've updated the first post and title to reflect the changes. Please only suggest plugins that have an official website and are easy to install.

Thank you everyone for contributing and sorry for the unprofessional derailment of this thread.

[Glennbo]

I like those two requirements.

While I'm technically minded, I have avoided all plugins and apps that require me to compile them. I hate installing tons of libraries and other support junk on my machine, only to have it spit out some erroneous cryptic error message while attempting a compile. I have better stuff to do with my time.

If I can't just drop a .so file into my .vst or .vst3 folder, or run an installer for paid plugs then I don't want it.

[4duhwinnn]

If someone enjoys compiling and coding, more power to them! I don't, but rely on the fruits of those that do, as I rely on farmers, ranchers and fishermen to supply food.

I have some U-he, discoDSP, NI, and IK products, along with a lot of freeware and small-shop vsts. Surprisingly low maintenance. Not perfect, but there is some beneficial learning along the way. Even following a readm-me guide tends
to sharpen my rusty iron.

Linux offers me some freedom. The other choices are mainly domineering, restrictive, and invasive, and would limit my enjoyment of the same tools I use now in linux, if given the chance.
Cheers

[PMan]

I believe DrumGizmo is available as a .deb from KXStudios:
https://kx.studio/Repositories:Plugins

Also to the OP, DiscoDSP.com has both free and commercial VSTs for our favorite Operating System.

[Soli Deo Gloria]

Hi!


Thanks so much for this list, it's quite useful! Surge, The Wave Warden (Odin synth) and Airwindows stuff appear in the commercial section, all of which is wrong. Just wanted to point it out...

[Held]

Originally Posted by Soli Deo Gloria

Hi!


Thanks so much for this list, it's quite useful! Surge, The Wave Warden (Odin synth) and Airwindows stuff appear in the commercial section, all of which is wrong. Just wanted to point it out...

I've put an asterisk behind commercial and defined it at "they have an official website and are easy to download and install."

If you have a better word, I'll be happy to change it.

Easy to install means no PPA, .deb, or source code. I don't want to spend ten minutes figuring out where to get the actual binary from every time someone posts a link here.

[Held]

Originally Posted by PMan

Also to the OP, DiscoDSP.com has both free and commercial VSTs for our favorite Operating System.

Thanks for the reminder.

Biopsin mentioned them in the second post with a nice overview, and I totally missed it for some reason. Sorry about that.

[Soli Deo Gloria]

Originally Posted by Held

I've put an asterisk behind commercial and defined it at "they have an official website and are easy to download and install."

If you have a better word, I'll be happy to change it.

Easy to install means no PPA, .deb, or source code. I don't want to spend ten minutes figuring out where to get the actual binary from every time someone posts a link here.

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but... isn't "commercial" usually applied to paid products? I pointed it out since Surge, for example, Surge is in the same list as some paid products. I found it rather confusing, but maybe I'm wrong myself...

[Held]

Since having the old list in the first post seemed to cause some confusion, I've decided to post the code here, in case someone wants to maintain it.

Free collections:
https://www.gvst.co.uk/downloads.htm (linux link at the bottom.)
https://lsp-plug.in/
https://www.ineardisplay.com/plugins/legacy/
https://github.com/olegkapitonov/KPP-VST3 (Guitar Pedals and Amps)
https://kx.studio/Repositories:Plugins (not all are compatible with REAPER)
https://distrho.sourceforge.io/ports.php
https://tal-software.com/products (+ some paid plugins)



Free FX Plugins:
Compressor: https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=222420
Compressor: https://audiodamage.com/pages/free-downloads
Limiter: https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=222369
Reverb: https://github.com/michaelwillis/dragonfly-reverb
SmartGuitarAmp: https://github.com/GuitarML/SmartGuitarAmp


Free Instrument Plugins:
https://vital.audio/
https://www.thewavewarden.com/odin2 (Synth)
https://tytel.org/helm/ (Synth)
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ (Synth)
https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ (Synth)
https://u-he.com/products/#synths (Multiple Free Synths)
https://tal-software.com/products/tal-noisemaker (Synth)
https://github.com/bsp2/VeeSeeVSTRack/releases (VST implementation for VCV, a Synth Rack Simulation)
https://decomposer.de/sitala/ (Drum Sample Pad)
https://sfz.tools/sfizz/ (Sample Player)
https://drumgizmo.org/wiki/doku.php?id=about (Drumkit; get .deb here)
https://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.io/zyn-fusion.html (Most distribution come with a free package)


JSFX Plugins:
Stutterer Effect - https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=211834
EQ + Analyzer https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=213501 

JSFX Collections: 
Geraint Plugins https://geraintluff.github.io/jsfx/
Mrelwood Plugins - https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=210786
Sai'ke Plugins - https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=222750



Big Lists of Linux Plugins (There are a lot of duplicate entries, though)
https://www.audiopluginsforfree.com/linux/ (Not all are compatible with Reaper)
http://linux-sound.org/linux-vst-plugins.html
http://linuxmusic.rocks/

[Held]

Originally Posted by Soli Deo Gloria

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but... isn't "commercial" usually applied to paid products? I pointed it out since Surge, for example, Surge is in the same list as some paid products. I found it rather confusing, but maybe I'm wrong myself...

Yes, you're right. That's why I added the *addendum to clarify my intentions. Some open source products are able to compete with commercial software while most aren't.

I guess I could put "high quality" instead of commercial, but that's pretty vague and everyone has different opinions.

Again, I'm open to suggestions for better phrasing.

[cern.th.skei]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software

[Held]

I found Loomer which has some interesting FX and Synth plugins for Linux.

[4duhwinnn]

DecentSampler has a linux version, a simple gui with several pertinent control knobs, and a sample format that has many PianoBook sampled instruments converted from Kontakt and Exs24 instruments, and in working order.

https://www.decentsamples.com/produc...ampler-plugin/

Go to the link below, and click the 'LIBRARY' icon to see what's available and in which formats. The Winter-Voices is a nice vocal-pads choice:

https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/winter-voices/

Cheers

[Held]

I added it, thanks. Is there a link for Pianobook that only shows compatible libraries?

[4duhwinnn]

In the video below, David Hilowitz provided a google search string to enable finding the decentsampler sounds at the Pianobook library, started with 103 or more sounds converted/prepared by Frederik Pourier from exs24 samplesets:


siteianobook.co.uk/library ("DecentSampler" OR "Decent Sampler")

(the dumb smiley is actually a misinterpreted colon letter p )

I checked, and 16 or more pages of search results were decentsampler instruments file links, like this strat from page 16:


https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/...-stratocaster/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hUc-8Y2bL0

The PianoBook site maintainers plan on segregating the files at some point.
Cheers

[4duhwinnn]

Here is a David Hilowitz tutorial for creating a decentsampler file from scratch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxPRmD_RNCY

[pax-eterna]

Still hoping something to replace Sampletank is in the works somewhere? And Addictive Drums. My only two "go to" PC audio apps!