While doing some more research on VST plugins I came across an alternative way of running native Linux VSTs in LMMS ( rather than using WINE ). It’s not very well publicised in my opinion and I found it via an incomplete LMMS wiki page.

• With Wine installed, most of these VST instruments should perform fine in your preferred VST-plugin host. Currently available VST plug-in hosts for linux include: FeSTige (part of the KXStudio meta-packages), FSThost or VeSTige (included with the LMMS Digital Audio Workstation which is available in most repositories).
• ToneZ by Retornz. ToneZ is a free polyphonic synthesizer, available as VST/AU plugin for Windows and Mac OS. With its modern looking UI, it will become one of your new best friends for supersaws, leads, basses, plucks and more!
• Element A plugin/standalone utility to host other plugins. Includes support for VST, LADSPA, and LV2 native Linux plugin formats. ESX/EMX Plugins Control and edit your Korg Electribe from a Linux VST. Albert Graef's cool project to convert Faust DSP code to VST/VSTi plugins.

The key piece of software is called Carla which is written and maintained by Filipe Coelho as part of the KXStudio Linux distribution. Mac os sierra recovery download. Carla is open source and can be found on GitHub.

VST3: New Standard for Virtual Studio Technology. With VST (Virtual Studio Technology), Steinberg established the world’s leading and most widely supported standard for plug-ins and virtual instruments in 1996. With VST3 Steinberg releases the next major revision of Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology to the audio industry.

Carla has two modes of operation, as described by the LMMS wiki page:

• In the Carla Rack instrument, loaded plugins will show up in a virtual rack as units with control buttons and VU-meters. The internal midi and audio routing is fixed in this mode, and goes from top to bottom.
• In the Carla Patchbay instrument, plugins are loaded as units with inputs and outputs onto a canvas. Midi and audio can be routed anywhere to anywhere giving an enormous flexibility to this mode. Rack mode view is also available in the Patchbay instrument.

But note that if you’re using ALSA like I do then only Rack mode is available so Carla Patchbay is not discussed further in this post. However it does look quite powerful.

Installation

Control Vst Plugin From Lmms Host Interface

You can obviously build from source from GitHub but the KXStudio site also has some of its own repositories with instructions on how to install on various flavours of Linux. I added this repository to my installation using the instructions on that page then installed Carla with:

Usage

Once Carla is installed then running LMMS will show two extra instrument plugin options as shown on the left.

Control Vst Plugin From Lmms Host Download

Dragging the Carla Rack to the Song Editor and double clicking it brings up its Settings window. Clicking on “Show GUI” then brings up the Carla rack control.

Native Linux VSTs ( usually .so files ) are loaded using the file navigator pane and the controls for the loaded VSTs are shown on the right. Clicking the cog icon on each entry then brings up the same UI as for the Windows VST version.

Control Vst Plugin From Lmms Host Windows 10

Conclusion

Control Vst Plugin From Lmms Host Software

Installing the Dexed VST was probably easier this way than using the normal Wine based VST support in LMMS. However there are not many native Linux VSTs available but then again not all Windows VSTs work under Wine 🙂 Free vst vocal eliminator.

For me, if there’s a Linux version available then I think that it will be more reliable to use it with Carla. If a Linux version is not available then you’re at the mercy of the Wine compatibility.