24.12.2020»»четверг
How To Use Vst Plugins In Lmms
24.12.2020
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.
The key piece of software is called Carla which is written and maintained by Filipe Coelho as part of the KXStudio Linux distribution. Carla is open source and can be found on GitHub.
Some VST or plugins, especially synths, will come as either standalone applications or plugins. You can download them, install them, and run them outside your DAW. The only problem with standalone applications is that you can record them into your mix because you’re not using your DAW. Cakewalk cant detect vst plugin for midi output. So I recently figured out how to put recordings in LMMS using audacity and making it my own sample, but the issue is the sample gets cut off too early. When you do something in the piano roll and it goes over one “square” on the song editor, the playthrough just continues into the next “square”, but with my own samples it does not. Even the controls in LADSPA effects and VST effects can be automated! As the Piano Roll, you must connect the Automation Editor to a segment, in this case an Automation segment. If you open the Automation Editor (shortcur F8), and it looks like the image, close it and double-click on an Automation track segment to connect to. How do I use VST plugins that are effects and not instruments? Posted by 3 days ago. How do I use VST plugins that are effects and not instruments? How to use VST3 in lmms?(is it possible?) Support Few days ago I downloaded some vsts and when I installed them there was no.dll file and it was installing in another folder, after doing some research I found that it was VST3 which I think cannot run on lmms, but is there a way to use it?
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
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
How To Use Vst Plugins In Lmms
Once Carla is installed then running LMMS will show two extra instrument plugin options as shown on the left.
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.
Conclusion
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 🙂
How To Use Vst Plug-ins In Lmms
How To Use Vst Effects In Lmms
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.