Which products support LV2 today?

[Kumal]

Steinberg is the best example why such a standard shouldn't be in the hands of a single company. A good idea isn't sufficient, it needs the right time for it too. Maybe it's now, who knows... Looking forward to its progress. It just needs enough to participate and then it doesn't matter what Apple, Steinberg or Avid wants. Wasn't Steinberg also the company that got pressure for the dongle free versions and started developing it? Seems like all is possible.

[ghettosynth]

What you neglect is that companies like Steinberg won't play that game. So, basically, what you'll have is a further fragmentation of the market. Apple will do its thing, Steinberg will do its thing (VST), Avid will do its thing... it' no good for the customer (or for the developers... which format should they support now? All of them?).
...
The funny thing is that some of the devs discussing that now already said themselves that it always will end up in more standards which have to be supported. And yet, the idea of a new standard, the one to rule them all, doesn't seem to die out. Well, it's a nice idea, on paper. Not in the real world.

Agreed. A new standard is not the answer. However, supporting an open standard, that already exists, does put some pressure on the marketplace to adopt that standard.

It's almost certainly not supported in Reaper because Justin Frankel just likes to do work that nobody cares about.

[chk071]

Wasn't Steinberg also the company that got pressure for the dongle free versions and started developing it?

The only pressure they have in that regard are sales figures. Be assured that they don't switch to a dongle less copy protection because of a handful of loud-mouths on the internet (those are totally irrelevant for anything regarding their business anyway).

[chk071]

Agreed. A new standard is not the answer. However, supporting an open standard, that already exists, does put some pressure on the marketplace to adopt that standard.

It's almost certainly not supported in Reaper because Justin Frankel just likes to do work that nobody cares about.

I wonder what's the point in supporting a format which is so rarely used in plugins though. If I had to guess then it's because the Linux crowd (I'm actually tempted to put "crowd" in quotation marks here ) asked for it.

[FapFilter]

Well, once upon a time there was also DX(i).
And as everyone knows, Microsoft is the market leader!

So DX, rise from your grave!


(i actually quite liked it back then, but i'm not sure how good it'd actually fare in comparison to current 64bit VST 2.4... and then, there's also stuff like Macs in some households)

[ghettosynth]

Agreed. A new standard is not the answer. However, supporting an open standard, that already exists, does put some pressure on the marketplace to adopt that standard.

It's almost certainly not supported in Reaper because Justin Frankel just likes to do work that nobody cares about.

I wonder what's the point in supporting a format which is so rarely used in plugins though. If I had to guess then it's because the Linux crowd (I'm actually tempted to put "crowd" in quotation marks here ) asked for it.

So rarely used in "windows" and "mac" plugins you mean? Because it's widely used in Linux plugins and this helps in allowing those plugins to be used on the commercial desktop operating systems. There is also something to embracing an open format at a time when control can be viewed of as, best case, tightening around closed formats.

[FapFilter]

generally, i think it's an interesting idea.
I'm not a big fan of VST3 as it never really made sense to me, other than being a “forced“ new standard, that didn't bring too many improvements to the table.
Though i'm sure i'll still survive if VST2 will cease to be supported at some point, even if i still prefer if it stayed accessible to developers who still prefer this format.

Just out of my ignorance: how good is this LV2 in comparison with VST2?
Any drawbacks like some important features missing? is it slower / more resource hungry / less stable? Or actually comparable, or even better than VST?

[ghettosynth]

There's no reason to believe that LV2 is less stable, slower, or more resource hungry. The video that I posted in the other thread discusses the details at a high level.

As far as using them, it seems very similar to using VST2 plugins with a few differences. Their location is not fixed so you just tell your host where they are and it will scan them there. Plugins are stored in bundles (directories) and their identity is stored in a metadata file so that a host can identify available plugins without loading code. In other words, the directory contains all resources for the plugin, so this means that a plugin is not a single file.

[FrettedSynth]

So rarely used in "windows" and "mac" plugins you mean? Because it's widely used in Linux plugins and this helps in allowing those plugins to be used on the commercial desktop operating systems. There is also something to embracing an open format at a time when control can be viewed of as, best case, tightening around closed formats.

Although I will most likely continue to use Windows for quite sometime? Linux has become very stable for me anyhow. Reaper on my system runs every bit as well as on Windows. This in itself for me makes Lv2 very interesting. Add to that WINE and LinVst or Yabridge and I am still able to use my old win Vst plugins along side Lv2.
In some ways this makes me feel I will not face obsolescence? Linux seems to have a spirit of keeping the old alive. Mac yeah gave up on them when they killed the slot for my audiomedia II card 1996 or so. Very happy I did as I would have had to re-buy software around three times since than to keep up with their changes.

So I am one who says Lv2 bring it on. Would mean more plugins for the Linux world.

[ghettosynth]

So rarely used in "windows" and "mac" plugins you mean? Because it's widely used in Linux plugins and this helps in allowing those plugins to be used on the commercial desktop operating systems. There is also something to embracing an open format at a time when control can be viewed of as, best case, tightening around closed formats.

Although I will most likely continue to use Windows for quite sometime? Linux has become very stable for me anyhow. Reaper on my system runs every bit as well as on Windows. This in itself for me makes Lv2 very interesting. Add to that WINE and LinVst or Yabridge and I am still able to use my old win Vst plugins along side Lv2.
In some ways this makes me feel I will not face obsolescence? Linux seems to have a spirit of keeping the old alive. Mac yeah gave up on them when they killed the slot for my audiomedia II card 1996 or so. Very happy I did as I would have had to re-buy software around three times since than to keep up with their changes.

So I am one who says Lv2 bring it on. Would mean more plugins for the Linux world.

Yes, I think that this is, in part, why I'm intrigued by this. If more win/mac developers embrace LV2 then that means that there's more reason for them to also consider supporting Linux which means that there's even more reason for Linux to grow as a platform for audio.

That Reaper supports it has bolstered my interest as well.

[BertKoor]

The straight answer has not been given yet:

Hosts

• Ardour A professional quality DAW with support for LV2 effects and instruments.
• Audacity Software for recording and editing sounds.
• Carla Powerful audio plugin host.
• Ecasound Multitrack command line audio editor and processor.
• FreeADSP MIDI-controlled real-time stereo effect rack.
• Guitarix Tube emulation amplifier with effect rack.
• Ingen Modular audio environment.
• Jalv Command-line Jack host.
• LinuxSampler Free, streaming audio sampler with professional grade features.
• lv2file Applies LV2 effects from the command line.
• LV2proc Simple command line effect processor.
• QTractor Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer.
• Traverso Multitrack audio recorder and editor.
• Synthclone Tool for creating sample-based instruments.
• pd-lv2plugin LV2 hosting PureData external.
• pure-lang A modern functional programming language with LV2 support.
• Zrythm DAW focusing on usability with support for LV2 plugins.

You'll have to weed out all the linux only stuff yourself

[ghettosynth]

The straight answer has not been given yet:
...

You'll have to weed out all the linux only stuff yourself

It's not up to date though, for whatever reasons. Neither Mixbus or Reaper are on that list.

I fully expect that most Linux devs are still mostly interested in open source projects. I also want to know closed source "products" that are available.

To extend this further, I think it would be good to identify open source gems that have been, or could be easily, compiled for windows/OS X.

[BertKoor]

If you know of any that are not listed here, please let us know or send a patch.

[ghettosynth]

If you know of any that are not listed here, please let us know or send a patch.

Sure, ok, we'll get to that..

[ghettosynth]

There is some interesting discussion here: https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE/issues/123, emphasis mine.

oh 2 years does not cover how long it has been really.
the juce lv2 wrapper started before JUCE got bought by ROLI, back when JUCE was GPLv2+ and sourceforge was still relevant. Back then the forum was still some phpbb thing

for curiosity sake I went to see how long it has been...
See https://repo.or.cz/juce-lv2.git, it is more than 8 years old!

The way I see things, JUCE has become just like Android - it is used a lot and can be quite useful, but its leadership and past practices make it something you use not because you want, but because there are not many other options out there. It makes it unwanted for anyone that takes privacy and user freedom seriously, like yourself.

But what can we do?
The more noise we make here is probably just going to make them NOT want support LV2 at all.

JUCE has turned into a business, so its development and new features come from whatever the "business" needs.
LV2 is not profitable from the get-go, it is a long term thing, and a bet on their side in way.
Unless big names demand LV2 support, this ticket will go nowhere. That is just how JUCE operates right now, for better or worse.

I already lost hopes of this being an official thing.