Recommend VSTs for Waveform 11 Linux

[adam567]

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Waveform 11 is working well on my Ubuntu 20.04. Presently I only have Collective for traditional instruments. I feel I need a Soundfont player, but would this be a VST VST3 plugin or LV2?

Carla was recommended as its said to have a Soundfont player (perhaps FluidSynth), and its been around for a while. At kxstudio I also see FluidPlug (an SF player) as a plugin. I also want to stick with ALSA for now, and not Jack yet.

If I were to install Carla, should I;

a) simply "apt get install carla", and some or all carla related packages? Which would be the Carla starter package? apt-cache search carla lists some 10 packages of carla host, bridges, data.

b) sign up to the kxstudio repos here https://kx.studio/Repositories (https://kx.studio/Repositories), follow instructions

c) download the Linux 64bit precompiled binaries here https://kx.studio/Applications:Carla (https://kx.studio/Applications:Carla) although there's no installation instructions, seems a recipe for disaster.

So I'd dearly love to try some synth plugins or VSTs or VST3s or LV2s. If anyone has had success on Waveform 11 Linux, then any feedback or recommendations much appreciated.

[spurkopf]

I don't use Ubuntu nor carla. If you're willing to use sfz for traditional instruments, I recommend sfizz. As a synth plugin surge. lv2 is not recognized in waveform.

[unholyeyebrows]

Every plugin TAL-Software.com make are awesome. Also U-He.com plugins are first rate. All work perfectly and natively on Linux.

[Kott]

https://linuxmusic.rocks/ good database

[lmv]

Welcome aboard!

Carla is phenomenal in its ability to play almost anything you throw at it: Linux plugins, Windows plugins and soundfonts. By that measure, it is awesome.
But it has design flaws that bother me to no end.

First, in standalone mode, you can't just add a plugin to it. You have to open its internal patchbay and make the connections manually. Annoying. Run as a plugin in a DAW, it usually makes internal connections automatically, but you end up with two windows. If you want to view the plugin's GUI, you're going to have to open Carla then open the plugin's GUI. It may sound like nothing, but it adds up in the long run and gets old fast.

Second, like most DAWs, it wants to scan and index all your plugins. If you have just a few, that is no problem at all. If you have a lot, it's a nightmare. It takes forever to finish and you can't even leave it running at night while you sleep because it halts at errors and plugin crashes and you have to be sitting in front of the computer to click 'OK' so Carla can continue. Most DAWs jump on that bandwagon and I hate it. The notable exception is Mulab. Mulab's approach is so much, so much better, and it runs on Linux very smoothly thanks to Wine. There is a free version, but that version can't load external plugins. It has a pretty good internal collection though, and the full version can load external plugins, Windows plugins.

If you learn to use linvst, you can use most Windows plugins in your Linux DAW. It's definitely worth learning about, because the number of Windows plugins out there is staggering, and their quality tends to be better too. In that case, you can use Sforzando to play soundfonts. It's free.

Last but not least, your DAW may be able to play soundfonts. Waveform Free has an internal sampler that can play SF2 and SFZ soundfonts. It's a little awkward visually because it's designed for drums, but that is irrelevant once you load it and begin to punch notes into the MIDI grid. You can load a soundfont on it and save it as a preset.

In summary, I recommend avoiding Carla as much as possible. It's very capable, but not very practical.

[ON BEATS]

Adam (original topic starter)

I don't know much about Linux but you are welcome to test my Trap Drumkit VST. I can send you vst or vst3 depending on requirements then we can see if it works! Send a dm if interested

🎛

[rickpress]

You can configure Carla to run as just a vst now. Just double click the plugin and it will just show the vst and nothing else. It's in the configuration settings.

Welcome aboard!

Carla is phenomenal in its ability to play almost anything you throw at it: Linux plugins, Windows plugins and soundfonts. By that measure, it is awesome.
But it has design flaws that bother me to no end.

First, in standalone mode, you can't just add a plugin to it. You have to open its internal patchbay and make the connections manually. Annoying. Run as a plugin in a DAW, it usually makes internal connections automatically, but you end up with two windows. If you want to view the plugin's GUI, you're going to have to open Carla then open the plugin's GUI. It may sound like nothing, but it adds up in the long run and gets old fast.

Second, like most DAWs, it wants to scan and index all your plugins. If you have just a few, that is no problem at all. If you have a lot, it's a nightmare. It takes forever to finish and you can't even leave it running at night while you sleep because it halts at errors and plugin crashes and you have to be sitting in front of the computer to click 'OK' so Carla can continue. Most DAWs jump on that bandwagon and I hate it. The notable exception is Mulab. Mulab's approach is so much, so much better, and it runs on Linux very smoothly thanks to Wine. There is a free version, but that version can't load external plugins. It has a pretty good internal collection though, and the full version can load external plugins, Windows plugins.

If you learn to use linvst, you can use most Windows plugins in your Linux DAW. It's definitely worth learning about, because the number of Windows plugins out there is staggering, and their quality tends to be better too. In that case, you can use Sforzando to play soundfonts. It's free.

Last but not least, your DAW may be able to play soundfonts. Waveform Free has an internal sampler that can play SF2 and SFZ soundfonts. It's a little awkward visually because it's designed for drums, but that is irrelevant once you load it and begin to punch notes into the MIDI grid. You can load a soundfont on it and save it as a preset.

In summary, I recommend avoiding Carla as much as possible. It's very capable, but not very practical.