Tracktion Waveform Pro on Arch Based Linux

[Teksonik]

Has anyone been able to install WF Pro on an Arch Linux based Distro?

I'm tinkering with CachyOS and it is screaming fast even on an ancient i3 test system so I think it would be a good OS for music production but it won't deal with .deb files without some gymnastics that are over my head at this point.

[chaocrator]

WF Pro on Linux is unstable and glitchy AF, i'm extremely disappointed with it and wouldn't recommend it.

[Teksonik]

I've had it running on other Linux Distros that were Debian based. Granted I didn't get heavily into using WF Pro on Linux enough to gauge stability.

The problem with Linux support is there are so many Distros and DE combinations that it must be hard to make a stable app on all of them.

I'm primarily a Windows 11 user so Linux is more of a hobby OS for me than an every day driver. But I'd still like to see how WF performs on CachyOS.

Okay I've tried using Yay and Tizen but the Waveform install always fails. Something about a conflict with the beta.

[talby]

WF Pro on Linux is unstable and glitchy AF, i'm extremely disappointed with it and wouldn't recommend it.

It is my everyday DAW on Linux.
Though, I should mention that I am an experienced Linux-only user since a decade now, and another decade before about 50% of my daily work was done by me on my Linux system(s) of that time. Debian all the time.

I am using WF PRO since 12.5, so, about 2.5 years now. It runs on my main Linux machine, a Lenovo Thinkpad laptop, and I have a MiniFuse2 and a SSL12 audio interface connect to it, depending where I am.

The only drawbacks I would specifically know about for the Linux version, but can easily live with, are:

- the sandbox is not working in the Linux version as it should (when it catches a faulty plugin, you have to know how to manually kill the sandbox process for being able to work on with the still running WF main app);
- no GUI is rendered for of almost all LV2 plugins; LV2 plugins can only be controlled by their parameters as represented by the fallback mechanism of WF, namely in the Controls Panel or some generic knobs only graphical pseudo GUI;
- the Tracktion Download Manager does not complete the installation jobs for components as it should, and manual installation is often required;

So, yes, not the easiest way to go for a newbie on Linux, but the average Linux user who knows a little bit about extracting archives and copying data around, and knows about how to see the process ID number of the sandbox process and can use it in a kill command should be perfectly fine.

May I ask which issues you did run into, which wouldn't also exist for the Win11 and Mac versions?

[Teksonik]

It is my everyday DAW on Linux.
Though, I should mention that I am an experienced Linux-only user since a decade now, and another decade before about 50% of my daily work was done by me on my Linux system(s) of that time. Debian all the time.

Do you know anyone who has WF Pro running on an Arch Linux Distro with KDE Plasma?

I tried every command line recommendation that google put forth with no luck. This is my first Arch Distro, all the other dozen or so I've tried have been Debian based.

[talby]

Do you know anyone who has WF Pro running on an Arch Linux Distro with KDE Plasma?

Sorry, no. But I also didn't keep an eye on this.

Myself being on Debian, I usually recommend Ubuntu Studio. I twice have had experienced non-critical glitches with WF on Debian, which on Ubuntu Studio did not occur. It was the same Kernel, the same glibc version, and the same KDE version in my Debian as in the Ubuntu Studio version, and monitoring which shared files have been called I could not find a difference either. Running out of ideas I concluded (but am still not sure about it) that Ubuntu uses different compiler flags than Debian, and those ones used by Debian seem to be less forgiving concerning permissions to execute the one or other function. Debian blocked some WF process with a warning about missing access rights to some function, while Ubuntu allowed it. At some point I gave up investigations about it, work around the issue in WF, and know that I could always set up an Ubuntu Studio if necessary.

[Teksonik]

Well I give up. I followed all the advice given at the Cachy OS forums and from a google search but no luck. Trying to deal with .deb installers is way more complicated on Arch based Distros.

Guess I'll stick to using Debian based distros since I have been able to install WF on those.

Shame as I really like CachyOS as it is very fast and optimized.

[phreak]

You can install Waveform on almost any Linux distribution. Instructions can be found here in the forum under the Linux FAQ. Simply extract the “deb” file using the following command:

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ar xv waveform13_13.5.25_amd64.deb

Then extract the “data” file to the root directory using tar command; the necessary directories are already included in the file.

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sudo tar xvf data.tar.gz -C /

If “ar” is not installed, you can install it using "binutils". On openSUSE, I also had to install the “libatomic” dependency for Waveform:

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sudo zypper install binutils

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sudo zypper install libatomic1

There is also an AUR package for Waveform available for Arch.
Any additional required dependencies will be listed if you run Waveform from the console (bash) instead of clicking the app's shortcut:

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/usr/bin/Waveform13

[Teksonik]

Thanks for the help but the first two commands failed:

Screenshot_20260405_051258.png

I had already tried installing from the AUR but was unsuccessful there as well. It's almost certainly my fault but as I said earlier things seem much more difficult on an Arch Distro although CachyOS is sitting in the number one spot at Distrowatch right now so it's very popular.

To be honest I don't have the willpower to keep trying. Linux is just a hobby OS for me and the example you posted above of what it takes to install a simple app shows why it will likely never be a mainstream OS for home use. I'm already using Waveform Pro on my Windows 11 systems so am not missing out on anything.

I may overwrite Cachy OS and go back to a Debian based Distro or just forget about installing anything outside of the normal repository. Thanks again.

[talby]

(...)the example you posted above of what it takes to install a simple app shows why it will likely never be a mainstream OS
(...)
I may overwrite Cachy OS and go back to a Debian based Distro

You gave the answer to yourself: Arch based systems are for the tinkerer, and such will never be ready for mainstream. Using it, don't be surprised that you have to tinker.
Use Ubuntu Studio or SparkyLinux, both with KDE, and head aches are gone.

[Teksonik]

Well you kind of argued my point for me:

I twice have had experienced non-critical glitches with WF on Debian, which on Ubuntu Studio did not occur. It was the same Kernel, the same glibc version, and the same KDE version in my Debian as in the Ubuntu Studio version, and monitoring which shared files have been called I could not find a difference either. Running out of ideas I concluded (but am still not sure about it) that Ubuntu uses different compiler flags than Debian, and those ones used by Debian seem to be less forgiving concerning permissions to execute the one or other function. Debian blocked some WF process with a warning about missing access rights to some function, while Ubuntu allowed it. At some point I gave up investigations about it, work around the issue in WF, and know that I could always set up an Ubuntu Studio if necessary.

People don't want to faff about with how this or that distro handles things, they just want to use their computer and use software that works without having to spend time trying to find out why it doesn't.

A much as I hate Micro$oft and as much as I do love Linux, until it becomes more suited for everyday users and not terminal warriors it will never gain the market share in the home that it deserves.

Anyway I've just burned an MX Linux .iso so I'll either dual boot it with Cachy or just overwrite Cachy and move on.