Tracktion Linux FAQ

[zettberlin]

I have the latest Tracktion 5.4.2 on Kubuntu 14.04 It does work very much OK but I have absolutely no luck involving Carla

I get Carla Rack and Patchbay listed and usable in Bitwig but Tracktion fails to scan /lib/vst completely that is: Tracktion starts scanning, shows the first drowaudio plugin and a 1% progress, thats it, leaving it in this state for about 10 minutes does not change anything. Clicking Cancle immediately freezes T5 and I have to kill the terminal, I use to start it with.

What could that be?

[strogon14]

Carla is a fast moving target atm. One day the latest version from the repository works, the other it it's completely broken. VST support hasn't worked for me for some time, so I'm using git revision ae798187a82fe567a161b119c86e916c80182562 for now. I haven't checked the latest revisions in the past few weeks, though.

Anyway, Tracktion has some problems displaying the GUI windows of VSTs on Linux correctly. Often the window decorations (the ones added by JUCE) are missing or the window is only few pixels wide and can only be resized through the window manager controls. And lots more...

[zettberlin]

Carla is a fast moving target atm.

I have noticed that too
Good thing, it is not complete and so it is nice to see, that it is actively developed that hard

Anyway, Tracktion has some problems displaying the GUI windows of VSTs on Linux correctly. Often the window decorations (the ones added by JUCE) are missing or the window is only few pixels wide and can only be resized through the window manager controls. And lots more...

I see the same behaviour in Bitwig. But using the built-in GUI for the plugins serves me well as a workaround...

Anyway: my main problem is Tracktion, I cannot even scan the Carla-plugins in order to have them available for testing in Tracktion...

[intialonso]

I have the same problem scanning VST plugins (Loomers Aspect and others). Tracktion just start the scan and never end, I have to kill it.

[danboid]

zettberlin / initialonso:

falkTX said he has got round Tracktion's plugin scanner issues by running Tracktion under gdb. I've not had the need to try that myself yet so I don't know if F's workaround is a universal fix or just a fluke.

Make sure gdb is installed then

Code: Select all

# gdb Tracktion
> run

Then scan for your plugins. Let me know the results please. If it works for you guys too then I'll add it to the FAQ.

[intialonso]

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zettberlin / initialonso:

falkTX said he has got round Tracktion's plugin scanner issues by running Tracktion under gdb. I've not had the need to try that myself yet so I don't know if F's workaround is a universal fix or just a fluke.

Make sure gdb is installed then

Code: Select all (#)

# gdb Tracktion
> run

Then scan for your plugins. Let me know the results please. If it works for you guys too then I'll add it to the FAQ.

Worked here for almost all my plugins, Loomer Aspect gives an error:

Code: Select all (#)

Note that the following files appeared to be plugins files but filed to load correctly: AspectVST.so

At least now I have some of my plugins to test Tracktion.

[danboid]

That's good to hear - I'll update the FAQ later.

Are you sure your Aspect is the 64-bit .so? Aspect was working fine for me last time I tried it.

[danboid]

Now that I know multiple people have successfully worked around the plugin scanning bug with gdb, I've added the workaround to the FAQ.

My main wish for T6 is for better plugin compatibility and reliable scanning. The promised sandboxing will be a big plus too!

[intialonso]

That's good to hear - I'll update the FAQ later.

Are you sure your Aspect is the 64-bit .so? Aspect was working fine for me last time I tried it.

Uhmm it is 32bit, so is this the problem? I thought that Tracktion could load 32bit plugins.

[danboid]

I don't think I'd tried but it looks like you've answered the question for us.

Why would you want to run 32bit Linux-native plugins on a 64-bit OS? I don't know of any native plugins for Linux that are 32-bit only, as is the case with some older Windows or OSX plugs.

You should use 64-bit builds of AV apps to take advantage of the extra speed offered by 64-bit compilers, CPU instructions and optimizations.

[obx777]

Will we see T6 for Linux?

[danboid]

We surely will. I was disappointed T6 wasn't released simultaneously with the Windows and Mac versions yesterday but if you're on the Tracktion mailing list you may have noticed that not only did the T6 release announcement feature a pic of good ol' Tux the penguin, he is perched above the Windows/MS and Apple logos.

Rumour also has it TSC are hiring a dedicated Linux developer so they've definitely not given up on Linux.

[strogon14]

The several references to Linux in the announcement and the pic made it even more disappointing to see there is no Linux download yet.

I'm not going to pay for Tracktion again, unless there is a Linux version that has the same official status as the Win/OS X versions and where at least VST plugins are working properly without GUI issues (LV2 would be nice, though). I don't mind paying for a Linux version, as long as it's not a separate license. If you ask me, drop the OS X version, I don't need it!

[danboid]

Ooops!

After having another look just now, there is indeed a Linux T6 availablle for download.

I, like a few others it seems, just got caught out by it being separated out into its own 'Tracktion Linux' download section.

I really don't see the point in that arrangement but I can't claim it wasn't clearly labelled all along!

Time to try some new stuff out!

[Alexis Isis]

It wasn't there previously, for whatever reason, in any of the sections.