4 ms·

I had experiments with Ardour on Linux a few years ago, but those got killed by: - no support for VST plugins - clipping/distortion and no out-of-the-box comp

I had experiments with Ardour on Linux a few years ago, but those got killed by: - no support for VST plugins - clipping/distortion and no out-of-the-box compression in Ardour - jitter during recording, problems with clock Has anything changed recently?

mkesper 3y ago
Lazy answer to lazy question: https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html
rvense 3y ago
Ardour does support plug-ins. VST as a format is platform dependent AFAIK. I think you can do something with WINE but other than that the authors of Ardour can't magically remake proprietary Windows VSTs in a compatible format. As for your third point, I think Linux is improving in this area all the time. Ten years ago it was a black art. There's a lot you can do to set it up, but also a million different things that can be wrong and cause problems, so unfortunately you have to troubleshoot a specific setup.
6581 3y ago
VST: https://manual.ardour.org/working-with-plugins/ https://manual.ardour.org/working-with-plugins/ Compression: https://manual.ardour.org/plugins-filters/ https://manual.ardour.org/plugins-filters/ Clock: https://ardour.org/news/7.0.html https://ardour.org/news/7.0.html ("Internal Time Representation") Check out the recent changelogs, there's lots of new and fixed stuff: https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html
johntraitor 3y ago
For Windows VST I use Yabridge, which is amazing with Wine. This week I have setup Native Instruments Komplete 14 (Kontakt and Komplete) working with Ardour connecting my Roland A-88 Mk2. Maybe i should do some videos to explain.
- altonas 3y ago
  How's the latency when doing live performances or just practicing piano? Because recently I've stopped doing much production and moved from using DAWs to lighter programs like Gig Performer since I'm more of a pianist than a producer, I use like 5 plugins max (a modeled piano with a few effects like reverb and comp) and I'd be interested in a Linux alternative if the delay isn't going to annoy me during practice.
  - johntraitor 3y ago
    For now using Native Instruments without any configuration i don't have a good enough latency for performance. However i didn't follow yet Archlinux's pro-audio tutorial to use realtime capabilities and improve latency (i didn't have time yet). Before i used a Yamaha p-125 with its internal sounds directly redirected through the usb connection to Ardour which was amazing for practicing and live performance (it was still under Jack I think, i switched to Pipewire this year). (Although need to be careful the p125-a removed all those nice features). With fewer, linux based virtual instrument/plugin, latency would be less of an issue, but honestly i didn't take enough time yet on it to give you a viable answer. I am also more of a pianist than a producer, i still prefer a real piano when i can over any virtual appliances for performance, although as I said a Yamaha p-125 is quite alright for that purpose too (i don't know well Roland's equivalents). I know Pianoteq has some Linux native virtual instruments which are very good i heard. If you only play piano i would look into that, before paying they must have some demo version.
    - johntraitor 3y ago
      If you want more information and help, we could stay in contact I would be pleased to help and see if we can find any ways to make it work for your needs. But basically what I would do is: based on the distro you want to use, configure it for real time and pro-audio according to the community recommendations. Then depending on your needs for the virtual instruments, see whether specific plugins increase latency to a level that is sustainable or not for your usage. I could do some testing if i have time. Anyway it was my next step to look into for my new native instruments setup.

mkesper 3y ago

Lazy answer to lazy question: https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html

rvense 3y ago

Ardour does support plug-ins. VST as a format is platform dependent AFAIK. I think you can do something with WINE but other than that the authors of Ardour can't magically remake proprietary Windows VSTs in a compatible format. As for your third point, I think Linux is improving in this area all the time. Ten years ago it was a black art. There's a lot you can do to set it up, but also a million different things that can be wrong and cause problems, so unfortunately you have to troubleshoot a specific setup.

6581 3y ago

VST: https://manual.ardour.org/working-with-plugins/ https://manual.ardour.org/working-with-plugins/ Compression: https://manual.ardour.org/plugins-filters/ https://manual.ardour.org/plugins-filters/ Clock: https://ardour.org/news/7.0.html https://ardour.org/news/7.0.html ("Internal Time Representation") Check out the recent changelogs, there's lots of new and fixed stuff: https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html

johntraitor 3y ago

For Windows VST I use Yabridge, which is amazing with Wine. This week I have setup Native Instruments Komplete 14 (Kontakt and Komplete) working with Ardour connecting my Roland A-88 Mk2. Maybe i should do some videos to explain.

altonas 3y ago
How's the latency when doing live performances or just practicing piano? Because recently I've stopped doing much production and moved from using DAWs to lighter programs like Gig Performer since I'm more of a pianist than a producer, I use like 5 plugins max (a modeled piano with a few effects like reverb and comp) and I'd be interested in a Linux alternative if the delay isn't going to annoy me during practice.
- johntraitor 3y ago
  For now using Native Instruments without any configuration i don't have a good enough latency for performance. However i didn't follow yet Archlinux's pro-audio tutorial to use realtime capabilities and improve latency (i didn't have time yet). Before i used a Yamaha p-125 with its internal sounds directly redirected through the usb connection to Ardour which was amazing for practicing and live performance (it was still under Jack I think, i switched to Pipewire this year). (Although need to be careful the p125-a removed all those nice features). With fewer, linux based virtual instrument/plugin, latency would be less of an issue, but honestly i didn't take enough time yet on it to give you a viable answer. I am also more of a pianist than a producer, i still prefer a real piano when i can over any virtual appliances for performance, although as I said a Yamaha p-125 is quite alright for that purpose too (i don't know well Roland's equivalents). I know Pianoteq has some Linux native virtual instruments which are very good i heard. If you only play piano i would look into that, before paying they must have some demo version.
  - johntraitor 3y ago
    If you want more information and help, we could stay in contact I would be pleased to help and see if we can find any ways to make it work for your needs. But basically what I would do is: based on the distro you want to use, configure it for real time and pro-audio according to the community recommendations. Then depending on your needs for the virtual instruments, see whether specific plugins increase latency to a level that is sustainable or not for your usage. I could do some testing if i have time. Anyway it was my next step to look into for my new native instruments setup.