Re: [linux-audio-user] VST plugins and linux

The Ardour FAQ has a good entry on VST support in linux: --begin-- 2.2. Are VST plugins supported? There are several issues here: 1) Generic VST support This is possible, but is also tricky. Steinberg does not allow redistribution of their header files, and the header files that they distribute will not work under Linux. It would therefore be impossible to compile Ardour with VST support unless you got modified files from (say) me, and that would violate the license agreement Steinberg has for VST. They have indicated that they are not opposed to Linux support, but that's the end of the story right now. If we end up distributing binary copies of Ardour, this could be dealt with (I compile it, and so you don't need the modified header files). But that's not happening yet. 2) Specific plugins a) executable format issues Plugins are pieces of executable code. The format used for the files that store this code is different under windows and macos than it is for linux. Some people have managed to find workarounds for this --- there are reports of people running windows-derived buzz plugins under linux, but nobody has looked into trying it with vst plugins. Linux also runs on a lot more hardware than windows or MacOS. We assume that when you say linux, you mean "linux on an intel compatible processor", but keep in mind that to most of us, linux means more than that --- it includes the PPC, Sparc, Alpha, ARM, MIPS and many other chip architectures. Of that list, only PPC has any VST plugin support at all. This problem would go away if a VST plugin was available as source code, but to my knowledge, only 1 is (freeverb). b) OS dependency issues Most VST plugin writers do not follow Steinberg's design advice, and write plugins that have operating system dependencies. As a result, even if you could find a way to actually use, say, a windows-format VST plugin on Linux on an Intel machine, the plugin would contain calls to operating system services that don't exist (in the same way) under Linux. So, the basic answer is "no". I am an active member of the VST-plugins mailing list, and I try to encourage people who write free plugins to make their source code available so that we can use it under Linux, as well as reminding people to try to avoid operating system dependencies in their plugins. I think this mostly falls on deaf ears. --end-- Hope that helps, Taybin -- http://www.piratesvsninjas.com