Linux VST, does it work?

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grebneke
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Linux VST, does it work?

Post by grebneke » Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:00 am

Hello all

According to http://www.linuxsampler.org/: This is the first release which allows the sampler to be used as audio host plugin, namely supporting the standards VST, AU, DSSI and LV2.

Since none of the binary packages for Linux seems to include a VST-plugin, i downloaded the latest cvs versions of libgig + linuxsampler and managed to build with VST enabled. So far, so good.

I loaded the plugin in Renoise (http://www.renoise.com/), but when I tried to open the plugin gui I just got a minimal window with no content. Duh.

Is this supposed to work, what am I missing?
A working VSTi of LinuxSampler would be immensely valuable to the Linux audio community, since there are so few native Linux VSTi:s

Thanks a lot,
/Johan

count_fuzzball
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Re: Linux VST, does it work?

Post by count_fuzzball » Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:37 am

Hey Johan,

What does the window look like? Is it the Fantasia GUI?

AFAIK, the linuxsampler backend has to be loaded up by just typing 'linuxsampler' into a terminal (though it can be started automatically by Fantasia.)

Also, why run linuxsampler/fantasia as a plug-in in renoise when you could just run it using the JACK sound server (or even ALSA) natively? You should still be able to send mid notes from the renoise sequencer to linuxsampler.

IMHO, Running linuxsampler as a VST plug-in under a native linux OS is a bit odd.. You're effectively running an additional compatability layer (wine) where there doesn't need to be.

Andrew.

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cuse
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Re: Linux VST, does it work?

Post by cuse » Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:38 pm

grebneke wrote:I loaded the plugin in Renoise (http://www.renoise.com/), but when I tried to open the plugin gui I just got a minimal window with no content. Duh.

Is this supposed to work, what am I missing?
A working VSTi of LinuxSampler would be immensely valuable to the Linux audio community, since there are so few native Linux VSTi:s
I just looked at the VST plugin code, at the moment the Fantasia GUI is only opened on Windows. The respective code block to start Fantasia is embedded into a "#ifdef WIN32" block, so it won't open Fantasia on Linux ATM (have a look at src/hostplugins/vst/PluginVst.cpp, line 86).

Wanna try to add the missing code for Linux?

grebneke
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Re: Linux VST, does it work?

Post by grebneke » Fri Jan 01, 2010 3:55 pm

count_fuzzball wrote:Hey Johan,
What does the window look like? Is it the Fantasia GUI?
No, it's a completely empty minimal window.
count_fuzzball wrote:Also, why run linuxsampler/fantasia as a plug-in in renoise when you could just run it using the JACK sound server (or even ALSA) natively? You should still be able to send mid notes from the renoise sequencer to linuxsampler.
That's not the topic of this post, but some advantages of using VST-plugins is that you don't have to route midi + audio externally, settings/presets/etc are automatically saved/restored with your projects, and your plugins can be integrated in the applications DSP-chain.
count_fuzzball wrote: IMHO, Running linuxsampler as a VST plug-in under a native linux OS is a bit odd.. You're effectively running an additional compatability layer (wine) where there doesn't need to be.
No. Using a VST natively in Linux does just the opposite - no wine and no extra layers. You're refering to something like dssi-vst or fst to run Windows vsti:s through wine. But then you're back to routing midi/audio externally, it behaves just like an external synth or effect, not integrated into your DAW.

grebneke
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Re: Linux VST, does it work?

Post by grebneke » Fri Jan 01, 2010 3:59 pm

cuse wrote:
grebneke wrote:I loaded the plugin in Renoise (http://www.renoise.com/), but when I tried to open the plugin gui I just got a minimal window with no content. Duh.

Is this supposed to work, what am I missing?
A working VSTi of LinuxSampler would be immensely valuable to the Linux audio community, since there are so few native Linux VSTi:s
I just looked at the VST plugin code, at the moment the Fantasia GUI is only opened on Windows. The respective code block to start Fantasia is embedded into a "#ifdef WIN32" block, so it won't open Fantasia on Linux ATM (have a look at src/hostplugins/vst/PluginVst.cpp, line 86).
Thank you, that answers my question. The GUI is simply not implemented.
cuse wrote:Wanna try to add the missing code for Linux?
My primary question is: has any of the developers thought/planned something for the VST GUI on Linux or has it just been left out indefinitely? Did anybody try to use for instance the Fantasia GUI?

Andreas
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Re: Linux VST, does it work?

Post by Andreas » Sat Jan 02, 2010 10:07 am

The Linux VST works as long as you run Fantasia separately. That is, after you loaded the VST in your host, start Fantasia to be able to load instruments etc. After that, the sampler state should be saved together with the project in the host.

It should be a rather easy programming task to add automatical start of Fantasia in a similar way that it is done in the Windows VST.

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davephillips
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Re: Linux VST, does it work?

Post by davephillips » Mon Jan 25, 2010 3:18 pm

I successfully launched the LS plugin from Ardour3 this morning, following the advice from these forums. I started A3, loaded the plugin, then I started the Fantasia UI. I can see that Fantasia is receiving MIDI data correctly (thanks for the keyboard!), but alas, no audio comes from LS. I'd be happy to learn that I'm doing something wrong in Ardour or LS. I'm still working on it. Any suggestions ?

Also, I agree that the instantiation of the plugin from Ardour should automatically summon the GUI. However, if I have JS-Classic, Fantasia, and QSampler, how will the plugin determine which UI to use ?

Best,

dp

Andreas
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Re: Linux VST, does it work?

Post by Andreas » Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:17 am

davephillips wrote:However, if I have JS-Classic, Fantasia, and QSampler, how will the plugin determine which UI to use ?
That's a good question. In the Windows VST it's currently Fantasia or nothing. I was planning to do the same for linux.

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