Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

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finotti
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Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by finotti »

Just in case someone has the same problem as I had: I could never run calf plugins (LV2) in Ardour, as it would immediately crash (segmentation fault), no matter which version of either (Debian Sid, KXStudio, compiled from source...).

My problem was that I also had calf-ladsap installed. Removing it makes it work without problems! (Ironically, I had them installed in case LV2 would not work...)
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by sysrqer »

The ladspa versions (as far as I know) were in the kxstudio repo but they have been discontinued and if the version of calf you have is part of that package then it is quite old.

Even when they seemingly work I would advise caution and frequent saving, they are known to be not particularly stable in ardour, especially when you start automating the parameters. In my experience they appear to be fine and then all of a sudden bring down ardour at apparently random times but I think things have improved a little lately.
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by finotti »

42low wrote:
finotti wrote:My problem was that I also had calf-ladsap installed. Removing it makes it work without problems! (Ironically, I had them installed in case LV2 would not work...)
I have the Calf plugins, but i don't have the calf-ladspa on my computer installed.
Recently installed it on two new computers (Ub16.4LTS, alsa, jack) and didn't install anything else than the Calf package to get the Calf's working immediately.

Not a spot on answer for your problem, but perhaps you can get something out of it.
The Calfs are mostly my favourites. Next to TAP and C* (and some more) also on my systems. And i got them at my service in my fav DAW Ardour and also all the other audio program's (ardour, lmms, audacity). And without crashes ever so it must be able to work proper i would say.

How did you install? With softwarecentre? Or Synaptic (like i did)?
Thanks for your reply. But maybe you misunderstood me. My problem is fixed. As soon as I removed the calf-ladspa package, it started working.
sysrqer wrote:The ladspa versions (as far as I know) were in the kxstudio repo but they have been discontinued and if the version of calf you have is part of that package then it is quite old.

Even when they seemingly work I would advise caution and frequent saving, they are known to be not particularly stable in ardour, especially when you start automating the parameters. In my experience they appear to be fine and then all of a sudden bring down ardour at apparently random times but I think things have improved a little lately.
The calf-ladspa was from Debian Sid (version 1.1.3-7)... And thanks for the advice!
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by nickwit »

Hi all

Looks like I've got the same problem - worked fine on my last two laptops... now Calf plugins instantly crash Ardour.

This is a brand new install of Ubuntu Studio (16.04) with everything pretty much out of the box

So... how do you remove the Calf ladspa plugins?


(
Ubuntu Studio : 16.04

Ardour 5.5.0
rev 1:5.5.0~dfsg-1
Intel 64-bit
)
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by glowrak guy »

nickwit wrote:Hi all

Looks like I've got the same problem - worked fine on my last two laptops... now Calf plugins instantly crash Ardour.

This is a brand new install of Ubuntu Studio (16.04) with everything pretty much out of the box

So... how do you remove the Calf ladspa plugins?


(
Ubuntu Studio : 16.04

Ardour 5.5.0
rev 1:5.5.0~dfsg-1
Intel 64-bit
)
Trouble-shooting by process of elimnation:
Hi, on startup, use sudo pcmanfm, sudo thunar, or sudo nemo, to open a pair of root permissioned
filemangers. Go to your /usr/lib folder. and rename the ladspa folder ladspaTEST. Start ardour with some calf, as a test.
If it now works, you've isolated the problem to what's now in ladspaTEST.

Look at the ladspaTEST folder contents, and use synaptic to uninstall
everything which you don't use, make a new folder called ladspa, and copy back
the _remaining_ contents from ladspaTEST to ladspa, and do another ardour/calf test.

If it still fails, use the filemanager 'sort-by-size' option, and move the largest file
back to ladspaTEST, restart arour/calf. Repeat until calf finally works, then use synaptic
to uninstall that last file you just moved out of ladspa, that restored success with calf.

If still no luck, repeat the same steps using /usr/lib/lv2, or a folder that
ardour creates for plugins.

It's good luck to only keep the plugins you actually use. You can also uninstall
all the lv2 and vst plugins you don't use, to minimze such problems in the future.
As time allows, test all plugins, to see what you'd value in use.
Cheers
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by nickwit »

Any idea what it might be?

I use Calf plugins quite a lot - on this latest install though, as soon as I try to move them from the plugin-manager to the main screen... the whole of Ardour instantly disappears.
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by nickwit »

Well that worked like a charm straight off the bat.

Renaming the ladspa folder leaves me with all the stuff that I use all the time - but without the crash.

Thank you, thank you, thank you :)
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by finotti »

Well, I'm late here, but to check if you have the Calf LADSPA plugins installed, you do

Code: Select all

apt policy calf-ladspa
Check what it says in "Installed".

In your case, it seems like they were installed indeed. To remove them:

Code: Select all

sudo apt remove calf-ladspa
(You can also use a whatever package management tool you are used too. All you need to remember is the name of the package "calf-ladspa", or simply search for "calf".)

But, since you moved the LADSPA folder, the removal might fail. I'd recommend renaming the folder back, remove the package and test it. I believe it should work, and you don't mess with the file system. If it doesn't work, you can go back and rename the folder again...
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Re: Calf crashing Ardour solution (for me)

Post by finotti »

falkTX wrote:I was confused by that "calf-ladspa" package, upstream removed ladspa support already.
Is it really a debian package?
Then I see https://packages.debian.org/sid/calf-ladspa

Oh My God, why!??
Yep: in Debian Sid

Code: Select all

$ apt policy calf-ladspa 
calf-ladspa:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1.1.3-7
  Version table:
     1.1.3-7 500
        500 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian sid/main amd64 Packages
falkTX wrote: This is why we have random crashes regarding calf lately!
I learned that the hard way! I had to avoid calf plugins as much as possible in my first production because of this conflict. I had to use calfjackhost for everything I really needed from calf... It was a nightmare!
falkTX wrote: Those plugins will conflict with the LV2 versions, and they're also a bit crashy, since they're old and unsupported, also only tested in 1 host (LMMS). oh cmon...
It's a bit frustrating for developers seeing something like this happen.
I can imagine... It is not fun for users either. Tears almost ran down my eyes when I found the fix (of removing the LADSPA package). :-)
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