Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

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shag00
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Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by shag00 »

Probably best to tell you what I have at the moment, Wavelab 6 with a few plugins, a hard limiter, an expander/gate and voice loudness vsts. Everything I do is perhaps best termed as post production albeit at a fairly modest level. All the plug-ins operate as mono and I combine the modified tracks in a later step.

What brought me here is a youtube video claiming I can use my windows vst's in Linux. What I think I want to do is combine KXstudio's vst bridge with Audacity.

Could you advise me if this is feasible and what parts of KXstudio's programs do I actually need?

I am using Kubuntu 19.04 and have Wine 4.14 installed.

Happy to provide further information if required.
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by rghvdberg »

If you're not going to use Linux for full DAW work but just with an audio editor, kxstudio might be a bit over the top.

From what I've read here on the forums Linvst seems to be the best windows vst bridge.

You can however download carla from https://kx.studio/Applications:Carla without installing all the repos and try that.

Your milage may vary with successfully bridging plugins or running windows software.
shag00
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by shag00 »

Thanks for your reply. I will investigate Linvst as all I really need is a bridge, Win > Ubuntu and hopefully 32 & 64 bit > 64 bit Ubuntu.
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by Michael Willis »

Hey shag00, best of luck getting set up on Linux. For what it's worth, you may be able to find comparable linux-native plugins. If you can, then that avoids having to work with a bridge. You said a hard limiter, expander/gate, and voice loudness? I'm not sure about the last one, but I think the first two are fairly common.
shag00
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by shag00 »

Michael, I was toying with that idea and as part of that process I just looked at the file sizes of the limiter which is fairly straight forward. The Waves limiter that I use currently, is about 1.2Mb and all of the free linux ones I found were all about 20% of that size. Without any advanced knowledge on the subject, I made the assumption that that extra code must be delivering me some benefit. Would be interested in your feedback.
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by raboof »

shag00 wrote:Michael, I was toying with that idea and as part of that process I just looked at the file sizes of the limiter which is fairly straight forward. The Waves limiter that I use currently, is about 1.2Mb and all of the free linux ones I found were all about 20% of that size. Without any advanced knowledge on the subject, I made the assumption that that extra code must be delivering me some benefit. Would be interested in your feedback.
I'm afraid the binary size is not a very accurate indicator of the quality of the plugin. The binary size could be influenced by any number of factors, and larger is not always better.

To give an example: a programmer might have the choice between using a static lookup table or using a calculation. Looking up a value in the static lookup table would reduce the CPU load (as the calculation can be skipped), but it would increase memory I/O, somewhat increase latency / wait times and cause more CPU cache misses. This is a trade-off: it is impossible to say in general which approach is "better". When a plugin uses a lookup table, it could have it stored statically in the binary, or it could build it up in memory at startup. A plugin that has the table in the binary would be bigger than one that builds it up in memory, but once the plugin has started (which is typically instant) there is not really any difference in practice.

There are many such trade-offs, which means the binary size doesn't really tell you anything at all...
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by tavasti »

shag00 wrote:Michael, I was toying with that idea and as part of that process I just looked at the file sizes of the limiter which is fairly straight forward. The Waves limiter that I use currently, is about 1.2Mb and all of the free linux ones I found were all about 20% of that size. Without any advanced knowledge on the subject, I made the assumption that that extra code must be delivering me some benefit. Would be interested in your feedback.
Plugin size is pretty irrelevant. Mostly plugin size will come from UI code, libraries used for UI, images used for it. If it is important for you how your plugin looks like is important, then that size can give you some benefit.

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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by ufug »

Michael Willis wrote:Hey shag00, best of luck getting set up on Linux. For what it's worth, you may be able to find comparable linux-native plugins. If you can, then that avoids having to work with a bridge. You said a hard limiter, expander/gate, and voice loudness? I'm not sure about the last one, but I think the first two are fairly common.
Michael says it perfectly. Although I would also ask: If you are hooked on these plugins, why do you want to switch to Linux?

When I have the time and headspace to sit down to work on music, the last thing I want to do is tinker with my setup. I want to get to the music bits.

If you have an existing workflow that you like (and a financial investment in your software) then you should consider continuing to work on Windows. There's no shame in it.

If you want to switch to Linux for some compelling reason (and there are many), then just let those plugins go, at least at first. Identify what you are trying to do, what tool you need to accomplish the task, and then experiment with the options available. There are a gazillion (OK, maybe a dozen) Linux-native limiters to try.

The exception is if you want to spend your time playing with workarounds because you like doing that, and the music is a secondary objective. In that case, please proceed. :wink: :wink:
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by tavasti »

ufug wrote: Michael says it perfectly. Although I would also ask: If you are hooked on these plugins, why do you want to switch to Linux?

When I have the time and headspace to sit down to work on music, the last thing I want to do is tinker with my setup. I want to get to the music bits.

If you have an existing workflow that you like (and a financial investment in your software) then you should consider continuing to work on Windows. There's no shame in it.

If you want to switch to Linux for some compelling reason (and there are many), then just let those plugins go, at least at first. Identify what you are trying to do, what tool you need to accomplish the task, and then experiment with the options available. There are a gazillion (OK, maybe a dozen) Linux-native limiters to try.

The exception is if you want to spend your time playing with workarounds because you like doing that, and the music is a secondary objective. In that case, please proceed. :wink: :wink:
Sometimes I miss 'like' or 'heart' button in these lovely traditional forums. This is indeed one of these cases :-)

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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by Michael Willis »

tavasti wrote:Sometimes I miss 'like' or 'heart' button in these lovely traditional forums. This is indeed one of these cases :-)
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shag00
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by shag00 »

As the OP I have to agree, "Sometimes I miss 'like' or 'heart' button in these lovely traditional forums. This is indeed one of these cases :-)".

All the replies have been helpful, thank you.

Compelling reasons to switch to Linux, well now that you mention it, yes. Every Windows updates break my LAN, updates are a horror, persistent nagging on a number of issue and much of the same gripes many people have. ATM I dual boot until I have things sorted the way I want and this is one of the issues for me. Putting my mind at ease regarding binary size is a big relief (especially with a good reason as to why), being able to focus on what is easier for me without always thinking, what is missing in this VST,will help me arrive at a good outcome.

So any suggestions for a mono limiter or expander/gate?
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by rghvdberg »

Have a look at https://lsp-plug.in/
Plenty of dynamics plugins there.
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Re: Looking for guidance in building a system to replace what I use with Windows.

Post by ufug »

rghvdberg wrote:Have a look at https://lsp-plug.in/
Plenty of dynamics plugins there.
LSP for sure and also Calf.

In the proprietary world, you can use Presswerk (which may be my favorite plugin of all time) as a limiter and some of Harrison's plugins will also help with mastering tasks.

You'll need to jump in and try a bunch of things to build your own plugin chain, we don't have any active mastering-focused suites directly akin to Wavelab. Pretend you are in 1998, remember that there was plenty of great music made before Wavelab, and you'll probably be fine. 8)
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