[SOLVED] Can the Linux Reaper load Windows VST plugins?

[tapenade]

NOTE: (edit) This has been SOLVED (by others here)... scroll towards the end of the thread for the responses.

Hi, I have both the Linux Reaper and the Windows Reaper DAW programs installed on my Linux system.
I also have WINE installed. Both programs run just fine, I'm getting audio, it's OK.

As I'm only in the early stages of loading in plugins,...

Can anybody tell me, "Does the Linux version have the ability to load in Windows VST's? And for that matter, does the Linux version of REAPER have the ability to load projects made with the other (Windows) one?"

Do I need to install any kind of accessories?

And last but not least, how can I tell the difference between Windows VST plugins and Linux VST plugins?
This is getting confusing, but if I can just use my Windows VST plugins with the Linux Reaper, that'd probably be ideal.
Is there an easy way to do it? Do I need LinVST?

[Shortstop]

I think this video might help you out, its basically a video in which the dude goes over how to use 'Carla' to load 'VST' style plugins in Reaper on Linux. I think he's using Lubuntu, but the same idea applies, as long as you're using a Debian or Ubuntu based Linux distro, I think you should be fine to follow-along.

Even if not, you can pretty much find the same plugins with a bit of research on Google and Stack Overflow:
LADSPAs, LV2s and Windows VSTs in Reaper Linux Native Using Carla (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuO39baiBGw)

I mention this because I depended on this video a lot to try to get some Windows plugins working in Linux.

My personal opinion? It's gonna be hit or miss honestly. I got 'SOME' working, but some flat out crashed and crashed the whole setup.

Don't mean to be that guy, but you might want to find out the Linux alternatives for each plugin you're after. There's a ton of free stuff out there, so its only a matter of looking in the right spots.

Here's some links from my webring on the same topic, hope they help:

• http://linux-sound.org/ - Great Linux audio reference page

• http://linuxsynths.com/ - Page dedicated to Linux based software synths

• https://woolyss.com/chipmusic-plugins.php - Awesome chiptune based synth plugins for DAW's

• https://theodosynthsarchive.wordpress.com/ - More great synth plugins for DAW's

• https://www.hitsquad.com/smm/freeware/ - Site with audio software including plugins for DAW's

• http://www.vstplanet.com/ - Site full of free VST plugins for DAWs

• https://drumgizmo.org/wiki/doku.php?id=kits - Site full of drum VST plugins for DAWs

• https://www.renoise.com/ - Site for 'Renoise' DAW for Windoze, Linux, and MacOSX

• https://resources.openmpt.org/tracker_h ... dbook.htmf - Site dedicated to teaching how to use music tracker software to create music

• https://github.com/jpcima/ADLplug - 'ADLplug' synthesizer plugin for ADLMIDI and OPNMIDI that gives users access to classic FM synthesizer tones

• https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ - 'dexed' FM synthesizer plugin, a multi-platform, multi-format plugin synth that is closely modeled on the Yamaha DX7

[stanlea]

In short, no.

[tavasti]

Can anybody tell me, "Does the Linux version have the ability to load in Windows VST's? And for that matter, does the Linux version of REAPER have the ability to load projects made with the other (Windows) one?"
...
And last but not least, how can I tell the difference between Windows VST plugins and Linux VST plugins?
This is getting confusing, but if I can just use my Windows VST plugins with the Linux Reaper, that'd probably be ideal.
Is there an easy way to do it? Do I need LinVST?

Reaper itself does not have direct ability, but with suitable plugin gateway, you can. LinVST is one possibility, yabridge is more recent and providing better compatibility when combined with recent wine. With yabridge you can use windows VST/VST3 plugins in linux-reaper, and also drag'n'drop from win plugins work.

[Gps]

And last but not least, how can I tell the difference between Windows VST plugins and Linux VST plugins?
This is getting confusing, but if I can just use my Windows VST plugins with the Linux Reaper, that'd probably be ideal.
Is there an easy way to do it? Do I need LinVST?

Windows VST have most off the time, the extension .dll.

A Linux vst will be an .so extension.

A linux vst:
http://www.linuxsynths.com/amSynthdemos/amsynth.html

[mdiemer]

I'm using Reaper For Linux, and am running Garritan Personal Orchestra and the NI kontakt player. I used Linvst for them. Once installed correctly, they work just like they do in Windows. While many people are using Yabridge, Linvst still works very well, and the Vst3 version works as well. Both programs are great tools that get the job done.

One situation that is a big problem is dongles. iLok and eLicenser not only don't work, trying to make them work will screw them up on windows, and you may need support from them to get them working again. So probably not a good idea. Some things just have to be left behind. Fortunately there are many alternatives. But it will take time and a lot of thinking and tinkering. but it is doable.

[tapenade]

OH MY GOD!!!

THANK YOU. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME.
You guys solved my biggest problem (figuring this stuff out).

I've done some of this type of thing before, but not with any Linus version of Reaper.
I had forgotten much of what I learned and you guys knew a bunch of stuff I didn't.

Thank you so very very much. You guys are top notch. Thanks for the no-fuss quick answers.
This is why I still like doing things the Linux way sometimes.
Somebody somewhere knows how to solve most problems.

I will try to "pay it forward" and help out others too, after I get my DAW set up.
You guys rock, though.

[tapenade]

Yep, it's working so far. Interesting, strange technique. Yet I'm so glad it works.
Years ago it was easier to use the Windows Reaper, but I feel more comfortable with the Linux Reaper now.
This is good. Less fussing with WINE, although I still do love WINE too.

[tavasti]

BTW, when using windows reaper with wine, what kind of latency you can get? With other windows DAWs, there seems to be need to but huge buffer sizes to avoid xruns.

[tapenade]

BTW, when using windows reaper with wine, what kind of latency you can get? With other windows DAWs, there seems to be need to but huge buffer sizes to avoid xruns.

Hmmm, good question.
My old system (that I don't have anymore) seemed to have decent low latency because I was able to edit the pulse audio system files as per advice from the Puppy Studio (An old Puppy Linux with Reaper in it !!) inventor. Puppy Linux was based upon Ubuntu, so I imported the technique into Ubuntu Studio, then into Xubuntu with a lowlatency kernel, and then into every other Linux I've ever tried.

I wish I could give you some numbers. I'm not sure of the latency.
But I'm almost done setting up my current new system that I got a few days ago.
I still use the pulse audio edits.

I will try to post up my annotated notes at Archive.org (as PNG images again) after I get this stuff all sorted out.
I apologize in advance for the delay.

Here's the old stuff (incomplete), and partially stale:
https://archive.org/details/Linux-DAW-Extra-Help

I designed these as PNG images so that even somebody with a wimpy cheap tablet computer could download and save them.
For now, they are mostly just reminders. I didn't finish editing them and there's a few tiny errors. And they don't explain that much on their own, except for a few. But it's all so different this time around!...

I'm using Manjaro this time, which is different from the Debian and MX and Ubuntu Linuxes I used in the past.
I was able to install a realtime kernel too. But probably the biggest speed hack is that my drive is an NVMe drive this time.
Even the clerk at the store where I bought the computer didn't seem to realise that. I used to have the exact same model.
The store clerk kept trying to sell me something more expensive and supposedly with a better CPU, but this system is good.
My old system got stolen, so I guard this one carefully.

Anyways,
I'm making a kit of documentation of how I tend to get these DAWs working better.
One thing that helps, is I install FL Studio and ASIO4all, and use their driver for some other programs.
The Image-Line driver turns out to be pretty useful. I forget what it's called.

All this stuff is going to take me a while to get done. I downloaded so much stuff, I have to sort through it.
Most of the hotspots I go to for downloading, wouldn't let me connect to the Arch or Manjaro support pages, so I got really messed up confused for a while. But there's two other hotspots, one near, and one far, that I use... and those don't censor my connections so harshly.

I have to make sure I get the NVMe drive and other stuff set up okay, so I don't break my system.
Also, I notice inside of about:config of Firefox, I was getting hacked. Somebody was stashing their data into my Firefox's about:config.
It looked really bad. So I gotta basically clear Firefox off of my system. That sucks because I was getting a lot of good downloads from a few Firefox addons from Mozilla.

Sorry I'm kinda rambling.
I did follow some YouTube tutorials for DAW optimization, but I'm going to check back into the AVLinux PDF and also the old advices from the web.
I don't think I have to worry about gvfs stuff this time, but I might need to make some scripts to turn off webcam, etc. I don't think I'm going to install cpufreq-indicator this time, but I do need to adjust the CPU governor. I did turn SWAPINESS down to 10. I have a reasonable SWAP space partition.

I do know some of the Reaper configuration tricks, such as keeping the Reaper "peak" files totally or mostly in RAM. That's a pretty nice technique.
I also need to make sure that having ext3 is NOT going to be an FSTRIM / DISCARD problem. So far, I think it's OK. I read about how the modern Linux kernel defaults to ext4 behaviors, and ext4 and ext3 are backwards and forwards compatible to each other. I think I installed a scheduled task for FSTRIM, but somewhere some info said DON'T do that on NVMe drive. Also, I think some drives do that stuff automatically, so I might not need either.

After I finished getting this stuff set up, I'll see what I can do about making some latency benchmarks.
Everything's kinda different this time around. Different WINE, different Reaper, different Linux kernel, different Linux OS, different drive type, different drive bus (PCI instead of SATA). Different computer, different CPU, different configuration, different BIOS, different year. I really have no idea except that so far, no serious problems.

Back when I first started configurings with Puppy Studio, reaper just barely worked, so I followed the advice to get it working better. I remember what the good signs and the bad signs look like. Mostly it's transport related stuff. I never use WINE_ASIO or anything like that. I don't even use JACK. But this time I couldn't use the same settings as I used to use within Reaper for audio device settings, and I had to choose different settings in WineCFG too.

So much difference! But it's still working.

[glowrak guy]

To use yabridge, unpack the yabridge archive in

/home/you/.local/share

This will create a Yabridge folder. Copy it's contents to

/usr/bin

Create and populate standard vst paths like in the commands below, in your .wine folder,
observe the use of quotes in paths and app titles containing spaces.
These examples are pretty much the standard simple windows vst paths, but more complex collections
from the likes of IK Multimedia and Native Instruments will have custom vst locations to use.

/home/you/.wine/drive_c/"Program Files/Native Instruments/VSTPlugins 64 bit"

yabridgectl add /home/you/.wine/drive_c/users/VstPlugins
yabridgectl add /home/you/.wine/drive_c/"Program Files/VstPlugins"
yabridgectl add /home/you/.wine/drive_c/"Program Files/Common Files/VST3"
yabridgectl add /home/you/.wine/drive_c/"Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins"

Next, run the command:

yabridgectl sync

This will commence the scanning of plugins, and creation of the linux vst versions
with .so extensions.

Run the above command each time you make changes to your vst collection,
or update the yabridge version

Cheers

[tavasti]

BTW, when using windows reaper with wine, what kind of latency you can get? With other windows DAWs, there seems to be need to but huge buffer sizes to avoid xruns.

Hmmm, good question.
My old system (that I don't have anymore) seemed to have decent low latency because I was able to edit the pulse audio system files as per advice from the Puppy Studio (An old Puppy Linux with Reaper in it !!) inventor. Puppy Linux was based upon Ubuntu, so I imported the technique into Ubuntu Studio, then into Xubuntu with a lowlatency kernel, and then into every other Linux I've ever tried.

Ok, I have tried windows daws with wineasio, and using it needs big buffers on bigger projects. Smaller ones work with some nearly reasonable settings. But haven't tried with pulse. And that dependency on project size, that tells it is about CPU load. However, with Mixbus never need to go that high. Maybe I should experiment bit more.

[tapenade]

BTW, when using windows reaper with wine, what kind of latency you can get? With other windows DAWs, there seems to be need to but huge buffer sizes to avoid xruns.

Hmmm, good question.
My old system (that I don't have anymore) seemed to have decent low latency because I was able to edit the pulse audio system files as per advice from the Puppy Studio (An old Puppy Linux with Reaper in it !!) inventor. Puppy Linux was based upon Ubuntu, so I imported the technique into Ubuntu Studio, then into Xubuntu with a lowlatency kernel, and then into every other Linux I've ever tried.

Ok, I have tried windows daws with wineasio, and using it needs big buffers on bigger projects. Smaller ones work with some nearly reasonable settings. But haven't tried with pulse. And that dependency on project size, that tells it is about CPU load. However, with Mixbus never need to go that high. Maybe I should experiment bit more.

Hmmm, NOPE(!): I do *NOT* use WineASIO. I am slightly familiar with it--WineASIO gave me extremely large quantities of xruns (buffer underruns) several years ago. Between ALSA, JACK (Jack Audio Connection Kit), and PulseAudio, I was thoroughly confused and irritated at first. That's part of why I made it a point to just learn how to reconfigure PulseAudio and skip reading so many manuals and tutorials.

Totally innocently, most people tend to use JACK2, I think, (actual JACK version II); but I have trouble remember how to use it and there are so many varities of JACK-related tools, it's kind of overwhelming for me. As an alternative behavior that I took, I found out to install QasMixer, FL Studio ASIO, and just edit the PulseAudio files and configure the normal audio stuff as it came up in programs. That's still what I do. JACK2 still works in programs that require it as long as it's installed.

I had noticed a trend with a lot of distros that I was testing coming with PulseAudio installed as a default install. I prefer to avoid "killing" the PulseAudio processes and services. And I don't really want to manually control too much stuff.

As soon as I complete my current system configuration, I'll post up specifics and specifications so that others will hopefully be able to replicate success.
It's going to take a while, though. I tend to download huge amounts of plugins and accessories. Also, I'm learning how to use some software from scratch (without prior education / ability).

One thing about Manjaro Linux, for example, is that I find the pamac "Add/Remove Software" to be prone to crashes on my system, and kind of risky and hard to use. Nevertheless, I find "pacman" to be EXTREMELY user friendly... so much that I jumped out of and away from the other Linuxes so that installs and install management would be easier. I need to be able to recover from configuration errors and to be able to prevent them too. I will sincerely miss gDebi (* aside = I love you too, Deby Ryan) and at first I was pained to be without Synaptic Package Manager. Yet, Octopi seems to be MUCH EASIER to use than pamac. I had some pamac database and server repo corruption problems, but was able to rebuild and recover thankfully.

I really do NOT miss messing with dpkg -i, although it saved my arse several times on the [..]ubuntu Linuxes

THANK GOD for YaBridge. I am really saying "Yay! | "Yea!" | "Yeah!"; my set up time is not so bad. The main thing slowing me down as for VST support is relearning and configuring Reaper. Reaper has TONS of internal settings. I think beginnners might not like that about Cockos Reaper. I am familiar with the Windows edition of Reaper, but mainly only the much older editions. Also, I might need to continue to postpone purchasing a compatible USB MIDI Controller and speakers until after I relocate into more proper housing for where I live each night and day.

After having my previous home studio gear stolen within seconds, within a few days, I'm cautiously vigilant and defensive this time.

So far the YaBridge stuff and WINE seems to be working on my 64-bit Manjaro system.
I'm not going to talk too much about which hardware computer specs I have, except to say that the salesperson tried (and failed) to get me to purchase a newer system.

I'm a guy who used to purchase really old computers and fix them up with Linux for audio. I would still do it except I'm not really trying to live my whole life outta antiques(!). Previously owned gear might not have been properly cared for, and might have been damaged by the previous owner. Also, this time around, I am slightly spoiled IN A GOOD WAY, thanks to those AVLINUX custom kernels. MMMMM tasty kernels!!!! Hahahahaha.... they were a great success. It got me thinking about actual Linux kernel editions.

So right now I've got an RT kernel manually installed; I don't know if that's one of the main reasons why stuff is working or not. This calendar year of 2022 sure is different compared to 2014. 2014 is when I first got an amazing Linux DAW happening on used Hewlett-Packard (HP) gear. Back then it was a desktop system. Now I'm on a laptop for portability.

During some of the in-between years, I started preferring desktops vs laptops, but until I have a stable place to live permanently with good security against thieves, I need to keep my stuff with me pretty much at all times. If I could, I'd buy one of those Kensington attache' suitcases like in the movies, where the guy is like actually handcuffed to his own suitcase. However, I don't want to risk some effing ar*********** sawing off my hand to obtain my stuff! (it could happen; some internacional thugs might assume I'm carrying military or diplomatic gear).

This time I need to blend in with the public a bit more. I think when I looked like a tourist (when I was traveling) people were quick to notice me and stalk me until they nabbed my DAW and all else I had with me. I can't let *that* happen.

OK, I'm rambling again... so I'll quit.
But one last thing...

I woulda bought an AKAI MPC-One or something, except that they LOOK way too much like the much more uber expensive collectible MPC's from the late 1990s early 2000s. The MPC-ONE is feature packed and almost affordable. However, the laptop computer was on sale and significantly cheaper, and I'm often poor. Also, touchscreens scare me away. I tried to like cellphones and tablets, but I think they tend to just be vectors for adware. Those built-in ads for android apps are a total gotcha!

Happy Computing and Music-Making Everyone!!!!
Unicorns are people too!

[tavasti]

Hmmm, NOPE(!): I do *NOT* use WineASIO. I am slightly familiar with it--WineASIO gave me extremely large quantities of xruns (buffer underruns) several years ago. Between ALSA, JACK (Jack Audio Connection Kit), and PulseAudio, I was thoroughly confused and irritated at first. That's part of why I made it a point to just learn how to reconfigure PulseAudio and skip reading so many manuals and tutorials.

Yeah, wineasio uses jack directly, without extra buffering, and pulse does buffering anyway. So that is why pulse does not give xruns, but latency problem is there anyway, just done with another software

In your config, do you have pulse using own hardware directly, or is pulse connected to jack?