On 26/05/12 11:47 PM, Len Ovens wrote:
On Fri, May 25, 2012 3:28 pm, Louis Gorenfeld wrote:
I might, but there's also limited time I have to improve it. I guess
it depends on how in-demand it'd be, and how much I'd have to
rearrange existing code. I'd hoped VST support on Linux would be doing
well in general, but maybe that's not the case..?
VST is one of those things that sits odd in some parts of the Linux
community. It is not GPL, it is an owned spec. So while the average audio
user might like to have a VST plug in. There are some Distributions that
will not ship with either VST plugins, VST containers or VST support. It
also means some of the people who do a lot of audio coding and maintain
binary packages don't care too much about about improving VST support.
For plugins, I believe this is still the case, but for hosts, use of the
reverse-engineered Vestige headers means that the official VST headers
are not needed. There should be no trouble including these VST-enabled
hosts in distributions.
Many people who do audio have a 64bit OS. I know the windows VSTs are all
32 bit, but I think (someone correct me if I am wrong) The Linux VST is
the same.
VSTs do need to be compiled for the same CPU architecture as the plugin
host. The same applies for other plugin formats, too, but it's obviously
much less of a problem with open-source plugins that you're free to
rebuild. Most Windows VSTs are 32-bit but an increasing number of them
are available in 64-bit format, and many Linux VSTs are available in
64-bit format also.
The most commonly used DAW in Linux does not support VST. It can be
compiled with VST support... but, it requires the tools to build and once
you have done so you will not be able to get support from the Ardour devs
if you have problems. They will first want you to install their pre-built
image.
Ardour 3 and Qtractor both support Linux VSTs, without needing the
official VST headers or any special build options. The Ardour 3 beta
builds include this.
In the end, it is up to you how much time you want to spend on your
project. You are not charging for it, some people will find a way to use
it so my thought is thank you for making it available on whatever terms
you choose. If you have the time (and interest) try LV2, but don't feel
you must if that will make it feel like a chore. Perhaps if someone else
finds they like it, they will add an LV2 version. (if your licensing
allows that)
For cross-platform plugins, VST definitely does make some sense, just
because you're not dealing with different plugin formats on different
platforms. The other way to tackle that is with a toolkit that supports
multiple platforms and plugin formats, such as JUCE, which falkTX has
been adding LV2 support to.
Thanks
Leigh
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