Calf LV2 plugin: Why do I not see its graphical interface?

I am using the Calf LV2 plugins on my tracks, but when I double-click them to change the settings, it comes up with this dialog with some sliders, not the pretty/beautiful GUI that you see on the Calf website.

I am a newbie, so sorry if it is a stupid question.

get the new version…see this also https://community.ardour.org/node/6152

Thanks, after looking at the thread I am thinking that I should probably upgrade. I am running the previous version of Ubuntu Studio, which I think is based on 12.10, and as someone in that thread points out, has an older version of the plugins. Will try it and let you know.

In edit/preferences/GUI check the «use plugin’s own interfaces instead of Ardour’s».

I think the Ubuntu Studio (12.10) build of ardour is broken and does not correctly link against the LV2 code required to display plugin GUIs. If you download the Ardour3 binary from ardour.org plugin GUIs should display correctly. (Ubuntu Studio devs, please test your ardour builds agains all commonly available LV2 plugins - its supposed to be an audio specific distro and Ardour is one of the if not the most popular linux DAW…)

@xherbie: I looked for this option a long time, but as it turns out I am using Ardour 2 that comes packaged with Ubuntu Studio, and I couldn’t find that option :slight_smile:

@linuxdsp: Thanks for the pointer. I am trying 3 now (although the actual Calf plugins UI still do not look like screenshots on their website - why is that?)

On your one point: I saw on lists.ubuntu.com someone making a very valid point that not all Ubuntu Studio users do audio production (i.e. it is not an audio-specific distro) - the discussion was around “on demand” CPU scaling. But I do agree that all the components that go into the distro should be properly tested.

@mydoghasworms: I don’t know much about the calf plugins - I don’t really have any need to use them, so I can’t comment on why they might look different (perhaps you can post a screenshot for comparison?)

You’re correct, Ubuntu Studio is not audio-only (I was lazy in calling it audio-specific, but my point was that it is - or you might logically expect it to be - developed more closely with the ‘niche’ applications it is designed around)

As a plugin developer, I get ‘support’ questions if my software fails to work properly, and while I’m happy to take the time to help users find a working solution, I’m disappointed if / when I have to spend my time testing against (basic) problems which are actually caused by the distros. Sadly this has happened to me on more than one occasion with Ubuntu Studio and is a significant and unnecessary drain on limited resources. I recommend either AVLinux, Dream Studio, or KXStudio for (professional) audio work.

My Ubuntu Studio 12.10 calf plugins works fine, but with kxstudio plugins ppa. And mayby I compile fftw3 with “–enable-float” to get plugins meter-screens work.
With 13.04 it was a bit better, and with 13.10 everything (calf) works. But nvidia…

I had installed the Ubuntu Studio 13.04 and it has the CALF GUIs as expected…