Running on an up-to-date Debian testing (forky) machine with:
Debian’s gtk2 packages 2.24.33-10
And freshly, locally, built from source:
Ardour 9.0
Calf master branch.
Calf plugins open with GUI in the Calf Jack host, but when I try to use in Ardour, it crashes with the following error message:
CALF DEBUG: instance 0x55f7c561a070 data 0x55f7c55c4960
CALF DEBUG: calf 0x7f801f7bce70 cpi 0x7f801efd5e50
(ardour-9.0.0:87368): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 21:04:08.050: specified class size for type 'CalfKnob' is smaller than the parent type's 'GtkRange' class size
(process:87368): GLib-CRITICAL (recursed) **: Failed to get RW lock 0x7f81aec10bd0: Resource deadlock avoided
Aborted (core dumped) gtk2_ardour/ardev
CALF plugins are no longer usable in Ardour. They rely on GTK+2 which has already been removed from several Linux distributions (and will be removed from almost all of them soon). Do yourself a favor and switch to LSP or some other similar plugin family.
Interestingly, it looks like Debian, at least, did something to get the plugins to work without depending on GTK-2 (if I’m reading this bug report and resolution correctly).
Oh lol, they just disabled the GUI I mean hey, if it works it works…
In my experience Calf worked on Debian Bookworm with the falkTX LV2 GTK UI bridge hack even after Ardour moved to their forked GTK but on Debian Trixie even with the falkTX GTK UI bridge they no longer work, their time has finally come I think…
I already use LSP pretty extensively but there are a number of plugins in Calf that don’t have equivalents in LSP - and that I haven’t found solid FOSS replacements for - especially the de-esser (the Airwindows ones are OK, but the Calf GUI makes it super easy to dial in).
Looks like Debian do intend to drop gtk2 in the next 12 months though.
which plugins are you missing ?
Anyway I did a quick test with ardour-9 from websie and calf from openSuse repo. They load fine but you can use only generic gui. Still calf is a dead horse.
it would be cool if ardour had a similar suite of plug-ins. in the world of linux, every tool that you build in the box, is huge. because adding new plug-ins can be hard on many distros, thats even if theyre in the distros repos.
and yet other daw’s come with great sets of eq’s, limiters and whatever else as a great default option. i suppose if youre on windows, and vst’s are abuntant, this isnt a huge issue. but when you try to work within the box as much as possible, it does get kind of annoying having to basically go out and look for a new set of tools to add on top of this one. calf plug-ins not being compatible any more, due to some outdated tool chain or api or whatever, is actually a great example of why ardour would benefit ( and more importantly, the users of ardour) with having a great set of default mixing tools. if anyone complains about them at, then you can say they can look elsewhere. i mean think about it, what happens when the devs for lsp stop working on it. what happens when there is no other suite of plug-ins that work anymore, or apis change, or whatever the case? it just seems obvious that every daw, should come with some basic tools for making music, and mixing. not because a daw has to, but because it enhances the in the box experience, meaning the users dont have to do more legwork when using the daw, and that its good for the users to have tools to build their workflow from. because if a user loses access to their tools, like the OP in this case, losing access to calf plugs, that just hurts the user, having a good set of default tools helps mitigate that. thats an important thing. the more users are familiar with the tools you give them, and the workflow they have built in your daw, the less likely they will leave. also, the whole “i dont wanna add an eq because other people argue about them” is a weak reason imho. sorry but it is. i dont think ive ever heard anyone say that ever tbh. imagine if photoshop said theyre not going to include certain stock effects because “people argue about them”, or if text editors didnt come with some set of keyboard shortcuts because “people argue about them”. that argument doesnt make any sense does it?
You need to consider the size of the development team and what they already accomplish with Ardour with a skeleton crew. That said they already assembled a minimal set of very solid Plugins and an SF2 player in case you’re stranded on a deserted island with no wifi. One of the developers created an excellent suite of Plugins that are a Repository click away and as far as availability of Plugins between Repository offerings and various websites itemizing and listing external Linux Audio Plugins there are literally thousands of choices now, sure, less than Windows but more than anyone needs.
The logic of it doesn’t really need to make sense to anyone other than them, they do what THEY do best and focus on that and I for one don’t want their attention divided on auxiliary things that are abundantly available elsewhere. Also something unique in the Linux world at least is the ability to either install a dedicated Workstation OS (Ubuntu Studio, AV Linux) or use an overlay (ie GeekOSDAW) and have the DAW, Plugins and system performance tweaks all done for you.
Thats fair, i dont expect a skeleton crew of devs to work on a suite of plug-ins. Im just making a point on how a default set of tools would greatly improve the experience. I personally thiugh do wish they would spend their time working on the treasure trove of bug reports and polish before working on any more features.
Why develop (another) great suite of plugins for Ardour ? The whole point of plugins are that they are host-agnostic. If a plugin is truly awesome then people using Reaper or QTractor or Bitwig or Logic ought to be able to use it.
im sorry, I have no clue about any of this, but…Why isn’t there more collaboration between different plugin developers? An ‘ArdourXT’ with LSP and Surge-team plugins would be really cool. I also don’t understand why there aren’t more x42 plugins included with Ardour—after all, they’re partly involved in developing Ardour. But I have no idea how such a large and complex open-source project like Ardour is structured and im very thankfull ardour exists
As a former Reaper user, I do miss the ‘all-in-the-box’ experience a little bit. But since I started using Ardour only, I’ve discovered a lot of cool open-source plugins for myself. Both approaches have their pros and cons. Still, for new users, having everything in the box is really helpful in my opinion.
Tbh i do. Those plugs are on all my tracks with ardour. Dont put your work down like that. Having good plugs like those with ardour just make ardour that much better. I would hardly call them shovel ware
Yeah, the in the box workflow is super nice. It makes my life so much easier when showing ardour to someone. But instead they ask me, where is this, where is that, and i have to say, well ardour doesnt come with one you have to go and find your own. Then they say, ah well fl studio has a bunch of biult in effects ill stick with that…rip
I mean hey, if it works it works…