thank you for your response and Sorry for my silly question, but why does it have to be tied to the release cycle? Couldn’t an Ardour 9.3 with your x42 Auto Tune v8.8 have a successor Ardour 9.4 with the same x42 Auto Tune v8.8? Sorry, I really have no idea about software development. 
It’s the other way around, for example between Ardour 8.12 and 9.0 releases two years passed, and in the meantime there were several updates of x42-plugins.
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You keep mentioning this, but I honestly don’t get it. Which distro are you using that LV2 plugins (for example) aren’t available? I know Debian includes a bunch (including x42), so their downstreams all include it as well. Ironically enough, plugins tend to be relatively easy to package because they’re relatively self-contained (unless they include custom GUIs and stuff, I guess). I’ve really appreciated that I can install LV2 plugins system-wide and use them within any DAW or audio editor I happen to use — that’s sort of the point of plugins.
Also, as others have mentioned, bundling plugins means that their release cycle gets tied to the release cycle of the DAW, which is just a bad idea. Plugins can (and should!) evolve independently of whichever DAW you’re using.
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Just another Ardour user here, still doing music the traditional way.
I’m completely happy with the approach the Ardour team is taking.
Over the years I have acquired enough skills to find (if it is available) and install any plugin I need, including sampler (which I only used once for a EDM music class on Udemy).
No need for a large lib of plugins delivered with Ardour from my side.
My 2 ct …
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Did you really not notice that Ardour by default comes with ACE-variants of amplifier, compressor, EQ, delay, expander, soundfont player, synth, reverb and some other plugins?
Also, if you read up on what’s been said in these forums about the audio quality of the Calf plugins you should be aware that they have some clear flaws.
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The ACE plugins come with Ardour, that is the role that those fill.
I think that is what people are saying to you right now regarding ACE plugins.
If they are in the distro repos it should be as simple as “sudo dnf install ” or “sudo apt install ” and that is assuming you want to install with a terminal. Most distributions also include some kind of GUI package manager where you only have to click on the package name and then press a button labeled Install or something similarly obvious.
And if you want a plugin not included in the distribution it should be as straight forward as copying a directory into either your .lv2 or .vst3 directory in your user directory. I’m not sure how low the effort has to be for you to not consider something “hard” but I would consider knowing how to copy a directory somewhere kind of a minimal level of knowing how to use a computer at all.
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sometimes i wonder if people actually read what ive said, before responding to me. yes im aware of the ace plugs, and the x42 stuff, i think theyre great. even if the dev called them shovel ware. also, while some of the basics are covered, theres plenty of room for more creative effects, like phasors, chorus, delays, reverbs, distortions ect that would be awesome to have.
its almost like you live in a bubble. there are lots of weird distros out their, with different variety of whats supplied in the repos. you do understand that right? im speaking for them in a way, because i do believe that having a good default, in the box experience is always going to be a plus. im only making a point to say that stuff that comes included with ardour, is really cool! and its a convenience for the user. having tools integreted into he daw, is just nicer imho. esp when theyre made by the devs working on the daw. it makes me feel like its a coherent complete system. sometimes 3rd party plugs are super buggy you know, and i try to avoid them when possible.
That’s why the distro developers invented “dnf install” and “apt get”…
What Ardour maybe should have is a web page listing the more prominent effects developers and possibly pros/cons about their effects, so that new users can easily get an idea of which ones the “pro” Ardour users use.
what happens when those effects go the way of the dodo? users suffer. maintaining compatibility with 3rd party devs is also a large commitment as well. having your own tools built in, offers a stable platform for users. I am always looking at it from the users perspective here. imagine if your fav plug dev makes a breaking change with ardour, and thats it? nothing you can do. hope you didn’t have a client or needed to use it that day.
I know. I was asking which distro you are using that doesn’t have plugins in the repo. All of the major distros either directly have plugins in the repo or are variations of ones that do (Debian, RedHat/Fedora, Arch, etc). Perhaps something like NixOS might not have it (I don’t know), but I’m trying to figure out the space where building and packaging Ardour (nontrivial) is totally fine, but building and packaging plugins (orders of magnitude easier!) is somehow hard.
It’s not that I’m living in a bubble. I’m struggling to understand how a distro that is fine with building and packaging Ardour would find it hard to build and package plugins. I can see times when none are included (too much effort) and I know that there are tons where both are included (all major distros). I don’t see the space you’re talking about, though.
I think for beginners without the knowledge, it would be nice to have some stock plugins to learn the daw. It would also make it easier to follow Ardour YouTube tutorials with some more stock plugins.
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Then you can use AI to revive and improve them…
If your fav plug dev makes a breaking change with ardour you make sure to not install that version while your playing client is on the clock.
its not just bout the pakcaging though, its also different file system standards that make stuff like 3rd party plugs annoying to work with. i use nixos, and ive managed to get many plugins working, but i happen to also be savy enough to do that, though there are still many problems that i run into using 3rd party plugs even when they do load. for instance, many plugs that scale the window are super glitchy for me. i dont think this is a nixos issue btw either. some just crash ardour, and others either to complex for a simple task, too heavy weight or just annoying to work with. often times its just annoying visual effects that can make me not want to use a plug. the main thing i like about using tools built int he box is that, my workflow stays portable and easy to set up. i dont have to connect and install or buy 3rd party stuff just to get started, that a huge win in my book. and if the effects are built by the daw devs, im not so worried that they will be buggy and crash.
i dont know if most producers happen to also be in the programming hobby like me, and could even do that. i think a person that makes music and programs, and knows how to use ai to fix a plug, would be rather rare in the grand scheme of things. but yeah, they could.
but its kinda different on windows and macos.
Okay, but that’s a “NixOS breaks the assumptions most software makes” problem. I might even agree with you that those assumptions should be broken, but that doesn’t change the fact that the onus is very much on NixOS to repackage stuff so that it doesn’t break.
The glitchiness is probably due to Wayland issues (Ardour is GTK2 and X11-only, meaning it runs under XWayland in Wayland sessions). You can try using the generic plugin controls (right-click on the plugin and select generic controls) to solve some of those issues. Either way, none of that is solved by what you are suggesting, except perhaps the packaging issue (which is very much a NixOS issue, not a plugin issue).
Well, yes, but this thread is in the “Linux” sub-topic, and all of the previous discussion has been regarding Linux plugins. Is the fact that different operating systems do it slightly different relevant to this discussion?
I would assume most Windows plugins would come with installers…? Not sure about macOS (probably some other type of one-click installation).
Exactly 
This is clearly Linux-specific.
you are not looking at it from a users perspective at all. a user, regardless of what platform they are on, would greatly benefit with having a set of simple default plugs at their disposal. i just brought up the example of packages as a single example of someone whom it would benefit. there are other reasons, that ive brought up ( that you havent noted to) that would make having some basic effects worth while imho. from a users perspective, built in plugs or even plugs shipped with a daw, are expected to generally perform and work / integrate with the daw. this is really nice. having more tools once you install the daw, from a users perspective, is also *really * nice. that means less hunting around for other tools or buying other tools right after. nice. i am always looking at this issue from the users perspective. esp on linux. 3rd party plugs are few and far between, and thats when you sift through the buggy ones. visual glitches are one thing, but sometimes they just freeze. sometimes they just emit noise and i have to press panic. sometimes they are just clunky. having a set of simple tools would alleviate these issue. not to mention, 3rd party plugs often do not make simple plugs. they try to make more ornate and complex ones. im advocating for very simple ones, that can do the barebone basics. just to get people off the ground. lets not forget what thread we are on. one where calf plug ins are all but dead in the water. kinda sucks for anyone who liked using them wouldnt you guys agree? from the users perspective, that sucks.
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