linuxDSP Pro Plugins

The linuxDSP Pro-Channel plugins have recently been updated - this update mainly improves compatibility with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, and for the first time the plugins are also available as .deb files for easy installation on Ubuntu / Debian systems. This bundle of plugins provides essential channel processing for Ardour and other compatible linux audio workstations. The following plugins are included:

Pro-EQ - Three band parametric EQ in mono and stereo versions

Pro-Dynamics - Mono and stereo compressors

Pro-Gate - Mono and stereo noise gate, phase adjustment and signal conditioning.

They can be downloaded here:

http://www.linuxdsp.co.uk/download/lv2/download_pro_channel/index.html

And there’s a short YouTube video showing the resizable GUI and how to add the plugins to Ardour’s mixer channel here:

All linuxDSP plugins feature a universal GUI which functions and looks the same on Qt hosts such as Qtractor as it does on GTK hosts such as Ardour, as well as smoothly interpolated controls - no clicks or pops when adjusting parameters, in addition to proper de-normal processing which ensures no unexplained slow downs or excessively high CPU usage when processing silence - features not always found in alternative plugins.

Excellent Work!

The addition of debs is certainly welcome for many users, I thought these plugins were already perfect! They are certainly without peer in the Linux Audio world, and their flawless performance with ALL supported sequencers including Ardour is appreciated. I would appeal to Linux Audio enthusiasts to support this project and encourage further development on this already impressive truly professional-grade lineup of plugins, this is a project we DON’T want to see fade away from “developer fatigue”.

I just recently got the Pro series after having used the MX series for a while. I got them mostly to support LinuxDSP and was not convinced they’d be all that big an improvement over the already impressive MX plug-ins.

I was wrong. The Pro series do sound different, and really fantastic. Thanks again for your work, LinuxDSP. Keep fighting the good fight!

These look excellent… but a few questions.

If I purchase 32 bit versions can I use the same license for 64 bit plugins if I have a dual boot system? (migrating to 64 bit as I gave up on VST usage)…

The manual states there is a 32 bit folder and 64 bit folder, although when I open the files on winzip (I’m at work on xp), II only see on generic folder…

I use gentoo so won’t be using .debs or rpms or any form of package

If I use the custom GUI, can I still bind the controls to an external MIDI controller?

cheers

Allan

@Allank: In answer to your questions:

  1. The activation key(s) / license(s) are valid for all the versions (32 and 64bit etc) contained within the bundle that you download from the website.

  2. You download the .zip file from the website - inside the zip file is a pro_channel_lv2 folder. Inside that folder you will find folders containing the pro-eq pro-dynamics and pro-gate. These are the three plugins that make up the pro-channel bundle. Inside each of these three folders you will find folders for ardour 2.8.8(and later) and a ‘universal’ folder which will work with all versions of ardour from 2.8.3 onwards. The ardour 2.8.8 versions have some improvements that specifically require later versions of ardour, but either the 2.8.8 or universal versions will work with other LV2 hosts.
    Inside the 2.8.8 or universal folders you will find Ubuntu, x86 and x86-64 folders. The x86 folder contains the 32 bit version and the x86-64 folder contains the 64Bit version. The Ubuntu folder contains .deb files for 32 and 64 Bit Ubuntu. Inside the (for example) x86 folder you will find the .lv2 folders that are the plugins. To install the plugins manually, you need to copy this folder and its contents to your /usr/lib/lv2 or /usr/local/lib/lv2 folder.

This may seem somewhat convoluted, but I think it makes sense - unfortunately there are a lot of different options to cover - but as distros catch up with the latest ardour releases, some of the older can be deprecated which should simplify matters.

Once you have the plugins installed they should show up in your plugin list in the host (ardour)

You can try them out in demo mode in order to see if they work properly for you, and if you choose to purchase them you will then get an activation key - full instructions are provided - which you put in your $HOME folder to enable the full functionality.

  1. Binding controls to MIDI - at the moment that is really a function of the host - and I don’t think ardour supports this. What needs to happen is for the host to pick up the MIDI messages and convert them to control values, and pass these control changes to the plugin (exactly as it does for automation events) the plugin can then respond just as if the controls were moved under automation. As this is host dependent I can only say that I don’t think ardour supports it at this time.

I hope all this makes sense - if you have any questions please let me know either here or via email to the ‘support’ link on the linuxDSP website.