Mac OS Plugin Installation

Hello,

I installed version 2.8.14 and read some documentation on the plugin handling. As far as I understood adding plugins to Ardour is as simple as putting the plugin file to the appropriate plugin folder. This is what I did:

  1. Downloaded a plugin (.component file)
  2. Put the file to /Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components
  3. Restarted Ardour
  4. Tried to add the plugin via the Ardour Plugin Manager

I expected to find the newly added plugin in the Plugin Manager but unfortunately it is not there. I tried the same with a VST plugin but this also won’t show up. Putting the plugin file into the user Library folder also did not do the trick. After that I dug a little bit deeper and found out that the built-in plugins are in the app bundle (ctrl-click the app and select Show Contents). Nevertheless, it did not help to put any downloaded plugins into the app bundle.

I would be glad if someone pointed me into the right direction how to add plugins to Ardour. Any help is really appreciated.

Thank you,

Peter

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A couple of things…

  1. /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components is the correct place for AU plugins only, VSTs go in their own folder.
  2. Ardour on Mac OS X does not use VST plugins, only AU or LADSPA
  3. If you are looking to install LADSPA plugins they would go in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LADSPA
  4. If you are dropping plugins into any of these folders as a different user or authorizing as an admin user when you are logged in as a regular user, you may have a permissions problem. This is the most common problem I find on multi-user systems.

Any of that help? If not try to catch me on IRC (Help>Chat in Ardour) and I can see about helping you more.

     Seablade
1 Like