Updated versions of the linuxDSP LV2 plugins are available for testing, a few problems with the earlier versions were discovered that affected reliability when running in LV2 hosts other than Ardour e.g. LV2 Rack. If testing proves successful, then they will move to a proper release version. A Dynamics processor is currently being developed to accompany the MX-EQ plugin to provide compression and a valve (tube) overdrive characteristic if driven hard, similar to analogue tape saturation. They can be downloaded from the linuxDSP website:
As with the previous versions you will need Ardour 2.8.3 for the GUI to function.
Many thanks to those who have supported the development of these plugins so far, continued support is very much appreciated and essential to justify the work involved in providing the plugins.
I’ve been looking every day at your site if there were any new LV2 plugins. I gonna test the new version right when i come home from work. I was working with the previous version just in Ardour and never had any problems.
Cant wait for the compressor to be released. Already got some questions.
Is that a “Gain Reduction” meter at your compressor plugin??
Does the “In db” mean the actuall “threshold” and “out db” the “makeup gain” ???
Can i adjust the “knee” factor??
Yes, the meter on the compressor is a gain reduction meter - it actually shows the gain of the ‘VCA’ in the compressor, so with no compression it is effectively unity or 0dB, as the compressing action increases, the gain decreases as the meter progresses to -40dB
‘In dB’ is a level trim, its just an amount of gain applied to the signal before it goes into the compressor, the threshold is set by the ‘Thr’ control.
‘Out dB’ is the makeup gain
The knee factor is not adjustable at the moment, but the compressor has a ‘soft knee’ characteristic so there is a gradual change at the threshold point from 1:1 to the ratio set by the ratio control.
The compressor is based on the same DSP code used in the VC2 vintage compressor.
@linuxdsp: I only looked at the screenshots so far, but IMHO the ordering of the knobs on both plugins is a bit strange.
EQ: For high and low bands the gain is on top of each, but for the mid band the gain is at the bottom. Also for the mids the gain knob should be next to the freq knob IMHO.
Comp: On the devices I know threshhold and ratio come after another, as they both control the amount of compression - then followed by attack and release.
There are some new updates to the LV2 beta versions on my website. I would be grateful for any feedback, there has so far been one report of some odd behaviour of the MX-DYN1 plugin on x86-64 which is so far proving impossible for me to replicate. These are still beta versions (and LV2 support for the external_UI extension on which these plugins depend is also quite new) so, as usual, use at your own risk… But please use the contact details on my website to let me know if the plugins exhibit any strange behaviour.
I actually had some trouble with plugin windows. If opened and closed too many times windows will stop coming up when the plugin is double clicked on in the mixer strip. Saving the session, then closing and restarting ardour fixes the problem until it happens again. It can happen about every 15min to a half hour. I am using your plugins on ardourVST 2.8.3, with a somewhat modified kubuntu jaunty install, if that helps at all.
Other than that, I haven’t had any real problems (except some documentation on what some of the knobs do would be nice. I figured out some, but others I’m not quite sure (this goes for the EQ and the compressor plugin you ported to LV2). But, I find myself using your plugins in conjunction with Calf plugins to get most of my work done now! (thanks again for starting to port them to LV2, as it is a huge convenience compared to running your software as standalone jack clients!).
I’m having weired troubles with the beta LinuxDSP DYN1 plugin on my debian testing amd64 machine both with my self-built version an the version from unstable. I can’t turn the ratio knob with the left mouse button including a segmentation fault crash, but we don’t want to bother the Ardour devs until we’ve figured out what exactly is going on with the beta-plugin.
It would be great if someone could report if the plugin works or not.
@tbonedude: I think the problem you were seeing with opening and closing the GUIs will be fixed in the latest versions - there was a situation where too many threads could end up running at once - in part this is related to the fact that most LV2 hosts don’t seem to call the UI_cleanup function in the plugin reliably when the plugin is deleted or the session closed.
I’m working on proper manuals for the plugins at the moment - (as well as bug fixing!) So I’ll provide them when the plugins move from beta versions to proper releases. I’ve always regarded proper documentation as important, but my attention is on getting the beta versions tested and working at the moment.
@BenjaminScherrer: I will be releasing a new version of the MX-DYN1 very soon that will fix the problem you are seeing. There is a subtle bug related to the plugin initialisation (as I described in my email) which has now been fixed. Thanks for your help tracking down the problem.
Linuxdsp, I wanted to thank you again for porting these jack clients to lv2! I just donated and installed the new, full optimised versions of your plugins, and I can safely say I will be using them on all of my future audio projects (not to mention donate a little for every projects I get paid for, that they are used on). Thanks for a great linux product!