From what I gather, in order to have Ardour play MIDI and have it sound good, I need to install instruments in the form of VST or VST3 files.
When I saw that, I assumed that this meant files with the extension .vst or .vst3. But every time I download what purports to be a VST file, I get a zip or other archive file that contains lots of files, and I haven’t yet found a file whose name ends in .vst or .vst3.
Am I in fact supposed to be finding files with names that end in .vst or .vst3? If not, what exactly am I supposed to install so that Ardour can render midi with something other than the crummy piano sound it comes with? And if I am supposed to be finding files with names ending in .vst or .vst3, can anyone recommend a good place to find them?
VST is just a particular plugin format. Lots of people irritatingly refer to all plugins or worse, just instrument plugins, as “VSTs”, but this is really not correct.
On Linux, you could also use instrument plugins in LV2 format (for example)
VST2 was never officially supported on Linux. As a beginner with both DAWs and Linux, it is likely that you should stay away from it.
VST3 is officially supported for Linux, but to make your life easier you should ensure that you are getting Linux versions of any VST3 plugin you want. There are ways to run the Windows versions on Linux, but you probably don’t want to deal with that just now (if ever)
VST3 plugins are not just a file, they are a whole folder. The folder whose name ends in “.vst3” should installed in ~/.vst3 (this is a standard dictated by the company that controls the VST3 specification)
Ardour also include a “ACE Fluidsynth” that can play back soundfont samples. You can get a lot of .sf2 soundfonts from Soundfonts 4U that you can load into that plugin.
However if you want actual synthesizers with knobs to tweak and patch, then you need indeed dedicted synth plugins…
as VST2/3 or LV2. The latter format is more common on Linux. https://linuxsynths.com/ has a list and many GNU/Linux distributions do package plugins.
On Debian you could fi. apt install zynaddsubfx-lv2, which is then found next time you start Ardour.
Nope ~/.vst3 is part of the official spec, no need to add it.
But VST2/3 plugins have to be scanned: Menu > Window > Plugin Manager
(LV2 plugins are automatically indexed at application start)
Vitalium, (not vital) is a really interesting synth if you like to tinker around creating your own sounds, and also There are many presets available (more for vital than for vitalium, though).
They have also mentioned zynaddsubfx, which is very competent.
It is also possible to use vst for windows (with the wine subsystem), with the help of a program called Yabridge that translates the wine format to the linux format. Many work, others don’t. In my case, for orchestral sounds, violin, flute, etc., I use Soundpaint, a good alternative to Kontak, but it is for windows. In my case, with the help of yabridge, it works very well.
In any case, I recommend that whenever possible, I use the native versions of linux and use the ones for windows when there is no other option.
Thanks for this list. I imagine it will be useful at some point in the future, when I understand the basics of how to “plug in” the plugins, etc. But at the moment, I am still a very confused newbie looking for help with the basic concepts. I need to be told things like, “go to this menu and select this option” or “input this command in Terminal” or “download this file from this URL and extract its contents to this folder” – and why that is going to enable me to make different sounds with Ardour (and preferably also MuseScore). These are the things most of the information I’ve found takes for granted that the reader already understands. Once I understand what these various kinds of tools are, how they relate to one another, and how to connect them, I’ll be in a position to consider which individual tools make the specific sounds I want.
I do have the broader background and intelligence to get this. I built this computer from components, I wrote my first code in BASIC on an Atari when I was probably about 6, and I took a course on MIDI in high school in the 1990s, when MIDI signals still flowed over 5-pin DIN cables, and synths were boxes that sat next to computers and keyboards. I was able to figure out Drupal enough to build a library catalog in it, and for that project I modified PHP code without ever having used PHP before.
But every once in a while, I encounter something that involves so many complications that are so different from what I’ve done before that I have trouble getting my bearings. I am still new to this OS and modern musicmaking, and I need help getting my bearings.
Thank you for any assistance you can provide at that level.
I remember some basic…in fact I still have a ZXspectrum48k… and I still use 5 pin midi cables, and I have a Yamaha TG55 “a box”, and I still use an old Behringer BCR2000, I’m still a bit analog…
But I abandoned Windows when the Logic DAW moved to the MAC, and then I found Ardour, which I used mainly as an audio editor rather than a multitrack, Audacity has never convinced me, in the Windows era I used Wavelab.
I’m not a professional musician, I just play around on the keyboard a bit, I was a sound technician a long time ago, I know little about Drupal and PHP, C and other languages.
I’ve been using Ardour for a few years now, but in this forum there are real sound masters who know much more than me.
The best thing to do is to visit the links I leave you below and as you progress, if you have questions, go to the forum and use the search function, because surely many of the questions you may have at the beginning have already been answered by someone before.