This might sound a bit stupid but over the entire Internet, I have not found a single documentation on how to install lv2 plugin in Ardour on windows or even any thing regarding lv2 and windows at all.
So could any kind one give some instruction on how this might be possible?
Sincerely,
Lukas
There are almost no LV2 plugins available separately on Windows. Ardour uses this format on all platforms for its internal plugins (the a-* series). But very few if any LV2 authors make their plugins available on Windows as ready-to-run things. That means that you’d have to compile them yourself or find somebody else who has already done this.
In general, most people working on Windows tend to use VST plugins instead of LV2 plugins. There’s nothing fundamental stopping the use of LV2, except for this issue that they are not normally available without compiling them first.
But if the lv2 plugin states that it can be used on windows, how do you go by installing it?
Really sorry, but the documentation only showed how to install plugins on linux and ios, it didn’t show how to do it on windows.
Which plugin are we talking about?
DragonflyHallReverb has a LV2-version for Windows (as well as a VST-file). How do I install it? And are there any differences in how it will operate if I choose LV2 or VST?
I’d expect most plugins on Windows to come with an installer.
The generic way to to simply unzip the plugin and copy the files.
In case of LV2, they’ll be folders, move them to %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\LV2\ [1] – on English system that expands to C:\Program Files\Common Files\LV2\ (the folder may not exist, if so create it).
The plugin effectively resides below
C:\Program Files\Common Files\LV2\DragonFlyHallReverb.lv2\...
Restart Ardour to pick them up.
VSTs can be installed anywhere, although %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\VST` is commonly used to place the .dll. After that in Ardour > Preferences > Plugins >VST configure the place where the VSTs reside, and Ardour > Preferences > Plugins “Scan” for new plugins.
In this particular case, probably not.
LV2s can be a tad more efficient (process data in place, zero copy), but for the case at hand that’s not significant. Session compatibility is sometimes of concern when you copy the session to different machines. IN case of Ardour, LV2 may also be preferable there.
As far as I know, VST is mainly provided to use the plugin in other hosts.
[1] https://lv2plug.in/pages/filesystem-hierarchy-standard.html