Tested to work with FL Studio 20.
THIS IS A FAKE PAGE, KXSTUDIO NEWS USES A DYNAMIC MODULE NOW
> KXStudio Monthly Report (December 2019)
On 2019-11-15 by falkTX
> KXStudio Monthly Report (November 2019)
On 2019-10-15 by falkTX
Hello all, today is November 15, a Linux/Libre-Audio release day.
I do not have anything to actually release (that is ready anyway), so I thought to instead start something new.
Every month, starting with this one, we will have a monthly report regarding the latest stuff in KXStudio.
This will involve new releases, package updates to its repositories, important bug-fixes and short-term plans.
So let's begin...
First of all, in case you somehow missed it,
a new JACK2 release is here!
This finally brings meta-data support into JACK2. More information about meta-data in JACK can be found
here.
On the repositories, "helm" package had an issue where the plugin could not find its own presets.
(This was caused due to KXStudio repositories going ahead on renaming "helm" to "Helm" as the former already exists)
ZynAddSubFX got (re-)added, using its nice and fancy Zyn-Fusion UI.
In the old repositories there was "zynaddsubfx" for old UI, and "zynaddsubfx-git" for the new one.
The "git" package is gone, only "zynaddsubfx" is there now and it has the new UI. +1 for progress!
x42-plugins got updated to 20191013 release.
Fluajho, Patroneo and Vico were added. (nice simple tools from Nils Hilbricht)
These last ones were tricky since they use python libraries.
In order to make it a generic package I resorted to cxfreeze which makes it run independent of the system python.
Coming soon is Carla 2.1-beta1.
The actual software is ready for the beta1 release, but setting up the infrastructure for an updated Qt5 build is taking longer than expected.
The current 2.0 builds use quite an old Qt version: Qt5.5 on macOS, Qt4(!) on Linux, which I do not accept for new releases going forward.
Windows builds are ready to go though, you can find test binaries on Carla's
github.
Once I finish setting up the builds for Linux and macOS, I will make the announcement. Very likely in mid-November.
Finally,
Sonoj
is coming!
Sonoj is an annual event/convention in Cologne, Germany, about music production with free and open source software.
It features demonstrations, talks and hands-on workshops.
You can meet like-minded people, learn insider knowledge and tricks, participate in their one-hour production challenge!
It is only a few days from now, so please get ready! :)
I will be doing a talk in Sonoj about the past, present and future of JACK.
So please come and say hi, registration is free!
> JACK2 v1.9.13 release
On 2019-10-06 by falkTX
A new version of JACK2 has just been released.
You can grab the latest release source code at
https://github.com/jackaudio/jack2/releases.
The official changelog is:
This release is focused on meta-data support, and this is why it took so long.
There might be odd cases here and there and a few bugs, as it is often the case for all software...
So please make sure to report back any issues!
Special thanks goes to Rui Nuno Capela for the initial pull-request regarding meta-data.
There was some work needed afterwards, but that was the biggest hurdle and motivation needed for a new release. :)
There are still no updated macOS or Windows builds, those will be handled at a later date.
Current plan is to have JACK1 feature-parity first (only a2jmidid and zita internal clients missing now),
and afterwards merging examples/tools and header files to be shared between JACK1 and JACK2.
The situation regarding development of JACK and JACK1 considered legacy has not changed since last release 2 years ago.
See
https://kx.studio/News/?action=view&url=jack2-1912-release-and-future-plans
for more information.
PS: I will be in Cologne for
Sonoj,
giving a talk about "Past, Present and Future of JACK".
There is no registration fee, so please feel free to come by and say hello! :)
> The KXStudio are (slowly) coming back
On 2019-09-23 by falkTX
Greetings from Portugal.
After some time setting up in a new country, thinking and planning, I (falkTX) decided a few things in regards to the KXStudio project.
First of all, if you have not noticed, the KXStudio ISO images were taken down.
They were using Ubuntu 14.04 as base, that while still works in many cases, starts to show its age.
The fact that I can no longer run it myself (due to a new GPU that is unsupported in its older OS stack) forced me to finally move to something new.
Wherever new ISOs will come back again is undecided at this point.
They are not a priority at all right now, so if I get to make them again it is not going to be this year or the beginning of the next.
I still like KDE/Plasma the best in terms of desktop experience, so that would remain.
Plasma and KDE ecosystem is changing too fast, it does not make it easy for what I want in KXStudio.
Perhaps when Qt6 is out, KDE/Plasma5 will slow down a bit, we'll see...
Anyway, the bigger news is that the KXStudio repositories are coming back!
(for those that do not know, KXStudio has repositories that sit on top of any Debian or Ubuntu system and provides updates and new packages related to audio/music production)
To be honest, they are already back right now :), but not in a state that matches what they used to be before.
I am in the process of bringing over all the relevant packages slowly. A few packages per day so in a few weeks we should be good again. :)
Anyway, a new repository setup was really needed.
Previously, the repositories were mixing packages built in 3 different Ubuntu versions and there was a separate gcc5 variant of the repos with a few packages that use the new libstc++ ABI introduced in gcc5.1.
This was a pain to manage, so better to rethink it.
I kept things somewhat updated over the years, and did not change/break the repositories in a meaningful way because 14.04 was still supported and what I used daily anyway.
Now that enough time has passed and 14.04 is officially EOL, perfect chance to rework the repositories for the future!
Here is the current situation:
Speaking of updates, the website needs some touches here and there...
Already started with a few, like removing the home carousel and all use of JavaScript, plus updating the pages related to the repositories obviously. :)
It is a moving target as pretty much all websites, so don't be surprised to see changes, though they won't be that substantial..
That is all for now, thank you.
PS: You might be wondering why I am writing this text in first person, contrary to other past posts.
This is mainly because, well, KXStudio was and still is a one-person project (with the occasional help here and there for small things).
I am making an effort to not write "marketing speech"-like anymore, just that.
> Carla 2.0.0 is finally here!
On 2019-04-15 by falkTX
After many years, Carla version 2.0.0 is finally here!
Carla is an audio plugin host, with support for many audio drivers and plugin formats.
It has some nice features like automation of parameters via MIDI CC (and send output back as MIDI too) and full OSC control.
Version 2.0 took this long because I was never truly happy with its current state, often pushing new features but not fully finishing them.
So the "solution" was to put everything that is not considered stable yet behind an experimental flag in the settings.
This way we can have our stable Carla faster, while upcoming features get developed and tagged as experimental during testing.
Preparations for version 2.1 are well under way, a beta for it will be out soon.
But that is a topic for another day.
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the
KXStudio downloads section.
Carla v2.0.0 is available pre-packaged in the KXStudio repositories and UbuntuStudio backports, plus on ArchLinux and Ubuntu since 19.04.
On those you can simply install the carla package.
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the
Carla's Github project page for those.
There is no manual or quick-start guide for Carla yet, apologies for that.
But there are some videos of presentations I did regarding Carla's features and workflows,
those should give you an introduction of its features and what you can do with it:
> Changes in KXStudio repos, regarding Carla and JACK2
On 2019-03-22 by falkTX
This is a small notice to everyone using Carla and JACK2 with the KXStudio repos.
First, in preparation for Carla 2.0 release, the (really) old carla package is now the new v2.0 series,
while carla-git now contains the development/latest version.
If you are not interested in testing Carla's new stuff and prefer something known to be more stable,
install the carla package after the latest updates.
Second, a change in JACK2 code has made it so a restart of the server is required after the update.
(but for a good reason, as JACK2 is finally getting meta-data support; this update fixes client UUIDs)
If you use jackdbus (likely with KXStudio stuff), you will need to actually kill it.
If that does not work, good old restart is your friend. :)
One important thing to note is that the lmms package now conflicts with the carla-git one.
This is because some code has changed in latest Carla that makes v2.0 vs development/latest ABI-incompatible.
In simpler terms, LMMS can only either be compiled against the stable or development version of Carla.
The obvious choice is to use the stable version, so after the updates if you notice LMMS is missing, just install it again.
(If you have carla-git installed, carla will be installed/switched automatically)
I tried to make the transition of these updates as smooth as possible,
but note that you likely need to install updates twice to complete the process.
In other news, we got a new domain!^-^)/
Also Carla v2.0 release date has been set - 15th of April.
Unless a major issue is found, expect a release announcement on that day.
See you soon then! ;)
> Carla 2.0 RC4 is here!
On 2019-03-02 by falkTX
Hello again everyone!
This is a quick fix for the Carla Plugin Host (soon-to-be) stable series.
I am not confident enough to call it the stable version just yet,
as some of these release changes actually introduced new code.
But the target date for the stable release is now set - middle of April.
There are no more release-blocker bugs for Carla v2,0 anymore, so it is just a matter of time now.
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.
> DPF-Plugins v1.2 released
On 2019-03-02 by falkTX
Hello everyone, a new release of DPF-Plugins is here.
This is mostly a bugfix release, with a few little new things.
This is what changed compared to the last release:
DPF (the small framework behind these plugins) saw some important changes.
They are not all relevant to DPF-Plugins directly, but worth mentioning:
Other things worth noting is that 2 new exciting things are currently under development:
Cairo graphics support and AU plugin wrapper.
Eventually these will be part of core DPF, but for now they are being discussed and worked on with other developers.
The source code plus Linux, macOS and Windows binaries can be downloaded at
https://github.com/DISTRHO/DPF-Plugins/releases/tag/v1.1.
The plugins are released as LADSPA, DSSI, LV2, VST2 and JACK standalone.
> Carla 2.0 RC3 is here!
On 2019-01-15 by falkTX
Hello everyone, happy new year!
This is a quick fix for the Carla Plugin Host (soon-to-be) stable series.
Only very small fixes here, and a change on how specific plugins load.
This release starts a "release early, release often" attitude, that hopefully I can maintain from now on.
Previously a few plugins were hardcoded to run as plugin bridges, as they were deemed unsafe because of how they use their plugin UIs (instance-access).
Carla automatically started these plugins as bridges, as to not crash the main process when Gtk and Qt gets in the way.
Plugin state in bridges have a few issues (as plugin bridges are experimental right now), which I was hoping to fix before the final 2.0 is here.
But that will not happen it seems (not an easy fix), so now these plugins will run normally as all others do, in the same process.
This means the following possible breaking changes:
This is not an issue for other plugin UIs that use Qt or Gtk, as they do not use LV2 instance-access.
Carla runs Gtk and Qt LV2 UIs in a separate process, but because these UIs require direct access to the plugin instance, they cannot be bridged.
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.
A
"2.0-final" milestone
is on GitHub, which lists the remaining issues to be fixed before 2.0 is considered "final".
New features already made its way to Carla, but sit on the
develop branch.
When the "final" version is released, expect a 2.1-beta to come shortly afterwards.
> JackAss v1.1 release
On 2019-01-15 by falkTX
This is a tiny bugfix for JackAss, a VST plugin that provides JACK-MIDI support for VST hosts.
The only change is that Wine 64bit builds work now, so you can finally load it inside 64bit Windows applications running on GNU/Linux via Wine.
Tested to work with FL Studio 20.
You can find JackAss source code and bug tracker in Github, at https://github.com/falkTX/JackAss/.
> Carla 2.0 RC2 is here!
On 2018-10-27 by falkTX
Hello everyone, this is the announcement for a Carla stable update.
Only 2 blocking issues remain, 1 of which needs testing to see if it still happens or not.
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.
Work for KXStudio 18.04 ISO is under way, should only take a few more weeks now.
Next JACK2 release will be quite nice, we have meta-data now (thanks to Rui),
but that will be handled after KXStudio 18.04 ISO release.
> Carla 2.0 RC1 is here!
On 2018-09-16 by falkTX
Hello again everyone, and surprise, the stable 2.0 version of Carla is coming!
This is the announcement of the first release candidate of Carla 2.0.
Very little features were added, focus went on stability instead.
The 'master' branch on Carla's source code is now for stable content, all new stuff will go to 'develop'.
My intention is to really let Carla on the side for now. If I can do it or not remains to be seen...
The list of changes is a little big, so let's split it by parts.
First, the highlights and major changes.
Basically I removed the code that interacted internally with LinuxSampler, and replaced it by SFZero.
There are a lot of reasons for this change, but we can resume it to 3 points:
Removing LinuxSampler means we lose support for GIG files, also SFZero loads the entire kit in RAM.
But, in return, SFZ files now always load without getting muted or having to do dirty workarounds.
Plus, with this, Carla can keep SFZ support while maintaining its GPLv2 license intact.
Note that SFZero does not support some opcodes, so the playback might sound different.
At a later date, a release will be made that will focus on SFZ support.
Carla under has always a been a bit behind, compared to its Linux and macOS support.
Not anymore!
Carla can now run as a plugin in Windows, and also the PyQt-based big-meter, midi-pattern and notes plugins.
With this done, Carla as LV2 is now included in the Windows builds.
The export of a single plugin as LV2, though it is an experimental feature, now also works on Windows.
Because Windows does not handle symlinks very well, Carla copies its resources instead.
Scanning plugins will no longer show a console window.
The font engine was changed from native to freetype, which not only fixes the mini-canvas but gives a better presentation too.
Plugin bridges work once again, and now even better as Carla now initializes Windows resources on them (like static pthread and OLE).
The piano-keyboard widget got some attention, now has 4 different highlight colors, 3 input layouts (qwerty, qwertz and azerty) and allows to change the offset when using the PC keyboard to send notes.
Just right-click on a piano-keyboard widget to trigger these options.
The rack looks a bit different now, as the possible "skins" for the plugin slots are now exposed and can be changed at any time.
You can change the background color too. Because why not? :)
Make the knobs and rack buttons more white-theme friendly.
This was needed to get white backgrounds working correctly, so for those of you that prefer Carla in a more bright theme, it will behave better now (why would you do that though?)
Some changes that make sense or are useful enough, and that deserve to be mentioned.
Besides the ones already mentioned for Windows, we also have:
Currently work-in-progress is a complete REST API of Carla's backend, allowing to have full control of a remote Carla instance.
(and not in a limited fashion like done with Carla-Control / OSC).
Initial code for it is already done, and tested to work.
If this interests you, let me know!
The code for scanning plugins had a little rework, making some internal data structures change.
Because of this, a full rescan of your plugins is needed after the update.
When running Patchbay mode in JACK, changing the buffer size might cause a crash.
This is not a common action to do, so not a priority to fix.
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.
With Carla done, next up is DPF handling and KXStudio 18.04 ISO release, while trying to get a new JACK2 release out too.
Note that after these 3 items are done, I plan to take a well-needed break from open-source project maintenance.
> Carla 2.0 beta7 is here!
On 2018-07-23 by falkTX
Hello again everyone, I am glad to bring you the 7th beta of the upcoming Carla 2.0 release.
Last time I said beta6 would be the last beta, but let's ignore that for now... ;)
This release focuses on bug-fixes rather than new features.
Most of the new features were added because of contributions, which are very appreciated.
There are no big flashy screenshots this time, sorry.
One breaking change for this release is the removal of most of the plugins bundled in Carla's code.
They were moved into a separate repository, to keep Carla's code-base smaller.
If you are building Carla yourself and you want those extra internal plugins, make sure to enable git submodules.
Here is a list of the most relevant changes and fixes for this release:
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.
The next Carla release is meant to close the 2.0 features, and focus on feature parity between all OSes.
It might take some time though (unless there is major regression that makes a new release required).
For now I plan to focus on other things that have been on the backlog for some time,
including DPF, KXStudio 18.04 ISO and JACK maintenance.
News on that will be published when something is ready, please be patient.
> Cadence 0.9.0 release and KXStudio 18.04 preparations
On 2018-04-02 by falkTX
Cadence 0.9.0 has just been tagged in its
git repository.
No new features have been added to the code-base.
The release is focused on the Qt5 port, and of course the fixes that have been added over time.
Qt4 is no longer supported; the code was updated to work with Qt5, without having a fallback Qt4 mode (unlike Carla).
Cadence Qt5 port is needed for a proper KXStudio 18.04 release, as we will be using KDE5 Plasma as desktop environment.
The
KXStudio "Welcome" wizard
has also been ported to Qt5.
This finalizes the Qt4 => Qt5 porting process, with all KXStudio tools now running in Qt5.
In other news, the preparations for KXStudio's 18.04 ISO release
have started.
The decision is to use
Neon
as the base distro for the next ISO images, with Breezy-Dark as default theme.
The KXStudio configuration files have been ported from KDE4 to KDE5, with only a few tweaks missing now.
If you're running the KXStudio repositories with Neon 16.04, you can already install the kxstudio-desktop-neon package. :)
Note that Ubuntu 18.04 (and thus Neon 18.04) is not out yet, so a release will of course have to wait for them first.
(Neon does not actually have their 18.04 repositories fully ready at this point)
We will have beta images first, to let users test and give feedback.
When everything seems to run fine, and I am happy with the results, the final image will released.
No estimation on the 'when' just yet though - it will be out when it's ready - so please don't keep asking. ;)
> Carla 2.0 beta6 is here!
On 2018-01-25 by falkTX
Hello again everyone, I am glad to bring you the 6th beta of the upcoming Carla 2.0 release.
It has been over one year since the last Carla release, it was about time. :)
This should be the last beta for the 2.0 series, as next one is planned to be release candidate 1.
There were quite some changes under the hood, mostly in a good way.
The trade-off for users is that this means losing some features, the biggest ones being VST3 and AU plugin support.
The way audio and MIDI devices are handled on Windows and macOS also changed, no longer having dynamic MIDI ports.
See the previous post about Carla to get more details on the "breaking changes".
But let's move on with the good stuff!
Here are some of the highlights for this release:
|
Transport controls and Ableton Link support (experimental)
Previous releases of Carla had basic time controls already,
but it was quite basic and lacked options for JACK transport and BPM control.
Transport can misbehave when rolling back or forwards, so this feature is still classified as experimental. |
|
Tweak of settings page
Carla's settings dialog received an overhaul. |
|
Load of JACK applications as plugins (Linux only, experimental)
This is a big one... :)
In this mode Carla basically becomes a self-contained JACK server, and exposes a special libjack to the client.
The full libjack API is not implemented though, only the important parts, in order to get most applications running.
This is a work in progress, but already working quite well considering how new it is. |
|
Export any loaded plugin or file as a single LV2 plugin (experimental)
Another big feature of this release is the possibility to export any plugin or sound file loaded in Carla
as its own self-contained (LV2) plugin.
Audio, MIDI, transport information, custom UI are fully working already. |
|
FreeBSD and other non-Linux systems
After the removal of the juce library from the code-base (as
discussed before),
Carla was free to support more than just the big 3 OSes. |
There are quite a lot of other smaller changes made in Carla since beta5, these include:
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.
> JACK2 1.9.12 release and future plans
On 2017-12-21 by falkTX
A few days ago a new version of JACK2 was released.
You can grab the latest release source code at
https://github.com/jackaudio/jack2/releases.
The official changelog is:
If you did not know already, I am now maintaining JACK2 (and also JACK1).
So this latest release was brought to you by yours truly. ;)
The release was actually already tagged on the git repo quite some time ago, but I was waiting to see if Windows builds were possible.
I got side-tracked with other things and 1.9.12 ended up not being released for some time, until someone reminded me of it again... :)
There are still no updated macOS or Windows builds, but I did not want to delay the release further because of it.
The 1.9.11 release (without RC label) was skipped to avoid confusion with the versions.
So 1.9.12 is the latest release as of today. macOS and Windows binaries still use an older 1.9.11 version.
Being the maintainer of both JACK1 and JACK2 means I can (more or less) decide the future of JACK.
I believe a lot of people are interested to know the current plan.
First, JACK1 is in bug-fix mode only.
I want to keep it as the go-to reference implementation of JACK, but not add any new features to it.
The reason for this is to try to get JACK1 and JACK2 to share as much code as possible.
Currently JACK2 includes its own copy of JACK headers, examples and utilities, while JACK1 uses sub-repositories.
During the course of next year (that is, 2018) I want to get JACK2 to slowly use the same stuff JACK1 does, then switch to use the same repositories as submodules like JACK1 does.
This will reduce the differences between the 2 implementations, and make it a lot easier to contribute to the examples and utilities provided by JACK.
(Not to mention the confusion caused by having utilities that work in simlar yet different ways)
We will keep JACK1 "frozen" until this is all done.
Second, but not least important, is to get the JACK1 specific features into JACK2.
A few things were added into JACK1 after JACk2 was created, that never made it into JACK2.
This includes meta-data (JACK2 does have the API, but a non-functional one) and the new internal clients.
The purpose is to reduce reasons users might have to switch/decide between JACK1 and JACK2.
JACK2 should have all features that JACK1 has, so that most users choose JACK2.
Now, you are probably getting the impression that the focus will be on JACK2, which is correct.
Though I realize some developers might prefer JACK1's design, the long "battle" of JACK1 and JACK2 needs to stop.
Development of new features will happen in the JACK2 codebase, and JACK1 will slowly become legacy.
Well, this is my personal plan at least.
Not sure if this all can be done in 2018, but better to take things slowly and get things done than do nothing at all.
I will keep you updated on the progress through-out the year.
Happy holidays everyone!
> Breaking changes in Carla Plugin Host
On 2017-11-21 by falkTX
Hello everyone, I have some bad and good news about Carla.
If you've been following the development on the git repository you likely know what this is about.
There were some major changes done to Carla's code base in the past few days.
The biggest change is the removal of the Juce library.
The reasons for this are well known by some developers, but I'll not write about them here.
After looking around for alternatives,
I decided to fork an older GPLv2 compatible version of Juce and strip it down to the really essential parts needed
to get Carla to build and run - even if it meant losing some of the features.
The possibility to change to an entirely different C++ framework crossed my mind,
but the amount of effort and breaking changes would be too big.
I called the end result 'water'. You can say Carla doesn't need Juce, water is fine ;)
There's only a few classes and files needed for I/O, XML and AudioGraph handling, everything else is gone. \o/
The implications for this change are not big for Linux users,
and is even a source of good news for other OpenSource Operating System users like FreeBSD and HaikuOS.
In short, because Juce is no longer there, we have lost support for VST3 and AudioUnit plugins.
Plus VST2 plugins on Windows and MacOS are now handled by Carla's code instead of relying on Juce.
This heavily reduces the amount of compatible plugins handled by Carla, because Juce had a lot of hacks in order
to make a lot of commercial plugins run properly.
Also Carla on Windows and MacOS used Juce to handle Audio and MIDI devices,
which now has been changed to RtAudio and RtMidi.
RtAudio & RtMidi are not as fully-featured as Juce was (we lose dynamic MIDI ports, for example),
but I am glad to have Juce gone from the code-base.
(You can say that parts of it are still there, but my conscience is clear,
and Carla remains self-contained which was my main point since v2.0 development started)
The next breaking change relates to the internal plugins used in Carla.
The plugins that already exist as LV2 will stop being exported with the carla.lv2 bundle.
Plus these plugins will soon be removed from the default build.
They quickly bloat the Carla binaries, as they include their artwork.
Not to mention increasing the clone and building times.
The plan is to have them disabled by default and moved into a new repository as submodule.
Oh and the "experimental" plugins are going away soon.
It was a mistake to make them Carla-specific in the first place, they should be regular audio plugins instead.
Another breaking change is the removal of modgui support.
The code only worked for PyQt4, which is no longer the default for Carla source-based builds.
Plus it required webkit, which brings a big list of dependencies.
I would have to port the code to webengine/chromium to make it work with PyQt5... no thanks.
The final breaking change is the introduction of the Experimental option in Carla's settings.
Everything that is not stable at the moment went there as an option, and got disabled by default. This includes:
All new in-development / testing features will get introduced as experimental first.
This will speed up the release of 2.0, since not everything needs to be finished for it.
For example, plugin bridges can still be there and not fully implemented, and we still have 2.0-stable out!
That's it! Thanks for reading so far.
In other news, I gave a small presentation about Carla in this year's Sonoj Conference.
You can check it out here:
https://media.ccc.de/v/sonoj2017-1704-carla-plugin-host
Carla 2.0-beta6 will be out soon :)
> DPF-Plugins v1.1 released
On 2017-06-17 by falkTX
With some minor things finally done and all reported bugs squashed, it's time to tag a new release of DPF-Plugins.
The initial 1.0 version was not really advertised/publicized before, as there were still a few things I wanted done first
- but they were already usable as-is.
The base framework used by these plugins (DPF) will get some deep changes soon, so better to have this release out now.
I will not write a changelog here, it was just many small changes here and there for all the plugins since v1.0.
Just think of this release as the initial one. :P
The source code plus Linux, macOS and Windows binaries can be downloaded at
https://github.com/DISTRHO/DPF-Plugins/releases/tag/v1.1.
The plugins are released as LADSPA, DSSI, LV2, VST2 and JACK standalone.
As this is the first time I show off the plugins like this, let's go through them a little bit...
The order shown is more or less the order in which they were made.
Note that most plugins here were made/ported as a learning exercise, so not everything is new.
Many thanks to António Saraiva for the design of some of these interfaces!
This is a collection of small but useful plugins, based on the good old LOSER-Dev Plugins.
This collection currently includes 3 Band EQ, 3 Band Splitter and Ping Pong Pan.
Studio quality, open-source reverb.
Its release was intended to provide a practical demonstration of Dattorro’s figure-of-eight reverb structure and provide the open source community with a high quality reverb.
This is a DPF'ied build of the original
MVerb
plugin, allowing a proper Linux version with UI.
Simple single-oscillator synth based on the Roland TB-303.
This is a DPF'ied build of the
nekobee
project, allowing LV2 and VST builds of the plugin, plus a nicer UI with a simple cat animation. ;)
Simple karplus-strong plucked string synth.
This is a DPF'ied build of the karplong DSSI example synth, written by Chris Cannam.
It implements the basic Karplus-Strong plucked-string synthesis algorithm (Kevin Karplus & Alex Strong, "Digital Synthesis of Plucked-String and Drum Timbres", Computer Music Journal 1983).
DPF'ied ports of some plugins from Niall Moody.
See
http://www.niallmoody.com/ndcplugs/plugins.htm
for the original author's page.
This collection currently includes Amplitude Imposer, Cycle Shifter and Soul Force plugins.
projectM is an awesome music visualizer.
This plugin makes it work as an audio plugin (LV2 and VST).
This is an OpenGL bars visualization plugin (as seen in XMMS and XBMC/Kodi).
Adapted from the
jack_glbars
project by Nedko Arnaudov.
> KXStudio 14.04.5 release and future plans
On 2017-06-10 by falkTX
Hello there, it's time for another KXStudio ISO release! KXStudio 14.04.5 is here!
Lots have changed in the applications and plugins for Linux Audio (even in KXStudio itself), so it was about time to see those ISO images updated.
Behind the scenes, from what the user can see, it might appear as nothing has truly changed. After all, this is an updated image still based on Ubuntu 14.04, like those from 2 years ago.
But we had a really big amount of releases for our beloved software, enough to deserve this small ISO update.
There is no list of changes this time, sorry. The main thing worth mentioning is that base system is exactly the same, with only applications and plugins updated.
You know the saying - if ain't broken, don't fix it!
Before you ask.. no, there won't be a 16.04 based ISO release.
When 2016 started KDE5 was not in a good enough shape, and it would need a lot of work (and time) to port all the changes made for KDE4 into KDE5.
KDE5 is a lot better now than it used to be, but we missed the opportunity there.
The current plan is to slowly migrate everything we have into KDE5 (meta-packages, scripts, tweaks, artwork, etc) and do a new ISO release in May 2018.
(Yes, this means using Ubuntu 18.04 as base)
The choice of KDE Plasma as desktop environment is not set in stone, other (lighter) desktops have appeared recently that will be considered.
In the end it depends if it will be stable and good enough for audio production.
You can download the new ISOs on the KXStudio website, at http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Downloads#LiveDVD.
And that's it for now.
We hope you enjoy KXStudio, being it the ISO "distribution" release or the repositories.
> Carla 2.0 beta5 is here!
On 2017-01-05 by falkTX
Hello again everyone, we're glad to bring you the 5th beta of the upcoming Carla 2.0 release.
It has been more than 1 year since the last Carla release, this release fixes things that got broken in the mean time and continues the work towards Carla's 2.0 base features.
There's quite a lot of changes under the hood, mostly bugfixes and minor but useful additions.
With that being said, here are some of the highlights:
|
Carla-Control is back!
Carla-Control is an application to remotely control a Carla instance via network, using OSC messages. |
|
Logs tab
This was also something that was brought back in this release.
You can disable it in the settings if you prefer your messages to go to the console as usual. |
|
MIDI Sequencer is dead, long live MIDI Pattern!
The internal MIDI Sequencer plugin was renamed to MIDI Pattern, and received some needed attention. |
There will still be 1 more beta release before going for a release candidate, so expect more cool stuff soon!
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump into the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump into the Carla's Github project page for those.
> Changes in KXStudio repositories
On 2016-05-06 by falkTX
Hey everyone, just a small heads up about the KXStudio repositories.
If you use Debian Testing or the new Ubuntu 16.04 you probably saw some warnings regarding weak SHA1 keys when checking for updates.
We're aware of this issue and a fix is coming soon, but it will require some changes in the repositories.
First, we'll get rid of the 'lucid' builds and rebuild all of them in the 'trusty' series.
For those of you that were using Debian 6 or something older than Ubuntu 14.04, the repositories will stop working for you later this month.
Second, the gcc5 specific packages will be migrated from 'wily' series to 'xenial'.
This means you'll no longer be able to use the KXStudio repositories if you're running Ubuntu 15.10.
If that's the case for you, please update to 16.04 as soon as possible. Note that 15.10 will be officially end-of-life in 2 months.
And finally, the gcc5 packages will begin using Qt5 instead of Qt4 for some applications.
This will include Carla, Qtractor and the v1 series plugins.
Hopefully this won't break anything, but if it does please let us know.
That's it for now. Have a nice weekend!
> KXStudio Website has moved
On 2015-07-25 by falkTX
Hey all,
As you might have noticed sourceforge has been out of service for a while now.
That, coupled together with the previous adware/spyware fiasco led to me look for alternatives.
So you can now find the KXStudio website at http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/.
> Carla 2.0 beta4 is here!
On 2015-03-12 by falkTX
Hello again everyone, we're glad to bring you the 4th beta of the upcoming Carla 2.0 release.
This release is mostly focused on bug-fixing, so there aren't many splashy new features to show compared to previous ones.
Still, here's the highlights:
|
Updated plugin skins
The plugin skins received some updates once again. |
|
New experimental plugins
Some of the best linux-standalone tools are now working as internal Carla plugins. |
|
MOD GUI Support
Carla can now show LV2 MOD GUIs, handled like a regular LV2 UI type. |
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump into the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" instead (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump into the Carla's GitHub project page for those.
> Carla 2.0 beta3 is here!
On 2014-10-24 by falkTX
Hello again everyone, we're glad to bring to you the 3rd beta of the upcoming Carla 2.0 release.
There have been quite a few nice features implemented since beta2; here are the highlights.
|
Internal Patchbay
This new engine processing mode is similar to what JACK does for all clients and what other modular applications do. |
|
Carla as VST plugin (Linux only)
With the first beta of Carla 2.0 we introduced Carla as a plugin, which worked as both internal and LV2. |
|
Carla LMMS Plugin
Carla has an LMMS plugin too, as Carla-Patchbay and Carla-Rack instruments. |
|
AU Plugins (MacOS only)
AU plugins are working in Carla now. |
|
New and updated skins
There's a new OpenAV-style plugin slot skin. |
|
Old non-skin mode
You can now use the old non-skin mode from Carla 1.x series. |
There will still be 1 or 2 more beta releases before going for a release candidate, so expect more cool stuff soon!
To download Carla binaries or source code, jump into the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" instead (plus "carla-lv2" and "carla-vst" if you're so inclined).
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump into the Carla's Github project page for those.
> DISTRHO: New plugins and minor fixing
On 2014-08-26 by falkTX
In this release we bring 4 new Linux plugin ports:
- EasySSP
- LUFS Meter
- Luftikus
- Stereo Source Separator
(Go to http://distrho.sourceforge.net/ports to see the current list of Linux ports.)
The DPF-based plugins also had some minor fixes:
- 3BandEQ/Splitter had its sliders inverted, now fixed
- ProM now has pre-compiled linux binaries; UI can be resized by using - and + keys
- MVerb knobs order has been fixed
- Allow to open UI in LV2 hosts that don't support options feature (Ingen)
- Workaround for some VST hosts that don't set sample rate during init (Ardour3 and energyXT)
> The 2nd beta of Carla 2.0 is here!
On 2014-08-15 by falkTX
The Carla Plugin Host 2.0 beta2 release is finally here!
This release was slightly delayed in order to ensure plugin bridges were working properly.
If you haven't heard about the Carla 2.x series do so here.
In short, this release makes plugin bridges actually work and it's the first to support MacOS (>= 10.6).
The backend is now completely toolkit agnostic, only depending on the native window system (like X11 on Linux).
This release is much more stable when compared to the previous beta - it will no longer eat your cat! ;)
It should already be good enough for regular usage, if you can ignore some incomplete UI things.
Known issues / Release notes: (all to be fixed in the next beta)
The next beta will change a few things, specially UI-wise.
The discovery mechanism needs to be reworked for AU support and faster LV2 access.
Adding plugins and browsing presets will probably change too.
LMMS and VST plugin versions of Carla-Rack are also planned, but no promises for these.
We'll be posting more news as things are developed.
> DISTRHO New release pack (2014-07-16)
On 2014-07-16 by falkTX
DISTRHO has a new release!
In this release we cleaned up all the plugins, added new ones and removed those that we not considered good enough.
Standalones are no longer available. Highlife was removed as a requested by its authors.
The plugins we added to Ports are:
Additionally we made a new plugin - ProM - a music visualizer as audio plugin based on projectm.
See the plugins and ports sections on
DISTRHO's website for screenshots and downloads.
The complete source code is available at https://github.com/DISTRHO/.
> Introducing JackAss
On 2014-05-16 by falkTX
JackAss is a VST plugin that provides JACK-MIDI support for VST hosts.
Simply load the plugin in your favourite host to get a JACK-MIDI port.
Each new plugin instance creates a new MIDI port.
Here's JackAss loaded in FL Studio:
And an example setup in Carla for it:
JackAss sends the notes from the host to its JACK-MIDI port.
It also exposes 50 parameters, which send a MIDI CC message when changed.
You can use this to easily control external applications that accept JACK-MIDI input and possibly CC for automation (like Carla).
Additionally there's a JackAssFX plugin, which only exposes parameters to send as MIDI CC, in case you don't need MIDI/notes.
JackAss currently has builds for Linux, MacOS and Windows, all 32bit and 64bit. Just follow
this link.
As a bonus, you also get special Wine builds - load it in a Windows application running in Linux via Wine and you get a real, native JACK-MIDI port from it!
You can find JackAss source code and bug tracker in Github: https://github.com/falkTX/JackAss/.
PS: Why JackAss? Because it outputs to JACK. ;)
> The first Carla 2.0 beta is here!
On 2014-04-22 by falkTX
Carla 2.0 is a full rework of the first Carla release.
It's currently under development with a planned release later this year.
Today the first beta is released, and we'll show you what to expect when the final version arrives.
To download binaries or source code, jump into the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla-git" and "carla-plugins-lv2" instead.
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump into the Carla's Github project page for those.
DISCLAIMER: This is a beta release! Although all features mentioned here are working right now, they may be incomplete, have bugs or even eat your cat!
You've been warned.
|
Canvas Integration
When using the JACK multi-client mode, plugins will be mapped to their respective canvas group. |
|
New Look
Each plugin gets its own slot skin. |
|
Carla-Rack as a Plugin
Carla itself working as a plugin (rack-mode). |
|
Internal plugins as LV2
Carla internal plugins are now exported as LV2. |
|
Plugin Bridges
Running plugins in a separate process for crash-protection. |
There's some other things planned, but they might be delayed until 3.0 so that this release doesn't take too long to happen.
You can find the complete TODO list here:
https://raw.github.com/falkTX/Carla/master/doc/Carla-TODO.
> KXStudio repositories now ready for Debian!
On 2014-04-10 by falkTX
The KXStudio repositories are now ready for Debian and its derivatives (including the upcoming Ubuntu 14.04).
They should work for all Debian versions since Wheezy and Ubuntu 12.04 or above.
See the Repositories section for more information and how to enable them.
There's a list of available applications in the repository here
and plugins here.
These 2 lists will quickly grow as more stuff is added in the repositories.
You can request new software to be packaged in this
LinuxMusicians forum topic
(although things seems a bit slow now, we'll eventually get to everyone's requests).
Please report any issues regarding packages here.
If you use the repositories, please donate to help keep packager(s) motivated. See /Donations.
All this month donations will go to ensure falkTX has a good trip to the Linux Audio Conference next month!
PS: AVLinux users wanting to use the KXStudio repositories should be patient.
Something cool might come up when falkTX and GMaq meet in next month's LAC. ;)
> Small Carla notice for JACK1 users (and 1.2.3 release)
On 2013-12-26 by falkTX
While I was doing a Carla video I got into a show-stopper bug in JACK2 (it kept crashing because of complex MIDI mixdown, see
this).
So in the meantime I have to use JACK1, and while doing so I found a pretty nasty bug...
No system connections were shown in the patchbay canvas!
I don't know if others suffered from the bug (I always run JACK2) or though it was how it really worked.
In any case, the Carla patchbay will show all JACK connections now - wherever they are from Carla plugins or system ones.
Updating to version 1.2.3 is recommended, specially if you use JACK1.
For a list of changes you can check the Carla stable git log
here,
which allows to directly see what changed in the code.
> Carla 2.0 development progress report
On 2013-12-17 by falkTX
This is a progress report for the new Carla, version 2.0.
It will take a while to get a release ready, but there are already a few things done and stuff to show.
First, the backend is being rewritten to not use any system toolkit.
In 1.x series I've used Qt4 to handle graphics, but that might be a problem soon with Qt5 (cannot mix Qt4 and Qt5 stuff together).
Plus I want the Carla backend to be toolkit agnostic, so that in the future it may be re-usable for others no matter what their main toolkit is.
The main backend header files are now ANSI C compatible, thus increasing the chances of re-usability (as some Linux developers have a weird aversion to C++...).
Because Qt is no longer used in the backend code, I needed something else to handle graphics and other advanced stuff - Juce was selected for this.
Juce is a C++ framework focused on audio applications and plugins, which suits Carla nicely.
There's a lot of useful things inside it that will make developing new features much easier (like the internal patchbay mode).
Other things like AU and VST3 plugin hosting will be possible too thanks to Juce, although they are not relevant to Linux.
Loading Carla as a plugin is also being worked on.
There target two main targets with this:
If you been following the LinuxMusicians forums you know that internal Carla plugins are already available as LV2 plugins (yes, that includes zynaddsubfx-lv2!).
Once the Carla internal plugin work is complete, you automatically get an LV2 version of it as well! :D
There has been a few changes on the UI side as well.
For example, the plugin edit dialog now looks like this:
As seen the image, the user will be able to use "Stereo Balance" or "Mono Panning".
The new layout also allows for a much smaller window size.
Lastly, there's plans to bring custom skins to plugin "slots", in a similar way to Reason.
This is something I still have to investigate to find the best possible way to do it.
It should be expandable so that random plugins can also use skins, probably via a new LV2 extension.
More on this later.
That's all for now.
Soon there will be a new DISTRHO release, so stay tuned!
> New releases and future plans
On 2013-11-27 by falkTX
Hello everyone, there have been a couple of releases and changes on the KXStudio world.
First of, a new release of the KXStudio Live-DVD is now available.
This is a bug-fix for the 12.04.x series, which current users should already have if their systems are up to date.
Checkout the About or Release Notes to find out more about this release.
Several new versions of Carla have been released since its first announcement, the last one currently being 1.2.2.
For a change-log you can check the git log (stable branch) in github.
This way you can see what actually changed in the code, instead of just seeing a description list.
A new DISTRHO release is planned for release next month, and a few minor plugins.
Hopefully the Plugin Toolkit will be ready by then, which should help the creation of new audio plugins (soon!).
Lastly, after much discussion and consideration, the KXStudio repositories are moving to Debian.
The current 12.04.x release is still fully supported, this is something that will happen slowly through 2014.
Having the KXStudio repos in Debian means any Debian based distribution can make use of KXStudio goods, and not just Ubuntu ones.
Although there are already happy users with Debian + KXStudio, this process is not yet complete.
We'll make a new announcement once the Debian repos are ready for wide use.
Oh, and the KXStudio website is currently being redone a little.
Give it a visit now! /
> Carla Plugin Host 1.0.0 released!
On 2013-07-02 by falkTX
After more than 2 years in development, here it is - the first stable release of Carla is now available!
Carla Plugin Host, or just Carla, is an audio plugin host, with support for many audio drivers and plugin formats.
It has some nice features like automation of parameters via MIDI CC and full OSC control.
Carla currently supports LADSPA (including LRDF), DSSI, LV2, and VST plugin formats, plus GIG, SF2 and SFZ file support.
It uses JACK as the default and preferred audio driver but also supports native drivers like ALSA, DirectSound or CoreAudio.
We currently release source code plus Windows and Linux binaries (focus goes into the Linux version).
Downloads available at the usual place, KXStudio Downloads.
For more information about Carla check its own application page here.
We'll be updating that page in the next few days, with some tutorials and workflow videos as well, so stay tuned!
You can follow the release discussion over at LinuxMusicians forums.
If you find this application useful and/or want to help further development, please consider a donation.
> KXStudio 12.04.1 released!
On 2013-01-05 by falkTX
After much hard work, a new release of KXStudio is ready!
The previous ISO images were getting old, and since Cadence (and KXStudio in general) is now much more stable, it was time for an update.
Existing KXStudio users already have 90% of the changes and fixes as KXStudio uses the repositories for everything.
Still, this is a big milestone for the project. It's a step towards perfection.
Here's a quick list of changes since the previous 12.04 release.
The DVD works properly now (no need to re-login to apply settings anymore) and also has an option to boot to RAM (requires at least 3Gb to work).
You can download the new ISOs at the KXStudio website, /Downloads.
This release is dedicated to Hatsuke Miku, a [virtual] Vocaloid singer that recently has seen original artwork released under a Creative Commons license.
We believe that actions like this one (and others in 2012) indicate that the world embraces open-source culture more and more, every day.
You can find more about Miku
here,
and the its CC artwork
here.
We hope you enjoy KXStudio and the updated Cadence.
Soon enough the website will have full documentation for it and other subjects, so stay tuned!
> Call for Testing - Cadence pre-Beta
On 2012-09-17 by falkTX
Hello everybody!
We're almost in the Beta1 release of Cadence!
For those of you who don't know, Cadence is what KXStudio uses to manage the entire audio ecosystem.
'Cadence' is by itself the main app of a series of tools (call it the "Cadence tools").
There's 'Catia', a simple JACK patchbay; 'Claudia' is a ladish frontend, very similar to Catia (and gladish); 'Carla' is the plugin host.
Then there's the small tools - JackMeter, JackSettings, Logs, Render and XY-Controller (their names give away their funtionality).
Cadence and its tools are currently being documented, and pages will appear here: (incomplete)
/Applications
(There's a topic in the KXStudio forums discussing the documentation here).
If you're running KXStudio now, you either have updates or have recently updated Cadence and sub-packages.
I'll be pushing the latest Cadence code to the KXStudio repositories frequently in the next days while the testing happens.
ArchLinux users can use this AUR package:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=50747
You can checkout what's going on in the Cadence commits page:
https://github.com/falkTX/Cadence/commits/master
Not everything is fully ready right now, here's a list of things that will still be done before the Beta1 release:
- Cadence audio-bridges, currently disabled
- Carla Windows plugin-bridge support (Linux 32/64bit bridges are already in place though). Note that this will remain an experimental feature even for this release.
- Carla-Control is unfinished, the GUI will do nothing useful right now.
- Catia ALSA-MIDI support is currently disabled, but will still not be activated for this release.
So, what needs testing?
Pretty much everything. :D
Run the apps, click on random stuff and try to make them crash. When that happens, or if notice something weird, please report the bug.
I've done my best to make the tools as stable + crash-free as possible, but we can never be too sure about these things.
You can report bugs directly in the official bug page at
https://github.com/falkTX/Cadence/issues.
(Reporting a bug in that page allows you to receive notifications whenever something is done related to it).
Thanks in advance to everyone that decides to help!
If you love these tools and they are useful to you, please consider making donation by following this link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PDGZL8PKSNHYW.
> KXStudio 12.04 is out!
On 2011-12-21 by falkTX
Hey there everyone, it's that time again!
KXStudio is now ready for the masses, now using Ubuntu 12.04 as the base.
KDE4 remains the officially supported Desktop, with XFCE on 2nd place.
For this release I re-introduced the ISOs, although only 32bit for now. So now installing KXStudio can take 3 forms: Live-DVD, Ubuntu upgrade or NetBoot.
The Live-DVD uses KDE4, if you want XFCE instead please install UbuntuStudio first then follow the upgrade instructions as detailed here.
The Cadence tools are currently being ported to python3 in a new repo - https://github.com/falkTX/Cadence.
Catarina, Catia, Claudia and the minor tools are almost beta state right now. Carla and Claudia-Launcher are still in the works (but already very functional), and the real 'Cadence' app is yet to be ported.
These tools are already available on KXStudio in their latest git state, and will be released as beta for the while world very soon.
The DISTRHO plugin suite is now near completion and it's targeted for a new release this weekend.
The entire collection is already available in the KXStudio repos but yet part of the meta-packages (will be added shortly after the official release).
Generic linux binaries will be made available for non-KXStudio users as before.
Note: Since the KXStudio website has been internally reworked (removed mediawiki, much simpler PHP code now), the old news have been removed.