THIS IS A FAKE PAGE, KXSTUDIO NEWS USES A DYNAMIC MODULE NOW

RSS

> 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!

Mini-Series

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.

3bandeq 3bandsplitter pingpongpan

MVerb

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.

mverb

Nekobi

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. ;)

nekobi

Kars

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).

kars

ndc-Plugs

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.

amplitudeimposer cycleshifter soulforce

ProM

projectM is an awesome music visualizer.
This plugin makes it work as an audio plugin (LV2 and VST).
prom

glBars

This is an OpenGL bars visualization plugin (as seen in XMMS and XBMC/Kodi).
Adapted from the jack_glbars project by Nedko Arnaudov.
glbars


> 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

Carla-Control is back!

Carla-Control is an application to remotely control a Carla instance via network, using OSC messages.
It stopped working shortly after Carla's move to 2.x development, but now it's back, and working a lot better.
Currently works on Linux and Mac OS.


logs-tab

Logs tab

This was also something that was brought back in this release.
It was initially removed from the 2.x series because it did not work so well.
Now the code has been fixed up and brought to life.

You can disable it in the settings if you prefer your messages to go to the console as usual.
Sadly this does not work on Windows just yet, only for Linux and Mac OS.
But for Windows a Debug/Carla.exe file is included in this build (after you extract the exe as zip file), which can be used to see the console window.


midi-pattern

MIDI Sequencer is dead, long live MIDI Pattern!

The internal MIDI Sequencer plugin was renamed to MIDI Pattern, and received some needed attention.
Some menu actions and parameters were added, to make it more intuitive to use.
It's now exported as part of the Carla-LV2 plugins package, and available for Linux and Mac OS.


More stuff

There will still be 1 more beta release before going for a release candidate, so expect more cool stuff soon!

Special Notes

Downloads

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:

Highlights

updated-skins

Updated plugin skins

The plugin skins received some updates once again.
They can now be collapsed in order to take less space.
More to come soon.


experimental-plugins

New experimental plugins

Some of the best linux-standalone tools are now working as internal Carla plugins.
And because Carla exports its internal plugins as LV2, you'll also get them as LV2.
Note that this is still experimental!
Also, there's no support whatsoever from the original authors...


mod-guis

MOD GUI Support

Carla can now show LV2 MOD GUIs, handled like a regular LV2 UI type.
Note that this only works on the right setups (you need MOD-UI to be working first).
It's not available on pre-compiled binaries, but you can get it via the KXStudio repositories.


More changes

Special Notes

Downloads

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.

Highlights

internal-patchbay

Internal Patchbay

This new engine processing mode is similar to what JACK does for all clients and what other modular applications do.
Every plugin gets its own canvas group and ports allowing you to interconnect plugin audio and MIDI.
You can use this mode to build complex plugin routing scenarios, perhaps involving several layers of rack and patchbays.

Note that this is currently not available for non-JACK drivers; but for those you can use the internal carla-patchbay plugin.
There's no support for LV2 Control-Voltage ports as of yet, this will be implemented in the next beta together with MIDI-OSC.


new-look

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.
Now Carla is available as a VST plugin too, allowing you to load it all DAWs released for Linux.
There are 4 variants: Rack-Synth, Rack-FX, Patchbay-Synth and Patchbay-FX.


lmms-plugin

Carla LMMS Plugin

Carla has an LMMS plugin too, as Carla-Patchbay and Carla-Rack instruments.
So finally you can use native softsynths within LMMS!
The carla-lmms plugin code is already in LMMS and will be part of its 1.1 release.

If you're using the KXStudio repositories and feel like giving it a try simply install carla-git and lmms.


au-plugins

AU Plugins (MacOS only)

AU plugins are working in Carla now.
Carla's plugin compatibility increases once more.


updated-skins

New and updated skins

There's a new OpenAV-style plugin slot skin.
Calf and ZynFX have been updated.
More to come soon.


no-skins

Old non-skin mode

You can now use the old non-skin mode from Carla 1.x series.
This saves space if you load lots of plugins at once.


More stuff

There will still be 1 or 2 more beta releases before going for a release candidate, so expect more cool stuff soon!

Downloads

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.

Highlights

new-look

Canvas Integration

When using the JACK multi-client mode, plugins will be mapped to their respective canvas group.
Double-clicking the plugin group will show its UI, while pressing 'delete' will remove the actual plugin.
There's extra right-click options, and the keyboard and meters will react accordingly.


new-look

New Look

Each plugin gets its own slot skin.
Different colors are attributed to each kind of plugin (EQ, delay, distortion, etc).
Specialized skins that match the author/maker are used when appropriate.


new-look

Carla-Rack as a Plugin

Carla itself working as a plugin (rack-mode).
This allows to use several rack instances inside a single Carla instance.
Internal patch-bay mode is also planned, but probably only for 3.0.


new-look

Internal plugins as LV2

Carla internal plugins are now exported as LV2.
This includes carla-rack and zynaddsubfx!
Plugins that released separately (such as DISTRHO and ZamAudio) are not included.


new-look

Plugin Bridges

Running plugins in a separate process for crash-protection.
Using a separate process also makes it possible to load plugins with a different architecture from the host,
such as 32-bit plugins on 64-bit Carla and Windows plugins in Linux.

NOTE: This feature is currently only available within the KXStudio repos.


More stuff

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.

Backend

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

Front-end

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.png

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!

Comments and discussion


> 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.