Installing Effect, Generator and Analyzer plug-ins on Linux
Contents
- Installing Nyquist plug-ins
- Installing VST plug-ins
- Why do some VST plug-ins not work or display incorrectly?
- Installing LADSPA, LV2 or VAMP plug-ins
- Installing plug-ins on Linux
- How can I solve Audacity crashing after I add a plug-in?
Installing Nyquist plug-ins
Nyquist plug-ins provide most of the optional effects underneath the divider in the Effect menu. They are also used to provide some of Audacity's built-in audio generators and analysis tools. A wide range of additional Nyquist effect, generation and analysis plug-ins can be obtained from Download Nyquist Plug-ins on our Wiki.
To add a new Nyquist plug-in, put it in the Audacity "Plug-Ins" folder. On Linux, the "plug-ins" folder is in usr/share/audacity if you installed an Audacity package supplied by your distribution, or usr/local/share/audacity if you compiled Audacity from source code. Optionally a "plug-ins" folder can be created in the home directory thus: ~/.audacity-files/plug-ins (you can also call the folder "plugins").
To load the new effects into Audacity so they are available in the menu, use the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.
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Some Nyquist plug-ins could crash while processing very long audio selections (typically an hour or more). This is due to the plug-in using a large amount of memory and is a known issue in Audacity's current Nyquist implementation. Try using the plug-in on shorter selections instead. |
Installing VST plug-ins
Audacity supports almost all VST effect plug-ins on Linux including "shell" VST's that host multiple VST effects. On Linux, you must add a "plug-ins" folder to /usr/bin/ (if you installed a packaged version of Audacity) or to /usr/local/bin (if you installed a self-compiled version of Audacity). VST effects will also be found if they are added to (or already exist in) various system or user locations.
You can install new VST effects into Audacity by using the menu item. This opens the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog where you can select and enable the new effects then click to load them. Next time you launch Audacity the enabled effect(s) will be cached and you won't need to re-enable them.
Why do some VST plug-ins not work or display incorrectly?
Audacity will by default display VST effect plug-ins with a full graphical interface where the plug-in supplies this.
VST instruments (VSTi) (such as synths) and real-time VST effects (that change the audio data while it's being written) are not yet supported. These will not load even if you enable or re-enable them in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog. VST 3 plug-ins are not supported.
If any plug-in displays incorrectly, you can use the Manage button 
in the effect's dialog then choose Options... to open the
VST Effect Options for that effect. Then remove the checkmark from the "Enable graphical interface" checkbox 
Enable graphical interface and click . When you reopen the effect it will display a simpler tabular interface.
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On GNU/Linux, 32-bit systems will have 32-bit versions of Audacity which won't see 64-bit VST plug-ins. 64-bit systems will have 64-bit versions of Audacity which will see 64-bit VST plug-ins but won't see 32-bit plug-ins. |
If you experience a problem with a specific VST effect plug-in in Audacity, please contact us.
Installing LADSPA, LV2 or VAMP plug-ins
LV2 is a more advanced evolution of the LADSPA plug-in architecture which was originally developed on Linux. Audacity supports both LV2 and LADSPA effects on GNU/Linux. You can download and install a set of over 90 LADSPA plug-ins for all operating systems. See Adding a LADSPA plug-in for where to install LADSPA plug-ins. You can then choose which LADSPA plug-ins to enable in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.
To add a new LV2 effect, place its complete ".lv2" folder (not the files alone) at the top level of any of the LV2 search locations then enable it in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.
VAMP plug-ins are usually for analyzing audio so will appear under Audacity's Analyze Menu. You can do interesting things like attempt to track beats, note pitches, chords or frequencies. Any VAMP plug-ins whose output is suitable for a label track should work in Audacity on GNU/Linux. To add a new VAMP analysis tool, add the plug-in's DLL, DYLIB or SO file and any supplied category or RDF files to any of the VAMP search locations then enable the tool in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.
Installing plug-ins on Linux
Audacity on GNU/Linux supports a large number of Nyquist, LADSPA, LV2 and VAMP effects. VST effects are now supported in Audacity on Linux and can be installed as described at VST Effects. However native Linux VST effects are quite rare. Consequently, if a specific VST effect is required on Linux, it may be necessary to employ workarounds such as running Audacity for Windows in a virtual machine.
Audacity supports 64-bit effects in VST, LADSPA and VAMP format on 64-bit Linux systems (conversely, 32-bit plug-ins in those formats will not load into Audacity on 64-bit Linux).
Individual Nyquist and LADSPA plug-ins can be installed by putting the plug-ins into the Audacity "Plug-Ins" folder:
- /usr/share/audacity/plug-ins if Audacity was installed from a repository package
- /usr/local/share/audacity/plug-ins if you compiled Audacity from source code.
These locations are usually set as read-only, so the plug-ins will need to be copied as root (for example, by issuing an appropriate root command in the terminal, or by using the terminal to open a file manager application with root permissions).
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Updating the repository package of Audacity may remove plug-ins that are not part of the package. To solve that problem you can:
The dot in the folder name .audacity-data and .audacity-files indicates that it is a hidden folder, but the "Plug-Ins" subfolder in either folder is accessible without root permissions and will not be modified by installing a new Audacity package. |
Audacity installed from a repository package or compiled from source should automatically find LADSPA plug-ins installed in /usr/lib/ladspa. This may not be the case if you are compiling older source code. If necessary you can set an environment variable to indicate to Audacity where LADSPA plug-ins are installed. For Debian-based distributions this can be done by entering the following code at the command prompt (change <user> to your account username):
| export LADSPA_PATH=$LADSPA_PATH:/home/<user>/.ladspa:/usr/local/lib/ladspa:/usr/lib/ladspa |
If you wish this path to be set each time you boot, the LADSPA_PATH environment variable may be added to ~/.profile or this file may be created if it does not exist. An example of how to add the LADSPA_PATH environment variable:
| LADSPA_PATH=$LADSPA_PATH:/home/<user>/.ladspa:/usr/local/lib/ladspa:/usr/lib/ladspa export LADSPA_PATH |
For OpenSuse 64, LADSPA plug-ins may be found in /usr/lib64/ladspa. This path can be set by adding the following line to your /etc/environment file:
| LADSPA_PATH=/usr/lib64/ladspa |
LV2 and VAMP plug-ins cannot be placed in the Audacity "Plug-Ins" folder or your .audacity-files folder. LV2 plug-ins should be installed by placing the complete .lv2 folder (not the individual files in that folder) in the root of ~/.lv2, /usr/local/lib/lv2, /usr/local/lib64/lv2, /usr/lib/lv2 or /usr/lib64/lv2. Alternatively the environment variable may be set as in this example:
| export LV2_PATH=$HOME/.lv2:/usr/local/lib/lv2:/usr/lib/lv2 |
VAMP plug-ins may be installed in $HOME/vamp, $HOME/.vamp, /usr/local/lib/vamp or /usr/lib/vamp. Alternatively the VAMP_PATH environment variable may be set to any of those specified VAMP installation directories. VAMP plug-ins will normally be placed in the Analyze Menu of Audacity.
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After installing effects, go to the Add / Remove Plug-ins dialog to enable them in Audacity. |
How can I solve Audacity crashing after I add a plug-in?
LADSPA, LV2, VST or Audio Unit plug-ins
A hang or crash could occur after you use the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog to add new LADSPA, LV2, VST or Audio Unit (Mac OS X) effects. The crash or hang could occur immediately after pressing OK in the dialog, when using an effect, when exiting Audacity or when restarting it next time.
If Audacity crashes immediately after you enable one or more effects in the Plug-in Manager dialog, the effect(s) that crashed should be disabled next time you launch Audacity. They will be relisted in Plug-in Manager as "New" rather than "Disabled". If Audacity crashes when an effect is launched from the Effect Menu or applied to the audio, you can restart Audacity then try disabling the effect in the Plug-in Manager. This effect will then not be available in Effect Menu.
Sometimes it may not be obvious which effects to disable to solve a hang or crash. You might be able to identify offending effects from Audacity.zip if there is an Audacity Debug report. You can also try Windows Event Viewer (or more easily on Windows Vista and later, type "Reliability" without quotes in the Search box to open Reliability Monitor). To view Mac OS X reports, open /Applications/Utilities/Console.app then look at the System Diagnostic Reports.
Should it remain unclear which effects are responsible, it may be useful to reset Audacity to load only the enabled effects that it had on first installation. To do this, go to Audacity's folder for application data as follows:
- Windows Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/Vista: Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\ (or type %appdata% in Explorer)
- Windows XP: Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Audacity\ (or type %appdata% in Explorer)
- OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/audacity/ (use Go > Go to Folder in Finder)
- Linux: ~/.audacity-data/ .
In that folder, delete the pluginregistry.cfg and pluginsettings.cfg files and restart Audacity. Then you can use the Plug-in Manager dialog to selectively enable effects to find the possible culprit.
