Installing Effect, Generator and Analyzer plug-ins on Windows

You can download and install plug-ins to add extra functionality to Audacity. Plug-ins can give you extra effects, or more audio generation and analysis capabilities.

Contents

1. Installing Nyquist plug-ins
2. Installing VST plug-ins
3. Why do some VST plug-ins not work or display incorrectly?
4. Installing LADSPA, LV2 or VAMP plug-ins
5. 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 Windows the "Plug-Ins" folder is in the directory where Audacity resides - usually C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) on Windows.

To load the new effects into Audacity so they are available in the menu, use the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.

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 Windows including "shell" VST's that host multiple VST effects.

To install new VST effects, place them in the "Plug-Ins" folder inside the Audacity installation folder. On Windows, this is usually under Program Files (or Program Files (x86) on 64-bit Windows).

You can install new VST effects into Audacity by using the Effect > Add / Remove Plug-ins... menu item. This opens the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog where you can select and Enable the new effects then click OK to load them. Next time you launch Audacity the enabled effect(s) will be cached and you won't need to re-enable them.

The list of effects in the dialog will include any detected VST instrument (VSTi) plug-ins (such as synths) and any real-time VST effects that are capable of changing audio data while it's being written to disk. Neither of these are yet supported and they will not load even if you enable or re-enable them in the dialog.

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 OK. When you reopen the effect it will display a simpler tabular interface.

On Windows Audacity is a 32-bit application so won't see 64-bit versions of VST plug-ins, even on 64-bit operating systems.

If you experience a problem with a specific VST effect plug-in in Audacity, please contact us.

Installing LADSPA, LV2 or VAMP plug-ins

Gale 18Aug14: Rather than carbon-copy the information about LV2 plug-ins from Effect Menu#lv2 I thought it would be better to describe LV2 and VAMP because users will see them in Effects Preferences and may not know what they are.

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 Windows as well as GNU/Linux. You can download and install a set of over 90 LADSPA plug-ins for Windows. 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.

There are not yet many pre-compiled LV2 plug-ins for Windows, though it may be possible to compile some Linux LV2 plug-ins for other operating systems. 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 Windows. 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.

How can I solve Audacity crashing after I add a plug-in?

Peter 28Feb16: This section may end up staying in the FAQ rather than migrationg to here. To be decided later.

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 or VST 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).

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)

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.

If you discover a specific plug-in that misbehaves in Audacity, please email our feedback address. Please include any available Debug report that Audacity generates.