LWN: Comments on "An introduction to Linux audio plugin APIs"

An introduction to Linux audio plugin APIs

thockin — Sun, 01 May 2022 17:19:34 +0000

Great piece. Happy to see GMPI get a mention.

One personality not represented here is Ron Super, then VP or CTO (I forget which, but high up) at Cakewalk (which was, at the time, one of the biggest DAW vendors).

Ron was sort of the patron of GMPI. Our inside (the industry) man. He was very encouraging and engaged, and even got us a spot to present GMPI to a meeting of the MMA. IIRC reps from all the big DAWs were there. We made out pitch and the reaction was...discouraging. None of the big players had anything constructive to say. It was clear they preferred control to openness.

It was (is still) my opinion that without support or even just encouragement from at least a few of the big players, GMPI was doomed to be a footnote at best. I love Linux and have used it as my main desktop for most of the last 28 years, but we needed to get a nibble from the Windows and Mac worlds to keep it going.

That was the beginning of the end. Most of us had other projects. I had changed jobs around that time. Ron eventually left Cakewalk, and any hope I had for an industry-scale open plugin API died. I am heartened to hear that GMPI did not completely die out. Good job, Jeff!

An introduction to Linux audio plugin APIs

ToolsDevler — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 11:49:22 +0000

Thank you for this article! I'm very interested in the special relationship between Linux and Audio.

An introduction to Linux audio plugin APIs

prokoudine — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 14:15:27 +0000

I have no knowledge of any such discussions.

You can already use sends/inserts for any processing outside of a DAW (some LV2 plugins are available as standalones), it's a pretty standard feature. The downside of out-of-DAW processing is how you automate plugin parameters. It's not trivial to put it mildly.

An introduction to Linux audio plugin APIs

pixelpapst — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 13:57:43 +0000

Alexandre, I have always been wondering how migrating the Linux audio stack over to pipewire, when it finally happens, could enable new user experiences in DAWs. Is this (to your knowledge) something that is being discussed in the plugin developer circles?

E.g., I could envision a DAW using pipewire connections to out-of-process plugins, which would subsequently be able to outlive the DAW session itself - and later be managed by a different pipewire controller. Not sure if that would be useful for anyone, but with these creative people, you never know. :)

An introduction to Linux audio plugin APIs

hecanjog — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 23:34:15 +0000

It's really exciting to see Linux audio coverage here, thanks for a great article! I'm looking forward to the feature on CLAP.

An introduction to Linux audio plugin APIs

xanni — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 05:54:42 +0000

Excellent article! I'm happy to support both LWN and Alexandre Prokoudine to do more of this.