Linux VST - How to Install

http://tutorials.renoise.com/wiki/Linux_FAQ

That tutorial tells me to place my ZynaddsubFX VST into the following paths to get Renoise to recognize it:

/usr/lib/vst

/usr/local/lib/vst

~/.vst

Renoise is on my Ubuntu installation and works but none of these paths exist. I went ahead and created /usr/lib/vst and put the uncompressed ZynaddsubFX into it. I restarted Renoise, made sure VST was enabled, and hit the Renoise rescan button.

Nothing in the instruments tab. The VST ain’t showing up. How do I get this to work?

I would install these things through your package manager where possible (kxstudio repos can be added to ubuntu and give you access to everything you could need).

Are you sure the zynaddsubfx you downloaded was in vst format and not lv2?

I would install from the package manager and see if that works.

where the heck did you find a linux vst precompiled download for the zyn?

https://sourceforge.net/projects/zynaddsubfx/

I got my Zyn VST from the link above. I uncompressed the file and put everything in /usr/lib/vst/ that I created. Renoise won’t recognize it though. How do I do this correctly? Renoise is useless to me in Ubuntu without my VSTs.

That is the source code, you would normally take that and compile it.

How do I do this correctly? Renoise is useless to me in Ubuntu without my VSTs.

Add the kxstudio repos to your ubuntu installation and you will have zynaddsubfx plus a lot of other great ones.

http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Repositories#Ubuntu

I added those repos and did an apt-get install ZynaddsubFX. Now I have the standalone version I can open. Where’s the VST file and where do I put it so Renoise will recognize it as an instrument I can open?

apt-cache policy zynaddsubfx

should show:

zynaddsubfx:
 Installed: 2:2.5.4-1kxstudio1
 Candidate: 2:2.5.4-1kxstudio1
 Version table:
*** 2:2.5.4-1kxstudio1 0
 500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kxstudio-debian/plugins/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
 2.4.4-1kxstudio1 0
 500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kxstudio-debian/plugins/ubuntu/ lucid/main amd64 Packages
 2.4.3-4 0
 500 http://cr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages

This will show you the VST files installed by that package:

dpkg -L zynaddsubfx | grep -i vst

The output should mention this:

/usr/lib/vst/ZynAddSubFX.so

My apt-cache policy zynaddsubfx output ended up being:

zynaddsubfx:
Installed: 2.5.2-2ubuntu1
Candidate: 2:2.5.4-1kxstudio1
Version table:
2:2.5.4-1kxstudio1 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kxstudio-debian/plugins/ubuntu trusty/main amd64 Packages
*** 2.5.2-2ubuntu1 500
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
2.4.4-1kxstudio1 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kxstudio-debian/plugins/ubuntu lucid/main amd64 Packages

When I do this command nothing is displayed : dpkg -L zynaddsubfx | grep -i vst

As a side note ZynaddsubFX isn’t on the page you linked too, below. I just did a apt-get install zynaddsubfx and I think it installed correctly.

http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Repositories:Plugins

As a side note ZynaddsubFX isn’t on the page you linked too, below.

It’s not listed there because the VST plugin version is pretty new and the dev hasn’t updated the website to reflect that but there are a lot more in the repos besides those listed there.

There are meta packages you can install to add all the VST, DSSI and LADSPA plugins.

This should give you loads of good plugins.

sudo apt-get install kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-collection kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-dssi kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-ladspa kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-vst safe-plugins

I agree with Meef that the meta packages include some great plugins, but if you only want the ZynAddSubFX VST installed use your package manager to search for it. I believe it is called Zynaddsubfx-vst or something similar ( working from memory here as im not at my Linux box )

I ended up using Meef Chaolin’s recommended plugins and they are amazing. I highly recommend installing these. Between the plugins there are hundreds and hundreds of cool sounding presets ranging a wide variety of sounds.

sudo apt-get install kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-collection kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-dssi kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-ladspa kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-vst safe-plugins

When I boot Ubuntu I now get the following error. Any idea how to fix it?

ProblemType: Package
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Jul 24 12:08:35 2016
Package: zynaddsubfx 2:2.5.4-1kxstudio1
SourcePackage: zynaddsubfx
ErrorMessage:
 trying to overwrite '/usr/share/zynaddsubfx/examples/Fantasy 1.xmz', which is also in package zynaddsubfx-data 2.5.2-2ubuntu1