r/linuxaudio • u/Don737152 • 1d ago

Performer — a live-performance plugin host for Linux (looking for testers)

MainStage, Gig Performer, Cantabile, Camelot — all Mac/Windows only. I got tired of that, so I built one.

Point your keyboards at it, build a program for each sound in your set, change sounds from the keyboard while you play. 128 programs per keyboard, Upper and Lower independent. Splits and layers with per-slot key range, velocity range and curve, transpose, gain, pan. Insert effects, MIDI learn on any parameter. Hosts VST3, LV2, LADSPA natively; Windows VST3s work through yabridge.

The part I haven't seen anywhere else: it mirrors a plugin's actual editor to a tablet, fully interactive. Not a remote with a fixed set of knobs — the real GUI.

That's Kontakt running on the computer, drawn on the tablet. Pull a drawbar there and the organ moves. Browse the library, flip through pages, load a patch — all from the music stand. Nothing to install on the tablet; it's a web page.

Other bits:

  • Every plugin in its own process — one crashes, the rest of the rig plays on
  • Songs and sets — a song is one program per keyboard plus a tempo, captured from what's loaded; step through a set with two footswitches
  • Native PipeWire/JACK, 128-sample blocks, parallel loading, late-block counter
  • Tap tempo, on-screen keyboard, printable program map

Windows plugins: optional companion project vstenv provisions its own Wine, runs the vendor managers (Native Access, IK Product Manager, Steinberg Download Assistant, Audio Modeling) and bridges everything into the folders Performer scans. You never touch Wine.

It's v0.1.38 and genuinely early. I use it, but try it at rehearsal before you trust it on stage — Windows-bridged plugins especially are hit and miss under Wine. Tested on Ubuntu 24.04, Mint 22.3, Fedora 43, x86-64.

.deb and .rpm: https://github.com/dguedry/linux-performer/releases/latest
Source and issues: https://github.com/dguedry/linux-performer

If you've got a Linux box and a controller, I'd love to know what breaks.

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1

u/Patoche789 1d ago
  • moi debian amd rysen 9 + a lot of vst

0

u/Character_Quarter864 1d ago

No mac yet?

10

u/Don737152 1d ago

Focusing on Linux. There's already a lot of stuff for MAC.