3 title: Working With Plugins
8 <p><dfn>Plugins</dfn> are bits of software that get loaded by Ardour in order to:</p>
10 <li>Create various audio or MIDI effects
12 <li>Generate audio by functioning as "software instruments"
16 <p>Ardour does not come with any built-in signal processors of its own
17 (other than volume faders) and it also generally doesn't ship with any
18 plugins. They are written by 3rd parties, though we do provide <a href="/working-with-plugins/getting-plugins/">some
19 information on how to get them</a>.
23 Ardour supports a variety of different plugin standards:
25 <dl class="narrower-table">
27 <dt><abbr title="Linux Audio Developers' Simple Plugin API">LADSPA</abbr></dt>
28 <dd>An early, simple, lightweight plugin <abbr title="Application
29 Programming Interface">API</abbr>, audio effects only,
30 plugins have no editors/GUI of their own (Ardour provides one, however).</dd>
31 <dt><abbr title="LADSPA Version 2">LV2</abbr></dt>
32 <dd>An extensible, full-featured plugin API, audio and <abbr
33 title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr>, plugins can provide their
34 own <abbr title="Graphical User Interface">GUI</abbr>s</dd>
35 <dt><abbr title="Audio Unit">AU</abbr></dt>
36 <dd>OS X only, full featured, audio and MIDI, plugins can provide their own GUI</dd>
38 <dt><abbr title="Virtual Studio Technology">VST</abbr></dt>
39 <dd>Plugins using Steinberg's VST plugin standard. Varies by platform:
41 <dt>on Linux</dt><dd>(native) Linux VST plugins fully supported (VST2.4)</dd>
42 <dt>on Windows</dt><dd>(native) Windows VST plugins fully supported (VST2.4)</dd>
43 <dt>on OS X</dt><dd>Not supported, unless you use a VST<>AU
44 bridge plugin. Similar to Apple's Logic DAW.</dd>
48 <dt>Windows VST Plugins on Linux</dt>
49 <dd>VST plugins for Windows, but being used on Linux. <em>Not
50 supported by normal builds of Ardour. <a href="/working-with-plugins/windows-vst-support/">Read
55 <h2>Adding/Removing/Copying Plugins</h2>
57 <p>Within Ardour, plugins are just another type
58 of <dfn>Processor</dfn> and so the techniques for
59 adding/removing/copying/moving processors apply to plugins as
60 well. These techniques are covered on
61 the <a href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box/">Processor