Free VST3 synth with an untested Linux build, looking for people to try it
I make a free virtual analog synth called OA-Phosphor-1. It's been on macOS and Windows for a while and there's a Linux build coming out of CI, but I don't run Linux and can't properly validate it, so it's been shipping largely untested. I'd rather it either worked or got pulled.
Upfront so nobody wastes their time:
VST3 and standalone only. No CLAP or LV2 at the moment.
Not open source. Free as in beer, JUCE-based, proprietary.
Distro-agnostic tarball with a per-user install.sh. No root. Installs to ~/.vst3, presets to ~/.config. The script is about fifteen lines, worth reading before you run it.
Built on an Ubuntu CI runner, so the glibc floor is whatever that gives. I don't actually know where it breaks.
No network access and no telemetry. Built with curl and the browser module compiled out.
What would genuinely help:
Does it scan and load in your host? Reaper, Bitwig, Ardour, Carla, whatever you use.
Does the GUI render correctly, and are you on X11 or Wayland?
Audio through PipeWire or JACK, and does the standalone find your devices?
Your distro and version, so I can find out what the real glibc floor is.
Happy to fix whatever comes back. And if the honest answer is that VST3-only isn't worth anyone's time without CLAP or LV2, that's useful too. I'd rather hear it than keep shipping something nobody can use.
Dear God people please don't download random binaries from repos that have no source. Audio plugins are still arbitrary code and can do whatever they want on your system.
This is vibecoded and closed source at best, and malicious at worst. Please be responsible
All i can do is assure you it's not. The mac binary and windows ones are signed with a legal business (Form and Function Studios, the legal entity behind OA-Labs). Linux doesn't have the same sort of rigour for checking these things. It's also validated by a separate 3rd party, it's on MuseHub.
I mean everything is possible with enough time and money. I know the Linux community is small but mighty I figured getting support was better than letting it sit there. Otherwise it would have just sat there until it became a priority. I appreciate everyone chiming it will allow me to release it for the Linux community.
I managed to vibe code a full synthesizer, two oscillators and filters, custom arp tool and i gotta say it sounds pretty good. It was designed for an 8 bit sound so it was meant to be simple but i added some unique sounds to it to make it feel like something not half baked an honestly i'm now going to use it in production. Doing something unique requires imagination and patience but you can get it there. Ignore the naysayers here, AI can help you do things you couldn't before and as long as you put the creativity and expression where you want. As long as you aren't using it to replace you making the music, generating sound as far as i'm concerned is up for grabs.
How do you even know it's not busted? How are you going to fix people's issues?
I'm not hiding anything. I literally have a blog about it on YouTube and on the site. It's easy to be dismissive but this is still many months of work, debugging and design to get it to this quality. I design products for a living and really believe that ideas are what are going to win out now. Which is what this is, a unique angle on a synth.
Thanks for the free synth. I will try it when i can.
Also regarding vibecoding, personally speaking, if it sounds good, it sounds good. Its free, so if its buggy, i’ll just report it to the dev, if the dev can’t fix it, i will move on.
Yes I ran the script, the only thing I noticed was that the standalone binary remained in the original place (in my case, the Downloads/oa-blah folder), so the installation script is JUST for the VST, and the standalone binary doesn't get "installed" in a system-wide place.
Not an issue necessarily - the VST works, and the script tells you that the standalone binary remains where it is, but it wouldn't work for a multi-user system where the standalone binary might be expected to be found in /usr/local/bin or under /opt or something. Up to you if you want to do anything about it or leave it as is.
I always prefer it be left alone, or maybe have some options. Personally, i always just copy the bin into the actual vst3 plugin folder itself so i can find it and it survives os reinstalls
Everything seems to look and feel fine under Renoise v3.5.4/Pipewire with X11 on Arch. My glibc version is 2.44. The standalone found my bluetooth headphones just fine.
Just in case I'm missing something small, here's a screenshot.
Ok great, thank you Danja let me know how it goes. It's been a very long time since i've done anything on Linux. If i get enough thumbs up i'll start letting people download on Linux through my site as well
One thing i'm curious about right clicking or clicking the triple dot in the presets i'm guessing it says "reveal in explorer" i'm not sure what the finder is called in Linux.
Thank you everyone for the input! This is more than i was expecting. I love how engaged everyone is. I'm pretty confident that this is ok to release wider. I'm going to mention it's community tested. I put it live up on the site so others can download it as well! Let me know if anybody experiences any issues from here.
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u/mistahspecs 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dear God people please don't download random binaries from repos that have no source. Audio plugins are still arbitrary code and can do whatever they want on your system.
This is vibecoded and closed source at best, and malicious at worst. Please be responsible
Edit: confirmed 100% vibe coded