/OpenAudio

A list of open source VST/audio plugin projects. Please contribute more links or open source your own plugins.

Open-Source Audio Plugins & Apps

A list of open-source VST (and other format) plugin/app projects. The intention of this list is to catalog open-source plugins or apps which are either fully featured or are useful examples which have non-trivial features.

https://openaudio.webprofusion.com

Please contribute links!

Table of Contents

Audio Plugins

Plugin Description Type Framework
ADLplug FM Chip Synthesizer — OPL & OPN Instrument JUCE
ampli-Fe Cross-platform VST2 plugin written in Rust Effect Rust VST
andes Sound synthesiser plugin based on Perlin noise Instrument JUCE
Airwindows Various small and experimental effect plugins Effect
amsynth Analog-modelling (virtual analog) synthesizer Instrument GTK
Argotlunar Real-time delay-line granulator Effect JUCE
Audio Effects Plugins implemented from the explanations in the book “Audio Effects: Theory, Implementation and Application” Effect JUCE
Bespoke Node-based modular synth with live coding Instrument JUCE
BinAural VST Mono-to-stereo plugin that positions sound in a 3D space using Head-Related Transfer Functions Effect JUCE
BlackBird Analog-inspired software synth with its own voice Instrument JUCE
C1Bitcrusher Experimental and accurate bit reduction Effect
Calf Studio Gear Many LV2 and Jack audio plug-ins Effects GTK
CHOW Maximally truculent distortion effect Effect JUCE
Cloud Seed Algorithmic reverb for emulating huge, endless spaces and modulated echoes Effect
Cocoa Delay Warm and lively delay Effect WDL-OL
Convolver Impulse-response reverb Effect VSTGUI, JUCE
Dexed DX7 FM plugin synth Instrument JUCE
Digits Phase-distortion synth inspired by Casio CZ series Instrument VSTGUI
Distrho glBars OpenGL bars visualization plugin (as seen in XMMS and XBMC/Kodi) adapted from jack_glbars Effect DPF
Distrho Juice Plugins Misc DPF
Distrho Kars Simple karplus-strong plucked string synth based on the karplong DSSI example synth Instrument DPF
Distrho Mini-Series Collection of small plugins based on LOSER-Dev Plugins Effect DPF
Distrho MVerb DPF-based version of MVerb Effect DPF
Distrho ndc Plugs DPF-based versions of some of ndc Plugs Effect DPF
Distrho Nekobi Simple single-oscillator synth based on Roland TB-303 Instrument DPF
Distrho ProM Music-visualizer plugin based on projectM Effect DPF
Dragonfly Reverb Hall-style reverb based on Freeverb3 algorithms Effect DPF
Drops Single file audio player Instrument DPF
Element Advanced Audio Plugin Host Misc JUCE
Eurorack Diverse set of physical modeling sources, organic processors, wavetable oscillators, waveshapers, granular synths, and utility modules Misc
Flutterbird Simple pitch fluctuation Effect iPlug 2
Gverb/Gigaverb Reverb Effect VSTGUI
Helm Polyphonic synth with lots of modulation Instrument JUCE
hexter Yamaha DX7 modeling FM synth for DSSI Instrument DPF
HiLoFilter Simple hipass/lopass filter controlled with a single knob Effect JUCE
JuceOPLVSTi FM synth based on Yamaha OPL2/3 emulation from DOSBox Instrument JUCE
Juno 6 Roland Juno 6/60 Synthesizer Instrument
keithhearne/VSTPlugins Collection of VST plugins Effect JUCE
K-Meter Implementation of a K-System meter according to Bob Katz’ specifications Effect JUCE
Key Repeat Beat repeat sampler Instrument JUCE
KickMaker Synth specifically to create kick-drum sounds Instrument VSTGUI
LameVST LameMP3 as an effect Effect
Magical8bitPlug 2 Old 8bit game console style synth Instrument JUCE
mda FX and virtual instruments for PC and Mac Misc (no GUI)
Mika Micro Simple subtractive synth Instrument WDL-OL
MVerb Studio-quality reverb using the Dattorro’s figure-of-eight reverb structure Effect VSTGUI
Ninjas 2 Sample slicer, rewrite of Ninjas Instrument DPF
NotNotchFilter Performance-oriented filter designed to replace the mid-EQ found in a standard 3-band DJ mixer Effect JUCE
ndc Plugs VST plugins for Windows and OSX Misc
OctaSine VST2 frequency modulation synthesizer written in Rust Instrument Rust VST
Odin2 Polyphonic Synth Instrument JUCE
OwlBass Additive bass synth Instrument JUCE
OB-Xd Based on the Oberheim OB-X Instrument JUCE
Oxe FM Synth Multitimbral 8-operator FM synth (VST 2.4; Windows, Linux, macOS) Instrument VSTGUI
PulseDelay Timed delay effect Effect (no GUI)
QtVST VST plugins with a Qt interface Effect Qt
Regrader Degenerative delay Effect VSTGUI
Roth-AIR Mixing tool for easily adding airy, crispy presence to audio Effect JUCE
ScorchCrafter Guitar FX Audio DSP FX and plugins, mostly for guitar (amp sim) and other FX Effect VSTGUI
sfizz SFZ parser library and instrument plugins Instrument VSTGUI
ShoutVST VST for streaming sound into Icecast/Shoutcast directly from VST hosts Effect VSTGUI, FLUID
SmartGuitarAmp Guitar amplifier-style plugin, that uses machine learning for emulating real world hardware Instrument JUCE
SmartGuitarPedal Guitar pedal-style plugin, that uses machine learning for emulating real world hardware Effect JUCE
Sound Analyser Real-time audio analysis to allow anyone to quickly set up and experiment with different algorithms Effect JUCE
SPARTA Spatial audio focused plug-in suite (Ambisonics encoders/decoders, 3-D panners/spatialisers, etc.) Effect SAF, JUCE
Surge Subtractive wavetable synth Instrument VSTGUI
Synister Subtractive synth Instrument JUCE
Syntage VST 2.4 .Net Study Synth Instrument
Temper Digital distortion targeting VST, VST3, and AU for OS X and Windows Effect Faust, JUCE
Tunefish VST virtual analog synthesizer Instrument JUCE
traKmeter Loudness meter for correctly setting up tracking and mixing levels Effect JUCE
VCV Rack Virtual modular synth Misc RtAudio
Vital Spectral warping wavetable synthesizer Instrument JUCE
VSTSID SID synthesizer instrument Instrument
VST2413 FM synth based on emulator of YM2413 (OPLL) chip used in Sega Master System and FM-PAC MSX expansion Instrument (no GUI)
Wolf Shaper Waveshaper plugin with spline-based graph editor Effect DPF
YK Chorus Chorus audio effect plugin based on DSP code by TAL Effect DPF
zam-plugins LADSPA/LV2/VST/JACK audio plugins for high-quality processing Effect DPF
zynaddsubfx Additive/Subtractive AM/FM synthesizer with effects Instrument FLTK

Collections

  • Linux Synths — list of linux based synths, some of which are open-source
  • OpenAV — collection of instruments, effects, and development tool kits for Linux.
  • SFZ Instruments — list of SFZ instruments, most of which are free
  • StudioRack — open-source audio plugin registry, app and command line tools
  • VCV library — library of plugins compatible with VCV Plugin Manager

Audio Apps

Software Source Description
Ardour Ardour/ardour DAW
ASIO2WASAPI levmin/ASIO2WASAPI Universal ASIO driver for Windows
Audacity audacity/audacity Audio editor
Carla falkTX/Carla GNU/Linux Plugin Host
Element Kushview/Element Advanced Audio Plugin Host
FlexASIO dechamps/FlexASIO Universal ASIO driver for Windows
Giada monocasual/giada Loop machine
Guitarix SourceForge → guitarix GNU/Linux Virtual Amplifier
Helio Workstation helio-fm/helio-workstation Sequencer
HISE christophhart/HISE Cross-platform framework/application for building sample-based virtual instruments (VST, AU, AAX)
Hydrogen hydrogen-music/hydrogen Drum machine
NewMixer jatinchowdhury18/NewMixer Mixing Software
LMMS LMMS/lmms DAW
OpenMPT OpenMPT/openmpt Popular tracker (formerly ModPlug Tracker) for Windows with support for IT, XM, S3M, MOD modules, VST plugins and ASIO
OwlPlug DropSnorz/OwlPlug Audio plugin manager
orDrumbox SourceForge → ordrumbox Drum machine
Psycle SourceForge → psycle Modular music tracker
SampleScanner psobot/SampleScanner Tool for auto-sampling hardware instruments
Sonic Pi sonic-pi-net/sonic-pi Code-based music creation and performance tool
StudioRack github.com/studiorack Audio plugin manager
VCV Rack VCVRack/Rack Modular synth
yabridge robbert-vdh/yabridge Linux bridge for Windows VSTs
Zrythm zrythm/zrythm DAW

Software Development Libraries

Library Source Description
Cabbage rorywalsh/cabbage Framework for developing audio plugins and standalone instruments with Csound
Csound csound/csound Programming language for sound and music synthesis
DawDreamer DBraun/DawDreamer An audio-processing Python framework supporting core DAW features written with JUCE
DPF DISTRHO/DPF C++ framework for creating cross-platform audio plugins. DPF can build for LADSPA, DSSI, LV2, and VST formats.
Dplug AuburnSounds/Dplug Dplug lets you create audio plug-ins with unmatched simplicity and speed, using the D language.
Elementary nick-thompson/elementary A JavaScript runtime for writing native audio applications, as well as a library and framework for composing audio signal processes.
Faust grame-cncm/faust Functional programming language for real-time signal processing
FluidSynth FluidSynth/fluidsynth Real-time synth based on the SoundFont 2 specifications
Heavy Wasted-Audio/hvcc The heavy hvcc compiler for Pure Data patches. With generators for Bela, Fabric, js, pdext, Unity, Daisy, DPF, and Wwise frameworks.
iPlug 2 iPlug2/iPlug2 Simple-to-use C++ framework for developing cross-platform audio plugins/apps
JUCE WeAreROLI/JUCE Cross-platform C++ framework for developing desktop and mobile apps and audio plugins
jVSTwRapper SourceForge → jvstwrapper Wrapper to write audio plugins in Java (VST 2.4, AU, LADSPA; Windows, Linux, macOS)
libopenmpt OpenMPT/openmpt Cross-platform C/C++ module-playback library based on OpenMPT
libspatialaudio videolabs/libspatialaudio Cross-platform C++ library for Ambisonic encoding and decoding, filtering and binaural rendering
PortAudio Assembla → portaudio Cross-platform audio I/O library
RtAudio thestk/rtaudio C++ classes for cross-platform real-time audio I/O
rust-vst rust-dsp/rust-vst VST 2.4 API implementation in the Rust language
SAF leomccormack/Spatial_Audio_Framework Cross-platform framework for developing spatial audio related algorithms and software in C/C++
SOUL soul-lang/SOUL SOUL (SOUnd Language) is an attempt to modernise and optimise the way high-performance, low-latency audio code is written and executed.
Soundpipe PaulBatchelor/Soundpipe Lightweight music DSP library written in C; over 100 modules, many ported from Csound
tracktion_engine Tracktion/tracktion_engine Tracktion Engine module. You can build anything from a simple file-player or sequencer to a full blown DAW. Tracktion Engine is supplied as a JUCE module so it can easily fit in to an existing JUCE application.
VSTGUI steinbergmedia/vstgui User-interface toolkit mainly for audio plugins
WDL-OL olilarkin/wdl-ol Simple-to-use C++ framework for developing cross-platform audio plugins (superseded by iPlug 2)

Code Samples

  • KlangFalter — convolution audio plugin (e.g. for usage as convolution reverb)
  • FFTConvolver — audio convolution algorithm in C++ for real-time audio processing
  • py-modular — modular and experimental programming environment with basic DSP routines in Python

Open Data Resources

  • OpenAIR — the Open Acoustic Impulse Response Library (Convolution Reverb Impulse Responses to recreate reverb character of space and equipment/recordings)