Favorite music production software on Linux (updated)

Updated: 2025-04-25

Sometimes I feel like I am dreaming. 😇 It is 2024 and I produce music on a powerful all-AMD computer running a cutting edge Linux distribution with one of the most innovative digital audio workstations on the market; Bitwig Studio. 😎

As if that were not enough, some of my favorite plugin vendors have recently joined the illustrious Linux Pro Audio community. With below list I would like to share with you the joy of being able to use a whole handful of wonderful audio software on my Linux workstation. With PipeWire, WirePlumber, Wayland... wow, what a time for Linux.

And although I am eagerly waiting for manufacturers like AudioRealism, d16, GForce Software, Sugar Bytes or Moog Music (among others) to come forward with Linux support in the near future (see my blog post Missing audio plugins on linux, I am at the same time almost glad that the overabundance of plugins available for macOS and Windows is of no concern for Linux based music production at this time. 🤫😝

Before you dig into the alphabetically ordered list of Linux audio gems, I would like to point out that all software as well as all hardware I currently use is listed on my Gear page (in case you are interested to take a peek).

You can use the following links to jump to a specific vendor:
5dB5 | Arboreal Audio | Auburn Sounds | Audio Assault | Audio Damage | AudioThing | Bitwig | blepfx | Chowdhury DSP | discoDSP | Inphonik | Klangfreund | Kazrog | midilab | Punk Labs | RV Audio Design | Sinevibes | Sinuslabs | Sononym | TAL Software | u-he | UnplugRed | VCV | Vital Audio

5dB5

Channel551

Beautifully crafted British console-inspired channel strip.

Compressor551

British style compressor.

DoubleTake

Creative 4 voice doubler effect with a sweet UI.

EchoVerb

Cute delay plugin with fantastic sound and admirable UI.

Equalizer551

British style basic EQ.

Head Crusher

Saturation à la Soundtoys Decapitator.

RM-2

Japanese console channel emulator.

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Arboreal Audio

PiMax 🌟️

This is my tool of choice if I need to make something loud.

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Auburn Sounds

Couture

Killer sound character shaping plugin with a transient and a saturation stage. Really good sound and fun to use.

Inner Pitch

Amazingly versatile pitch changing toolkit with great sonic characteristics.

Panagement

Innovative plugin allowing oneself to place sound sources intuitively in a virtual room.

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Audio Assault

Mix Locker

Although I don't use Mix Locker that often, I have to say that it is beautifully executed and can provide decent results while being very playful.

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Audio Damage

Continua

An intuitive synthesizer with oscillator morphing that is always fun to use and not seldom good for a unique sound too.

EOS 2

Very versatile, good sounding reverb with an amazing UI.

Kombinat Tri

Full control of harmonics with this powerful distortion plugin.

Other Desert Cities

Super creative delay unit with very inspirational UI.

Phosphor

A synthesizer that builds on ideas from the past, but can sound like from the future. Oh, and it's randomization features are super fun to experiment with when searching for new sounds.

Quanta

Very polished and fun way to craft unique sounds from scratch with granular synthesis.

Replicant

Great to fill in the gaps on a drum group.

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AudioThing

Dials

Outstanding concept and UI, a test equipment channel strip.

Dub Filter

Interesting sounding filter with a creative use of modulation.

Gong Amp

Experimental amplifier with a Gong.

Lines

Multi-effect unit with a lovely workflow and lots of user interface candy.

Noises

Extraterrestrial instrument for "far out" sounddesign with an excellent UI.

Space Strip

Great tool-set to shape and place sounds in space.

Things Bubbles

Creative delay/filter with a lovely UI.

Things Fold

Beautiful and decent sounding wave folding harmonic plugin.

Things Motor

Amazing little plugin to add live to practically any sound.

Things Texture

Beautifully crafted little reverb.

Type A

Nice plugin to add character to the high end of a signal.

Type B

Alternative plugin to add character to the high end of a signal.

Valves

Vintage tube amp emulation with attention to detail.

Vinyl Strip

Channel strip like plugin to add character to sounds.

Wave Box

Creative distortion plugin.

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Bitwig

Bitwig Studio

After 25 happy years with Logic, Bitwig Studio was a fresh start for me (and a game changer too!). It really feels more like an instrument than a DAW (from a traditional kind of perspective). Very intuitive workflow, innovative and inspirational and simply put a lot of fun!

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blepfx

crunchrr

I honestly think that this is the only bitcrusher I have ever enjoyed using. Amazing.

destruqtor

Another distortion plugin but with a really lovely workflow and lots of attention to detail.

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Chowdhury DSP

BYOD 🌟️

Amazing open source "patch it yourself" harmonics toolbox with a very intuitive workflow (and great sound, too).

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discoDSP

Discovery Pro

A Nord synthesizer on your computer! Very well made.

OB-Xd

An Oberheim OB-X emulation, phat sound, solid workflow, love it.

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Inphonik

RX950

If the Akai sampler feeling of the 90s is desired.

RX1200

A fun drum machine based on E-mu's SP-1200 with a fantastic sound.

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Klangfreund

Multimeter

Go-to toolbox in terms of sound levels.

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Kazrog

Retro Sta-Level

Not only easily one of the most visually stunning plugins in my repertoire, but also one of the sweetest sounding compressors on Linux in my opinion.

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midilab

JC303 🌟️

The only TB-303 emulation I use these days. And psst, but I just recently contributed the design for the project! 😜

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Punk Labs

OneTrick SIMIAN 🌟️

Simply put an amazing little drum machine that is a lot of fun.

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RV Audio Design

Disseptor

This is truly an outstanding tool for shaping harmonics using five adjustable all-pass filters.

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Sinevibes

Albedo

A super powered granular reverb effect.

Blend

My favorite chorus.

Corrosion

I don't know what else to say but wow, what a unit! I have the most amazing time sculpting harmonics with this little pal.

Dipole

Sweet sounding phaser.

Dispersion

Beautiful experimental delays.

Droplet

A super creative delay engine.

Eternal

Another flanger? Oh yes!

Hollow

A reverb comprised of a thousand delays, amazing!

Integer

Like most Sinevibes plugins it is hard to describe what it does if you do not want to use the word "magic". The official description is: Integer is a digital-analog buffer modeling effect.

Luminance

Have sounds glow and sparkle with this beautifully crafted shimmer reverb engine.

Rerun

My new favorite glitch plugin!

Skew

Can be very interesting to add life to a effects subgroup.

Stator

Great to add vintage character to electric pianos and synths.

Vague

A binaural time diffusion effect capable of delivering out of this world results.

Whirl

If Blend is my favorite chorus then this must be my favorite phaser!

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Sinuslabs

Bandbreite 🌟️

One of my favorite tape emulation plugins at the moment and open source too!

KO 🌟️

It is super fun to squeeze that extra character out of practically any sound with this lovely open source saturation unit.

Reach 🌟️

An outstanding open source reverb specifically made for electronic music with a beautiful user interface and "extraterrestrial" sound.

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Sononym

Sononym

Super versatile and feature packed sample management software.

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TAL Software

TAL-BASSLINE-101

A SH-101 very, very well made, beautiful to look at and use.

TAL-DUB-X

Whenever I am in need of a fantastic sounding delay, either this or u-he's Colour Copy are my go to choices.

TAL-DRUM

Intuitive drum machine/sampler with great workflow and sound.

TAL-G-VERB

I'd say this is the best sounding reverb I own.

TAL-J-8

Killer Jupiter 8 emulation, lovely UI and great workflow.

TAL-PHA

Ultra phat sounding (and stunning looking) synthesizer (emulating Roland's Alpha Juno II) with an 80s kind of vibe.

TAL-U-NO-LX

Juno 60 emulation with great looks and sound.

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u-he

ACE

Characterful, semi modular synthesizer.

Bazille

Complex modular synthesizer with a great UX.

Colour Copy

Lovely delay unit with a beautiful and inspirational UI.

Diva

The Moog imitator.

Filterscape

Out of this world morphing EQ synthesizer plugin trio!

Hive

One of my all time favorite virtual synths!

MFM

Very, very powerful delay unit with killer looks too.

Presswerk

Go-to bus compressor.

Repro 5

Repro-1 and Repro 5, some analogue monsters, carefully modeled. As always with u-he a lot of attention to detail all around.

Twangström

Spring reverb, lovely UI and workflow.

Zebra

A kind of "down the rabbit hole" synthesizer with the amazing Dark Zebra featuring Hans Zimmer. Amazing stuff!

Zebralette

Zebra's powerful sibling.

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UnplugRed

Prisma 🌟

The most fun I ever had with saturation. And the results are stunning too.

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VCV

VCV Rack 🌟

Eurorack on your computer. Very well made, extensive library and wow, open source too!

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Vital Audio

Vital

Unique synthesizer.

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🌟 = open source