
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.

(^) Back to top
Arboreal Audio
PiMax 🌟️
This is my tool of choice if I need to make something loud.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
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!

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
Chowdhury DSP
BYOD 🌟️
Amazing open source "patch it yourself" harmonics toolbox with a very intuitive workflow (and great sound, too).

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
Klangfreund
Multimeter
Go-to toolbox in terms of sound levels.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
midilab
JC303 🌟️
The only TB-303 emulation I use these days. And psst, but I just recently contributed the design for the project! 😜

(^) Back to top
Punk Labs
OneTrick SIMIAN 🌟️
Simply put an amazing little drum machine that is a lot of fun.

(^) Back to top
RV Audio Design
Disseptor
This is truly an outstanding tool for shaping harmonics using five adjustable all-pass filters.

(^) Back to top
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!

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
Sononym
Sononym
Super versatile and feature packed sample management software.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
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.

(^) Back to top
UnplugRed
Prisma 🌟
The most fun I ever had with saturation. And the results are stunning too.

(^) Back to top
VCV
VCV Rack 🌟
Eurorack on your computer. Very well made, extensive library and wow, open source too!

(^) Back to top
Vital Audio
Vital
Unique synthesizer.

(^) Back to top
🌟 = open source