Linux Audio Plugin Development (LAPD)
Kazrog
Linux Audio developer interview with Shane McFee from Kazrog
This interview was conducted by Amadeus Paulussen in 2025.
Dear Shane, when I wrote to you a few weeks ago about Linux support, what motivated you to launch a Linux beta for your new Retro Sta-Level plugin?
The reasoning was simple: Let's test out Linux support first with a single plugin, and then apply any revisions needed across the board to our other plugins. Linux support was something that was already in the works, and this product launch provided a great opportunity to get some test feedback.
From a vendor's perspective, are you worried that your efforts for Linux as a platform might not pay off?
Not at all — if anything, I see it as survival — the future of the Windows operating system in particular is in a really precarious spot, and I see the Linux operating system taking more market share than ever before in the desktop PC market - especially in pro audio and other professional contexts.
It's really not difficult to support Linux, and more developers should do it - at least with the expectation that they can test in a few popular distros and ensure compatibility with typical setups. Anyone who's running a more unusual setup will usually be savvy enough to get things sorted out, also.
If I understand correctly, you have been making plugins for more than 15 years now. How do you think the market has changed since then?
Yes, and I've seen immense changes in that time. Most notably, I've seen the transition from a vibrant cottage industry into a major industry with high-profile mergers and acquisitions, adoption of the subscription model (largely against the wishes of the user base), and a generally toxic “tech bro” influence coming in.
Despite my negative sentiments about the broader trending of the industry, I feel optimistic in that Kazrog represents a resistance to this noise and that users understand and appreciate that we put them first.
Are you using your plugins for your personal music production needs?
Absolutely! That's really how this started — I wanted to create tools that I always wished existed for my own productions. That's still the guiding principle behind every product Kazrog releases. Also, Devin Powers (who I work together with on most of our analog-modeled plugins) uses our plugins in his scoring and production work every single day.
If you had the power to change something around the development and distribution of audio plugins, what would you do?
Something I'm actively working on, actually, is a set of internal tools for Kazrog to aid in the development process and reduce friction and needless drudgery. As for distribution, I think that the independence of plugin developers is actually a good thing, and I wouldn't change that.
Your plugins look fantastic. How important do you think UI/UX is in relation to the actual acoustic qualities of a plugin?
Thank you! It all matters and should work in a synergistic way. I've tested many great-looking plugins with nice user experiences that don't offer much of interest sonically — or worse, are seriously flawed in some way. I've also tested many great-sounding plugins with UX that's so bad that it makes it difficult to discover all of the features — even sometimes very fundamental ones.
The UI and UX design process is something that is an ongoing effort. There are always opportunities to improve the experience without alienating existing users.
What would you say are the biggest pain points when developing plugins in general?
The biggest pain point, really, is that we as plugin developers operate in a context where we're essentially at the mercy of whatever a given host does, which is often undocumented behavior. There's really no substitute for testing and experience here, and the secrets of each host are arcane and ever-changing.
There's ultimately no substitute for having a broad testing pool with a diverse array of producers, hardware, and software.
Can you tell us a little bit about what your development environment looks like?
It's pretty simple, actually. I have 3 main build systems for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and a few older machines on a KVM switch that I use for minimal spec testing. I use RME audio interfaces and Event Opal monitors, as well as Avantone MixCubes.
I keep outboard gear to a minimum and cycle various rack gear in and out during development. I really thrive with a pretty minimal and uncluttered workspace, within reason.
Have you already looked into GPU audio, and if so, do you think this could offer any significance for the future?
I've played around with various GPU-enabled plugins over the years, and while it's really interesting and compelling tech, the compatibility and stability trade-off just hasn't been worth it for me personally. It's bleeding-edge at best. I tend to prefer to optimize performance through code efficiency, rather than shifting the fundamental processing context in ways that the plugin formats themselves weren't even designed to support.
May I ask if you would be willing to share some of your know-how with other providers in a kind of exchange of experience?
For certain things, where I feel it benefits the community, yes. There are certain things I'd like to see the entire industry do a better or more consistent job of where I'd love to share some tips, for the benefit of audio in general.
Can you provide any information on how the user base of your plugins is currently divided between Linux, macOS, and Windows?
It's been a long time since I did a survey, and given that we're just beginning our journey into Linux support, I feel like the best time to do that survey will be maybe a year from now. But in general, I see the audio production community split roughly 50/50 between macOS and Windows historically - in other words, macOS has a much higher market share in this industry than in most others.
Ultimately, the choice of operating system is a personal preference, and the ethos of Kazrog is to be cross-platform and to support the choices of the user as much as possible.
Which three plugins from other providers fascinate you at the moment?
- I can't wait to try Soundtoys SpaceBlender — I filled out their form, but they haven't sent me it yet. It sounds and looks amazing from the demos I've checked out on YouTube.
- GForce Oberheim TVS Pro is an incredibly powerful and great-sounding synth that I demoed recently, really versatile with great factory presets.
- Wavesfactory Trackspacer is a plugin I recommend to everyone I know. It's absolutely essential, simple, and genius.
Would you be interested in collaborating with other vendors, and if so, can you tell us which come to mind spontaneously?
If you mean other software companies, it's actually something I've done in the past. Years ago, I licensed impulse responses from my original Recabinet library to Camel Audio (who later got acquired by Apple to integrate their Alchemy synth in Logic Pro) as well as to Steinberg for the Cubase team. Other than that, I've made friends over the years with a variety of other plugin developers, so who knows, perhaps we will collaborate in the future?
I'm always open to collaborations when and where it makes sense, and Kazrog of course collaborates with hardware companies like Avalon and Retro (and more to come, that I can't talk about just yet.)
What can your fans look forward to? Can you give anything away?
I can't say a whole lot, but we have more in the works with our various hardware and producer collaborators, as well as major updates to our classic plugins that haven't gotten any new features in a long time. Stay tuned!
Are you planning to gradually offer your entire product range for Linux?
Yes, actually, the sooner, the better. With Retro Sta-Level, we've gotten enough feedback from our private and public Linux betas that I think we're in a good spot to release the rest of our lineup for Linux within the next few months.
Thanks so much for the interview, really appreciate you reaching out!
— Shane