Linux Audio Development (LAD)
Korneff Audio
Linux Audio developer interview with Dan Korneff from Korneff Audio
This interview was conducted by Amadeus Paulussen in 2025.
Dear Dan, thank you very much for taking the time to do an interview with me for Linux Audio Development! ❤️
As you can imagine, we Linux musicians and Linux music producers are thrilled that, with Korneff Audio, another really interesting pro audio vendor is coming to Linux! 🤘
Yeah, I mean, Linux Audio is relatively new to me. I've been tinkering with Linux servers for years, though. And, I mean, I run Pop!_OS on my workstation, too.
Before we dive into the questions, let me give you a brief introduction of myself. I’ve been making music for over 30 years, starting in 1994, when I first discovered electronic music. I was immediately hooked and completely immersed in it. In 1997, I founded my first company, initially focusing on corporate sound projects. Over the years, it evolved into a full-fledged multimedia development studio. I think it was around 1999 when I switched from Windows to macOS, where I stayed until about five years ago, when I closed my company after 25 years of operation. At that point, I became very interested in Linux and finally had the time to explore it. Initially, I would just boot Linux from a USB stick on both my Mac Pro and my MacBook Pro. Before making the full switch, I also transitioned from decades of using Logic to Bitwig Studio, which runs natively on Linux! For me, learning Linux and connecting with the developers behind the software was almost a spiritual experience. However, before the switch, I was a plugin addict — which I probably still am. Realizing that professional-level plugins for Linux were scarce, I founded the Linux Audio Development (LAD) initiative. I started by reaching out to vendors to request Linux support, and then began interviewing those who already supported Linux, as well.
Excellent, great! That's a pretty good trip. I started on Mac and quickly moved to PC. I never really got the hype of the Mac. I really felt that the system didn't work as well as a PC, especially with direct monitoring and stuff like that with hosts that didn't have monitoring built into their sound cards. So, I've been on Windows for a long, long time. And, after having used Linux on the server side since forever, a few years back, I started looking at the Linux desktops. I was like, oh, wow, this is actually a usable interface. I can actually use this. And, you know, I'm terribly frustrated with Microsoft. You can't even install Windows without having a Microsoft account anymore. So, you have to have a Microsoft account now. They want to keep track of everything that you're doing. Same thing with Mac. You're eventually going to have trouble with the stuff that they share with third parties. And Linux is, like, well, that's the place to be! You're going to be secure. You're going to be private.
But, like you said in the beginning, there are a lot of hurdles, like having to investigate how to create an icon for your, you know, shell or whatever to launch an app that you just downloaded. It's just like, fuck, it's going to take me four hours to learn how to do this. It should be a very simple thing.
I totally understand that. A while ago, I wrote an article about how great I think the Linux desktop and Linux Audio have become. However, the learning curve can be steep. I see the same questions popping up all the time: Which distribution should I use? What desktop environment should I use? What is a window manager? What is Wayland? What is PipeWire? Do I need JACK? What is a package manager? There are so many options that it's normal for people to be overwhelmed at first. This is probably Linux's biggest weakness, but IMHO, also its biggest strength. You know, at first, I tried all kinds of things, learned a lot, and broke things a couple of times as well. It was fun, challenging, and even frustrating at times. Later on, though, I realized that I didn't need most of those things. Nowadays, I don't tweak and experiment that much anymore. In fact, I'd say my system is pretty much vanilla right now.
Okay, the first question I have for you is: When I first learned about the availability of Chocolate Milk on Linux, people told me, "Wow, you know, Dan is not just another developer; that guy has actually an impressive track record as an engineer and producer." So, I wanted to ask you how you transitioned from working in the industry to making plugins.
That's a good one. So, here's the story. I started making records when I was in my early twenties and had some pretty good success with the albums I made – a bunch of platinum and gold records. I actually started in college, not really having any money. So, if I wanted gear, I'd either have to buy, like, old German modules off eBay and wire them up, or, you know, the other route, getting into DIY audio stuff. I even bought a book to learn how to DIY an LA2A, and then never built one because the parts were still too expensive.
So, I moved on to guitar pedals and stuff like that, and designed and built circuits. And I did that throughout my whole career of producing and mixing records.
And, you know, at a certain point, I really was interested in making software. And this was probably like 2006 or so. So, I saw all of these producers getting endorsement deals, and they're getting plugins made, and all this shit. I'm like, well, how come no one's asking me? Like, I've done stuff, I've made records. I'm, you know, I feel important, and no one's asking me. So, I was like, fuck it, I got to do it myself.
And, you know, it was a long, long journey of going to learn C++. So, instead of playing games or whatever on my phone, I was sitting there learning how to program in my spare time. And I sort of failed at it and even gave it up for a while.
But, then a couple of years later, I got into Kontakt scripting. And that was a little easier to get into instead of having to build your own plugin. And, from there, I was like, now that I really understand how this works, let's go back to C++, and let's learn it this time.
And so, doing that, and then also finding JUCE, which made things a lot easier, you know, they have the whole framework developed for you. And the great thing about that is I personally really don't care about how the audio comes in and comes out of my plugin. I'm focused on the design aspect, the analog modeling, which I really took an interest in, since, you know, designing circuits.
I'm very familiar with the math and everything that goes into that. So, when I learned that there's just equations that equal what happens in the circuit, then I was able to put them together and make an analog modeled plugin. And I was like, okay, this is pretty awesome. And then, you know, it actually became real. And I made my first compressor, and that was like, I don't know, 2019, maybe.
And it's just been nonstop since then. So, no more working in the studio on records. Well, I still do. I'm now doing maybe two or three records a year. And, you know, I still enjoy it, but I gotta say, since the pandemic hit, I got very comfortable and used to just being at home with my dog and not doing the grind, you know? I'm almost 50 now, and making records was a young kid's game. I can't spend 16 hours a day in the studio anymore, and nor do I want to. So, I pick like a select few things that I want to work on, and I do those, but most of the time now, yeah, it's just programming.
Pretty cool trip as well! Thank you for telling us your story! So, how did you come to offer your plugin, Chocolate Milk, for Linux? Because I didn't even contact you, and then Chocolate Milk was already released for Linux. Like, what was the inspiration to actually port the plugin? Did you get a lot of requests?
I didn't really get many requests, maybe one or two over the years. But you see, it was more my frustration with Microsoft and Apple, and looking at Linux Desktop, I was like, oh, well, Reaper works on Linux. People already use this. And this is a really well known DAW. Like, you know, why not make my plugins for that?
The big thing that was stopping me before was that we were using iLok for our copy protection, and iLok is, as you know, not available on Linux. And we were sort of not really happy with the way their system works and ended up implementing a new system, which is awesome because it's crashing on Bitwig Studio, right? 😉 So, yeah, we implemented a new system. And now we're porting everything over to that new system.
So, as soon as we were not bound by iLok anymore, it was like this is a no-brainer. You know, the option to support Linux already exists in JUCE. It doesn't take very much to export the plugin for Linux. So, why not? It doesn't add any extra work for me.
Actually, you know, I spoke to PACE maybe two weeks ago, and they said that they want to introduce Linux support for iLok, but no ETA as of now. I was really surprised by that, but it seems like they really want to go that route. That brings me to another thing: When you think about it, quite a few people that now consider Linux just want to get away from these mega corporations, like Microsoft and Apple. And that, in turn, is giving Linux as an alternative a real boost (among other things, like Valve gaming, etc.). But, in a way, it is like back when the iPad became popular for doing semi pro audio stuff, and people wanted to connect their audio interfaces to their iPads. Apple's walled garden gave Linux Audio a real push back then by forcing audio interface vendors to be USB class compliant. And USB class compliance equals Linux support. So, it's interesting sometimes what pushes something, right?
Exactly! And that USB class compliance thing is something I only learned about later. Because when I first started getting into Linux and using it for audio, I went out and bought this Roland 16 input PCI card because it was made for Linux, and I couldn't find really any sound card that was made for Linux. That was the only one I found. And it was, like, you know, 1600 bucks for a digital 16 inputs and outputs. And then finding out that, oh, if it was just USB class compliant, it would work. Let's plug in my USB audio interface, and it just works. That's cool.
Yeah! When I switched to Linux, I owned a UAD Apollo system with two interfaces and DSP accelerators, and, of course, but none of it worked on Linux. So, I sold it and did some research and found that the RME Fireface UFX is not only CC compliant, but can also be operated entirely on the device. You don't need any software to configure it. I mean, it is not exactly luxurious, but it works. These days, I've almost forgotten that there's even a question about whether audio interfaces work with Linux. But I think the next big thing for my initiative will be to motivate audio interface vendors to create Linux drivers and software for Linux.
Yep, absolutely.
Another thing I wanted to ask you: Did you ever get in contact with PipeWire and learn a little bit about how it works and how cool it is?
No, not yet.
Okay, interesting.
Yeah. I haven't gotten to that. That part hasn't interested me that much so far. You know what I mean? Like, I let the SDK deal with it. I just know enough to make the audio go from here to there. And, yeah, that's all that I'm concerned with at the moment.
So, PipeWire is basically the New Kid on the Linux Audio Block, here to replace PulseAudio and JACK. And, I'm not sure about Windows, but on macOS, you need a third party app, like Loopback, to be able to do what you can do with PipeWire on Linux out of the box. So, with PipeWire, I sometimes, for example, connect a browser or video player to Bitwig Studio and record anything I'm listening to without further ado. It's really like a patch bay inside your computer. And all of that low-latency, and directly on top of the kernel. You could also have four DAWs running at the same time and have them feed audio into each other.
Hmm. Nerd. That's awesome. Really awesome. Yeah, I use this program called Voice Meter that does that for Windows. It's like a driver for your sound card, and then you can take any sort of input. And route it to any output.
How was the experience of actually porting Chocolate Milk? Did you encounter many problems with the Linux build?
Not necessarily. I mean, there are some things that are outstanding issues. Like, you know, lost window focus, using modifiers, etc. Sometimes, you can change a setting, you know, double click and type in a number, and then it won't work again until you close the plugin and reopen it. So, there's things like that that are happening. And, well, it seems like I may have a challenge ahead of me of what's going on with Bitwig Studio and the unlocker we're using. I'm not really sure what is going on there yet.
The only real challenge was, well, how do people distribute plugins? Right? So, there's no like installer builder, as far as I know. So, I ended up just making a script, and hopefully that's the right way to do it. Just a script that you can install, you know, all the dependencies with.
You know, when you talk to Linux users, they're usually super happy to be in this bubble where they don't have to deal with plugin download centers, plugin installer applications, and so on. They're usually perfectly fine when they are supplied with the binaries and an install script (which they can look at before executing it). So, I wanted to compliment you on this because some plugin vendors deliver their plugins as .deb packages, which is fine if you are on a Debian based distribution, I guess. And it also isn't a problem for people who know how to deal with them on non-Debian distributions. I guess it's just another one of those Linux hurdles. Anyway, I think it's the way to go on Linux. An install.sh script. But, again, this is just my opinion. You certainly made me happy with it. 🤓 There's also some vendors, like for example Audio Damage, who deliver their plugins with graphical installers on Linux.
Right. Well, I'll have to look into that, too, and see, you know, maybe I can offer both options, script and graphical installer. Just so people can use whatever they're comfortable with, because I really don't know how people use it.
I sort of looked at a couple other plugin installers for inspiration and, you know, tried to learn from them. Like, okay, it's a hidden ~/.vst3 folder, that is where your binary goes, and then there's a hidden resources folder, and that seems to be where, you know, you're going to drop all of your plugin resources. So, I'm just sort of sticking to those two folders to store everything because it seems like that's the place to be on Linux.
Something related in Linux are package managers. Most distributions come with their own (pacman, dnf, apt, Nix, etc.). But, unlike on Windows or macOS, where dozens of apps each have to be maintained and updated individually — some on-the-fly, some requiring you to download an archive, disk image, or installer — on Linux, a package manager handles all of this in a single, streamlined process, either via GUI or CLI. It’s just beautiful. I mean, on Windows and macOS, you have their stores, which one could say are similar. But they are not, not even close. But, since every distribution comes with their own package manager, the idea of a unified package manager for third-party apps was born with Flatpak (and Snap, to be fair). They aim to become a standard for installing and updating third-party apps. The problem is, neither Flatpak nor Snap was designed with audio plugins in mind. So, while it’s technically possible to distribute plugins via Flatpak, it’s not ideal — a real missed opportunity to simplify packaging and distribution for plugin vendors.
Right. Yeah. Maybe they'll fix that. I mean, it works great for apps and stuff. I install all my stuff through the Pop! Store, which is either Flatpak or Debian, whatever version they have available.
I also try to install all third party apps as Flatpak. OK, next question: What I really think makes your plugins stand out is that they are just genuinely fun. Even the more technical ones. The UIs, the experience, even the controls—they all feel playful, and there’s generally a lot to discover. Take Chocolate Milk, for example: On the surface, it seems like a simple plugin, but there’s actually quite a lot to explore. I’m curious — do you handle everything yourself from start to finish, or do you collaborate with others on the creative aspects, like the UI/UX?
So, yeah, I'm the sole developer for the company. I'm doing all of it. I have started using a guy a few years back to help me with 3D modeling because it was just taking me so long to make those models of all the units. And even though they look like a unit, it's not a full model. It's a 3D model to render from. So, I have a guy who does that for me now, which is very helpful. But, yeah, all of the rendering and the layout and all that stuff is done by me.
And, as far as inspiration goes, this is actually an interesting point, because the original inspiration was that I wanted to share with people what I was used to doing with analog gear: Take the lid off and look inside, figure out how it works and what I can do to adjust things, and what mods are available, and all that kind of stuff. So, I wanted to bring that experience to the plugin world. And that's why our name is Korneff Audio. The other side is sound, because we want you to get into the circuit. We want you to be able to tweak things and be able to get deep into that. So, that's why we have that back panel. You switch to the back, you can change all sorts of stuff around.
And now, the interface. Yeah. So, with the interface, you know, a lot of the stuff we do is analog modeling. And that is why it looks like analog gear, too. But there are some things that just aren't analog modeled. In some cases, I'm using modern programming techniques and DSP to create some of this stuff. And, for those things, I started to use a slightly different interface approach. So, like, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is a coffee cup. And we wanted to have a fun line of things that were a little easier to construct, that was a different product line than, say, our quote, unquote, premium things that take a long time to develop and model and all this stuff. And yes, we always want people to have fun.
But the problem that we have is that some people, even though, you know, they will slap a Sausage Fattener onto their mix and turn it up and watch this sausage smile and grin at you, they're happy with that. But, for some reason, a milk carton or a coffee cup pisses them off. They get very upset. They're like, Why can't you just put a normal interface on this thing? And why blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, well, we want to have fun. You know, these are things that are inspired, you know, we have a whole beverage line, and, you know, they're just fun things. And they're a little bit different than what we usually do.
And I always tell people, like, don't worry, we have so many analog modeled products coming out, and they're going to look just like your old ones, don't worry about it. Those are still there. They still exist. But, you know, these are just different. These are a little more fun.
Yeah. I think everybody's preferences are a little different, right? I mean, I enjoy it. I think it's cool, and it stands out as well. Maybe you should send some of these plugins to Wytse. He does this series on YouTube called Snake Oil. I think he should review some of your plugins.
You know, he reviewed our delay plugin. We made a clamped echo delay (Echoleffe Tape Delay), which he happened to have in his studio. And you know the thing about him is that if the GUI doesn't look like Soothe or, you know, whatever that other EQ plugin is, he's just like, I don't like this plugin.
Oh, yeah, I think I know what you mean. He likes that Star Trek aesthetic, right?
Yeah, he did not like our delay. And, and, to be fair, our delay is a little difficult to use because it's a complicated unit, but who knows, maybe he'd have fun with some of our other stuff. I don't know.
That brings me to the next question. You know, I'm truly happy when I'm making music. And I like sharing my happiness with others and seeing if they're excited about similar things. That way, the excitement gets amplified, right? However, I've always found it incredibly difficult to be visible with my music. I think the same probably applies to making plugins. You make great plugins and have a fan base, but it's hard to be visible in this extremely crowded and competitive market. I wanted to ask you what you do to be visible. And what are your thoughts on the idea that it's almost impossible to make a living in music anymore? With Spotify, Apple Music, and AI becoming more popular, it seems like the music industry is basically vanishing.
Yeah, I have to tell you, this is on my mind 100% of the time when I wake up. We're lucky to have a following of people who enjoy what we do. We started this sort of grassroots. We don't advertise much. We're not as visible as other plug-in companies.
I think that helps us in a way, because it keeps certain types of people away from our company. We don't want to be associated with tire kickers who get a plugin for free and then complain about it. We want to cater to people who respect their tools. Yeah. People who appreciate what something can do. I think that's helped us. But, as I said, the market is very crowded. Everyone's trying to have everything on sale, so there's a race to the bottom with prices. Now, the sale price is the regular price. That's why we created the El Juan Limiter. We have it for 99.9% off all the time. People are used to seeing that kind of thing.
Honestly, I don't know how it ends. I really don't. Every day, I wake up, go on Facebook, and see a new plugin company. As you said, people are having trouble making a living from music, so they have to find other ways to make a living. Again, every day, there's a new plugin company and new competition. Even if the plugins are garbage, that still takes away from your market share. People are probably going to buy some of that stuff instead of yours.
The other sad part is that I just saw a plugin on Gearspace the other day. Someone did some research on the developer. It ended up being that he just vibe-coded. He had no idea how it works. Right? So, are you going to buy a product from someone who doesn't know how to maintain it if something goes wrong? If you make music for a living, you need reliable tools. In 10 years, you're going to want to open a session, and have everything work properly. You don't even know if this plugin will work in a year, or if they can fix it if it breaks. So, you know, there's the buyer. Beware. Beware of cheap stuff. There are always new companies. But you never know what you're going to get.
As far as AI goes, I don't have a very positive outlook for the business. But I always see the dark side of things, because if things turn out better than expected, it's a pleasant surprise. If it doesn't, then it's like, "Well, that's pretty much what I expected." I've been watching the decline. I've been a client of the music business for 25 or 30 years, probably about as long as you have. When I first started making music, I remember working at the studio. The studio manager was so bummed. He said, "I don't know what we're going to do." He said that the next record coming in only had $300,000 for studio time. I said, "Wow, that's a lot of money." He said, "Yeah, but it used to be a lot more." Then, I said, "Well, I would work for that." Over the years, you start to notice all these prices coming down. Now, you go from making $200,000 records to making a record for $10,000. You have to write the songs, produce them, mix them, and master them. You have to do everything for nothing.
Then AI comes along, and people are split on it. Some think it's garbage. Then... You look at polls, and most people can't tell the difference between an AI song and a song by a real artist. So, the AI is actually making good decisions about what to do with music based on what we do. What AI is doing is no different from what we do. I didn't invent music. You didn't invent music, either. We all heard it somewhere. Then, you copy it and change it a little to make it your own. You're not going to invent a new chord. They already exist. You're not going to create a musical movement that hasn't already been used in classical compositions. It's just not going to happen. For me, it's like, well, what's the difference if a computer can do it better than we can? You just have to harness that power and use it as inspiration for your creations. But what's going to happen? As things progress — and they're progressing very quickly — will humans just be taken out of it? No one will use a plugin because the AI will just make the sound of the thing that already has a sound. No one's going to write music because AI can write music. AI will perform it quicker, better, and more easily than finding an artist. Then, the labels will cut out the humans, and you'll have AI artists. It's going to happen. You know, it's happened before, and there was some backlash. But it won't last long. You can't stop it. You can't fight technology. I think it's over. I don't know. I don't. That's my bleak outlook. I think it's over.
Yeah, it's interesting. For me, I started to see developments like this everywhere, not only in music. That's maybe also why I started using Linux. I felt like I didn't fit into the direction society was headed towards anymore. I mean, I still buy music. Others are mostly streaming. In a way, I'm on a little island. I think us like-minded are going to create a sort of counter movement, though. You know, people tell me: "I'll just buy a Mac. I install my DAW, and I can just start working. It just works." They say to me, "You have to configure your Linux computer. You have to learn a lot of things. You're wasting all that time you could be using to do something creative." But my stance on this and similar things in life is different. For example, if I want to learn to play the violin, I need to learn how to play the violin. Of course, I could ask an AI to play the violin for me, and it would probably do it. It even play it better than I can. However, I think that way, the human experience disappears. For me, at least, making music is about the process, the struggle, the growth, not the end result. I just don't understand how this "new world" is supposed to function. How could it work? How if maybe 80% of jobs disappear and AI companies want to sell their services as subscriptions? How if people have no money? I don't know. I also don't have the answers.
Agreed. You know, I have this discussion with Luke all the time. He's my partner. And we think about, you know, humans and their worth. You know, if everything is taken away from them, how do you survive? You know, not only how do you pay your bills, but how do you find worth in yourself as a human if you can't do anything? I don't know where that's going to go.
Me neither. I don't know. The next question might go in a similar direction. You know, when I bought a plugin, it was almost the same experience as when I met with friends on the weekend, and we bought vinyls or CDs. I bought something, and now I own it, can use it, and it's amazing. Nowadays, more and more stuff is subscriptions, short lived, little appreciated, etc. , and you only have it as long as you pay for it. At least some give you the option to rent to own. But I don't know. I wanted to ask you how you feel about this.
As a consumer, I'm not a fan of subscriptions. I mean, if I need to load up Cubase 4, I can just go into my closet, grab the disk, and install it, and I can use it forever. And the point of subscriptions, and not being able to own your stuff, is very difficult to deal with. As a company, we would love to move to a friendly subscription basis. As far as you can always buy the plugins perpetually, go for it. But subscriptions open up your ability to use things that you wouldn't have access to. Like, if you're going to buy every single plugin from us, or let's say you're going to buy everything from Plugin Alliance, it's going to be how many hundreds of thousands of dollars?
To get everything, and to be able to access that for very little is appealing to a lot of people. And they can just pay when they need it, and they might not care if they don't have it for the rest of their lives. But I would love to implement something like a subscription, in a way, and it probably already exists, where your subscription goes into a fund. You know, every time you pay, you get to use all the plugins, and it collects into a pool. And once you achieve a certain amount that you've paid in your subscription, you apply that to a plugin that you want perpetually. So, that way, you're having access to everything. And, at the same time, you're putting money towards something that you'll own forever along the way. And, I don't know if anyone else does that, but I feel like that's a really fair way to do it.
Sounds very interesting, maybe a little like what they do with the Roland Cloud. Bitwig, for instance, they do it in a similar way. But I think it's easier if you have something that constantly evolves other than a plugin manufacturer has, like, fixed, like, you maybe deliver bug fixes, but no new features. But Bitwig does it in a way that you buy the product and you own it, and with it, you get 12 months of updates. And after that, the last version that you had, you can also install forever. But if you want the new version, you have to buy an update plan again. And I mean. I especially think it's complicated to understand at the beginning, but it's actually not too bad. And the perspective that you know, also like Open Source and Pay What You Want, and these models, often just don't work for developers. So, it's also important that they have a continuous flow of money coming in so that they can actually survive. Right. So, I think it would be worthwhile to work on this idea and come up with maybe something new. And fair, right?
Fair! I mean, that's what it's all about. You know, people want to own their stuff. They also want access to things that they can't afford, and that would be, like, let's meet somewhere in the middle.
Yeah, I mean, with plugins, I guess in a couple years, some of the ones I use now won't be able to be installed anymore because the challenge response server perhaps won't be there anymore, you know?
Yeah, that's tough, too, right? Like, again. Buying from from companies that aren't huge. You sort of take a risk: What's the longevity of me being able to use it? Yeah, absolutely.
I'm not sure if you can answer my next question. I basically just wanted to ask what you would suggest I do with my initiative to make Linux more attractive for music production.
That is an interesting one. So, I really feel like I'm trying to port all of our plugins to Linux by the end of the year. You know, now that we're not bound by iLok anymore, we're going to do that. I think it all comes down to awareness. You just have to come up with some kind of campaign to let people know that this is an actual thing, and people actually use it.
And as soon as I can, I will get to being in a Linux-only studio. And I will sing from the mountaintops about Linux, will try to find other people that want to give it a shot. But, yeah, finding some sort of influencer, someone in the business that's actually making records and doing it on Linux. Of course, ads, you know, tons of social media posts. I think that awareness is everything. And the wider market you can reach, the more the people will move towards it.
Something that I already noticed is that, you know, in the beginning, many vendors, really, just from the get-go, said, no, we'll not do it. There's no market or it's too much work. There's no time, or no justification for it. And the longer, the more I get more positive answers. Although, some of them, I think, are probably written by AIs, but that's just, you know. 😜 So, what would you recommend to other plugin vendors that have Windows and Mac plugins and consider to port them to Linux?
Well, the selfish me wants to tell them: Don't do it! It's a terrible idea. That way, they can only use Korneff Audio plugins on their Linux machines. But, at the end of the day, it feels like it's relatively easy to do.
So, why not? You know, if it doesn't take you that much more time to create it and to export it. Export it, give it a shot, and see what happens. Because even if it doesn't make money, that's fine. You know, you're still making your money on your Mac and your Windows plugins.
Yeah. And I know many people who don't work with Linux, but they say, about vendors who do support Linux, that they, I think, it is actually a good thing to do, contributes to a good image for a brand, you know?
Absolutely.
The last question on my list is actually: Do you need help debugging the rest of the Korneff Audio lineup? Or, do you have people around you who can help with that?
Yes. Actually, I only have one beta tester on Linux. So, I could definitely use more. The porting part is relatively simple now. I just have to remove the iLok code and replace it with our unlocker. Then, we're good to go. I just need to find the time. As a single developer, it's difficult to find the time.
I could always use more beta testers, though. Because it worked great on my system, it worked great on the beta tester's system too, but apparently, you and someone else on Bitwig are having issues. So, yeah, I DO need more people.
Do you plan to also support CLAP in the future?
If there is a need for another format? You know, like we export for Audio Units, VST3, and AAX for Mac. You know, if there is a need for another format on Linux, I can definitely look into that. But, if VST3 works fine and no one really cares about CLAP, or, you know, is CLAP going to stay? It seems like there was no real consensus on that. What to really do. So, I'll look for your advice on that.
You know, I can just say that CLAP is very popular; people like it. But, now that VST3 (the SDK) is Open Source, I don't know. On a technical level, most developers say CLAP is simply better (native MPE/expressive support, better parallel processing, advanced MIDI/event handling, modern, clean API, etc.). Some developers favor LV2 over CLAP, though. But, from a user's perspective, in most cases, I'd say VST3 is fine as well. Quite a few vendors actually only offer VST3s for Linux. I think maybe you should look into it. I think it's really interesting.
If it's easy to do, I'll do it.
Great. Yeah, so let me know when you start debugging the rest of your plugins, because I think I can motivate a handful of people to help. And other than that, I'm super happy to have spoken to you.
Yeah, I will. Likewise!