Linux Audio Development (LAD)
Ternär Music Technology
Linux Audio developer interview with Christopher Herb from Ternär Music Technology
This interview was conducted by Amadeus Paulussen in 2025.
I remember a good friend telling me about your Max For Live (M4L) devices. Since I am using Linux and Bitwig, I could only take a cursory look. Later, when I sent Flechtwerk Pro to the same friend and told him that this great synthesizer was also available for Linux, my friend pointed out that Ternär was the same developer of the aforementioned M4L devices. 🫣😜 Can you tell us a little about your career and the path from M4L to plugins?
That's amazing! I have been a musician and doing digital music production since the early 2000s, but also started studying computer science and working as a web developer. In the 2010s, I got heavy into electronic music and got introduced to Max/MSP through friends, but was mainly using it as a compositional tool back then. It wasn't until I got into Eurorack synthesizers that I gained any substantial knowledge about the inner workings of a synthesizer.
So, after leaving my corporate job in 2021, I took my first deep dive into signal processing with Max/MSP. However, because of my background in computer science, the visual programming aspect of Max/MSP never really appealed to me, so I slowly transitioned to "traditional" plugin development.
What motivated you to offer your plugins for Linux right from the get go?
After many failed attempts at using Linux as a daily driver, I was recently giving it another try and was amazed at its maturity, especially in regards to audio. Suddenly, everything was more or less plug and play, so I permanently moved to a Linux-based system. So, naturally, my plugins had to have Linux support as well!
If I might ask, what is the meaning of "Ternär"?
It's the German word for "ternary," which means "based on three". I sometimes look for esoteric meaning in that, but I mainly just think it sounds nice. Although, it has inspired me to implement my FM synthesizer Triplex with 3 operators :D
Can you tell us a little about your development setup (computer, operating system, IDE, framework, test and build infrastructure, etc.)?
I use an Asus Zephyrus M16 laptop as my main development machine, and a MacBook Air for testing on macOS. I currently use Debian Linux with the DWM window manager, Neovim for coding, and Visual Studio Code for debugging.
I currently do not own a physical Windows device — I use virtual machines for that.
My code lives on GitHub, and I use their Actions workflows for automated builds.
The framework I'm using is DPF (DISTRHO plugin framework).
You also make music yourself. Can you name three songs that we should listen to in order to get an idea of your work?
Is there an exchange among audio developers, or are you alone on this journey?
I sometimes have a little back and forth with other developers over email, but other than that, I mostly only converse with my brother, who designs and builds Eurorack synthesizer modules.
What would you say are the biggest challenges when developing plugins in general?
Cross-platform / cross-plugin format development! There's basically an infinite number of combinations of operating systems, DAWs, and plugin formats, each with its own quirks that you have to account for.
Are there platform-specific challenges when developing for Linux, macOS, Windows, or iOS?
Apple requires you to code-sign your software with a paid developer license, or otherwise macOS will refuse to execute it. There are obviously ways around that, but nothing I would want my customers to require doing.
How important is UI/UX design for you, and did you make the designs of your plugins (which I think are awesome, btw) yourself?
Thank you! I try to strike a balance between utility and eye candy, which is why I'm inspired by VFDs (vacuum fluorescent displays) of old car or hi-fi stereos. Those were very limited in how much dynamic information could be displayed, but at the same time, really gave you all the information at one glance.
I am doing all the designs myself, and while that takes me a really long time, it gives me the freedom of drawing the controls directly with C++ in an elegant, mathematical way. Or, at least, that's what I tell myself to justify the time I spent.
Are there aspects of your plugins you are particularly proud of?
In school/university, I was always horrifically bad at math, so just the fact that I could release a working audio plugin makes me proud.
You are using Gumroad to distribute your plugins. Are you happy with it, and what were the reasons for choosing this over other offerings?
I chose it back then because it seemed to be the place for M4L devices, and also because it's quite feature-rich. It has relatively high fees, but given that I use their mailing service a lot, it still seems reasonable. However, I would honestly prefer a platform which is based in the EU and would integrate better into my homepage. And has less CAPTCHAs.
Do you think the workflow for your customers to reach you in case of problems or to provide feedback is ideal already? What is it usually like when you receive such reports? Do you have to ask for additional information, or are such reports usually more or less complete already? Also, a spicy one, which OS/platform gives you the most support work? 😜
I usually receive bug reports over email and usually do need to ask for additional details. I would honestly prefer a kind of public forum for bug reports, so I would receive less duplicate reports. But right now, I don't have the infrastructure for that.
I think the most bugs I receive are from Mac users. Display scaling and keyboard focus seems to be particularly strange here.
Have you ever had to look into Wayland, PipeWire, or Flatpak while making your plugin Linux-compatible?
So far, I couldn't get Wayland to work at all on my hardware, so I honestly can't even tell if my software is compatible (Editor's note: Flechtwerk Pro, as an example, works perfectly fine on Wayland).
PipeWire, on the other hand, I'm using on a daily basis, but since the plugin audio is always routed through the host DAW, I don't work with their API directly.
Now that you mention it, I could take a look at Flatpak, but I'm not sure if those are being used for proprietary software at all. (Editor's note: There are Open Source and proprietary apps on Flathub).
What is your stance on copy protection systems (like iLok, or challenge-response)?
Piracy is absolutely a threat, especially among audio software. But any anti-piracy measure can be hacked, so why do it in the first place? I want my customers to actually own the software they buy, so I chose to not add any copy protection, especially because I can't guarantee the availability of any challenge-response infrastructure. What if I die tomorrow? I'm a one-man operation, after all.
And what are your thoughts on subscription based distribution models?
Makes total sense from a business perspective, but I really dislike it as a customer. You really feel like you don't own anything in a subscription.
You support CLAP, VST3, and AU. Is one of them your favorite, and if so, why?
CLAP! It seems to be the first open standard with the potential of widespread use.
Have you ever thought about making your plugins Open Source? And how well does “name a fair price” work for you?
Large parts of my software are actually Open Source and can be found on my GitHub. I haven't promoted that fact because it is still very poorly documented :D. But if I ever retire from plugin development or find other ways of funding, I plan on releasing the full source code.
The "name a fair price" feature actually works great and has probably saved me from bankruptcy a couple of times.
What would you really love to do with future plugins of yours? Collaborations, crazy ideas, go wild! 😅
I'm actually working on a plugin that will also be released as a Eurorack module!
I also want to get one of these guitar pedals with open DSP platforms and see where this leads me.
Apart from that, I have this idea for a groovebox that can be run in a Linux terminal and is controlled solely by keyboard commands.