Linux LMMS users, how goes it?

[mjolnir]

Hi, I just wanted to report that I'm having success running
LMMS Nightly AppImage builds on CachyOS linux (an Arch variant).

I've completely transitioned to using the Nightly AppImages instead of the Arch repo editions (which are older). The stability is pretty good, and when I get a newer edition, I just delete the older one and run the new one instead. I tend to rename the download to just plain old "lmms.AppImage" and set the executability from within the "Permissions" tab of the "File" >> "Properties..." menu of XFCE.

It's really easy. Don't be intimidated by the process.
Thanks to the LMMS devs for making AppImages available!

If you feel like it, please share which Linux OS you are using and which LMMS version you currently use to get music done.

Here's me:

Linux: CachyOS Linux 7.1.8-1
LMMS: (Nightly) v1.3.0-alpha.1.1024+67c3ad
Desktop: XFCE

Best use: I mostly use the LMMS step editor to sequence one-shot drum WAVs (make rhythm WAV loops).

[mjolnir]

Still no responses?
Seriously? I saw a tiny bit of discussion on LinuxMusicians.com
Where are you guys? LOL

[musikbear]

I'm having success running LMMS Nightly AppImage builds on CachyOS linux (an Arch variant).

Alpha.2 https://lmms.io/download#linux is the one to use now! More stable than ever. Lots of bugfixes too

[mjolnir]

I did try out the new Alpha, and all is well.
However, was it stupid of me to have switched back to using the Nightly versions?

I work on the assumption that I'll get new features faster through the Nightly versions and that LMMS is stable enough now, that even the Nightly version are generally stable enough to use (this has been my exact experience so far).

The only thing I don't use is LMMS from the Arch / CachyOS repo, because it seems to be outdated. I don't have any open communication channels to those package maintainers to get them to provide the current LMMS alpha2 and I think on policy they maybe "don't support alphaware" (yet), no matter how good it might be (they wait for it to mature a bit more, maybe).

But anyways, I used to get a bug with the Arch repo version until I switched to the AppImages hosted on the LMMS.io website, which are of course other varieties and some more up to date.

Anyways, that's that. I'd love to hear about anybody else's LMMS work environment and thoughts.

[mjolnir]

A brief update: (for the curious)

I'm getting good results still with the LMMS Nightly AppImage versions (as of late September, 2026).

Also, in unrelated DAW news, I'm getting better stability with my other DAW programs also, since I switched from Yabridge to VSTbridge (after upgrading Wine-staging from 9.21 to 11.18).*

UPDATE: Rations/VSTbridge v0.0.4 brings back 32-bit plugins support(!)

This doesn't directly affect LMMS, but I like to use more than one DAW and pass WAV stems back and forth between them. I find that LMMS is great for arranging, as an idea pad, and as a WAV drum sequencer. Lately I've been rendering synth riffs in Reaper, and importing them into LMMS for LMMS overdubs.

I still like how LMMS handles incoming MIDI and quantizes it in a way that seems more simple than Reaper. Also, LMMS's built-in sound generators are really pretty decent for special effects and accents. And if you have any SF2 banks, LMMS can handle those fine too!

Anyways, music life is good.

If anybody else uses more than one DAW, let us know how you combine them.

(* = https://github.com/rations/vstbridge)

[mjolnir]

A quick update: Hopefully this will help if anybody has a similar Linux configuration...

I'm not sure if this affects LMMS users directly or not...
But a recent upgrade of wine-staging beyond version 11.19 breaks vstbridge functionality.
So the workaround is to "hold"/ignore package changes if you are already at version 11.19 of wine-staging. If you already updated wine-staging, you'll either want to consider downgrading or doing a partition backup restore.

This is relevant for rations/vstbridge (& vstbridgectl) version 0.0.2 (which is working for me).

I manually edited /etc/pacman.conf to insert the "IgnorePkg = wine-staging" terms.
I get vstbridge from: https://github.com/rations/vstbridge

My current system working with this setup is:
LMMS version 1.3.0-alpha... (Linux/x86_64, Qt 5.15.3, GCC 11.4.0).
The exact Nightly version keeps changing, of course, thank goodness, and I keep updating.

Because of bwrap/pixbuf/glycin missing cursor issues in REAPER, I switched to some "noglycin" alternatives (which solved the problem).

In some primitive tests I did on my home system, the Linux Zen kernel allowed slightly more complex music tracks with FX and VST3 instruments than the CachyOS kernel. The Linux Zen kernel also seems more stable than the CachyOs "stable" kernel (on my personal computer).

I don't use yabridge anymore at all, and I deleted it's leftover folders and *.so files to prevent conflicts with rations/vstbridge.

One of the ways I test that rations/vstbridge works is with Tone2 Nemesis VST3 (registered/paid). It's working great. Another software I test with is RF-PADS by Ronan Fed, which is old/free but working with vstbridge. Also, I test rations/vstbridge with REAPER (trial) and MuLab 10.x (registered/paid).

I'm having stability and success with rations/vstbridge for all of this.

I'm not entirely sure how this all intersects with LMMS, but I thought it might be of use to anybody else who uses LMMS in partnership with other DAW systems.

I use the Nightly *.AppImage for LMMS and get work done with it.
I hope this info helps anybody avert a DAW disaster.

Back to the music with LMMS and friends!

P.S. - My computer hardware is very modest, but I routinely customize the software as a hobby.

[mjolnir]

Still hardly any replies from Linux users?
Oh well.

More info...

LMMS alpha v1.3.0 Nightly has been working okay on the Linux-Zen kernel and the Linux-Hardened kernels, both provided by CachyOS. The CachyOS "stable" kernel is still okay too.

Also, for whatever it's worth, in other news, Rations-VSTbridge was successfully updated from version 0.0.2 to version 0.0.3 and has some new features. I highly recommend it to anybody using wine-staging version 11.19-1 or earlier. The recent release of rations-vstbridge also reinstated 32-bit plugin support for systems where it was missing before at the OS level (CachyOS, Arch).

To get Rations-VSTbridge to run, I made sure to have vkd3d, lib32-vkd3d, and dxvk-mingw-git and about 11 other vulkan items installed. As said before, I'm holding wine-staging at version 11.19-1. I allow wine-mono to update during every system update.

I sincerely hope more Linux users will tap into using LMMS as well as rations-vstbridge.
I still use Linux Reaper too, and I even peek at Sandyne DAW sometimes too. I gave up on Qtractor and the others. Also, I think FL Studio finally isn't installable on Linux anymore.
But seriously, don't sleep on LMMS. It's specifically great if you work with audio WAV samples and want to sequence them rythmically and add other accents.

I know you guys are out there.
Oh well, I tried.

[PotionzNinja]

I used to think that id keep 1.2.2 until 1.3.0 became stable. i tried 1.3.0 alpha, and i was shocked for the better. it is WAY better than 1.2.2, like the song editor quantization etc, now im only using 1.3.0 on Linux Mint. thank you so much for the update to 1.3.0!