I must admit I battle getting various plugins to work. LMMS by it's title is a linux-friendly application. Why then does it not want to run many linux plugins?
I have several fantastic synth type plugins that simply don't do anything but lock up on me.
These are classed as vst3, which I know LMMS can't run but the exe files are .so which run standalone in Ubuntu and Reaper( sometimes) Is there any way that some bright young spark can figure this out.
What does this .so extension actually mean?
I am eagerly waiting for the next version of LMMS as it's an excellent DAW and much easier to use than most
I know I can run lv2 and various other linux plugins but I am getting seriously bugged by this issue as I left Windoze for Ubuntu because of the constant dis-functionality and system problems, namely audio.
What does the L in LMMS stand for. Linux or Limited?
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July 18th, 2026, 11:26 am
July 18th, 2026, 9:42 pm
This question is 90% rant, but just to answer: The acronym doesn't resolve to anything. It used to be Linux a long time ago, but since it went cross-platform it means nothing.
VST3 is currently not supported by lmms in any shape or form, so it isn't a surprise that they won't work at all.
The .so extension is the Linux equivalent of windows's .dll.
VST2 is what you can load in LMMS, which on linux have the so extension, though they can not be used in a standalone manner so your wording is a bit confusing here.
If you are using the "stable" (1.2.x) version, I would strongly suggest switching to the alpha release because other than a ton of bugfixes it's basically a pro version compared to stable at this point.
July 19th, 2026, 12:30 am
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Could you be specific. What linux-plugins do not run?
These are classed as vst3, which I know LMMS can't run
You need a middlelayer for VST3. For Linux we recommend Carla.
.So stands for Shared Object