Mon Jun 10, 2024 10:00 am
Ayyyyy, greetings everyone! Hope you're doing well. I have.... something.... to share with y'all today. 
This is a "sort-of-fix" that I discovered after finding out how to do........ whatever that title says.
As for why I installed Mint in the first place. It's a bit lengthy to explain, but in short I wanna get used to it much earlier in case Win10 become unusable in the future. Also it is always nice to have a backup system, especially Mint, since I have tried it before in the past.
Now I do have a more detailed version of this guide(?), along with a blog-sized post detailing all of the mess I went through before I found this "fix", but I don't feel like posting them just yet. Maybe y'all can let me know if you'd like to know the full scoop.
Ahem, okay, long story short. I discovered this fix after resolving it by accident at first, by testing LMMS on 'Gear Lever' app. Then I found another solution that works a bit later after that. The second solution (which is the one that I'll put down here) turned out to be much more efficient than what I had in mind.
Point of Advice:
1. Please read the whole thing first. Just to make sure that you can do all of the steps explained and you are sure that this could help you out.
2. The main objective of this guide is to help integrate LMMS with your WINE properly. As for certain 64bit Windows VSTs not working correctly afterwards, they're most likely occur due to certain incompatibilities within WINE and/or Linux LMMS.
3. If you can find the 32bit version of the VST you're trying to load, it is Much Prefered to use that 32bit version. Even after I got this issue fixed, I found out that Synth1 64bit still breaks wayyy to easily. Just play two notes in quick successions, and it is done for. So I'd rather stick to the 32bit version, in favor of my sanity.
update: Just switched to the Staging version after I made this post. Synth1 64bit actually worked fine with it. So..... I guess the Staging version is highly recommended? (though winehq said it can be unstable at times, so proceed with caution)
4. Also, before attempting this, it is recommended to Do A Timeshift Backup, for your own sake.
Anyways, here's how I got LMMS to run 64bit Windows VSTs on Linux Mint 21.x, with updated WINE version; 9.10 (Probably could work on other distros, but I can't count on it, sorry.... ._.v):
1. As per advised from several github posts that I found. Update your WINE version first. Just Pick One version; either Stable, Devel (as in Developer), or Staging. I went for 'devel' version for this one. I did it by using the PPA method (found here - https://wiki.winehq.org/Ubuntu), but via Package Manager (which would be Synaptic for my distro) should work fine too.
2. After that, the posts that I found also advised me to install "-dev" package associated to the WINE version you installed. This means that it is that WINE's version name, but with "...-dev" suffix on it. For example, since I installed "wine-devel" on step 1, then I have to install "wine-devel-dev" next. This time I used Package Manager to do so.
Just to make it clearer, if you installed:
- "wine-stable" -> install "wine-stable-dev"
- "wine-devel" -> install "wine-devel-dev"
- "wine-staging" -> install "wine-staging-dev"
3. Download the LMMS AppImage. Make sure it is the latest Nightly build (or only slightly behind that one in case the recent Nightly is more broken) and you've set it to Executable. (right click on the AppImage file and select "Properties" to find that setting)
4. Here's the most important part; at least for me.
Run LMMS From Terminal! Unfortunately I can't explain how to do so here, but you can search around on the internet, shouldn't be too hard to find (like this one - https://bobcares.com/blog/ubuntu-run-ap ... mand-line/).
The reason being that, somehow, my LMMS Cannot Run 64bit VSTs Properly If I Run LMMS Using Conventional Means; such as running that AppImage. This bit, has screwed me so many times to the point I reinstalled WINE waaaayyyyyy to much. I only accidentally found this after I managed to get it working with 'Gear Lever' first. Then tested the terminal method later on out of curiosity.
Anyways,
5. Load up your VeSTige and open your first 64bit Windows VST. I went for DSK Grand 64bit and mdaPiano 64bit for my testing.
Note: If this is your first time to do so, a popup will appear while loading the VST. This is WINE trying to setup itself for the very first time. While it is doing this, WINE will ask you to install 'wine-mono'. Allow it to do so. Then once everything is done, LMMS will fail loading the VST. This is normal since WINE hasn't been setup yet at that time. Just restart your LMMS and give it another go (Again, From Terminal).
Note2: If the 'wine-mono' thing doesn't show up and LMMS still fail to load the 64bit VST, you may want to reinstall it first, just in case. I think this guide could help you out - https://askubuntu.com/questions/841847/ ... -installed.
6. And that's it. It should be good to go. Just always remember to run LMMS AppImage from terminal if things didn't run peroperly. Or just do that all the time (I for sure am)
Like I said, there was alot of struggle trying to figure this whole thing out (only then to feel like a total dunce in the end). And I have mostly wrote it all down in my Notepad (or gedit, I guess).
Again If y'all want a more complete (and a little sassy-ish) guide than this, and/or want me to post that blog-essay-thingie, please let me know.
I might gonna do it anyways, but it'll take a while longer to get them both done.
But for now, please excuse me as I wanna scream into the void~
edit:
I just realized that this thread resembles much closer to a guide (sort of), and a category for such does exist; 'Tutorials'. ...oops.... ._.;
So in case this fits much closer to a "Tutorial", y'all may move it to there if necessary (because I can't do that for some reason).
This is a "sort-of-fix" that I discovered after finding out how to do........ whatever that title says.
As for why I installed Mint in the first place. It's a bit lengthy to explain, but in short I wanna get used to it much earlier in case Win10 become unusable in the future. Also it is always nice to have a backup system, especially Mint, since I have tried it before in the past.
Now I do have a more detailed version of this guide(?), along with a blog-sized post detailing all of the mess I went through before I found this "fix", but I don't feel like posting them just yet. Maybe y'all can let me know if you'd like to know the full scoop.
Ahem, okay, long story short. I discovered this fix after resolving it by accident at first, by testing LMMS on 'Gear Lever' app. Then I found another solution that works a bit later after that. The second solution (which is the one that I'll put down here) turned out to be much more efficient than what I had in mind.
Point of Advice:
1. Please read the whole thing first. Just to make sure that you can do all of the steps explained and you are sure that this could help you out.
2. The main objective of this guide is to help integrate LMMS with your WINE properly. As for certain 64bit Windows VSTs not working correctly afterwards, they're most likely occur due to certain incompatibilities within WINE and/or Linux LMMS.
3. If you can find the 32bit version of the VST you're trying to load, it is Much Prefered to use that 32bit version. Even after I got this issue fixed, I found out that Synth1 64bit still breaks wayyy to easily. Just play two notes in quick successions, and it is done for. So I'd rather stick to the 32bit version, in favor of my sanity.
update: Just switched to the Staging version after I made this post. Synth1 64bit actually worked fine with it. So..... I guess the Staging version is highly recommended? (though winehq said it can be unstable at times, so proceed with caution)
4. Also, before attempting this, it is recommended to Do A Timeshift Backup, for your own sake.
Anyways, here's how I got LMMS to run 64bit Windows VSTs on Linux Mint 21.x, with updated WINE version; 9.10 (Probably could work on other distros, but I can't count on it, sorry.... ._.v):
1. As per advised from several github posts that I found. Update your WINE version first. Just Pick One version; either Stable, Devel (as in Developer), or Staging. I went for 'devel' version for this one. I did it by using the PPA method (found here - https://wiki.winehq.org/Ubuntu), but via Package Manager (which would be Synaptic for my distro) should work fine too.
2. After that, the posts that I found also advised me to install "-dev" package associated to the WINE version you installed. This means that it is that WINE's version name, but with "...-dev" suffix on it. For example, since I installed "wine-devel" on step 1, then I have to install "wine-devel-dev" next. This time I used Package Manager to do so.
Just to make it clearer, if you installed:
- "wine-stable" -> install "wine-stable-dev"
- "wine-devel" -> install "wine-devel-dev"
- "wine-staging" -> install "wine-staging-dev"
3. Download the LMMS AppImage. Make sure it is the latest Nightly build (or only slightly behind that one in case the recent Nightly is more broken) and you've set it to Executable. (right click on the AppImage file and select "Properties" to find that setting)
4. Here's the most important part; at least for me.
Run LMMS From Terminal! Unfortunately I can't explain how to do so here, but you can search around on the internet, shouldn't be too hard to find (like this one - https://bobcares.com/blog/ubuntu-run-ap ... mand-line/).The reason being that, somehow, my LMMS Cannot Run 64bit VSTs Properly If I Run LMMS Using Conventional Means; such as running that AppImage. This bit, has screwed me so many times to the point I reinstalled WINE waaaayyyyyy to much. I only accidentally found this after I managed to get it working with 'Gear Lever' first. Then tested the terminal method later on out of curiosity.
Anyways,
5. Load up your VeSTige and open your first 64bit Windows VST. I went for DSK Grand 64bit and mdaPiano 64bit for my testing.
Note: If this is your first time to do so, a popup will appear while loading the VST. This is WINE trying to setup itself for the very first time. While it is doing this, WINE will ask you to install 'wine-mono'. Allow it to do so. Then once everything is done, LMMS will fail loading the VST. This is normal since WINE hasn't been setup yet at that time. Just restart your LMMS and give it another go (Again, From Terminal).
Note2: If the 'wine-mono' thing doesn't show up and LMMS still fail to load the 64bit VST, you may want to reinstall it first, just in case. I think this guide could help you out - https://askubuntu.com/questions/841847/ ... -installed.
6. And that's it. It should be good to go. Just always remember to run LMMS AppImage from terminal if things didn't run peroperly. Or just do that all the time (I for sure am)
Like I said, there was alot of struggle trying to figure this whole thing out (only then to feel like a total dunce in the end). And I have mostly wrote it all down in my Notepad (or gedit, I guess).
Again If y'all want a more complete (and a little sassy-ish) guide than this, and/or want me to post that blog-essay-thingie, please let me know.
I might gonna do it anyways, but it'll take a while longer to get them both done.
But for now, please excuse me as I wanna scream into the void~
edit:
I just realized that this thread resembles much closer to a guide (sort of), and a category for such does exist; 'Tutorials'. ...oops.... ._.;
So in case this fits much closer to a "Tutorial", y'all may move it to there if necessary (because I can't do that for some reason).