You can enable new VST effects in Audacity by using the Effect Add / Remove Plug-ins. This opens the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog where you can select and Enable the new effects then click OK to load them. VST, short for Virtual Studio Technology, is an audio plugin format developed by Steinberg. As with all plug-ins, VST is a third party program that can be used within an existing program to perform a specific task. You can get a general idea of what a plug-in is here. A Little History.

1. How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Plugin
2. How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Software
3. How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Windows 10
4. How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Plugins

VST effect or VST instrument plug-ins normally have their own installation application. Read the documentation or readme files before installing new plug-ins. When you scan for newly installed plug-ins or relaunch Cubase, the new plug-ins are shown on the VST effect or VST instrument selectors, respectively. How to use this guide. There are a staggering 200 free plugins listed on this page. To make sense of it all, we divided them into categories: Synth VSTs, Drum VSTs, Guitar VSTs, VST Effects and Utility VSTs. Use the table of contents to see the lists of VSTs by category. VST chainer for Mac. Chainer by Plug & Mix is may one of choice for hosting VST and VST instrument without a DAW. Just like Chainer by XLutop. Is also run as a standalone and as a plugin for DAW. The difference, it’s mainly to load the Plug & Mix VIP plugins. But once you authorize the app (Buy it). How to Use VST Plug-Ins in Foobar If the issue is with your Computer or a Laptop you should try using Restoro which can scan the repositories and replace corrupt and missing files. This works in most cases, where the issue is originated due to a system corruption.

Contents

Installing Nyquist plug-ins

Nyquist plug-ins provide most of the optional effects underneath the divider in the Effect menu. They are also used to provide some of Audacity's built-in audio generators and analysis tools. A wide range of additional Nyquist effect, generation and analysis plug-ins can be obtained from Download Nyquist Plug-ins on our Wiki.

To add a new Nyquist plug-in, place it in the Audacity 'Plug-Ins' folder: Users<username>AppDataRoamingaudacityPlug-Ins

If you are a privileged user and you need to install a plug-in for use by multiple user accounts on the same PC you may also install Nyquist plug-ins to the Plug-Ins folder in the directory where Audacity is installed. This is usually: C:Program FilesAudacity or, C:Program Files (x86)Audacity on 64-bit machines.

To enable the new effects into Audacity so they are available in the menu, use the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.

Some Nyquist plug-ins could crash while processing very long audio selections (typically an hour or more). This is due to the plug-in using a large amount of memory and is a known issue in Audacity's current Nyquist implementation. Try using the plug-in on shorter selections instead.

Installing VST plug-ins

Audacity supports almost all VST effect plug-ins on Windows including 'shell' VST's that host multiple VST effects.

To install new VST effects, place them in the Audacity 'Plug-Ins' folder: Users<username>AppDataRoamingaudacityPlug-Ins

Advanced options:

• Windows Registry key HKCUSoftwareVSTVSTPluginsPath
• Windows Registry key HKLMSoftwareVSTVSTPluginsPath
• All paths specified by the 'VST_PATH' environment variable

If you are installing plug-ins that come from Steinberg (including iZotope plug-ins) the installer usually automatically places these in its own plug-ins folder: C:Program FilesSteinbergVSTPlugins (or C:Program Files (x86)SteinbergVSTPlugins on 64-bit systems).

If you are a privileged user and you need to install a plug-in for use by multiple user accounts on the same PC you may also install VST plug-ins to the Plug-Ins folder in the directory where Audacity is installed. This is usually: C:Program FilesAudacity or, C:Program Files (x86)Audacity on 64-bit machines.

All the directories where you can place VST plug-ins are searched recursively, which means that plug-ins that are inside their own folder in that directory should still be found by Audacity.}}

You can enable new VST effects in Audacity by using the Effect > Add / Remove Plug-ins.. menu item. This opens the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog where you can select and Enable the new effects then click to load them. Next time you launch Audacity the enabled effect(s) will be cached and you will not need to re-enable them.

The list of effects in the dialog will include any detected VST instrument (VSTi) plug-ins (such as synths) and any real-time VST effects that are capable of changing audio data while it's being written to disk. Neither of these are yet supported and they will not load even if you enable or re-enable them in the dialog.

Why do some VST plug-ins not work or display incorrectly?

Audacity will by default display VST effect plug-ins with a full graphical interface where the plug-in supplies this.

VST instruments (VSTi) (such as synths) and real-time VST effects (that change the audio data while it's being written) are not yet supported. These will not load even if you enable or re-enable them in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog. VST 3 plug-ins are not supported.

If any plug-in displays incorrectly, you can use the Manage button in the effect's dialog then choose Options.. to open the VST Effect Options for that effect. Then remove the checkmark from the 'Enable graphical interface' checkbox and click . When you reopen the effect it will display a simpler tabular interface.

On Windows Audacity is a 32-bit application so will not see 64-bit versions of VST plug-ins, even on 64-bit operating systems.

If you experience a problem with a specific VST effect plug-in in Audacity, please contact us.

Installing LADSPA plug-ins

The LADSPA plug-in architecture was originally developed on Linux. Audacity supports LADSPA effects on Windows as well as GNU/Linux. You can download and install a set of over 90 LADSPA plug-ins for Windows. You can then choose which LADSPA plug-ins to enable in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.

To add a new LADSPA plug-in, place it in the Audacity 'Plug-Ins' folder: Users<username>AppDataRoamingaudacityPlug-Ins

If you are a privileged user and you need to install a plug-in for use by multiple user accounts on the same PC you may also install LADSPA plug-ins to the Plug-Ins folder in the directory where Audacity is installed. This is usually: C:Program FilesAudacity or, C:Program Files (x86)Audacity on 64-bit machines.

Then use Effect > Add / Remove Plug-ins.. to enable the LADSPA effects and load them into Audacity, For details see Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers.

Installing LV2 plug-ins

LV2 is a more advanced evolution of the LADSPA plug-in architecture which was originally developed on Linux. Audacity supports both LV2 effects on Windows as well as GNU/Linux. There are not yet many pre-compiled LV2 plug-ins for Windows, though it may be possible to compile some Linux LV2 plug-ins for other operating systems.

To add a new LV2 effect, place its complete '.lv2' folder (not the files alone) at the top level of any of the following searched for locations:

• Users<username>AppDataRoamingLV2 (or Documents and Settings<username>Application DataLV2)
• Program FilesCommon FilesLV2 (or Program Files (x86)Common FilesLV2 on 64-bit systems)

Search paths where Audacity looks for LV2 plug-ins may also be specified by setting the LV2_PATH environment variable. The path listed below is legitimate.

• %APPDATA%LV2;%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%LV2;%COMMONPROGRAMFILES(x86)%LV2

How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Plugin

Then use Effect > Add / Remove Plug-ins.. to enable the LADSPA LV2 effects and load them into Audacity, For details see Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers.

Installing Vamp plug-ins

Vamp plug-ins are usually for analyzing audio so will appear under Audacity's Analyze Menu. You can do interesting things like attempt to track beats, note pitches, chords or frequencies. Any Vamp plug-ins whose output is suitable for a label track should work in Audacity on Windows. To add a new Vamp analysis tool, add the plug-in's DLL, DYLIB or SO file and any supplied category or RDF files to any of the Vamp search locations then enable the tool in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.

How can I solve Audacity crashing after I add a plug-in?

Please see this FAQ Dark piano plugins vst.

Info from Trebor, triaged by Gale, that can be incorporated into this page (add those plugins not already listed).

• The JS series & MDA series of VST plugins, (which are old) , wouldn't work properly with Audacity 2.1.0 , see https://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1083 for status, it is DEVEL-FIX MADE now.

• The “Antress modern” series of plugins, http://antress.blogspot.co.uk/ do work , but since implementation of real-time-adjustment , you have to stop then start playback for any adjustments to the controls to take effect. This is not on Bugzilla, so needs testing but it could have already been fixed by the fix for https://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1084 .

• Free VST effects I have on my machine right now, which I use regularly, so I know are working OK on Audacity 2.1.0:
  • Marvel GEQ.dll http://www.voxengo.com/product/marvelgeq/https://forum.audacityteam.org/download/file.php?id=13343]A graphic equalizer
  • ANWIDA Soft DX Reverb Light.dll http://www.anwida.com/product.asp?pid=7, http://www.anwida.com/dc.asp?file=http://www.anwida.com/progs/asdxrl20.zip&pid=7
  • BC Chorus 4 VST(Stereo).dll http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_Chorus/
  • Gmulti.dll , Ggate.dll , Gsnap.dll http://www.gvst.co.uk/downloads.htm [ compressor, gate, autotune ].
  • SPITFISH.dll http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5 [ a basic de-esser ].
  • TB_Sibalance_v3.dll http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-sibalance/ [ a sophisticated de-esser ].
  • DtBlkFx.dll http://rekkerd.org/dtblkfx/ A spectral-processor [ capable of weirdness like nothing else ].
  • 'Acon Multiply' https://acondigital.com/products/multiply/ It does chorus & stereo effects . It has presets, so is simple to operate : ideal for newbies who wants to add effects to vocal / guitar recordings.

This page describes support for VST (Virtual Studio Technology) effect plug-ins in Audacity; VST instrument plug-ins that generate audio are not supported. A list of VST effects known to process correctly in Audacity on Windows is given here. VST effects are supported by Audacity on OS X and GNU/Linux, but relatively few are available on Mac (due to Apple's competing Audio Units technology) and even fewer on Linux. If a specific VST effect is required on Linux, it may be necessary to employ workarounds such as running Audacity for Windows in a virtual machine.

Related article(s): Other pages in our Plug-ins category

How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Software

• 3List of functional VST Plug-ins

VST support in Audacity

On Windows and Mac OS X, Audacity is a 32-bit application so won't see 64-bit versions of VST plug-ins, even on 64-bit operating systems. On GNU/Linux, 32-bit systems will have 32-bit versions of Audacity which won't see 64-bit VST plug-ins. 64-bit systems will have 64-bit versions of Audacity which will see 64-bit VST plug-ins but won't see 32-bit plug-ins. VST instruments (VSTi) (such as synths) and real-time VST effects (that change the audio data while playing or recording) are not yet supported. VST 3 plug-ins are not supported.

VST effects are displayed with full GUI interface (where provided by the plug-in), and without need of the VST Enabler. This has been made possible by use of an open source VST header.

For instructions on how to load new VST effects into Audacity please see this page in the Manual.

How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Windows 10

The overwhelming majority of VST effect plug-ins should display and process correctly. If an incompatible VST plug-in does cause a problem, click the Manage button in the effect's dialog then choose 'Options..'. In the dialog that appears, try reducing Buffer Size, disabling Latency Compensation or disabling graphical display. See VST Effect Options in the Manual for more information on these choices.

• To report a plug-in that is problematic in current Audacity, please report it on the Audacity Forum.

Installing VST plug-ins in Audacity

The process and file location is different for each operating system. See the following pages in the Audacity Manual:

List of functional VST Plug-ins

Instructions for adding plug-ins to the list: Please insert new plug-ins that work in Audacity in the correct place so as to keep the list sorted in alphabetical order. Please give a download link to the plug-in if possible, enclosing the link inside single square brackets - for example: [http://www.linktoplugin.com] If plug-ins are not free, please note this.

• The majority of plug-ins will be for Windows only unless OS 9 or OS X is stated.
• Classic Mac OS plug-ins will only work under OS 9 and previous. Mac OS X plug-ins with a .component file marked as 'PowerPC' will only work on PPC Macs (they might work on Intel Macs with slow performance under Rosetta but Rosetta cannot be used on OS X 10.7 or later).

List of Plug-ins with download links

• Antares AutoTune Evo - Mostly works with current Audacity. Automatic pitch correction works, but to be able to draw pitch curves clock must be set to 'internal' and not 'host'. (commercial)
• Antress Modern Plug-ins including a number of compressors, a limiter, an expander, an exciter and a 'spacer' which could be used for creating 'fake stereo'
• ANWIDA Soft DX Reverb Light.dll for Windows and Mac (PowerPC only)
• Bo Johansen Plug-ins
• Bluecat Plug-ins
• bs2b.dll stereo to binaural
• Buzzroom CL 201 (Vintage Maximiser) - now shareware

Peter 16Nov15: I'm not sure I want us to continue linking to the Brothersoft site (or its plug-ins) the very first ad I got served on that page was for a porn site - sure the adds cycled round with normal sensible ads but they were on a cycle and the porn ad kept returning. And It carries a misleading big green 'Download' button !

How To Use Vst Plugin Analyzer Plugins

• Gale 18Nov15: The Classic plugins below are discontinued. The links were pointing to Brothersoft which is a dubious site and now point to VST4free which is much less bad. Also you can get the complete bundle from http://acoustica1.cachefly.net/other/Classic-Effects-Installer.exe. The installer puts the plugins in %PROGRAMFILES%VST where (according to the Manual and VSTEffect.cpp) Audacity should not see them unless a registry key or VST_PATH environment variable points there. But Audacity does see them (on Win 10).

Classic plug-ins

• Classic Chorus.dll
  
• Classic Compressor.dll
  
• Classic Delay.dll
  
• Classic EQ.dll
  
• Classic Flanger.dll
  
• Classic Master Limiter.dll
  
• Classic Phaser.dll
  
• Classic Reverb.dll
  

Peter 16Nov15: Rather than linking direct to the downloads for these digitalfishphones plug-ins, might it not be better to link to the site's download page for them as it tells the user, in some detail, just what each one is for: THD, dominion and normalizer?

• Gale 17Nov15: Any other plugins are not listed because presumably no-one tested them. Yes, show a landing page with detail for the plugin if there is one. But if we have a table like I suggest we can link to the publisher and the plugin in a less confusing way.

• digitalfishphones plug-ins

• • dominion v1.2.dll - a tool to shape the envelope of a signal, giving you total control of the signal's attack & sustain phase
  • endorphin - dual-band stereo compressor
  • BLOCKFISH - compressor for Windows and OS X (PPC only)
  • FLOORFISH.dll - expander/noise gate for Windows and OS X (PPC only)
  • SPITFISH.dll - de-esser for Windows and OS X (PPC only)
  • normalizer.dll - a denormalization tool
  • THD.dll - analog-style saturator

• DtBlkFx (FFT-based frequency and harmonics manipulation). Also supports OS X (Universal binary) but only Windows version tested.
• Extra Boy Pro removal and isolation of audio components (commercial, paid for)
• EZmix (commercial, time limited demo available). Also supports OS X but only Windows version tested.
• Freeverb Plug-ins
  • Freeverb for OS X
  • Freeverb2.dll for Windows
  • FreeverbToo.dll for Windows
• GMulti Multi-band compressor
• iZotope vinyl for Windows and OS X
• JS plug-in pack - contains plug-ins listed below.
  • JS 6 equalizer V1.0.dll
  • JS Band Cut V1.0.dll
  • JS Compresseur V1.1.dll
  • JS Disto V1.0.dll
  • JS equalizer V1.0.dll
  • Humanizer v1.0.dll
  • JS Limiteur V1.0.dll
  • JS Magneto V1.1.dll
  • JS Mini-sample V1.0.dll
  • JS Noise Attenu V1.0 .dll
  • JS Noise Filtre V1.0.dll
  • JS Oscil resonne V2.0 .dll
  • JS Oscil resonne V3.0.dll
  • JS PanDelay .dll
  • JS Resonnateur V1.0.dll
  • JS Vibrato V1.0.dll
• jVSTwRapper-based plug-ins (on Windows, Mac OSX PPC/Intel and Linux).

jVSTwRapper is a way of writing Java plug-ins using VST-based technology, enclosed in a wrapper that makes them compatible for use in VST, Audio Units and LADSPA hosts. Thus jVSTwRapper plug-ins can be run on all three platforms.

• Lisp level-independent sibilance processor
• Smartelectronix Plug-ins
  • Ambience - reverb plug-in for Windows, OS 9/X (PPC only)
  • MjCompressor.dll for Windows and OS XWindows version only has a tabular interface even in Audacity 1.3.8+
• REFLEX free - a regenerating delay plug-in, a mixture of stereo delays followed by a dense
• Robotizer for Windows and Mac OS X (PPC only)
• TAL-Reverb-2 - popular GPL licensed plate reverb
• TB Compressor (working demo) in Tone Boosters plug-in bundle - supports 'New York' or 'parallel' compression
• UpStereo.dll - stereo widener
• UpStereo for OS X(not tested)
• VOX_DoctorDemo.dll - De-Esser
• Voxengo - free VST plug-ins from Voxengo

List of Plug-ins with known problems

Instructions for adding VST effect plug-ins to the list: Please do not add VST instrument plug-ins to the list, because Audacity won't work with any of those. List effect plug-ins that do not work properly in Audacity, giving a short note of the problem, such as 'Audacity won't launch', 'plug-in does not appear in Effect Menu', 'not all controls available', 'audio not processed'. Please give a download link to the plug-in if possible, enclosing the link inside single square brackets - for example: [http://www.linktoplugin.com] Please also give your operating system such as Windows 10 or Mac OS X 10.9.4, the date of your report, and the version of Audacity used. Feel free to use current Audacity to retest any plug-ins that did not work with legacy VST Enabler or legacy 1.x versions of Audacity. If plug-ins now work, please move them up into the 'working' list. Audacity 2.0.6 onwards supports buffer delay compensation. Most plug-ins previously listed below that suffered from inserted silence due to Audacity's lack of compensation are no longer listed.

In addition to the below list, the following plug-ins do not have functioning sliders in Audacity 2.1.0 or later and so will only apply at default settings. See Bug 1083.

• JS plug-ins
• MDA VST's
• stereoizer.dll

Plug-in	OS	Date	Audacity version	Symptoms
Auto-Tune	Windows	Dec.2012	Audacity 2.0.1	Tuning by MIDI input is not supported.
BlueCat	OS X	Sep.2014	Audacity 2.0.5, 2.0.6	In 2.0.5, the plug-in interface does not work, so you can only use default settings. The interface works in 2.0.6, but in both versions, saving a preset will lock out the main Audacity window, requiring to close Audacity from the Dock.
CM Vocoder	Windows/OS X	Sep.08	Audacity 1.3.8+	Does not appear
Effect Chainer DX and VST wrapper	Windows	Jan.08	All	can't host any plug-ins
FFX-4 DX and VST Wrapper	Windows	Jan.08	All	can't host any plug-ins
Freeverb2	Windows 7	Oct.11	Audacity 1.3.13	Only tabular interface, no preset support
GRM Tools	OS X	May 2014	Audacity 2.0.6-alpha	Interface cannot be used (so the effects can only be used at default settings) or interface disappears completely when loading preset. The interface is likely to be available in 2.0.6 release, but attempting to save a preset in any Audacity version could lock out the main Audacity window.
GRM Tools	Windows	Sep.08	Audacity 1.3.8+	unspecified
GSnap	Windows	Jan.2014	Audacity 2.0.6	Tuning by MIDI input is not supported.
keFIR	Windows	Apr.08	VST-Bridge 1.1	has no effect on audio
kn0ck0ut	Windows	Sep.2014	Audacity 2.0.6-alpha	Despite Audacity 2.0.6 or later supporting buffer delay compensation, the start of the processed audio has silence inserted and a corresponding length is removed from the end of the processed audio. This also occurs in Goldwave and Wavosaur so is probably a bug in Kn0ck0ut, but the VST version is no longer being developed, only an LV2 version.
Sonic Maximizer	Windows	Sep.2007	VST-Bridge 1.1	not in Effect menu
SoundSoap2 (discontinued) (see also SoundSoap3)	Windows, OS X	2007 (various)	All	Audacity won't launch
Spectro	Windows	Nov.2014	2.0.7-alpha	No spectrum visible in plug-in window
String Studio	Windows	2007 (various)	VST-Bridge 1.1	Audacity won't launch
T RackS 3	OS X	Dec.2009	All	Audacity won't launch
VisualVOX VST	Windows	Jan.2008	VST-Bridge 1.1	No interface, just silences audio
Waves V5	Windows	Dec.2012	Audacity 2.0.2	Hangs Audacity on launch
Waves V8	OS X	Feb.2013	Audacity 2.0.3	Only tabular interface. Two entries (m) and (s) for each effect. GarageBand does not have either problem.(1)

(1) Audio Unit versions of Waves may cause Audacity 2.0.4 or earlier to freeze or crash on launch. In 2.0.5 or later, Waves Audio Units may cause a freeze or crash when the effect is chosen from the Effect Menu.