Software Recommendations
I've been using Jack2 for years and years. Yes, Pipewire also may be an option for some. But I do not use or test Wine-NSPA with Pipewire (at all), due to lack luster performance and bugs that I hit using it. It may be the future of linuxaudio (and that's really great), but at the moment; I personally recommend using Jack2.
https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge
Currently, Yabridge is by far the best winelib VST bridge/host for linux, IMHO. It's ctively developed, maintained and Yabridge integrates very well with DAWs and other applications. I highly recommend Yabridge; I use it to host my VSTs.
https://github.com/falkTX/Carla
Another Excellent Plugin Host. Personally, I don't use it for hosting Windows VSTs (at least, not directly). My favorite
part of this application suite is carla-single; which allows hosting/launching a single plugin. In my workflow, I use
carla-single to host yabridge'd plugins, as standalone apps. -- Something I refer to as "VST-as-Standalone". It works
quite well for this purpose and provides excellent Desktop Integration.
note: I suggest building from the git branch, as well.
https://kushview.net/ && https://github.com/kushview/Element
Kushview Element is a personal favorite of mine. I run the Windows version of Element in Wine; This gives me a nice Sand-boxed VST host, where I can have flexible routing and connectivity, and I can also save/recall sessions and all of that jazz. Sometimes, it's advantageous to host VSTs in a Windows-based host. In particular, performance can be better and it can be helpful in keeping your VSTs isolated from your (linux) DAW.
https://github.com/jackaudio/new-session-manager
NSM is super handy for managing applications / sessions in Jack (or Pipewire). Personally, I hate the new frontend for NSM, and vastly prefer the old FLTK interface. Luckily, it is still provided ;-) I'd say checkout Agordejo (the new frontend), as that's recommended, but if you prefer some simplicity -> nsm-legacy-gui is still available.
https://github.com/wineasio/wineasio
WineASIO is an ASIO driver for Wine/Jack. It's a great piece of software, allowing ASIO applications to work in Wine. For a long time it as a bit tricky to properly support some standalone apps in Wine-NSPA, due to some threading /blocking issues -- However, I have solved this issue. Additionally, I have been working on improving performance / scalability of Wine-NSPA. See below:
- See commit: https://github.com/nine7nine/Wine-NSPA/commit/6de74322a0e73d3b038c71a61bf85a9dd1a65fae
- See patch: https://github.com/nine7nine/Wine-NSPA/blob/main/wine-tkg-git/wine-tkg-userpatches/0083-server-request_shmem_per_thread.mypatch
I'm not going to give a list of recommendations for VST plugins; there are simply too many out there to list.
But if you are curious; I mostly use Native Instruments Komplete 13, (AAS) Applied Acoustics Systems and U-he plugins. These are my go-to plugins and cover almost of my needs.