Windows VSTs on Linux with yabridge

There is a nice tool you can use for VSTs, though it only works for Windows VST versions. It requires a bit of setup but works fine once set up, mostly.

The recommended tool is yabridge with its manager yabridgectl.

Requirements

• The VSTs must be 64-bit.
• Install both packages from the Arch repositories: yabridge and yabridgectl.

1. Create a Wine prefix. You will have to use Wine, so the recommendation is Bottles (Flatpak). Make a container called VST, Audio or something similar. This example uses Audio.

   Replace $USER in the paths below with your system user name.

2. Set the location. Point Bottles to create the prefix in a folder in /home/$USER/. If not, it will be in /home/$USER/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/Audio/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/.

3. Add the plugin folders. In a terminal, run the following. Use the same command for VST3.

   yabridgectl add "/home/$USER/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/Audio/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/VST2/"

   yabridgectl add "/home/$USER/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/Audio/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/VST3/"

4. Sync. Run the sync command to link the plugins.

   yabridgectl sync

After this, your DAW should show the plugins. Upstream places the bridged VST2, VST3 and CLAP plugins in ~/.vst/yabridge, ~/.vst3/yabridge and ~/.clap/yabridge. Your DAW should search those directories.

Install plugins

Let the installers run normally inside the Wine prefix, like any Windows installer. Most VSTs install to Program Files and then Common Files. The installer does not always print the path, so check the folders manually.

You need to point yabridge to the folder that contains the plugin files. Yabridge then links them over.

Low memory or realtime warnings

Replaced steps

The original steps suggested adding set -x ULIMIT_MEMLOCK unlimited and ulimit -m unlimited to the fish config. Upstream yabridge does not mention these. Use the realtime setup below instead.

If you get a low memory or realtime warning, set up realtime privileges. On Arch or Manjaro, install the realtime-privileges package, then run the following and reboot.

sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" realtime

For a low RLIMIT_RTTIME warning caused by rtkit, make sure your user has realtime privileges and reboot. On GNOME 45 or newer, also run sudo systemctl mask rtkit-daemon.service and reboot.

Troubleshooting

• Some plugins may not work. Graphical issues in particular may need help from the yabridge community or the yabridge GitHub.
• If a plugin is broken, check that you ran yabridgectl add for the folder where the plugin lives, then run yabridgectl sync again.
• Yabridge supports flags for individual plugins. Check the linked GitHub for details.

Native Bottles

The original steps assume the Flatpak version of Bottles. The Garuda Dr460nized Gaming edition ships a native bottles package. The default prefix path for that version is not confirmed here.

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Source: For Those Who Make Music on Linux. “Adding Windows VSTs”