The Calf project aims at providing a set of high quality open source audio plugins for musicians. All the included plugins are designed to be used with multitrack software, as software replacement for instruments and guitar stomp boxes (and not as single modules in a modular synthesizer, which was a primary design goal in some other open source plugin packages[*]).

The plugins are available in following formats:

* LV2 (both synthesizers and effects; MIDI I/O and GUI extensions are supported, while presets are currently not); recommended hosts: Ardour 2.7, Zynjacku/LV2Rack.

Note: you need a *proper* version of libslv2, redland (librdf), raptor and rasqal for those programs to work correctly with Calf (live graphs and all). One "known good" combination is: libslv2 svn r1822 (probably r1799 or later), redland 1.0.8, raptor 1.4.18, rasqal 0.9.16. If you see live graphs in calfjackhost but not in LV2 hosts, try updating those libraries, it should help. Both Calf and SLV2 are "work in progress", and there may be occasional bugs.
* DSSI (both synthesizers and effects, GTK+ GUI is included)
* Standalone JACK client application with GTK+-based GUI (new: it is possible to run several plugins simultaneously in one JACK client, and connect them in chains using standard JACK facilities)
* LADSPA (only effect plugins, GUI not available unless host supports DSSI-style GUI for LADSPA), with LRDF. Note that use of LADSPA is strongly discouraged, as the limitations of the standard may cause serious inconvenience. Please use LV2 or DSSI instead, if available.

Due to limitations of plugin architectures, not all features may be available in all versions. The most feature-rich version is the standalone JACK client. However, it is expected that LV2 version will achieve maximum functionality as well, once all necessary LV2 extensions become mature. DSSI and LADSPA versions will probably not become as complete as LV2, due to serious restrictions imposed by those architectures and their status (practically obsolete).

What is LMMS?

LMMS is a free cross-platform alternative to commercial programs like FL Studio®, which allow you to produce music with your computer. This includes the creation of melodies and beats, the synthesis and mixing of sounds, and arranging of samples. You can have fun with your MIDI-keyboard and much more; all in a user-friendly and modern interface.

Features

Song-Editor for composing songs
A Beat+Bassline-Editor for creating beats and basslines
An easy-to-use Piano-Roll for editing patterns and melodies
An FX mixer with 64 FX channels and arbitrary number of effects allow unlimited mixing possibilities
Many powerful instrument and effect-plugins out of the box
Full user-defined track-based automation and computer-controlled automation sources
Compatible with many standards such as SoundFont2, VST(i), LADSPA, GUS Patches, and MIDI
Import of MIDI and FLP (Fruityloops® Project) files

Scribus is an Open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops with a combination of press-ready output and new approaches to page design.

Underneath a modern and user-friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as color separations, CMYK and Spot Color support, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation.

The Synthesis ToolKit in C++ (STK) is a set of open source audio signal processing and algorithmic synthesis classes written in the C++ programming language. STK was designed to facilitate rapid development of music synthesis and audio processing software, with an emphasis on cross-platform functionality, realtime control, ease of use, and educational example code. The Synthesis ToolKit is extremely portable (it's mostly platform-independent C and C++ code), and it's completely user-extensible (all source included, no unusual libraries, and no hidden drivers). We like to think that this increases the chances that our programs will still work in another 5-10 years. In fact, the ToolKit has been working continuously for nearly 15 years now. STK currently runs with realtime support (audio and MIDI) on Linux, Macintosh OS X, and Windows computer platforms. Generic, non-realtime support has been tested under NeXTStep, Sun, and other platforms and should work with any standard C++ compiler.