Several Audacity plugins, such as LADSPA Plugin, LV2 Plugin, Nyquist Plugin, VST Plugin, Audio Unit Plugin, and Module Plugin, are available to enhance Audacity’s performance. The Audacity plugins listed above have been used by a number of individuals and are very common. 1.LADSPA Plugin. The LADSPA Plugin has mainly used for Linux based.
| It is strongly recommended, when installing third-party plug-ins, that you thoroughly test the plug-in on non-critical project data before using it in production use on a live project. Many such plug-ins are known to fail or crash Audacity, see this Wiki page. |
| The folders that you need may be 'hidden'. To access them in Finder use Go > Go To Folder > ~/Library ... or Go > Go To Folder > /Library ... The Go is in the menu bar at the top of the desktop when Finder is active. |
Contents
Installing Audio Unit plug-ins
Audio Unit (AU) is a system-level plug-in architecture provided on Mac OS X and macOS computers.- Audio Unit effects support real-time preview.
To add a new Audio Unit effect, place it in either of the following system plug-in directories:
- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components (user plug-ins)
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components (system-wide plug-ins)
Then use Effect > Add / Remove Plug-ins... to enable the Audio Unit effects and load them into Audacity, For details see Manage Effects.
| Please note that not all of the Audio Unit effects that Apple supplies can be enabled in Audacity. They will show listed as available in the New section of the Plug-in Manager but if you try to enable them you will get an error message telling you that they failed to register. This is an Apple issue and not an Audacity bug. This only affects a few of the Audio Unit plug-ins: AUScheduledSoundPlayer, AUMultiSplitter, AUMultiChannelMixer, AUMixer3D, AUMIxer, AUMatrixMixer, AUAudioFilePlayer and AUSpeechSynthesis. |
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.
The easiest way to install a new Nyquist plug-in is to use the Tool Nyquist Plug-in Installer which is itself a Nyquist plug-in that simplifies the installation of other Nyquist plug-ins.
Vst Audio Plugins For Audacity Download
All Nyquist plug-ins are plain text files that have the filename extension '.NY'. This plug-in installer provides a file browser for selecting the plug-in '.NY' file, and then copies the file to the correct location. Once the plug-in has been installed, it may be enabled in the Plug-in Manager.
- Accessed by:Tools > Nyquist Plug-in Installer...
Installing a Nyquist plug-in manually
It is also possible to add a new Nyquist plug-in manually by adding it to the correct location that Audacity expects.
Place them in Audacity's 'Plug-Ins' folder at ~/Library/Application Support/audacity/Plug-Ins.
To load 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 Mac including 'shell' VST's that host multiple VST effects.
To install new VST plug-ins, place them in Audacity's 'Plug-Ins' folder at ~/Library/Application Support/audacity/Plug-Ins.
Other possible locations on Mac are:- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
- All paths specified by the 'VST_PATH' environment variable.
You can install new VST effects into 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 Mac, Audacity is a 64-bit application so will not see 32-bit versions of VST plug-ins. |
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 Mac as well as GNU/Linux. You can download and install a set of over 90 LADSPA plug-ins. You can then choose which LADSPA plug-ins to enable in the Plug-in Manager: Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.
To install new LADSPA plug-ins, place them in Audacity's 'Plug-Ins' folder at ~/Library/Application Support/audacity/Plug-Ins.
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.
Audacity will also load LADSPA plug-ins from the following system locations:- The path specified by the LADSPA_PATH environment variable
- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LADSPA
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LADSPA
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 Mac as well as GNU/Linux. There are not yet many pre-compiled LV2 plug-ins for Mac, 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:
- ~/.lv2
- ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /usr/local/lib/lv2
- /usr/lib/lv2
- $HOME/.lv2:$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2:/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2:/usr/local/lib/lv2:/usr/lib/lv2
Then use Effect > Add / Remove Plug-ins... to enable the 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 Mac. 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.
Uninstalling plug-ins
Plug-ins can be removed using Effect > Add / Remove Plug-ins... and then removing the file from the relevant file location, so that they do not appear again in Plug-in Manager.
Plug-ins shipped with Audacity can be found inside Audacity.app (in the Applications folder, or wherever you have installed Audacity). The path to the plug-ins is for example /Applications/Audacity.app/Contents/plug-ins. You can reach the Contents directory by right-clicking or Ctrl-clicking over Audacity.app and selecting Show Package Contents.
How can I solve Audacity crashing after I add a plug-in?
Please see this FAQ
Please see this Wiki page for Plug-ins that crash Audacity or fail to work properly in Audacity
Vst For Audacity
Links
> Installing and updating Audacity on Mac
| DrumExtract is an audio processing tool that extracts and separates percussive content (e.g. drums) from an audio mix. Based on recent digital signal processing research, it goes far beyond traditional tools, and allows results that no EQ, compression, or other classical tool could achieve. Audio examples (before / after): Courtesy of Tame Impala, thanks to Kevin Parker. Venetian Snares - Szamár Madár Courtesy of Venetian Snares, thanks to Aaron Funk. | DrumExtract Version 1.1 |
DrumExtract is available as a VST plugin (32 & 64-bit) for Windows and as a VST and Audio Unit for Mac. It works with Cubase, Ableton Live, Reaper, FL Studio, Sound Forge, Audacity, Audition, Logic Pro X, Studio One, MPC Software, Serato, Maschine, etc.
Of course, an audio mix is like a baked cake: it is difficult (and sometimes impossible) to recover each individual part of a mix. However, even if no perfect result can be achieved, DrumExtract goes beyond traditional tools and offers state-of-the-art separation.
DrumExtract works well on songs with harmonic instruments playing chords (strings, synths, pads, piano, etc.), but doesn't work on songs with instruments with fast pitch changes, such as fast instrument solos or vocal part. Currently DrumExtract is unable to separate voice from drums.
More generally, don't expect DrumExtract to work on every song or on the full length of a song. It is an essential tool in a music producer toolbox, that works better than pure EQ to extract drum samples, but it is not a magic wand. On some songs it does miracles, on others it just doesn't work.
Discover new applications with DrumExtract:
Drum learning: isolate the percussive content of a song, to find the drum parts
Drum practicing: remove drums from a song and play it without drums, allowing the drummer to play on top of it
Remix / Sampling / Beatmaking: sample drum loops, drum elements or melodic elements that could not be isolated with usual tools. Akai MPC users and hip hop producers can use it to find new unused sampling material, and use it for new productions
Production learning: discover how great song drum tracks are crafted, by removing the other instruments
Mixing / Mastering: raise or lower the volume of the drums in a mix
- Advanced multi-layer processing: split a track into a percussive track and harmonic track, thus allowing further processing on each of them, before remixing them together