How to Use Windows VSTs in REAPER Linux-Native builds (Archlinux)

Windows VSTs in REAPER Linux-Native snapshot

Mingw-w64 - GCC for Windows 64 & 32 bits

Required by Carla bridges, you can choose to install compiler and runtimes from AUR or from unofficial user repositories. I choosed the latter option.

Wine Staging

To run Windows applications I choosed wine-staging package.

WineASIO - ASIO to JACK driver for Wine

Install wineasio package from AUR. At the moment there could be a wineasio build problem because a missing unicode.h header in Wine, check in the link above to how to fix the issue.

See also WineASIO and REAPER page at KXStudio website.

Carla

  1. Install carla-git (or carla from official repositories, not tested).
  2. Install carla-bridges-win32-git and carla-bridges-win64-git.
  3. Launch Carla and click the plus button to add plug-ins.
  4. Using the search button, make sure that the Windows 32 and Windows 64 boxes are ticked, then scan for plug-ins. You may need to adjust the search path in Carla’s settings.

REAPER

Install REAPER for Linux, I just made a local copy and integrated with the desktop environment using its install script. Add Carla as a plug-in and the Carla plug-in to load Windows VSTs:

  1. Select menu Options -> Preferences -> Plug-ins -> VST.
  2. Press Edit button and add /usr/lib/vst.
  3. Press Re-scan, Apply and OK buttons.

You can now load Carla plugins from menu Insert -> Virtual instrument on new track... --> All Plugins --> VSTi

Sources: