The Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API (LADSPA) is an

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

(API) standard for handling

audio filter An audio filter is a frequency-dependent circuit, working in the audio frequency range, 0 Hz to 20 kHz. Audio filters can amplify (boost), pass or attenuate (cut) some frequency ranges. Many types of filters exist for different audio ...

s and

audio signal processing Audio signal processing is a subfield of signal processing that is concerned with the electronic manipulation of audio signals. Audio signals are electronic representations of sound waves—longitudinal waves which travel through air, consisting ...

effects, licensed under LGPL-2.1-or-later. Originally designed through consensus on the Linux Audio Developers mailing list, it now works on a variety of platforms. It is used in many

free audio software This comparison of free software for audio lists notable free and open source software for use by sound engineers, audio producers, and those involved in sound recording and reproduction. Audio analysis Converters DJ software Distributi ...

projects, and there is a wide range of LADSPA plug-ins available. LADSPA exists primarily as a

header file An include directive instructs a text file processor to replace the directive text with the content of a specified file. The act of including may be logical in nature. The processor may simply process the include file content at the location of ...

written in the programming language C. There are many audio plugin standards and most major modern software synthesizers and sound editors support a variety. The best known standard is probably

Steinberg Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH (trading as Steinberg; ) is a German musical software and hardware company based in Hamburg. It develops software for writing, recording, arranging and editing music, most notably Cubase, Nuendo, and Dorico. It ...

Virtual Studio Technology Virtual Studio Technology (VST) is an audio plug-in software interface that integrates software synthesizers and effects units into digital audio workstations. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional rec ...

. LADSPA is unusual in that it attempts to provide only the "Greatest Common Divisor" of other standards. This means that its scope is limited, but it is simple and plugins written using it are easy to embed in many other programs. The standard has changed little with time, so compatibility problems are rare. DSSI extends LADSPA to cover instrument plugins. LV2 is a successor, based on LADSPA and DSSI, but permitting easy extensibility, allowing custom user interfaces, MIDI messages, and custom extensions.

Competing technologies

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

Audio Units Audio Units (AU) are a system-level Plug-in (computing), plug-in architecture provided by Core Audio in Apple Inc., Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems. Audio Units are a set of application programming interface (API) services provided by t ...

Digidesign Avid Audio (formerly Digidesign) is an American digital audio technology company. It was founded in 1984 by Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks. The company began as a project to raise money for the founders' band, selling EPROM chips for drum machin ...

Real Time AudioSuite Real-Time AudioSuite (RTAS) is an audio plug-in format developed by Digidesign, currently Avid Technology, for their Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools M-Powered systems, although they can be run on Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools TDM systems. RTAS plug-i ...

Avid Technology Avid Technology, Inc. is a global technology company headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, and was founded in August 1987 by Bill Warner. It develops software, SaaS, and hardware products used in media and entertainment. History Avid wa ...

Avid Audio eXtension Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

's DirectX plugin *

CLever Audio Plug-in CLever Audio Plug-in or CLAP is an open source software architecture, application programming interface and reference implementation suite for audio effect plugins as used in multimedia software such as digital audio workstations, audio editing s ...

(Open Source)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ladspa Application programming interfaces Free audio software Free software programmed in C Music software plugin architectures Linux APIs Audio libraries