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Add to SafariWhen comparing LMMS vs MPV, the Slant community recommends MPV for most people. In the question“What are the best applications to use on a X11 window manager?” MPV is ranked 1st while LMMS is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose MPV is:
Everything MPV needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Free and open source
LMMS is available for free with source code licensed under GPL and available on GitHub allowing anyone to edit and extend the software as they see fit.
Pro Cross-platform
LMMS works on Linux, Windows and OSX.
Pro Is a great open-source alternative to FL Studio
- Interface look like FL Studio interface.
- Has many of the same windows such as step-sequencer, piano roll, playlist, mixer, etc.
Pro Portable
LMMS is lightweight enough to be run off of a flash drive.
Pro VST Support
Uses VeSTige as the VST plugin. It has some bugs but most VSTs work with it.
Pro LADSPA plugins support
Pro VST plugins support
Pro Sandbox layout
All windows in the DAW can be moved around freely and are not attached to a grid.
Pro MIDI controllers support
Just plug in and play. Plug in the MIDI keyboard before opening LMMS and it'll automatically pick up that you've connected the keyboard.
Pro JACK Audio Connection Kit support
Pro Multiple languages support
Pro Works with many VSTs and effects
Pro Preloaded with basic VST instrument plugins and modifiers
LMMS comes with a triple oscillator, Gameboy sound emu, NES sound emu added into the software, which makes it easier to create sounds without the inclusion of external plugins. It is very accessible for beginners.
Pro Computer Keyboard to MIDI
You can use your computer keyboard as a MIDI controller.
Pro Easy to use
LMMS is ideal for beginners, as it is easy to use and comes with tons of ready to use instruments and samples.
Pro No Scanning VST instruments/FX in LMMS
You can load a VST Instrument plugin directly from your desktop if you want to and it supports most of the ddl plugins, both 32-bit 64-bit. FX plugins need to be placed into your directed plugin folder e.g C :/Program files/LMMS/Plugins.
Pro Needs no additional codecs
Everything MPV needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
Pro Integrates with streaming services
When used with youtube-dl.
Pro Minimal interface
Click to open files and get Video with sound (and passthrough of codecs like DTS etc) for a perfect cinema experience. Works okay for many files.
Default window is not much more than a title bar - and if you drag/resize the window it resizes the video and leaves no empty areas. There is no visible control or display unless you use mouse/keyboard over the window.
This is the best player to use unless you're going for a media center (then use MPV based Plex Media Player to display and play the Plex Server library).
Pro Up to date
Always up to date, rapid development.
Pro Extremely responsive
Pro Caches livestreams
Intelligently caches livestreams and enables jumping within the cached stream.
Pro Fast
Cons
Con No merging or splicing options
There is no feature that allows you to merge or splice tracks in LMMS.
Con Cannot listen other tracks while recording
Can't listen to other track while record or playing other track .
Con Limited mixer rack
You can only add Virtual Instrument tracks into the mixing console/rack.
Con Program crashes a lot
This happens more frequently when loading VST files.
Con Limited effect plugin support
A lot of 3rd-party effect plugins don't work.
Con Pitch bending could be more native
Sometimes you can pitch bend with the Piano Roll Editor but with many instruments you cannot and are limited to the pitch knob in the main plugin interface.
Con GUI is ugly
Con Minimal theme support
Con Lack of a typical GUI can be jarring to some
The minimal interface comes at the cost of beginner-friendliness. You need to know keyboard shortcuts by heart, settings are set in text files, right-clicking won't bring up a menu, etc.
