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Add to SafariWhen comparing LMMS vs Harrison Consoles Mixbus, the Slant community recommends LMMS for most people. In the question“What are the best DAWs for UNIX-like systems?” LMMS is ranked 8th while Harrison Consoles Mixbus is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose LMMS is:
LMMS is available for free with source code licensed under GPL and available on [GitHub](https://github.com/LMMS/lmms) allowing anyone to edit and extend the software as they see fit.
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 Easy to learn
This DAW has an intuitive layout that is quite easy to grasp and learn.
Pro Great mixer
works great as a mixer for stems exported from another DAW; this is arguably one of it's best uses. Otherwise, the general UI is a vast improvement over vanilla Ardour.
Pro Based on Ardour
All of the best parts of Ardour, with the great included plugins, plus improved UI for track routing and EQ, along with built in analog summing. This does add some proprietary code to the otherwise open-source foundation, though.
Pro Great customer support
Their customers support is fast and personal, absolutely unmatched in the industry. They also listne to their customers, take feature suggestions which really make it into one of the next versions (if feasible).
Pro Detailed manuals including video links
Pro Emulation of their award winning physical, analog consoles in software
Great built in summing on mixbusses and final output bus. Use with an actual console for the double whammy, if you can afford it.
Pro Sound
Pro Supports plugin AU
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 Not free
Not free, and not open source.
Con Can be a bit resource heavy
Adding more tracks and plugins is surprisingly easy on the RAM, but the base system usage is a tad high. 8 GB of RAM as a minimum is a very stern recommendation.
Con Crashed system
