Carla is a fully-featured audio plugin host, with support for many audio drivers and plugin formats. It's open source and licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later.

  • LADSPA, DSSI, LV2 and VST2, VST3 and AU plugin formats
  • SF2/3 and SFZ sound banks
  • Internal audio and midi file player
  • Automation of plugin parameters via MIDI CC
  • Remote control over OSC
  • Rack and Patchbay processing modes, plus Single and Multi-Client if using JACK
  • Native audio drivers (ALSA, DirectSound, CoreAudio, etc) and JACK

In experimental phase / work in progress:

  • Export any Carla loadable plugin or sound bank as an LV2 plugin
  • Plugin bridge support (such as running 32bit plugins on a 64bit Carla, or Windows plugins on Linux)
  • Run JACK applications as audio plugins
  • Transport controls, sync with JACK Transport or Ableton Link

Carla is also available as an LV2 plugin and VST2 plugin.

Screenshot of Carla patchbay
Platform(s)
GNU/Linux
BSD
macOS
Windows
BeOS/Haiku
Software type
ALSA
JACK
PulseAudio
LV2 plugin
VST2 plugin
Software language
C++
Python
Software features
NSM
Modular
LV2 host
VST2 host
VST3 host
Audio input
Audio graph
Audio FX
Sample loading
SF2
SF3
SFZ
MIDI
Virtual keyboard
OSC
CV
Transport/tempo sync
Ableton Link
JACK Transport
License
GPL-2+
Developer(s)
Filipe Coelho (falkTX)

Recent releases Release Date
Carla 2.5.6 4 Aug '23
Carla 2.5.5 4 Aug '23
Carla 2.5.4 11 Mar '23
Carla 2.5.3 15 Jan '23
Carla 2.5.2 14 Oct '22
Carla 2.4.4 15 Jul '22
Carla 2.4.3 15 Apr '22
Carla 2.4.2 19 Feb '22
Carla 2.3.0-RC2 17 Mar '21
Carla 2.3.0-RC1 17 Feb '21