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.

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)
Announcements
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 |