As the world of digital mixing has expanded, so has the use of computers in processing sound. Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), such as Apple’s Logic Pro, Ableton, Reaper, and others, have made use of Audio Plugins in various formats.

While at Eastridge Church in Issquah, Washington, Erich was introduced to the plugins produced by Waves while utilizing Waves MultiRack.  Unfortunately, Waves plugins are expensive, and utilizing them at places other than Eastridge’s main worship center would be cost prohibitive.

In that time, Erich researched other options, and utilizing his knowledge of Linux and open source, he found Calf Studio Gear, which runs best on Linux. It was a completely free and open source suite of plugins that produced comparative results

While Calf does have its own plugin host, Erich found a very effective alternative to MultiRack called Carla, which includes a graphical patchbay in order to route plugins to DAWs or inputs and outputs on whatever audio interface is connected.

Utilizing Calf and Carla, Erich was able to produce audio with the same quality and results as if he was using Waves plugins, but at zero cost.

Currently Erich contributes by making sure the latest version of Calf is available in Ubuntu Studio and upstream in Debian GNU/Linux.