# Where to put lv2 plugins

**URL:** <https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984>\
**Category:** Software\
**Created:** [March 30, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984 "2026-03-30T20:26:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![funginum](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/funginum/32/15190_2.png) [@funginum](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/funginum)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/1 "2026-03-30T20:26:14Z")

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I upadated to the latest stable image, oram, downladed it from [Zynthian: Open Synth Platform](https://zynthian.org/#software)

Prior to that I used to put lv2 plugins in a lv2 folder, via the file browser, and then activate them in the webconfig, but I can’t remember where should I put the lv2 folder now..

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**Author:** ![Aethermind](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/aethermind/32/9208_2.png) [@Aethermind](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/Aethermind)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/2 "2026-03-31T04:25:59Z")

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Hi @funginum,

Depending on your OS version, the LV2 plugins should still be stored in usr/local/lib/lv2. Remember that you must search for engines in webconf, enable them and then reboot, for Zynthian to be able to see them. Besides, also consider that you should carefully add manually new plugins to the LV2 folder, even if they are compiled for Arm 64, because they must be tested beforehand on the Z, and there is no guarantee that they are compatible with this specific Raspberry system.

Regards

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**Author:** ![hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/hannesmenzel/32/13014_2.png) [@hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/hannesmenzel)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 6:47am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/3 "2026-03-31T06:47:44Z")

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> [@Aethermind](#):
>
> LV2 plugins should still be stored in usr/local/lib/lv2

I must say that I don’t know the answer, but some plugins are stored in /usr/lib/lv2, others in /zynthian/zynthian-plugins.

Maybe we should think about a user plugin path to have an isolated location for that?

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**Author:** ![riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/riban/32/2331_2.png) [@riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/riban)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/4 "2026-03-31T06:58:33Z")

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/usr/lib/lv2 is where the system installed plugins go. This is stuff like installed by debian package manager.  
/zynthian/zynthian-plugins/lv2 is where custom plugins go. This is stuff like manually complied by zynthian setup.  
I tend to put user built plugins in the zynthian directory. It keeps them seperate from the system ones and is easier to keep track of my work. If there are duplicates then I know where to look.

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**Author:** ![Aethermind](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/aethermind/32/9208_2.png) [@Aethermind](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/Aethermind)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:13am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/5 "2026-03-31T08:13:37Z")

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> [@riban](#):
>
> I tend to put user built plugins in the zynthian directory. It keeps them seperate from the system ones

👌

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**Author:** ![hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/hannesmenzel/32/13014_2.png) [@hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/hannesmenzel)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:34am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/6 "2026-03-31T08:34:14Z")

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Does anything speak against adding zynthian-my-data/lv2 or similar to the system and the search paths?

Btw, on your typical unix system there would be /home/.lv2 sometimes. I don’t know if it’s integrated in zynthian and jalv search path.

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**Author:** ![riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/riban/32/2331_2.png) [@riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/riban)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:46am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/7 "2026-03-31T08:46:57Z")

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> [@hannesmenzel](#):
>
> adding zynthian-my-data/lv2 or similar to the system and the search paths

Maybe, but let’s consider what makes most sense. We already have system plugins and custom plugins. Do we want/need a user plugins? And if we do, would it benefit from an easy install method, e.g. webconf? This sounds like a [feature request](https://github.com/zynthian/zynthian-issue-tracking/issues/new?template=feature_request.md) in the making.

> [@hannesmenzel](#):
>
> typical unix system there would be /home/.lv2

On zynthian, /root/.lv2 is a sym link to /zynthian/zynthian-plugins/lv2.

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**Author:** ![funginum](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/funginum/32/15190_2.png) [@funginum](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/funginum)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:50am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/8 "2026-03-31T08:50:03Z")

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I used my V5 box with the image that came with it, read about putting lv2 plugins /somewhere in the discourse, can’t find it/ in a specific directory via the file borwser and applied it, some plugins worked some not. After isntalling the latest Oram image I noticed the structure is a little bit different. For example I was able to run this plugin with the previous image

> **[avocado | Patchstorage](https://patchstorage.com/avocado/)**
>
> Avocado is an easy to use, ingenious stutter/glitch effect. It works well on any instrument...

As well some others

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**Author:** ![hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/hannesmenzel/32/13014_2.png) [@hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/hannesmenzel)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 8:55am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/9 "2026-03-31T08:55:19Z")

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> [@riban](#):
>
> > [@hannesmenzel](#):
> >
> > adding zynthian-my-data/lv2 or similar to the system and the search paths
> 
> Maybe, but let’s consider what makes most sense. We already have system plugins and custom plugins. Do we want/need a user plugins? And if we do, would it benefit from an easy install method, e.g. webconf? This sounds like a [feature request](https://github.com/zynthian/zynthian-issue-tracking/issues/new?template=feature_request.md) in the making.

I would extend the feature request for other types of system related files. For example I’d love to have a zynthian-my-data/lv2-custom folder to write my own ttl files before I pull request them, because everytime I do the latter I have to manually delete them again before the merged files from the update can re-enter my zynthian.

For the user plugins: From the developers point of view it totally makes sense to differentiate between plugins distributed already with the OS or being apt-installed and the ones which are copied from the prebuild vault. But from the user perspective it totally makes sense to have a dedicated place to put your user installed plugins to not mix them with the “system integrated”. So:

> [@riban](#):
>
> > [@hannesmenzel](#):
> >
> > typical unix system there would be /home/.lv2
> 
> On zynthian, /root/.lv2 is a sym link to /zynthian/zynthian-plugins/lv2.

zynthian-my-data/lv2 could be symlinked to /home/.lv2

By the way: Where do you put your source code to compile or other (temporally needed) user files?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/riban/32/2331_2.png) [@riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/riban)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 9:05am UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/10 "2026-03-31T09:05:33Z")

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I just installed avocado from Patchstorage (selecting the rpi-aarch64 download) to /zynthian/zynthian-plugins//lv2 and it works. I did have a glitch the first time I tried to add it to a chain which might be a bug or might be the state of my dev machine. (I am in the middle of debugging some other stuff.) But after a restart, avocado works fine.

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**Author:** ![HansR](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/hansr/32/15102_2.png) [@HansR](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/HansR)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 1:38pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/11 "2026-03-31T13:38:01Z")

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> [@hannesmenzel](#):
>
> zynthian-my-data/lv2 could be symlinked to /home/.lv2

Strange, on my system it is already symlinked there:  
`Sep 6 2024 .lv2 -> /zynthian/zynthian-my-data/presets/lv2`

I’m not entirely sure anymore if I did that myself or if the symlink was already there. In any case, it works fine.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/hannesmenzel/32/13014_2.png) [@hannesmenzel](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/hannesmenzel)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 1:42pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/12 "2026-03-31T13:42:30Z")

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> [@HansR](#):
>
> Strange, on my system it is already symlinked there:  
> `Sep 6 2024 .lv2 -> /zynthian/zynthian-my-data/presets/lv2`

This is the presets directory, not a place for plugin binaries I suppose. I cannot imagine that this was symlinked by default, but if it was, it would conflict with the idea.

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**Author:** ![HansR](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/hansr/32/15102_2.png) [@HansR](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/HansR)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/13 "2026-03-31T13:52:46Z")

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`/root/.lv2` (i.e. `/zynthian/zynthian-my-data/presets/lv2`) contains 59 files, all presets  
`/zynthian/zynthian-plugins/lv2` contains 275 files, binaries.

And hundreds more on `/usr/lib/lv2`, all the nice ones 😉

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/user_avatar/discourse.zynthian.org/riban/32/2331_2.png) [@riban](https://discourse.zynthian.org/u/riban)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 1:53pm UTC](https://discourse.zynthian.org/t/where-to-put-lv2-plugins/12984/14 "2026-03-31T13:53:31Z")

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Ah yes - it is to the presets and not the binaries. This is indeed symlinked by design… but we are not yet saying the design is optimal! We may need a grown-up to explain the logic here.