Element

A modular plugin host for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Build effect racks and instruments. Route audio and MIDI from anywhere to anywhere. Runs on stage, or as a plugin inside your DAW.

Free and open source, GPLv3. Development is funded by the people who use it.

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Best For...

Live rigs.

Load your instruments and effects into one graph, sync to MIDI Clock, and switch between setups without leaving the app. No DAW required.

Racks you can reuse.

Nest graphs inside graphs. Build a vocal chain once, save it, drop it into every session.

Hardware matters.

MIDI in and out to whatever's in your setup. Element doesn't care whether the note came from a plugin or a 1986 rack synth.

More formats.

Formats other hosts skip. CLAP and LV2 alongside VST, VST3, and AU — including on Linux, where most commercial hosts don't go at all.

Documentation and Source

Manual on Read the Docs · Build instructions · Issue tracker · Discord

User's Manual

See Element on Read the Docs.

Building

See Building for instructions and dependency information.

Contributing

Contributions welcome — please review the code style and contributor notes before submitting pull requests. You may also want to join the #element channel on the Kushview Discord server.

Issue Reporting

Please report bugs and feature requests on GitHub. Element issue tracker.