FOSS Music Production

What do we do with a drunken Sailor?! - Sea Shanty - There is no known author

Proprietary software dominates music production which can make produciing with free and open source software seem like just a fantasy - and for some people, maybe it is - but don't compromise your freedoms just yet, not without knowing what FOSS tools have to offer. If you're willing to give them a try, the following tools would be a good start. I gave each item a short description and provided a link to their project pages so you can read more about them.

Instruments and Plugins:

Surge - hybrid synthesizer (MacOS, Linux, Windows): https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
Vital - wavetable synthesizer (Windows, Linux, Mac): https://vital.audio/
Hydrogen - Drum machine and pattern sequencer (Windows, Linux, MacOS): https://hydrogen-music.org/
ZynaddsubFX - Synthesizer with Additive + Substractive + Pad + FXs (Windows, Linux, BSD): https://zynthian.org/engines/_engine-list/engine-zynaddsubfx
Zyn-fusion - ZynaddsubFX with a new and interactive UI (Windows, MacOS, Linux): https://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.io/zyn-fusion.html
Yoshimi - fork of ZynadsubFX synthesizer (Linux): https://yoshimi.github.io/
SampleV1 - old school polyphonic sampler (Linux): https://samplv1.sourceforge.io/
Drumkv1 - drumkit sampler (Linux): https://drumkv1.sourceforge.io/
LSP (Linux studio plugins) - a collection of open-source plugins (Linux): https://lsp-plug.in/
Fluidsynth - real-time software synthesizer that uses SoundFont 2 for sounds (Linux): https://www.fluidsynth.org/
Dead Duck Software - Free plugins on Windows: https://www.kvraudio.com/developer/dead-duck-software

Note: Host programs support different types of plugins:

LADSPA: Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API is an older format that do not provide a GUI
LV2: LADSPA Version 2 is a successor to LADSPA that provides a GUI
DSSI (Disposable Soft Synth Interface): An extension of LADSPA superseded by LV2
VST - nonfree format

Digital audio workstations:

Ardour: Multitrack audio recorder and editor with MIDI and plugin support (Linux, Windows, Mac); Plugin support: LADSPA, LV2, VST; https://ardour.org
LMMS: Pattern based workstation (Linux, Windows, Mac); https://lmms.io; Plugin support: LADSPA, VST
MuSe: MIDI and audio sequencer with recording and editing functionality.(Linux); Plugin support: All; https://muse-sequencer.github.io/
Qtractor: Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer application (Linux); Plugin support - All; https://qtractor.org/qtractor-index.html