Hi there! Well, here is my problem: Im not a new linux user but it’s very difficult to know what to do to be able to use VST plugins on Ardour… I red on many websites that we must build ardour ourself to activate VST support! But every topics I red were at least 2 years old… Do i have to build it myself? Or is it builtin in the Ubuntu depot version (ardour 2.8.x…)? Thanks! 
Just download AVLinux distro which has a compiled version of ArdourVST.
http://bandshed.net/iso/avlinux5.0.3-tube-lxde-i386-en.iso
Hope this helps. This distro also comes with many plugins including VST ones.
And it’s FREEEEEE
Rony P.
Hi,
thanks a lot for your interest in Linux and audio production within Linux.
But…
VST plugins built for Windows (which is the case most of the times)
DO NOT WORK RELIABLE
under Linux. They may or may not work. In the case they do work, I consider them counter productive, because they may stop working the next time you want to use them. If you are really into Linux, you may be able to fix some issues… But otherwise:
Install AVLinux, try it out, maybe buy the LinuxDSP plugins. Go from there. Don’t bother to hassle with the non-working Windows plugins. There are tons of of free plugins (Linux LV2 or LADSPA) here and I’ve listened to impressive songs made of it here!
Best
Benjamin
There is also a small but essential collection of LV2 plugins from linuxdsp.co.uk which are not free but are still absurdly cheap for software of such professional quality.
(no connection with Linuxdsp other than as a customer!)
For windows soft synths or sampler VSTs, I use a second computer connected to my main interface via SPDIF.
Hi
AV Linux also has all of the excellent linuxDSP plugins included in their demo versions. You can try all of this stuff by running it from a bootable USB key without any changes to your existing OS.