I wiped windows 7 with the intention of reinstalling it if Linux didn't work out, but I can do everything I need on Linux.
I don't use Jack or anything like that, just ALSA, (there's a way to fool programs into thinking they're using pulseaudio but it's really ALSA under the hood but I can't recall how I did that at this time.) and I can run a lot of tracks, plugs, etc in Reaper on WINE (theres also a native linux version but i'm working on projects i started on windows) and for the most part it works. just save often. you'll figure out there's weird dumb stuff that happens but that's life. There's one super important feature of Linux (at least arch) you need to use and it's cpupower-gui. This lets you adjust for performance.

Other than audio, I use a lot of software that is multiplatform anyway so I don't care, it just works. I do have a medium amount of experience with Linux though. It's actually fun once you get the hang of using the command line and understand the differences between it and windows. I don't want windows anymore, put it that way.

 

I left the Windoze community about 15 years ago and I've never regretted it. There's been times where I've broken something, needed a machine to work from and just switched to one of my iMacs or my MacBook. I don't do much gaming anymore, but even in the days when I was a heavy PC gamer WINE wasn't as reliable as it is now a days (let alone being able to pull it from apt-get, yum, port or the other "package getters" these days) I was still able to find a way to get the ones I did play running.

I always keep a spare drive with Doze on it if I am ever forced into it for whatever reason, but that's seldom needed (last time I booted into it was I think 2018 or 2019?) The only time I *had* to boot into WIndoze to do anything was before I picked up my MacBook that runs Serato & Ableton. I had Serato on my laptop, however I was looking to get into a Linux DVS about the time I switched.

I do my production stuff from my Apple machines simply for the "ease" of the ubiquity of the community now - in the PPC days they were two distinctly different ecosystems - and since the App Store went over so well, and Apple is no longer a "boutique" brand, I wouldn't be too about scarcity of programs/plugins there anymore.

Go for it.

 

I love this system because it's free

 

I am the same. I use Linux more for email, web browsing. Anything that I really want tight security I use Linux for.
I have played with it for my DAW but not with Reaper. Having a Focus rite pro 40 it's kind of confusing on the audio driver usage to me.
I tried all of the Free bundled Linux Daws they work but routing for my Pro 40 is really confusing. Windows on the DAW sade of things has made me lazy or f'ing dumb. LOL

 

Yes. 'cpufreq-set -r -g performance' is like the most important command for smooth audio - DAW performance as it turns-off Speed-stepping/CPU power-saving. Sometimes you have to specify the CPU number, though, like this 'cpufreq-set -c0 -g performance' - that's for first CPU. It's best to write a script with a different line for every core [-c0, -c1, -c2...]. I also have a "powersave" script to put the CPU back in powersave mode for common usage and the command is 'cpufreq-set -r -g powersave'. Same as with "performance", sometimes you have to write a script with a line for every core. I had to do that with my i7-6900K in Debian 10. Strangely, '-r' [adjust all cores] worked in Debian 9.

Now I just start the terminal and write either "performance" or "powersave". The scripts that I put in /usr/local/bin look like this:

#!/bin/bash
cpufreq-set -c 0 -g performance
cpufreq-set -c 1 -g performance
cpufreq-set -c 2 -g performance
cpufreq-set -c 3 -g performance
cpufreq-set -c 4 -g performance
cpufreq-set -c 5 -g performance
cpufreq-set -c 6 -g performance
cpufreq-set -c 7 -g performance

and

#!/bin/bash
cpufreq-set -c 0 -g powersave
cpufreq-set -c 1 -g powersave
cpufreq-set -c 2 -g powersave
cpufreq-set -c 3 -g powersave
cpufreq-set -c 4 -g powersave
cpufreq-set -c 5 -g powersave
cpufreq-set -c 6 -g powersave
cpufreq-set -c 7 -g powersave

Here's the script for auto-starting Jack in Debian, if you use Jack and you want to auto-start it [I don't], for my RME HDSP 9652

#!/bin/bash
jackd -dalsa -dhw:DSP -r48000 -p256 -n2 -Xseq

Just copy/paste...

Cheers!

 

Last edited: Jan 12, 2022

I would use Linux for music production, but I miss some plugins. Interestingly, 90% of the VST synths [u-he, TAL, Speedrum, and DSP56300] and samplers [except NI - I use Kontakt, Battery, Massive, and FM8, and I like Dexed] run on Linux without any problem, but I miss a bunch of VST FX plugins like Tokyo Dawn Labs, DMG Audio, Valhalla DSP, Voxengo, Fabfilter, Line 6, Overloud, PSP, and IK Multimedia.

If there were at least Linux versions of Tokyo Dawn Labs, Voxengo, and Valhalla DSP plugins, I could work with that.

 

Last edited: Jan 12, 2022

I use Linux on a USB SSD for financial/personal stuff, so I don't have to worry about viruses or getting hacked.

 

I tried migrating to Linux a bunch of times during the last 20 years, but I always go back to Windows, not because I like it, but simply because it works with minimum user effort.

The fact that you have to access the terminal and spend quite a lot of time researching command lines online to perform basic operations is really unacceptable nowadays, in terms of User Experience. It's absurd.

How many times a year does an average Windows or Mac user have to use the terminal to do something? Probably zero.

If you're a masochist, go ahead and try using Linux for professional audio. I don't like suffering at all, so no, thank you.

Don't get me wrong. I love Linux for browsing and performing everyday tasks. I love experimenting with new distros, but it can easily drive you crazy if you're trying to use it for advanced purposes, unless you're a professional nerd like a software developer or something like that.

 

Last edited: Jan 12, 2022

Unix was always better than MS-DOS

 

Recent video from Morgonaut, may give an clue towards doing it right.

 

Very smart move.

 

Atleast this uses JUCE, so it shouldn't really be a problem for dev to port it.

 

At this pace soon will be shorter to list the plugins that doesn't use JUCE.
It's kind of scary...

 

Hope lives. Those are my go to reverb and delay FX, although u-he Colour is a beautiful delay, but I'm not so completely thrilled with the u-he reverb. Not saying it sounds bad, just not Valhalla VintageVerb or ValhallaRoom, or ValhallaPlate for that matter. With Valhallas you get every possible colour and nuance of reverb and delay. I don't need [almost ] anything else.

If Sean Costello ever read this: Linux please!

 

Last edited: Jan 13, 2022

What is that thing?

 

For trackers..

renoise.com

best tracker ever, working like a charm on linux supports au and vst

 

What do you mean by "that thing" ?

 

Regarding the plugins I mentioned that don't work natively in Linux, they could be made to work with LinVst Wine to VST bridge, but I'm not really fond of additional CPU overhead and potential latency, rather use native versions.

There's also Abique VST Bridge that you may want to try.

There is a list of VST plugins that work with Wine and LinVST here: https://github.com/Sangeppato/wine-vst

 

yabridge (https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge) is a very good alternative to LinVst. robbert has managed to make drag n drop work for various plugins (e.g addictive drums)

 

Thank you @AdieuDegol!

I'm gonna actually try all these VST bridges out of curiosity and I can easily compare the CPU overhead since I use W7 as my main audio workstation. I'm just already thinking what about all those .reg entries, presets, ProgramData, My Documents and whatnot many plugins in Windows create, where do they go? Well, at least Klanghelm plugins should be easy to install, but I'm sure there is a solution for all these questions. Just have to try and research for a bit.