once upon with ubuntu.. with qtractor.. kinda like going for truly genuine free open source software user that moment.. #p/s_haha #darkmodeON #warez

 

The ultimate question of all Win Daw users is: VST support?

 

Yes.. Steinberg Open Sourced the SDK a few years ago, which resulted in a huge explosion of VST plugins for Linux... Sadly NI continue to be difficult and refuse to recompile for linux, they even use QT FFS... unless of course it involves their own hardware like Machine+ which is running Linux..

 

The prejudices against Linux seem to be rather resilient, so for the sake of a more balanced perspective...

I would be happy with Windows 10 as an OS for music production, and still occasionally (dual) boot into it, but its Orwellian nature gives me creeps. I don't have such concerns with Linux, and the concept of open source/donationware/libre software just feels good, positive. So much about feelings.

Currently on Manjaro, tweaked mostly with the help of Unfa's guide on youtube, but over the past 5-6 years I've also used Ubuntu Studio and the excellent AV Linux turnkey solution. I own Reaper, Waveform 10 and old versions of Mixbus/32c (up to v4), and I'm familiar with Ardour and Bitwig.

I haven't noticed any functional difference between Linux and Windows versions of these DAWs, apart from somewhat lower latency and CPU load on Linux. Reaper is still my main DAW, but Bitwig will be my next purchase, being better suited to the type of music I do now. Both perform flawlessly on my Linux installs. I like Ardour and especially Mixbus (sounds so sweet), but they are not really MIDI-friendly yet. Waveform just wouldn't work under same conditions (v10, 11).

Approaching Linux requesting that all your favourite software works just like it does on Windows/Mac, is a non-starter. Although a lot of Windows plugins are functional under Wine, there's always one or five that aren't, and then you start trying others, looking for substitutes, fiddling with the OS. And that's frustrating. Been there. I don't use that many Windows plugins anymore.

In my view, Linux is the most rewarding if taken as a (partly) fresh start. A reduced set of tools rarely hurts creativity, but presently available native Linux versions of DAWs and plugins are more than enough for a top-level production.

At any rate, it takes half an hour to create a bootable AV Linux flash drive and boot into live mode. In no time you are playing with Reaper or Ardour or Mixbus 32c (demo), on a system fully optimised for audio. You may not like it, but you'll probably see how far off mark some of the remarks in this thread are.