Linux music production

[@mrz80]

My one big frustration with doing music on linux is hardware integration. I love my Keylab, but it's very difficult to get all the cool controls to cooperate with my DAW and various plugins and standalone softsynths because the MIDI Control Center software cannot be made to work under WINE, and I hate having to light off a Windows VM every time I want to tweak what CC a knob sends out. Unfortunately, it seems every controller keyboard out there requires Windows software to do anything more involved than changing MIDI channels :(

[@sternenherz]

Novation stuff runs via Browser (Novation Components). :)

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

I know, that’s very frustrating isn’t it!

[@TheOriginalCoda]

I have a Novation SL MKIII and the setup can use an app, but it also can use a web page which then sends your config directly to your keyboard over USB. I'll have to try that in linux, but it works fine in a web browser on both win and mac.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

4:41 a2jmidid is needed to interface between ALSA MIDI ports and JACK/PipeWire MIDI ports. When I plug my USB-MIDI interface in, it appears as a set of ALSA MIDI ports, which cannot directly connect to JACK/PipeWire-aware MIDI apps. a2jmidid bridges that gap, by automatically creating adaptor MIDI ports.

[@strangesoundssilesia]

Linux is getting better and better, I tested some free synthesizers for Linux and they work really well even though I haven't configured JACK yet.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

I just moved to Pipewire last week. It’s amazing! I’d highly recommend it..

[@desertlightning7335]

@@tracktionwaveformtips I think I remember that name. I hooked an old af Yamaha keyboard up to a generic 2-way MIDI to USB, and used that to facilitate the connection to my PC and it worked great. Awesome and very intuitive program.

[@stuartbond3321]

Hardware. Hardware. Hardware. I'd love you to do a definitive guide to audio interfaces and linux. Linux doesn't need more distro or tech talk, for me it needs solid hardware at hobby, enthusiast and pro level coupled with an easy to find, easy to use guide to navigate a complex field. The result would be the ability to get professional results time after time without fuss.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yes a video like that would certainly be a helpful resource. I’ll have a think about it and see how I might research such a thing. From my own personal experience of audio interfaces, MOTU Ultralite Hybrid Mk2 doesn’t work but Allen & Heath ZEDi 10FX works great. A more budget friendly option I’ve used is a little Zoom recorder as an interface.

[@stuartbond3321]

@@tracktionwaveformtips Thanks for your reply. I have an Allen and Heath MixWizard 20s which I need a soundcard to connect to and from. I'm looking at the MOTU as I would like more I/O without spending a fortune.. The older Ultralite AVB even mentions linux in the blurb on the website as the software runs in the browser - which is a game changer for LInux musicians and producers. I'll check out the newer ultralite mk5, but I don't think this has that function....

[@parasiteunit]

@@stuartbond3321 my go to unit for years is the overlooked Boss BR-800. I know the guy who did the code to get it to run natively on Linux (I let him use my unit to test it). True, it's limited to a max of 44.1khz sample rate at 24bit. However, it will deliver uncompressed audio and also serves as a 4 into 2 digital mixer. The true added bonus is that it has a LOT of useful built in effects, ranging from production (compressor, Limiter, EQ and such) to more diverse effects, such as overdrive, delays, phasing and reverb. Different effects can be put on each input too 👍. Very useful for just recording a MIDI synth jam without eating CPU number crunching.

[@trapOrdoom]

You actually made great points here. I’ll loook into doing this as well. I’m switching my entire setup to Linux, which in and of it’s own should’ve been a series.

[@mr.DorianJames]

The only problem with audio interfaces is specialty hardware features such as DSP FX/internal mixing/routing may not be available or at least the configuration of those functions as any software necessary may not have a Linux version or require specific drives for these features. I've heard the arterial fus interfaces has some issues like that. I would assume a lot of the MOTU interfaces would be problematic. Don't quote me on that. Otherwise, as long as it's a class-compliant usb interface, it should work.

[@lovely-shrubbery8578]

Your voice is very calming.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Thank you. I think there are enough shouty videos on KZbin already. 😊

[@nikkorocksalot5254]

I agree it's the best, especially being able to rely on it for live use

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Mac was pretty good for live too, I’ve never tried Windows live but the sheer versatility of Linux is brilliant for all sorts of creative routing. What do you use live? Bitwig?

[@parasiteunit]

@@tracktionwaveformtips if you want to see well behaved - put Ubuntu (or variant) into a 2012 MacBook Air. It works so, so well

[@Imaltont]

Musescore and audacity has the same owners now, which did a lot of things FOSS-enthusiast disagree with, which is the reason they are running older versions in the official repos. Would recommend setting up the AUR as well though, gives access to even more tools, especially in the synth part of things. Zynaddsubfx (should be available in the regular repoes as well, but I think the newer version is in the AUR, for different reasons than audacity), Surge, Vital, Odin, monique. Another really fun thing to play around with is Bespoke Synth, which is more of a daw than just a synth, but it does things pretty different from most others.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Wow, did I not mention the AUR? Oops! That’s one of the major reasons why I love Arch based distros. I have a lot of those synths too, they’re great! I used some of those in a recent video on parallel synths in waveform racks. I have yet to try Monique and Bespoke. I look forward to it. Right now I’m enjoying the new Surge XT, it’s amazing!

[@DonaldWaughmusic]

I am about to take the jump to Linux. Thanks for you help. I currently use Pro Tools, Reaper and Cubase and for music notation I use Dorico. I am been doing a bit of research and realizing there are a lot more software available for music production on Linux than I thought.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Thank for the message, glad to hear it. I’d recommend keeping Windows around for a while too, at least until you get through any initial issues you might have in Linux. There’s definitely a learning curve to it. You’ll have Reaper on Linux easily. As for the others though, have a go of Harrison Mixbus for the stuff you might have used Pro Tools for. I like Mixbus a lot for audio stuff but have other preferences when it comes to MIDI (Waveform and Bitwig). In place of Dorico, you could try MuseScore. It might not be quite so full featured but it’s very impressive, and free. If you aim to keep using your Windows plugins in Linux, you might not get them all working but some should be possible with yabridge and a little bit of setup. Hope you enjoy your Linux journey.

[@teklife]

if you run into any problems or limitations, and if WINE or Crossover doesn't work for you, you can always run a VM, and run the actually windows software. i us a VM in seamless mode, so i never actually see windows, it just looks like an app in my Ubuntu Studio install. my computer is powerful enough that i don't notice any difference at all. might not be the perfect solution, that would be to have everything native in linux, BUT, it works if you need to run a particular windows only software which u can't get to run on WINE or don't want to, rather than rebooting into a windows partition just for one (or a few) key software.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@teklife interesting. I haven’t encountered seamless mode before, and I did wonder whether it was possible. I must look into it. Thanks.

[@teklife]

@@tracktionwaveformtips seamless mouse is a thing on virtualbox at least, not sure about others

[@robtherub]

Cool video, vocal delivery nice to listen to

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

That’s lovely to hear, thanks

[@YPLabs]

Is it mandatory to use the real time kernel for instrument recording?

[@parasiteunit]

Just getting back into using Ubuntu Studio. Thinking of going FireWire route, mainly for better latency/speed and such. Was running Lubuntu prior - it's good, they have really done a great job of streamlining the OS. People often forget, if you're running on an older systems (like myself) having a slimmed down less fancy OS is a good start to reducing resource needs, allowing your computer to dedicate more grunt to doing stuff other than making everything look cooler and/or pretty.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yeah I have a Raspberry Pi 400 too, it’s amazing how much it can do. I also put a FireWire card in my main machine but I don’t currently have a compatible FireWire audio interface (yet). I’d be curious to hear how it goes for you, and what you use.

[@parasiteunit]

@@tracktionwaveformtips well, reading up on FireWire - it may be saner to keep to a USB based system (have 2 audio interface units and USB audio adapters - so there's enough hardware), my concern is FireWire support is going to get officially phased out in many Linux Distro - the upshot being that the compatibility with future versions may become harder and harder to rectify, due mainly to trying to find little groups keeping it going. In some ways - it's a shame as FireWire can give an edge when it comes to data speed. Plus it would keep older systems viable longer - ensuring less techwaste. 🤷‍♂️

[@subsahara121]

Most Windows VSTS can be run under Carla as well - the only problem I've found with Linux is Waveform is too buggy on Linux - yet if you wanna go Reaper it's fine.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yes, I’d heard that about Windows VSTs in Carla. I must get around to trying it. As for Waveform bugs in Linux, maybe I’m just lucky or maybe it’s my inclination to become obsessed with getting something to work, but it’s as stable for me in Linux now as it was in MacOS. That’s not 100% stable but maybe about 95%, and it has very good autosave. I’m hoping version 12 will fix a lot of the issues. I believe they’ve done a huge re-programming of it. Bitwig works fantastically well too.

[@muzzolmussol7237]

just go for native linux plugins/programs, even if you need to relearn and readjust a little your workflow, the benefits are incredible, no more bridges or compatibility problems anymore.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@muzzolmussol7237 yeah that’s what I’ve ended up doing myself for the most part too. Curiosity has me wanting to explore all the possibilities.

[@dandelion6514]

Been using Ubuntu Studio as its easy and works out of the box but this Manjaro setup has me interest piqued. Thanks for info.

[@albertovaldez1444]

I use Linux to produce too, it's awesome, I only use FOSS and native software and it performs really good, ardour is always my weapon of choice

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Great yes, Linux is the best! Using FOSS and native stuff only is admirable, and there are lots of great FOSS plugins now. I’ve opted to support some proprietary developers who have made their stuff available on Linux, and I’ve been curiously exploring WINE and Yabridge because they feel like an illegal loophole, and I believe that the ability to run Windows software on Linux could be a useful bridge to help people who want to make the switch to Linux. A lot of those people might eventually find themselves discarding those plugins in favour of native stuff. As for Ardour, that’s definitely a very capable DAW. I use Mixbus occasionally (which is based on Ardour) and I find it excellent for certain things.

[@KaddysJamKave]

I just got EzDrummer 2 running on Linux... and it's AMAZING!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Nice. I must give it a try. I finally figured out yabridge yesterday and got a few Windows plugins installed myself. Still fighting with some NI ones but I now have access to a few extra things. I haven’t noticed any latency so far. Delighted!

[@sziklafygyula4885]

how would you rate/compare the windows/mac-industry standard software to the linux-native alternatives in terms of capabilities and quality?

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

That’s a great question. I’m not quite qualified to answer it though so it’d be best to ask on a Linux audio forum. There are definitely some amazing plugins for Linux and many of them are free too. On the other hand, there are so many awesome plugins on the other platforms by Waves, NI etc. You can definitely make awesome tracks on Linux alone, but lots of people are reluctant to move away from their favourite plugins on Windows/Mac. There’s no right or wrong answers here. It’s about wherever you’re most comfortable being creative.

[@WeAreCameron]

fyi i've got ableton working completely on arch linux but i'm trying to get away from it anyway

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

That’s nice to hear. I’m happy with Bitwig and Waveform now, they do everything I need.

[@bigbrothertw]

is there any documentation on the process? im planning on building a home studio with a pc running Arch

[@ritofuturito]

Very nice video! I’m really happy with Linux (I moved to AV Linux MX from Ubuntu and it’s awesome for my needs). I only use Reaper with stock plugins and some airwindows stuff. I’ve adapted my workflow to what I’ve got and I’m very happy I can use my old computer for music production. It used to freeze every single time I used it when I relied on Windows, and it hasn’t crashed at all since I moved to Linux.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Thanks! Glad to hear that Linux is working out for you too. I had a weird issue myself the other day that made me reconsider Windows as a viable option. It’s in my latest video. Then the Linux community swooped in to show me the issue and how to fix it. I love how helpful this community is! Incidentally, I also made a new Windows partition that day and it very quickly reminded me about all the reasons why I won’t be using it for the majority of my work! Some of the details can be found in the comments below that video. I might do a quick video sometime about how Windows feels to me after 20 years on MacOS and a couple of years on Linux. It makes me nauseous tbh!

[@thetacomancer2300]

Unrelated to the topic, but I adore your voice

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Thanks very much, that’s lovely to hear. I’ve been thinking about doing more vlogs. That way I’ll still have plenty to say, even between the more technical videos. I’ve got some live ones planned for the next few days by the way, exploring some cool preset packs. It’ll be interesting to be live and interactive for a change. Should be fun!

[@gx1tar1er]

Have you tried Yabridge?

[@lanceevans1689]

That was quite good, thanks!

[@parasiteunit]

Update to previous: I've now got a FireWire audio interface... Which I'm still testing (the sadly unofficially M-Audio 410). Lots of kinks to iron out .. mapping is weird, like almost unusable weird... However, when doing all this - came across pipewire... Which I cannot recommend enough. It's the Swiss army knife for audio that Jack could have been..

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Glad you got sorted, and very glad to hear that about Pipewire. JACK does everything I need for the moment but I’m looking forward to trying Pipewire for myself.

[@MrMontrealSteak]

If you Google around, there's a line you can add to the pacman config to specify how many simultaneous threads it can download. You can really speed it up if you have enough ram and CPU.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Oh that’s interesting, thanks! I’ll look into it.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Actually my main bottleneck is my internet connection. It’ll be another year or two before we get fibre broadband.

[@MrMontrealSteak]

@@tracktionwaveformtips That's reasonable. I've had 500 megabits or more for a really long time, so I take it for granted. I will say though you still might want to at least make it two threads. Some of the packages just have slow uploads, or they might hang and pacman will look for a different source. I think even with slow internet you can still speed it up quite a bit.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@MrMontrealSteak good to know, that makes sense. I’ll do some experimenting. Thanks.

[@mikeh8695]

I use mixcraft through wine to produce music but I am far from an expert. I use it because it works for me and it is pretty simple to use. I bought mixcraft probably at least 10 years ago but it still works well in wine,

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Nice one. I don’t think it really matters which DAW we use as long as we’re happy with our workflow on it. I’m not familiar with mixcraft but you might be surprised at how far DAWs have come in the last 10 years if you’re using an older one. Waveform Free 12 is incredible for a free DAW, and the pro version is excellent too, plus they run natively. Then there’s Bitwig. That’s like an adult dream of sound designers. I love it. Maybe mixcraft is great though, now I’m curious!

[@teklife]

that's really cool that it still works well in WINE 👍

[@kewk]

I'm trying to use Linux more, due to the huge performance increase of Linux bit it is hard to give up some things in windows. I also wanted to mention that ASIO is just as capable as pipewire/pulse/jack. Using ASIO pro link you can route anything to anything with no added latency. The routing is also so flexible that each application has it's own individual routing rather than just a system routing.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yeah there are definitely sacrifices involved so it really depends on what plugins you use most often. I’ve had success with some Windows plugins in Linux using WINE and Yabridge but there are others that have evaded every effort. I only occasionally use Windows, usually when there’s a particular plugin I want to use, or when I want to compare performance of something on these two platforms. The last one I tried on both was Dawesome Novum (a great new granular synth). It’s a Windows vst but it seems to perform identically on both systems.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

By the way, I hadn’t heard of ASIO pro link, thanks for that. Microsoft really ought to consider making that the standard.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

By the way, I hadn’t heard of ASIO pro link, thanks for that. Microsoft really ought to consider making that the standard.

[@kewk]

@@tracktionwaveformtips It's a Steinberg issue and lead me down the dark path of literally hating Steinberg. I have no idea why, but they are literally limiting ASIO in every implementation they put out. ASIO Prolink proves that ASIO is nearly unlimited in what it can do but it took 1 guy to utilize the features and oddly enough that guy disappeared. The app did as well but they got someone to crack it and make it work without him. I simply cannot work without ASIO Prolink now so when in Linux I was so happy to see Pipewire working exactly the same but with a WAY better UI for routing. It's so perfect.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@kewk interesting, thanks for the info. I’m still using JACK on my machine and very happy with it. I’ll check out that pro link next time I’m on Windows. By the way, the end of Steinberg’s stranglehold might come soon, making way for the awesome new CLAP format. It’s open source and so feature-rich, it’s bound to become the new standard.

[@mattiabonafini4026]

I agree, Linux is very flexible. Thanks for the video. What I didn’t find yet is a software similar to iZotope RX…do you know any which runs on Linux? Thanks again

[@gandolphdong7963]

What's up with the jacket? You're sitting indoors mate? Great video!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Thanks Gandolph. As for the jacket, it’s because Linux is so cool! 😎 🥶 😂

[@mrz80]

To paraphrase Scrooge, garments, once purchased, may be worn indefinitely. Coal... BURNS. :D :D

[@buklau8782]

3:52 HOLY SHIT! Do you know what this means? Unlimited sampling!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

I know, Linux definitely wins that round!

[@viniciushosni5679]

Great vid, thanks!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Thank you!

[@azkoienkoike3683]

Your distro is Manjaro or ArchLinux? Great video!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

That was Manjaro. I’ve been using Windows 11 lately for a while and I’m thinking of trying a different Linux distro soon. AVLinux looks nice and I haven’t used it since they updated it all.

[@Alexithymiander]

Just diving into this. Any luck with connecting actual musical equipment/hardware like drum pads to Linux and using it with Bitwig?

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

I’ve got a Launchpad X that works perfectly with the Driven by Moss script in Bitwig. That script supports loads of controllers so it might be worth your while checking there.

[@Alexithymiander]

@@tracktionwaveformtips I was saddened that the Maschine+ and Akai MPCs don't seem to be working. Will have a look at Launchpad X. Thanks.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@Alexithymiander yeah it’s annoying when some stuff doesn’t work. I had that problem with my audio interface when I moved to Linux and just had to replace it. Also lost a lot of functionality from my Komplete Kontrol M32 keyboard, although the keyboard and control knobs still work so I still use it. Best of luck. I believe the Launchpad Pro is even better than the X, and some people love the Push 2. Have a look at them all and whatever else drivenbymoss supports that best suits your needs.

[@TazzSmk]

tried Linux for few days, all sorts of distros, performance was really bad, not sure if RME interfaces or nVidia gpus simply aren't supposed to work properly; quickly moved onto hackintosh and it was basically flawless experience, then recently got M1 MacMini and there's no way I'd rush into Linux anytime soon again - even as Reaper user there wouldn't be any advantages or disadvantages, just more hassle to mess around I guess

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Good on you for trying it anyway. It doesn’t suit every system, or every person, that’s for sure. Certainly Nvidia can be problematic sometimes. Not sure about RME interfaces, but there are definitely some interfaces with proprietary drivers that don’t support Linux. I had considered building a Hackintosh myself too, but the fact that they were about to release M1 at the time made it feel like my machine would be outdated in a few years. Glad you’re enjoying your M1 MacMini, they look like a great option for music. If I’d have waited a few months before building my machine I’d have been seriously tempted by the M1 MacBook Pros. I’m still glad I switched to Linux myself though, I really enjoy all of the flexibility, customisability and security. I’ve heard great things about Reaper. I must give it a proper try sometime.

[@redfernguitar]

Its never been better for desktop linux audio production. Linux had been great for 3D animators since the late 90s but even if you only use open source software the only thing missing is a sequencer that support MPE, for that you need reaper or bitwig.

[@redfernguitar]

I started using Linux for music in 1996 it was really limited then but I used csound to programatically generate music on it. Since then the options have exploded and it very well could be the best option for pro audio today because windows and mac get broken a lot, any update could easily break your whole workflow there.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

I think you’re right, Linux is great for music now. The fact that Bitwig and Waveform were available natively were big reasons for me to be able to switch from Live, Logic and Reason on Mac. I didn’t experience many breakages on Mac but I was reluctant to pay more for a machine of less power than I could build myself. I’m glad I chose Linux over Windows. I’m very happy with the workflow in general, and I love all the customisation I can do on everything, and the tweaking too. I also have Mixbus. I love its workflow for mixing but I must spend some more time with it to get used to the midi side of things. Hopefully more and more music stuff will become available over time on it but I love what’s there so far. Vital, Surge, Odin2, u-he synths, Waverazor, zyn-fusion, Helm etc. So much to work with, along with all of the FOSS effects etc.

[@keltyll]

Would you rather recommend to use Pipewire or Pulse-Audio?

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

I haven’t ventured into pipewire yet but if that’s what’s on your distro already then I’d say go with that. Pulseaudio isn’t really useable for pro music stuff and JACK has been the way to go for years. Pipewire will probably very soon be the global choice everywhere as it takes on the duties of both pulseaudio and jack. Have a look at my videos about setting up Manjaro for music and most of it should be relevant to your system too. Which distro are you on?

[@keltyll]

@@tracktionwaveformtips Will do, thanks for your prompt reply. I'm on Arch btw :)

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@keltyll brilliant, good choice! 🤩

[@wernerxldata]

It might be best, as it is for a lot of application, but I do miss Ableton. Tried Bitwig, just don't like it as much. Ableton through wine is possible but not really as low latency as native. I actually like Apple. in means of the workflow of the OS, but I don't like Apple as a company and what they do to prevent hardware extensions. So still with the least brilliant OS option, but hey, music production is more about creativity than technique. At least I enjoy doing it.

[@7thsaintsodality243]

I’m not gonna lie if it wasn’t so tedious to get Vst’s running I would probably switch too and then again there the issue with hardware support which for me never cause a problem but my focusrite comes with a app for controlling certain things which I would never be able to use unless I consider emulating. Music is a industry that takes time,learning and dedication which most musicians would rather use on music rather than trouble shooting

[@7thsaintsodality243]

I switched to Linux X bitwig studio for 6 months then switched back because I needed to use some vst and Carla was being a pain

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yes, that’s the other side of it. I guess I’ve been lucky overall, and stubborn probably, determined to make it work with the tools I had to hand. In a way I found it liberating but I still occasionally miss something. My Komplete Kontrol keyboard is missing a lot of its functionality in Linux, and I miss some of the vsts from Komplete at times. It’s been interesting, working within limitations though. As for troubleshooting, after over twenty years on Mac, knowing where everything is and how things work, I couldn’t get into the workflow of Windows. I believe things still break there with updates but I wouldn’t know where to begin. Still, I’m thinking about switching for a month sometime to see how I get on with Windows 11. I can’t foresee myself ultimately using it all the time but that should be an interesting experiment nonetheless!

[@RickyPann]

Mate thanks for the info.. I'm running M1 max on a 13' MacBook pro. I'm a Studio one Bitwig user but to be honest I'm now a Bitwig Studio One User that hardly uses Studio One. I SET UP LINUX on my old 15' MacBook pro i7 using KTE Plasma. What a fantastic experience compared to 10 years ago. What Distro do you recommend? I'm not welded to Plasma but I have a great desktop (looks like Catalina with a Doc) Thanks for the video. I already own Reaper and I'll check out Waveform. Vital is one of my main Synths.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Those M1 machines look great. I didn’t know that Studio One worked on Mac. That’s a great use for an old Mac. I did the same until I passed it on to my daughter. I’ve been using Manjaro for a couple of years. You can find my videos about setting it up for pro audio. I’ve been thinking about changing distro lately though. I fancy testing out the preconfigured distros like AVLinux and Ubuntu Studio. I’m curious to see how well they run. PopOS is nice too. If you install Ventoy on a usb stick then you can try lots of distros from the same usb. It’s a great time-saver. Otherwise try virtual machines in virtual box or similar. Ultimately I think they’re all good, it’s just a matter of what works best for your own system and what you are drawn to. I hope you find your favourite quickly, or that you enjoy the journey of exploration.

[@jeremybowden3134]

Ardour ❤

[@leonsears8222]

Hi, Nice video, very informative regarding Linux music apps just what I'm seeking due to my computing switch from Mac OS/X to Linux after 13 years. To paint the full picture, I took a 2011 i7 MacBook pro and installed Debian 10. After a bit of farting around all system interfaces are now working and 80% of the old Mac applications have been replaced by decent functional apps. Your channel is timely because the last part of my migration is concerned with what to use instead of Logic ProX and the VST plugins accumulated over the years (Omnisphere, Battery4, Arturia, and more...)? I identify with you on having full control over your computer, I'm still using MacBook Pro hardware due to reliability and value for money 2nd hand cost. A 10 year old mac with 16GB Ram/256GB disk is loaded with Debian 10 Linux and replacement applications using ONLY 46GB. I now have full control of what is installed and my workflow (music/software development and art) is cleaner. So thank you again for sharing your experience. I may contact you again to ask a couple of specific tech questions regarding using DAW/VSTs on Linux.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Definitely ask me any specific questions you like. I’m happy to help. Incidentally, after over a year of just Linux I bought Windows 11 OEM for about €30 and loaded it onto an extra ssd. That way I can use the VSTs I missed. Komplete has a lot of really nice pianos for example, and my Komplete Kontrol Keyboard has a lot of extra functionality in Windows. There’s also a way to get many Windows vsts to work on Linux. I think I made a video about it already but I don’t remember! Which DAW are you moving to? I use Waveform for a lot of the stuff I used to use Logic for, but it depends what you want to do. I also love Bitwig and for audio recording Mixbus seems excellent though I haven’t used it extensively. I’m so used to all the automation possibilities in Waveform that I miss it in other DAWs. For some reason, Bitwig doesn’t have a Normalise function. I find that really weird since it’s so good at just about everything else!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Also, yes, Apple make excellent hardware!

[@leonsears8222]

@@tracktionwaveformtips Since posting my comment, I have replaced Debian with Ubuntu studio which has a low latency kernel and loads of audio tools built into the distribution plus the drivers I had been messing around with to get working in Debian just work seamlessly. On the piano front I have been using Pianoteq it runs on Linux and hands down beats Spectrasonics Keyscape and NI Gentlemen piano. Gnome boxes on Linux could be a good bet for running windows

[@misscutie264]

@@tracktionwaveformtips could you describe how your workflow is when you use the vsts on windows? are you creating some parts entirely in windows then and import it after finished in your daw on Linux? or are you sampling the specific sound that you only have on the windows vst and use a sampler afterwards in Linux with that sample? it seems to me that switching the operating systems is breaking the workflow and takes the fun away in making music.. I would really appreciate your answer!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@leonsears8222 yes Ubuntu Studio is a good move, simplify everything. I must check out Pianoteq, thanks. Also, you might enjoy yabridge for Windows vsts, check it out. It doesn’t work for everything but it’s handy.

[@kaojaicam]

Interesting to see that you're using Bitwig inside an Arch-based distro. Bitwig officially only suports Ubuntu-based and I attempted to challenge this to no success. Did you have to do any fancy tinkering to get yours to work or did it just work straight out of the box?

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yeah I think it’s common for developers to just choose one distro to work with and that makes sense, especially when Ubuntu has been one of the most popular choices for so long and the developers probably use it themselves too. Personally I saw it as a challenge when Bitwig and Waveform both seemed to not directly support Arch-based distros. I believe that Bitwig can be found in the AUR, which is a handy solution. I had already discovered debtap for converting debs simply to an installer that Arch can understand so I just used that and everything works perfectly after that. No fancy tinkering beyond a quick and easy debtap command. Delighted!

[@kBarBeats]

since i discovered ardour, jack audio and they got pipewire to work, i'm never ever touching microsoft or apple garbage again

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Awesome 🙌 I actually use all of them these days for testing software etc. They definitely all have their pros and cons!

[@sunnibird]

Until mainstream plugins are available, and supported, it's not getting adopted. Linux on it's own can be a huge pain in the ass. Recently had an issue with losing video in linux when waking from sleep, or using my switcher to go from my mac to PC, and apparently this is a years old problem that still crops up. It's ridiculous. Not worth the hassle.

[@lanceevans1689]

BOTH Win and MacOS have suffered various sleeping/waking issues as well, over decades. So nothing unique to linux there.

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yeah I’ve experienced issues as well as joys in Windows, Mac and Linux. They all have their place for certain. I’m not exclusively on Linux these days and I don’t mind at all. I’m a huge Linux fan and love seeing its continued development and the lovely community. I’ve been on Windows 11 for a while now and quite enjoy some aspects of it even if other aspects drive me crazy at times. I’m looking forward to playing with MacOS again in the near future too. Computers are beautiful things!

[@djvine]

I think BitWig & Reapper Best Linux DAW

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Yes, Reaper seems great too. I’m already juggling 2 DAWs that I enjoy (Bitwig and Waveform) so I don’t want to confuse myself with another one. I also occasionally use Mixbus. I have tried Reaper briefly but it would require a good deep dive to really get into it. Maybe in the future sometime.

[@BenMartinBox]

I would love to use Linux for music production... if the VSTi libraries that I use could work on Linux. Not even "Wine" can solve the problem when such libraries use an iLok or eLicenser USB key-locks. Linux can't handle such USB key-locks since the manufactures do not support them and so, it is practically impossible to use such libraries on Linux. Sure, it is not Linux fault but unfortunately, the Linux community "Gurus", can't solve this problem and so, even if Linux may be a very nice music production environment, for composers like me (that need to use professional instrumental libraries), Linux for music production is worthless. Examples: Eastwest Complete Composer Colection (iLok). Steinberg's - Absolute Collection (eLicenser).

[@misscutie264]

I also use Linux for music production and I think you can do everything with it like with Mac or windows! yes there are many good Synths on Linux, but I like using sampled instruments like Kontakt / komplete and although I could get Kontakt player working, the workflow without Komplete is not that smooth and it’s also very heavy on my cpu (I have an average computer).. that’s why I have windows as dual boot and use Maschine in it.. I wish Maschine would work on Linux, that really sucks.. however, I discovered soundfonts recently and that was a little bit like a „relieve“ 🙈 :D because they work similar and on top it’s an open format.. doesn’t replace my Kontakt sounds yet though 🙈 what I also miss is a sampler with timestretch abilities, like simpler in ableton live.. I just couldn’t find a good one which is also open source (and better free / low cost because I’m a hobbyist :D).. that unfortunately takes away big flexibility as I like making music with samples.. so if anyone has a good tip I would appreciate it :D (I know of Tal sampler and redux with that capabilities but they aren’t open source) ..at the moment I use lmms together with ardour

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

I’m with you there, I’m going to uninstall the Komplete instruments from my Linux system because they’re just taking up space. I’ll probably use Windows occasionally for them if I feel the urge. As for samplers, I’ve been exploring Bitwig’s one lately and it’s great although I also miss Simpler’s easy functionality for some things. I’ll be trying Waveform’s sampler soon too, it also seems impressive. If you’re looking for free and open source stuff then Unfa is the man to find. He only uses FOSS stuff. Great channel too.

[@misscutie264]

@@tracktionwaveformtips i know about unfa and i follow him :) ..but in the sampler case, he mostly uses synths.. probably i will have to install my live 11 lite license with wine again and just use simpler for these cases 🙈 ..simpler is very popular, ableton should sell simpler as a plug-in, they would make good money i suppose :D ps: i meant sfz, not soundfonts in my previous post.. but soundfonts are also great :)

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

@@misscutie264 Sorry I missed this message. KZbin thought it was spam for some reason. Decent Sampler is pretty cool too, although it's nothing like simpler. It's more like LABS. It's free but not open source. Venus Theory did a good video about it lately, along with a great sample collection on a site called pianobook. As for a Simpler replacement, I haven't found anything else quite like it, yet...

[@justmbhman]

Sorry but cap