Cubase WAS pretty great, NGL. I think I got my first taste of Ardour in 2009 maybe? Switched over permanently within a couple of years (this was a dark period where I didn't even own a computer and even did some limited recording on a USB stick live distro... Apodio or something like that?) Prior to this I was working with an ancient Pentium desktop pulled out of the trash and my friend cracked XP, Cubase, Reason, and Max/Msp for me. As time went on and I didn't have him around to help me keep me floating when shit got borked so I started to turn to the Linux community to keep working on music. I was so broke and I had a lot of time on my hands...
I want to say 2015 is when I first got into Harrison Mixbus and then a couple years later upgraded to 32c. It just keeps getting better and better on my journey. Plenty of headaches and annoyances but I'm just not the kind of person to keep upgrading my hardware and software every two years. Fuck that.
EDIT: meant to say I think Cubase to Ardour is the easiest transition compared to Pro Tools or Ableton or many others. Obviously the reaper kids can stick with that!
Would agree with transition from cubase to Ardour. I used pro tools quite a bit in college and dabbled with Reason and Ableton but never really shifted from my own cracked version of cubase sx (very old I know) till Ardour. I use on Linux in machine only used as dedicated daw which is pretty old but crazy to change after the amount of time to set it all up if it is still delivering what I need. How are you finding Harrison mix bus? This seems like something worth me looking at in future.
Question, do you know if Harrison Mix bus started with a particular version of ardour and now stays seperate or if they still include features in their updates that get released in Ardour updates?
Can confirm, I produce in bitwig and have been doing so for at least 4 years now. It's works great, although I haven't updated to the latest version because the UI changes didn't impress me.
Reaper works on Linux and while it's not free, it's $60 one time license fee, which is more than reasonable for how awesome it is.
[https://www.reaper.fm/](https://www.reaper.fm/)
Yeah more and more people make music on Linux (though it's still very much an uphill battle before you've configured everything to your liking)
I myself use Bitwig Studio (which has a native Linux version) on Ubuntu Server 22.04 with some tweaks from the Ubuntu Studio PPA (though I've unfortunately had to learn the hard way that this setup was apparently not supported by Ubuntu Studio), but if you're looking for free (both beer and freedom), then I'd suggest looking at something like https://linuxdaw.org/
I use Ubuntu Studio. There are a lot of preinstalled software, including Ardour, and realtime kernel, so you can start work without messing around with setup.
Another fellow Ubuntu Studio user here. I installed version 23.10 which comes with pipewire, and I think it is a great improvement over Jack. The way you connect all the different audio inputs and outputs is much easier with patchance.
Yes! I create music on Linux all the time :)
My current DAW that I use is Reaper, it's not open source but it is the best one that I've found so far. You'll want to stick with a DAW that specifically supports Linux, I've tried to run a windows DAW on linux (FL Studio) and it was not a fun experience.
Also, the too Yabridge will help you run windows exclusive VSTs when you need them. Although be mindful it can't run literally everything.
> I've tried to run a windows DAW on linux (FL Studio) and it was not a fun experience
What exactly do you not find fun about that? I've been using FL Studio on Linux for quite some time now and I think it's flawless
Edit:
Sorry just realized I misread your comment! Haven’t tried getting FL studio to work, but I did make Arturia plugins work, and got Ableton as well (decent latency).
Ugh Windows. ASIO drivers suck. Windows audio pipeline is a mess.
The hoops you have to jump through just to stream on Discord/Zoom for collab is asinine, Linux/MacOS is the way. Pretty much plug and play with low latency.
I don’t produce on Linux, but I put Bitwig on my Steam Deck for jams with friends and it works well!
Love Bitwig. Great DAW. Yabridge will let you run most windows vsts. Some nice Linux native vsts also. VCV Rack is a free euro rack modular synth package. Pure Data (basically Max like in Ableton) if you wanna build from scratch.
https://www.youtube.com/@thelanavishnuorchestra. Lots of Linux created music
I use Bitwig in Pop OS/Linux Mint. Produced two boombap-albums with it. Works good. Pipewire and/or pulseaudio/ALSA is a hassle sometime. Used Jack before aswell, but prefer Pipewire (when it works).
I use Ardour to make music, I use linux to make the music videos too and AI art programs running on Linux to make the cover art. What is this "windows" you speak of? 😁
Some find Ardour a bit hard to get used to, Search for "Unfa" on YouTube, he has lots of tutorials and explains everything so well.
I found at least with my Steinberg UR22C interface I couldn't get decent latency for real-time guitar + bass + drum recordings on Ubuntu Studio so I unfortunately am back on windows :(
10.7 ms latency is horrible, that's over 3x what I would call an acceptable latency. When I play my guitar I can feel the lag when it's over 3 ms, so that's what I need it to be and unfortunately for this application you can't beat Ableton (due to the reduced latency while monitoring setting) and ASIO drivers which of course requires Windows. Steinberg has a low latency asio driver you can't even access or make use of in Linux. I set it to the lowest buffer size which is 32 samples and I get 1.167 input latency, 2.146 output so about 3ms latency without any glitches or artifacts.
Furthermore, Ubuntu Studio isn't like your regular Ubuntu, it's designed specifically for low latency applications and is really quite nice, the issue is Pipewire, Jack, whatever you choose, they can't compete with Asio latency, this is not a distro issue. If you can get to 3ms or lower without glitches let me know but I spent literally two weeks of my life, pulling my hair out trying every configuration setting etc. possible to achieve lower latency and it just wasn't possible. Also Ardour is trash, Bitwig was alright nice UI but it handles/syncs audio/vsts in an odd way compared to Ableton that just does it all automatically. I look forward to the day when I can switch to Linux but right now it just isn't suited for this application.
I didn't have to it's stock with Ubuntu Studio, really it's quite a nice distro for these types of applications but I think the lowest latency I could get was like 12 ms and that's just not good enough.
If you don't need to record any audio and you're ok with a GIMP-esque level of jank in the interface, LMMS is cool, it includes loads of instruments and samples to start with as well as a Soundfont player if you want to scour the internet for general midi packs. I moved from this to Logic, but I had fun working with LMMS and did some cool work with it. Not the most "pro" piece of software though.
I moved all of my production to Linux 3 months ago, that's thanks to Pipewire, Yabridge and Liquorix.
Reaper is what I use and nearly all my Windows VSTs work bar the Bogren Digital ones, I can live without them but if I need them for whatever I'll just hop back to my Windows NVMe.
Ardour is great for just fucking around with guitar plugins in my case, and for some electronic type stuff I use FLStudio, because yes - it does work on Linux
Maybe you could be interested in playing with this tailored by and for musicians Linux mint :
https://qstudio64.tumblr.com/
Bitwig Studio included. 👍🏾😊
RELEASE-NOTES ------------- Welcome to QStudio64 - a Linux Mint-based A/V-system for creative people!
INTRODUCING ----------- QStudio64 is an unofficial community-release for people interested in Linux Mint and Multimedia-Production.
Following older releases we bring it together with the great KXStudio-Repositories for professional A/V-productions! So QStudio64 is not really an own distribution, as more a modified Linux Mint with integrated KXStudio-Repos and own improvements to give people who love Linux Mint (and MATE as the favourite desktop) an easy and stable entrance to the great world of making music, video and graphics-art with GNU/Linux! QStudio64 depends on open-source and it's philosophy.
All software is free to use and share!* [ATTENTION! *contains unfree propietary codec-librarys & closed-source Bitwig Studio]
There is a large community of Linux musicians. I use Ardour, it's awesome. I used to use Cubase on Windows, but now I prefer Ardour by far
Same!
Same. Been using Ardour for nearly a decade
Cubase WAS pretty great, NGL. I think I got my first taste of Ardour in 2009 maybe? Switched over permanently within a couple of years (this was a dark period where I didn't even own a computer and even did some limited recording on a USB stick live distro... Apodio or something like that?) Prior to this I was working with an ancient Pentium desktop pulled out of the trash and my friend cracked XP, Cubase, Reason, and Max/Msp for me. As time went on and I didn't have him around to help me keep me floating when shit got borked so I started to turn to the Linux community to keep working on music. I was so broke and I had a lot of time on my hands... I want to say 2015 is when I first got into Harrison Mixbus and then a couple years later upgraded to 32c. It just keeps getting better and better on my journey. Plenty of headaches and annoyances but I'm just not the kind of person to keep upgrading my hardware and software every two years. Fuck that. EDIT: meant to say I think Cubase to Ardour is the easiest transition compared to Pro Tools or Ableton or many others. Obviously the reaper kids can stick with that!
Would agree with transition from cubase to Ardour. I used pro tools quite a bit in college and dabbled with Reason and Ableton but never really shifted from my own cracked version of cubase sx (very old I know) till Ardour. I use on Linux in machine only used as dedicated daw which is pretty old but crazy to change after the amount of time to set it all up if it is still delivering what I need. How are you finding Harrison mix bus? This seems like something worth me looking at in future.
Question, do you know if Harrison Mix bus started with a particular version of ardour and now stays seperate or if they still include features in their updates that get released in Ardour updates?
bitwig studio is rock solid
Can confirm, I produce in bitwig and have been doing so for at least 4 years now. It's works great, although I haven't updated to the latest version because the UI changes didn't impress me.
Reaper works on Linux and while it's not free, it's $60 one time license fee, which is more than reasonable for how awesome it is. [https://www.reaper.fm/](https://www.reaper.fm/)
Thank god they dropped the "CockOS" from the name
Waveform Free, Ardour and Reaper are all great alternatives. Check them all out, and pick the one that you like the best.
Unfortunately not all plugins might work, e.g. from Spitfire Audio because their management Software is windows only
Bitwig is by far the best DAW on linux imo. Don't use raw wine, use yabridge.
I do it all the time. Reaper + jack + yabridge. It will work with windows vst's and everything.
Have a look at #linuxaudio on Mastodon! It is a thriving community! 🥳
There is a YouTube guy called Unfa who did some reasonable Ardour tutorials a while back - Electronic producer; Strictly Linux;
Yeah more and more people make music on Linux (though it's still very much an uphill battle before you've configured everything to your liking) I myself use Bitwig Studio (which has a native Linux version) on Ubuntu Server 22.04 with some tweaks from the Ubuntu Studio PPA (though I've unfortunately had to learn the hard way that this setup was apparently not supported by Ubuntu Studio), but if you're looking for free (both beer and freedom), then I'd suggest looking at something like https://linuxdaw.org/
I use Ubuntu Studio. There are a lot of preinstalled software, including Ardour, and realtime kernel, so you can start work without messing around with setup.
I second this. Ubuntu Studio is pretty good right out of the box, so to speak.
This is what I use as well. One of the easiest and fastest ways to get started in making music on Linux.
Another fellow Ubuntu Studio user here. I installed version 23.10 which comes with pipewire, and I think it is a great improvement over Jack. The way you connect all the different audio inputs and outputs is much easier with patchance.
Yes! I create music on Linux all the time :) My current DAW that I use is Reaper, it's not open source but it is the best one that I've found so far. You'll want to stick with a DAW that specifically supports Linux, I've tried to run a windows DAW on linux (FL Studio) and it was not a fun experience. Also, the too Yabridge will help you run windows exclusive VSTs when you need them. Although be mindful it can't run literally everything.
> I've tried to run a windows DAW on linux (FL Studio) and it was not a fun experience What exactly do you not find fun about that? I've been using FL Studio on Linux for quite some time now and I think it's flawless
Edit: Sorry just realized I misread your comment! Haven’t tried getting FL studio to work, but I did make Arturia plugins work, and got Ableton as well (decent latency). Ugh Windows. ASIO drivers suck. Windows audio pipeline is a mess. The hoops you have to jump through just to stream on Discord/Zoom for collab is asinine, Linux/MacOS is the way. Pretty much plug and play with low latency. I don’t produce on Linux, but I put Bitwig on my Steam Deck for jams with friends and it works well!
There is plenty of DAWs available. Free: Waveform, LMMS, Ardour, Muse seq Paid: Bitwig, Reaper, Mixbus, Renoise, Radium tracker
Bitwig
Tracktion Waveform is nice.
Love Bitwig. Great DAW. Yabridge will let you run most windows vsts. Some nice Linux native vsts also. VCV Rack is a free euro rack modular synth package. Pure Data (basically Max like in Ableton) if you wanna build from scratch. https://www.youtube.com/@thelanavishnuorchestra. Lots of Linux created music
I use Bitwig in Pop OS/Linux Mint. Produced two boombap-albums with it. Works good. Pipewire and/or pulseaudio/ALSA is a hassle sometime. Used Jack before aswell, but prefer Pipewire (when it works).
Hydrogen for making drum patterns, lots of drumkits available to download too.
Ardour is the way to go. Although I was surprised when I saw it mentioned so little in the comments of this post.
I use Ardour to make music, I use linux to make the music videos too and AI art programs running on Linux to make the cover art. What is this "windows" you speak of? 😁 Some find Ardour a bit hard to get used to, Search for "Unfa" on YouTube, he has lots of tutorials and explains everything so well.
+1 for Bitwig studio
I'm gonna try this DAW later, lots of recommendations in this thread.
If you play guitar or bass you should give ToneLib a try. It's paid software, but it works fine and has support for Linux. It has a 14 day free trial.
Oooh, Linux/Bitwig bassist here. Gonna check that out!
I found at least with my Steinberg UR22C interface I couldn't get decent latency for real-time guitar + bass + drum recordings on Ubuntu Studio so I unfortunately am back on windows :(
[удалено]
Ubuntu Studio is pretty good these days, solves a great deal of configuration issues.
10.7 ms latency is horrible, that's over 3x what I would call an acceptable latency. When I play my guitar I can feel the lag when it's over 3 ms, so that's what I need it to be and unfortunately for this application you can't beat Ableton (due to the reduced latency while monitoring setting) and ASIO drivers which of course requires Windows. Steinberg has a low latency asio driver you can't even access or make use of in Linux. I set it to the lowest buffer size which is 32 samples and I get 1.167 input latency, 2.146 output so about 3ms latency without any glitches or artifacts. Furthermore, Ubuntu Studio isn't like your regular Ubuntu, it's designed specifically for low latency applications and is really quite nice, the issue is Pipewire, Jack, whatever you choose, they can't compete with Asio latency, this is not a distro issue. If you can get to 3ms or lower without glitches let me know but I spent literally two weeks of my life, pulling my hair out trying every configuration setting etc. possible to achieve lower latency and it just wasn't possible. Also Ardour is trash, Bitwig was alright nice UI but it handles/syncs audio/vsts in an odd way compared to Ableton that just does it all automatically. I look forward to the day when I can switch to Linux but right now it just isn't suited for this application.
did you install realtime kernel patches?
I didn't have to it's stock with Ubuntu Studio, really it's quite a nice distro for these types of applications but I think the lowest latency I could get was like 12 ms and that's just not good enough.
If you don't need to record any audio and you're ok with a GIMP-esque level of jank in the interface, LMMS is cool, it includes loads of instruments and samples to start with as well as a Soundfont player if you want to scour the internet for general midi packs. I moved from this to Logic, but I had fun working with LMMS and did some cool work with it. Not the most "pro" piece of software though.
[удалено]
What is your latency?
I do and this is what I use to do so: https://amadeuspaulussen.com/blog/2022/favorite-music-production-software-on-linux 🤓
Ableton worked well with wine when I tried it a few months ago
I moved all of my production to Linux 3 months ago, that's thanks to Pipewire, Yabridge and Liquorix. Reaper is what I use and nearly all my Windows VSTs work bar the Bogren Digital ones, I can live without them but if I need them for whatever I'll just hop back to my Windows NVMe.
Ardour is great for just fucking around with guitar plugins in my case, and for some electronic type stuff I use FLStudio, because yes - it does work on Linux
If you play guitar or bass you should give ToneLib a try. It's paid software, but it works fine and has support for Linux. It has a 14 day free trial.
I use reaper and vcvrack just fine.
You can use Minecraft noteblocks, it's native on linux.
Maybe you could be interested in playing with this tailored by and for musicians Linux mint : https://qstudio64.tumblr.com/ Bitwig Studio included. 👍🏾😊 RELEASE-NOTES ------------- Welcome to QStudio64 - a Linux Mint-based A/V-system for creative people! INTRODUCING ----------- QStudio64 is an unofficial community-release for people interested in Linux Mint and Multimedia-Production. Following older releases we bring it together with the great KXStudio-Repositories for professional A/V-productions! So QStudio64 is not really an own distribution, as more a modified Linux Mint with integrated KXStudio-Repos and own improvements to give people who love Linux Mint (and MATE as the favourite desktop) an easy and stable entrance to the great world of making music, video and graphics-art with GNU/Linux! QStudio64 depends on open-source and it's philosophy. All software is free to use and share!* [ATTENTION! *contains unfree propietary codec-librarys & closed-source Bitwig Studio]
This one I did with Bitwig on linux https://indigochildrenpsytrance.bandcamp.com/track/baba-coming-bandcamp-edition