Was primarily looking at something running Pop!_OS to start. Someone here suggested System76. I'd be migrating from a chromebook that can't handle any music software/DAWs at all, so even if it takes a little more legwork to get going on Linux, it'd still be a step up for those capacities as well as hopefully for privacy, as I'm learning. EDiT: I'm also unable to install Linux on this chromebook.
Anyone have any experience producing music on Linux? I'm mostly going to be recording but also interested in live modulation. For those reasons I'd probably be using Reaper (which I have a good deal of experience with) and Bitwig/Ardour. Would love to hear peoples' thoughts.
Lol, I like how I'm getting a downvote on every single one of my comments here, while I'm genuinely trying to help a comrade out.
Whoever you are, go fuck yourself.
i figured it was a kerry-poster who latched onto you from another thread
I've been a Linux user for 13 years. I tried music production a few times over the years and always hit a road block and stopped. That is, until quarantine. I've had a Scarlett interface for a few years and I finally bought a nice mic and dove in. I tried a few different distros but eventually landed on Ubuntu Studio mostly because of familarity with Debian.
My main issue was getting Jack to play nice with my interface. It doesn't like to save my settings and I'd forget how to make them work. The toughest part was that I didn't realize at first that I'd have to unmute the interface through ALSA every few sessions. Don't know why it keeps muting but it's an easy fix.
I've messed around with Ardour but I got a free copy of Bitwig and I tend to prefer it. They're both pretty decent though. I'm still having a hard time getting my Also MPK mini mapped but I have my miced stuff and guitar direct input all set. Been fun fucking with the plug-ins. I can finally record more or less the way I set out to from the start. I still have A LOT to learn but that's mainly why I'm doing it.
Linux isn't the best platform for music production by any means, but it's a labor of love and I'm stubborn since I love Linux/open source. As long as you're prepared to problem solve and don't mind a little frustration here and there you'll be able to make great music on Linux!
so are the main problems you're encountering that the DAW forgets your preferred settings, and that the interface mutes out? i've heard of people having big difficulties with MIDI, which makes sense compared to apple's stock support for it, by comparison. i don't use MIDI though and don't intend to run into that problem.
how's latency for you in what you're making? and is it pretty plug-in heavy music?
The DAW settings are fine, it's jack, which I'm using as my audio environment. Jack is nice because it's easy to tell the DAW what inputs to listen to and what to use for outputs. Jack also helps with latency. I did have some latency issues early on but it turned out that was because I had my interface plugged into a USB on my case instead of the motherboard. Once I plugged it in directly the latency went away.
oh, i see! i didn't realize that something like jack would be necessary. so it's like a software mixer/bussing station, in a way? not for individual tracks but overall sound inputs and outputs?
The real value of Jack is that it allows you to pipeline audio and MIDI from any program which supports it. The low latency streaming is obviously important, but being able to synchronize a DAW with a drum machine and a MIDI sequencer driving a synthesizer pipelining through some effects processing and back into the DAW is just... Incredible. When it works, that is. :)
Yeah, I think it's full name is Jack Audio Connection Kit. I don't think it's completely necessary but all the folks on the Linux audio forums use it for it's real-time connection ability so I figured I'd use it too. It works pretty well once you figure it out.
I'm interested in this discussion because I'm primarily a Linux user but have been chilling in windows lately because I got an ableton live lite key with my scarlette. That and playing halo with my brother has been a good time.
I've been using linux for 10+ years but audio issues still frustrate me to no end. I built a midi controller from an old digital typewriter and it works out of the box in windows and linux, on ableton in windows and LMMS in both.
I have done SUUPER basic recording in linux with a scarlet and quality was fine and didn't need any drivers. I also wasn't live monitoring either so latency wasn't a big deal. I still tend to not live monitor for recording since I'm a one person production and just monitor from the tube amp 2 feet from my ear.
Linux simply cannot be used for music production, sorry comrade
I feel like you're joking but have read people seriously maintain this line. honestly even if it's a bit of a PITA I'd rather try it out than keep all my shit with apple or something, especially during these times
Well it kind of depends on what kind of music you want to make. If you're just recording WAV files of you playing guitar or whatever, yeah maybe you could make it work but it would be a pain in the ass. If you want to use any VST plugins, synthesizers, samplers etc then it's a non-starter. The only VST plugins that are available for Linux are like rinky dink proof of concepts that some random people in the open source community made as a pet project and probably aren't maintained and aren't quality anyway. If you rely on any VST's like Native Instruments or whatever, Linux simply will not work.
hmm, well I'm mainly looking to do pretty simple multitrack recording via my hardware rig, and then maybe some resampling of the recordings back onto hardware/tape, all thru a mixer/interface set-up.
I posted a picture of this set-up here. i don't really have much of a need for softsynths at this point, if I use a synth I'd probably just sample it thru hardware and plug it thru like everything else.
what do you think would be the biggest stumbling block for trying to use this approach on Linux that I should look out for?
edit. using mastering vsts like izotope would be cool, but ultimately I can just master onto tape and it'll probably have a better outcome for what I'm making anyway
I've only really dabbled in Linux music production. Getting everything set up and just doing seriously basic shit was just too much work so I gave up pretty fast.
Personally if I were you I would go for a dual boot system and save yourself the headache. But, if you wanna go 100% in on Linux, with that set up since it's all just analogue feeding in you could probably make it work.
Keep in mind that drivers for audio interfaces are NOT going to have Linux versions for them. So while you might be able to get an audio input, it may not work as expected.
jeez, this is a frustrating learning curve just to figure out how to approach the issue, haha. thanks for your feedback. i'll look into dual-boot, or maybe even going for two cheap systems, linux for privacy and general use, and mac for music.
Good luck!
Linux is great for general purpose stuff, but for highly specialised niche shit like pro audio it's not even close to being suitable, unfortunately.
onto Linux hardware? my current chromebook doesn't seem able to have Linux as an option, unfortunately
hmm, that's very interesting. i'm super new to this, could you bychance point me in the direction of a tutorial or guide or something that would tell me how to do that?
Never used Ardour but I hear people like it. I've tried LMMS. When I do make music on occasion I use LSDJ.
it's so classic and easy. i never really use plug-ins or anything like that, just record audio and then chop it and place it in the box. when i was using reaper i was making glitchy ambient shit and it was a blast.
i've used ableton as well and though it's really sleek and intuitive, the expansiveness of just having an open timeline on reaper kills it for me.
i did used to use izotope and i'll probably miss that but i think i can master things with hardware now.
you know, I think a jackmount could work. I took some pics:
https://imgur.com/a/LH0tcYX I'd imagine the jack would work best mounting it dead straight away from the body, like in the last pic. what do you think?
Yeah, could definitely make that work with a jack plate at the bottom there.
Or even just drill a hole for one of these right below the sound hole: https://www.stewmac.com/electronics/components-and-parts/jacks/switchcraft-output-jack.html
I think that would be your best option, really.
oooh, that's a nice idea too. that way it'd just be that one hole and the male 1/4" would plug directly into that receiver, if i understand correctly. hey i appreciate your ideas on that.
Yep, you got it. I think that would be the best way to do it. You should probably be able to get one of those at your local music store even, it's a standard part for all kinds of electric instruments.
And it will look much cleaner than slapping a jack plate on there.
