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.

  • Phish [he/him, any]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    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!

    • axolotl [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      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?

      • Phish [he/him, any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        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.

        • axolotl [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          4 years ago

          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?

          • PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            edit-2
            4 years ago

            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. :)

          • Phish [he/him, any]
            ·
            4 years ago

            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.