Sadly, just software compatibility - doing music with specific programs needed for assignments etc - If drivers and compatibility weren’t an issue, I never would have switched. :) I will consider using Linux again full time if my current machine ever gives up though, now that gaming has advanced so much further. :)
The only way I could level up is to go back to university and get a PhD in music… I studied it for 6 years and am happy with the level of my musical process.
I would definitely argue that Linux has good music software… But better? By what metric? I love what I’m using, it doesn’t get in the way and lets me explore ideas at will, it performs perfectly, its very stable.
Now, for me, the perks to Linux are freedom and privacy. This is excellent, and in this specific use-case, I find this within what I’m using on Windows. Even during using Ubuntu Studio as my daily os, I had to keep a copy of XP available in case I wanted to use a particular bit of software, a plugin, or a technique.
I agree that the solution would be for software vendors to target Linux… But they don’t, and not having the choice to use these tools would mean an interior result. Linux can’t and shouldn’t be the answer to every issue, It only serves to mislead if it isn’t true.
I would definitely argue that Linux has good music software… But better? By what metric?
By the metric that windows is a closed box while linux can be tuned to be a much better machine to play and make music. Not having the possibility to route audio is a joke and an even bigger joke is using windows to play live with 0 control over what it does
Okay, imagine I can see windows in all its inefficient, telemetry riddled candy crush glory… in a better of minutes I can start making music with my hardware, with absolutely no setup besides plugging in some cables and downloading my program.
I spent months trying to convince JACK that my PC had a line-out even with the help of some lovely people over at JACK and Ubuntu forums, the answer we all came to was to try using Windows 7, which grudgingly got on with it, no issue at all.
I really, really wanted to ditch Windows for good, and did so proudly for almost five years, I have no loyalty to companies because that’s daft. But part of maturing is knowing that someone tried a thing, it didn’t work for them, and what works for you may vary. My build on my computer has been rock solid for performances, live recording, making entire games… I can’t fault the damn thing try as I do!
I think it does the amazing work of the FOSS world a disservice to go after people exercising their choice to use whatever they want. It also makes these people feel unwelcome, and less likely to want to touch Linux with a ten-foot-pole.
I had various distros, and would to this day run LXLE proudly if I didn’t have a need to use the music software I do. I still rock FOSS projects as much as possible (an old Audacity build gets much of what I need to do with game audio done, I take great glee in never touching Adobe products).
That said, in my subjective use case, I can’t in any way say that the ethics of Linux made me make better music, but it did make me interested in technology, and that’s also good. Arguing with Ardour and Jack to get Audio out was tedious, and I lost months of productivity through trying to will things to work.
I hope that’s a constructive and helpful way to expand on this. :)
I was taught using Ableton Live, and Max MSP mainly - this was back in 2014 or so, they might be wine-able now but I’ve not tested in years! :) There’s Bitwig now, which is very similar, but I had to submit Ableton Live projects and Max Patches to show my workflow.
I’m back to hobby musicking, and I sometimes think about putting together a Ubuntu Studio build again - ardour was cool, and I enjoyed LMMS for sequencing :)
In fact, I need to get off my backside and make more music in general! It’s amazing how fast life can take over, I miss it! :/
These are good programs, however, I would argue that Pure Data is the only one that offers the same or better functionality.
Don’t get me wrong, I used to use Ardour and LMMS for everything, Ardour is fantastic for tracking and composing linear stuff.
But Ableton’s compositional abilities and creative live performance put it in its own category in comparison - Ardour would be more of a Logic, Cubase, ProTools alternative in my mind. The ability to perform almost collaboratively with internal logic, the simplicity of connecting seemingly any device to a session via an M4L patch- it’s just so different.
As I said, I was studying electronic music, and my lecturer was teaching us Ableton, assessing us based on a final recording and the project itself. There’s no way I could have abstained from that without a big old zero on my grade- and missing out on some truly great experiences, performances and knowledge picked up on the way.
Sometimes ideology isn’t a simple thing, I use FOSS projects as much as possible, even contribute when possible, but I need to work and live on the way.
I would also like to add that Jack circa 2014 was an utter mess, I’m sure it’s come on leaps since, but that was always something I felt I fought to get working rather than used. Making the same audio connection in Windows would be automatic, and Jack felt more like a seance.
Anyway, my point is that there’s a lot of details and thoughts to people’s choices in these things, and if there was one OS and audio workstation for music, it would be a very, very bland thing. :) Anywho, have an excellent night :)
I can only speak from personal experience, but I feel much the same way you do. However, novelty still does it for me. And I think that’s the explanation for the gradual drop-off. When you’re young, everything is new. By the time you’re older, you’ve seen it all, and so those little spikes of novelty are few and far between.
Definitely Material Design, it just looks so much more modern, clean, lightweight and consistent than GNOME. For me it’s one of the big drawbacks of using Linux.
Not just voting but having that blot on the record FOREVER puts a scarlet letter on their forehead. Good luck getting a good job and having a future when you’ve been in prison a few years for a nonviolent drug crime that should’ve been solved with a few weeks/months of inpatient rehab. Our entire criminal justice system in the US just breeds more crime and generational cyclical poverty. Hooray.
“Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not.” -Uncle Iroh (Avatar the Last Airbender).
I watched this show as a kid when it originally aired and this quote stuck with me. It’s reminded me to make the best of the situation I’m currently in and enjoy the good things around me.
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