<i>A musician and, more importantly, a computer geek tells his story of switching from Mac to Ubuntu</i><p>His story, while informative, is nowhere near close to that of a typical musician or even audio geek. It's not the platform but the software running on it that counts. The first thing Apple did when they bought Emagic and, as a result, Logic Pro was to kill the product on Windows knowing well users would switch to OS X just to use their favourite tool (why wouldn't they given the $1200->$499 price drop and a major feature boost in Logic Studio).<p>Most musicians nowadays want more than the ability to record and play back audio tracks. What about the digital audio workstation (DAW) choice on Linux; the virtual instruments and FX plugins; MIDI editing and automation; a UI intuitive and simple enough to use at a live show etc. Good software in the creative market seems to take years to build but the user base is so loyal it takes massive effort to get users to switch. There is a reason most software used in the studio is decades old (see Cubase or Logic, for instance: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_Pro#History" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_Pro#History</a>). There is also a reason why GarageBand had significant time dedicated to it at the iPad keynote. Musicians with computers tend to be geeks to a degree, but at the end of the day they have music to compose and perform, and the less time they have to spend on software and setting it up the better.<p>Basically, Linux not being embraced among the musicians is the same story of why you don't see very many people jump ship from Adobe Photoshop in favour of GIMP.
I've spent a lot of time dabbling with digital audio (especially recording) and my limited experience with Linux audio setups were difficult to say the least.<p>Now, this may be changing with Ubuntu Studio, but unfortunately a majority of commercial hardware is still strictly Windows/Mac (and sometimes spotty at that). Our mostly self-recorded/produced/mixed album (<a href="http://glasscannonband.com/albums/the-chill-room" rel="nofollow">http://glasscannonband.com/albums/the-chill-room</a>) was done in Windows 7 with Sonar with a Firepod 24bit firewire interface. It wasn't perfect, but <i>it worked</i>.<p>I couldn't imagine walking into a recording session with a Linux setup and running into a bug (I experienced dozens upon dozens while experimenting with Linux) and trying to sort it all out while the band waits.<p>Again, I think this is just a time vs. money thing. The post even alludes to this ($3000 upgrade vs. $600).<p>If you wanna do digital recording, save yourself the hassle: go Mac or Windows with the wonderful REAPER software (from the same dudes that developed WinAmp!).
I just wanted to respond to all the hostility / negativity towards audio on linux.<p>I've started recording Audio with a refurbished PC (desktop from the company I was working with) with Ardour and Jack. Mixed everything at home in Ardour on a OS X system. Later changed that system to a linux based system and I am happy with it.<p>I've started with ardour so I never had the problem of "missing plugins" or VST plugins I "had to use". I really like the idea of having an inexpensive "recording computer" in my rehearsal room and having the beefier machine at home to mix the recorded stuff. For the last recording I've update the recording machine to a "newer" refurbished model and it still works great.<p>The linuxdsp plugins are great sounding plugins (<a href="http://www.linuxdsp.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">http://www.linuxdsp.co.uk/</a>) and there is even a commercial variant of ardour - the Harrison mixbus (<a href="http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=42" rel="nofollow">http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_...</a>).<p>There are some things going on in the linux audio world - and they may fit your bill.<p>Ardour doesn't do Midi in the current version - but this may be fixed with the upcoming version (I don't do Midi - so no problem for me)
$600 Linux vs $3000 Mac upgrade? The programs he now runs on Ubuntu are all available on OS X.<p>The more reasonable framing would be $600 Dell netbook (what he ended up buying) vs a low-end Mac laptop option.
The operating system is irrelevant to any musician worth his salt. The important thing is that you have a robust DAW that supports all the VST plugins you use and does everything you need. Ardour is a laughing stock compared to Logic, Live or FL. Last I checked, it hasn't even caught up to the feature set of Garage Band, which is a stripped-down version of Logic designed for 12-year-olds.
to see what it was like, i wrote and recorded a whole CD on ubuntu <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/monorail42/" rel="nofollow">http://sites.google.com/site/monorail42/</a> ... mostly with rosegarden. it was sort of painful to do! i also used a set of python scripts called MMA to lay out the song structures.
I recently had to install Ubuntu for work. Before that I normally used Win7 at home (+ unix shell at work via Putty).<p>Things that Ubuntu sucks at:<p>1) Power management. It really blows.<p><pre><code> a) My laptop keeps shutting down without any warning that the battery is low, and half the time Ubuntu doesn't even know whether my laptop is plugged or running off of battery.
b) My laptop is blasting the CPU cooler at full power, all the time. Under Win it's only audible when I do some crazy calculations.
</code></pre>
2) No Photoshop replacement. I'm into photography and doing a lot of RAW processing. GIMP is not even close to Photoshop. There are lots of people online who try to convince you otherwise, but it's all bullshit.<p>3) Hardware acceleration seems to be often off in random places with various plugins.<p>4) I use a second language keyboard layout, and I'm used to Ctrl+Shift shortcut. Coincidentally, Ctrl+Shift+arrow buttons are awesome for text selection. Windows understands that. Under Ubuntu if you set keyboard layout key to Ctrl+Shift, the selection stops working.<p>5) Putty vs Ubuntu terminal. I'm used to Ctrl+C = copy, "mouse selection" = copy, and "right mouse click" = paste. It's extremely useful. Just doesn't work under Ubuntu.<p>6) Lack of file organization. I never know where programs are installed, where logs go, where configuration files are, and why they have to be in different places.<p>7) Little things like "Backspace button" = "go back" not working in Chrome. Like touchpad freeze while I'm typing (it just randomly stops working, even though the ckeckbox is checked in settings somewhere).<p>I realize I'm a Linux newbie (even though I've been using shell commands for a decade), so probably most of these problems can be resolved with some workarounds. My point is that they should be resolved out of the box.