Recommend a distro for Reaper

[toleolu]

So I've been giving a lot of thought lately to ditching Windows and running a flavor of Linux that works well with Reaper. It's coming up on time for my annual tear down of my computer and I was thinking this might be a good time to pull the trigger.

The main reason I'm looking to switch is my hardware is getting pretty old, an i5 with 8 G of RAM, and I'm really not interested in building another computer or dinking around with hardware anymore.

I don't do much with computers anymore, just web, email, Reaper, and some light video editing. I don't use Reaper for video and the video editor I use (Cyberlink Power Director) doesn't appear to have a Linux version, so any recommendation on decent video editor would be appreciated. I don't need a real high end editor, Power Director does more than what I need so something like that or even a little skinnier would be fine. I do need to be able to plug my iPad in so I can import video.

It's been years since I used Linux on a personal computer (Ubuntu) so I'm looking for something that doesn't require a lot of work in the command console. (I've pretty much forgotten how to tail, grep, etc. ) Also, in my past experience, there were issues with finding compatible drivers and application software, but I'm sure they've come a long way in that regard since then.

A heads up on any gotcha's I need to look out for when installing Reaper and other components on the system would be appreciated.

My interface is a Presonus 26C USB interface no Linux drivers for that so what would be a good compatible ASIO driver that I can use for that?

Many thanks. Hope all are doing well.

[Glennbo]

You should download either Manjaro or Xubuntu and create a live flash disk to try them out. You can even install REAPER while trying a distro on a flash drive. Before I switched to Manjaro recently, I created a bootable flash, then installed REAPER, then loaded up some of my projects, which failed on the Windows FX coz I did not install them, but it gave me a good idea how REAPER would perform if I switched to Manjaro.

As for normal every day stuff, you'll have Firefox and Thunderbird right off the bat with either Manjaro or Xubuntu, and you can copy from your Windows installs of them the folders that give them your email history, links and layouts so they will instantly feel like home.

As for video apps, I use KdenLive which is sort of like Sony Vegas in that you have a timeline with tracks for multiple videos and tracks for multiple audios, along with FX and transitions. There is also Handbrake for simple converting along with VLC which can not only play but also transcode video and audio.

I almost never use a terminal windows. I don't use ancient looking text editors either when I do need to modify a file like reaper.ini or something. I use Mousepad which is like Windows Notepad that I used in Windows when tweaking .ini files and such.

Lastly, it's possible that your Presonus might work if it is USB Class Compliant, and you can find that out by creating a live flash to boot from without installing anying on your HDDs or SSDs.

[JamesPeters]

There is no "alternate ASIO driver" "to download". Either it works in Linux or it doesn't, via the drivers in the kernel and device definition (which determines how Linux sees its i/o). ASIO isn't a Linux thing; that's a Windows thing. ALSA is the low-level low-latency audio system, and it will work with class-compliant devices.

That audio device is class compliant, so it should function in Linux, but whether you'll have access to all its ins/outs as you would using an ASIO driver in Windows (for instance) is unclear. That depends on how complex the device is, how many ins/outs it has, and what features need to be toggled by software (and whether anyone has tried all these things in Linux and provided info to the ALSA team to add that info about the device).

You'll have to try it, as Glen says. If with a live USB you can install Reaper and select the device (under the ALSA audio system, in Reaper audio preferences) and access all its i/o, and it works at low latency, you're probably good. You won't have access to onboard DSP, if it has any (and/or possibly any extra routing functions) in any control panel type app provided by Presonus for use in Windows, since that Windows software won't work in Linux (even if you could get it to run in Wine, it won't "see" your device properly because it won't be using ASIO or Windows drivers). Your best-case scenario will be that you can use all its i/o properly (and possibly toggle options on/off that you would normally do in a control panel type app in Windows, instead by using ALSAmixer or QASmixer in Linux).

See this just in case, too:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=253015

If it shows up in Reaper under the ALSA audio system, a good initial setting to try for decent latency is blocksize of 128 and 4 periods. Any less than 3 periods isn't advisable, and you may be able to get the blocksize as low as 32, but it depends.

Also here's some advice for setting up the system for low-latency audio use. It's only a few things, and they're basically the same as you would do in any OS, but in Linux you need to do them differently.

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread....11#post2349311

[toleolu]

Thanks Glenn and James.

I only use 1 input on the Presonus, just a home user, good tip on doing a USB boot and see what's what.

I record band rehearsals at Pipelines studio (Windows). I save the rehearsals to an external drive and edit and mix at home. Any problems doing that with Linux on the home computer?

[mike@overtonedsp]

Originally Posted by toleolu

I record band rehearsals at Pipelines studio (Windows). I save the rehearsals to an external drive and edit and mix at home. Any problems doing that with Linux on the home computer?

That should be no problem at all. (There's a bit of a 'cult of Manjaro' going on at the moment here it seems - not necessarily anything wrong with that, but my personal preference would be to just get a stock Ubuntu LTS - I use 20.04LTS, for my DAW and for developing plug-ins. It might not be the latest cutting edge release, but its been solid so far - and quite often that's the most valuable thing when you want to focus on getting something done rather than being distracted by debugging the OS. Then download and install reaper for Linux and you should be good to go)

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by toleolu

I record band rehearsals at Pipelines studio (Windows). I save the rehearsals to an external drive and edit and mix at home. Any problems doing that with Linux on the home computer?

Well if you boot into a live USB ISO and install Reaper, select the device, get it to work at low latency etc.--what else is there to worry about other than minor stuff. Trying a live ISO is risk-free; it's not going to mess with your Windows install at all. That's the next step.

If you're wondering about the capability of Linux compared to Windows, the only concern would be: can you use any specific Windows VST that might not work using Wine and Yabridge (due to Wine not supporting it, I might add, because Yabridge is doing a great job at everything else and being developed/bug-fixed rapidly). If you're only using native Linux software (Linux VST, JS, LV2) then the computer should perform at least as well as it did using Reaper in Windows.

I recommend against Ubuntu LTS and instead recommend Manjaro. It's a lot more current for its software in the repos (with a lot more software in the repos) and for the kernel, including newer device support. Downloading and installing software in Manjaro will be easier for the most part, and you'll spend less time trying to find ways of getting a certain app or plugin (instead of "just" opening add/remove software and finding it, and clicking a button). If you're concerned with "stability" at the cost of not getting software updates until they're basically old (which can be really annoying when you're looking to get new plugins, or want an updated version of Gimp, etc.), or that you might be willing to wait an extra year or two for a newer audio device (or some other peripheral for that matter) to be properly supported--yeah I guess an LTS Ubuntu is fine. Beyond that I don't see a point. When you compare repos, it's overwhelmingly clear that Manjaro wins. It's a rolling-update model, so it worries some people. I say keep backups and you're good, just like Windows or Mac in that regard. If you operate without backups, it doesn't matter if you're using an LTS distro or not. If a problem happens, it's effectively your own fault for not backing up.

For developing plugins, I'd hope someone builds against libraries that are a bit older for more backward compatibility, so for Mike using Ubuntu LTS for developing plugins: that makes sense. However as a user of plugins and hardware (some of which has only recently gotten support in the kernel), I don't like lagging behind.

There are also less stable distros that are very bleeding-edge. I don't recommend those. It can be a fine line to walk, wanting the latest software and functionality/support, but also not having things "break". Manjaro is my compromise.

[4duhwinnn]

AVLinux has wine 6.2 and wineasio installed and ready. If it's not needed,
just let it be a yard ornament. When it is needed, as when installing some cool windows app or plugin, you won't have that wine install/configure learning curve to deal with.

Yesterday, I did a Ubuntu system update from 19.10, to the latest 20.04.2,
something I normally would not recommend, but I had added an extra setup for my goto software, so I rolled the dice knowing I had multiple fallback distros. It took around 45-60 minutes, and required just two actions on my part once underway.

I only mention this to underline the stability of Ubuntu performing a difficult task. And as mentioned above, it does quite well with the day-to-day workings, and the Ubintu Studio comes well prepared to begin recording/editing.

isos are found at

www.bandshed.net/avlinux

I use a windows utility called rufus to burn isos to usbsticks:

https://rufus.ie/en_US/

Cheers

[bulevardi]

I'm on Linux Mint already couple of years now.
Very, very happy with it.

Works out of the box, the ALSA does the trick right away, no Jack stuff needed.

I tried several distros before, but Mint was the one that really made me stick.

[audiojunkie]

I may be odd man out, but I'm a fan of Debian. Debian has the largest repository of all distributions. Arch-based systems (like Manjaro) that use the AUR are similar in size. Debian Stable is the most stable of all distros, but can be as bleeding edge as Arch (Debian Testing, Debian Sid). The support and community is possibly the largest out there, and is amazing! There are multiple Realtime and low latency kernels to choose from: RT Kernel (in repository), Liquorix, Zen, XanMod, AVLINUX RT Kernel repository, or custom compiled linux. Driver support is fantastic. It is very easy to install and use. And, unlike Arch-based distros, I have multiple architectures to choose from. I've been looking at putting together an SBC tablet. :-) I'd say that it is every bit as good as the popular Manjaro.

One thing more that I like about it: It has zero corporate control. Canonical, Red Hat (IBM), Manjaro GmbH & Co. KG, etc. all have control and influence over their distros to varying degrees--it may be a little, or it may be a lot--Debian has none. :-)

[4duhwinnn]

The synaptic package manager and KX Studio Repositories are great features of debian systems. I'm setting up an Arch spinoff called Garuda, and using one of the arch gui package managers, 'bauh'. It's a couple steps below synaptic, in overall ease=of-use, especially when setting up a new system. With synaptic, I search for jack, tick the boxes desired, search for alsa, tick the boxes, search for sound, tick the boxes, then hit the apply button. Then I weed out the things I never use, and reboot to a functioning recording studio.

And two of the goto apps I rely on are old, and produce "all recursive" errors during any type of install attempt. AUR my _SS winketty wink...
Finally, on Timemachine sound recorder, I just unpacked a debian package, dragged the contents hither and yon, and it's working OK. Rakarrack is more complex and dependant, so will have to wait til I'm in a better mood.
Hit that record button, hard and often!

[ivansc]

I tried a lot of distros before settling on Ubuntu Studio (latest version) and Reaper went in with no real issues, as did most of my plugins that were available as Linux versions.
The only thing I have been staying away from is dealing with the installation and management of WINE so that I can us my plugins that don`t like Linux.

Too busy at the moment to spend much time on it....

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by audiojunkie

I may be odd man out, but I'm a fan of Debian.

I would not recommend Debian to anyone. That doesn't mean I don't think it's a good distro. What I mean is: it's the kind of distro that shouldn't need me to recommend it to the kind of person who would use it. No one with the knowledge to use Debian, in my opinion, would be asking for recommendations of distros to use.

Debian is more complicated to use in some ways than most new users coming from Windows or OSX would appreciate. If Debian were great for new users, Canonical and Ubuntu wouldn't even exist.

[audiojunkie]

I agree that for the non-tech savvy music creator Ubuntu, Mint, or Manjaro may be the easier choice. I also recognize that you are describing your personal experiences with Debian. My personal experience has been quite the opposite. I’ve been amazed at how incredibly flexible Debian is. It is billed as “The Universal OS”, and I think that describes it very well. To me, it has been very stable and very modern. A user can easily configure and compile the newest kernel, even on Debian Stable. Nothing is out of date if you don’t want it to be. My second choice would be Arch, but that’s irrelevant. My point is this: Your poor experience does not equal a poor distribution. It’s a great distribution for those who don’t mind putting in a little bit extra work. Newbies may not like it, but it can be quite the rewarding experience for those who want something a little more substantial than Ubuntu or Mint. :-) The beauty of it all though is that there are countless distributions—use what works best for you. 🙂

[JamesPeters]

I wouldn't call Debian a poor distro! I'm sure it's as capable as any distro, at least (and definitely more than some). I just think it's a terrible choice for an average Windows user going straight into Linux. It's more complicated to deal with than it seems on the surface.

[gennargiu]

av linux,ubuntu studio,or some distro debian based + repository kx studio. I used mx linux 19.4 (debian buster based) + kx studio repository and work good with all music productions ( Bitwig Studio 4,Reaper 6.32,Waveform 11 Tracktion,Ardour 6.8,Mixbus 7) and various plug in synths and effects ( vst,vst 3,lv2) native for gnu linux. Hi and Best regards from Naples ( Italy)

gennaro

[Bjorn.LaSanche]

Don’t do it.

Unless what you call making music fucking off with configuration panels and listening to xruns making static through your monitors making music then stay with shit windows or shot mac. Because Linux isn’t about making music. It’s about fucking off doing nothing but trying to configure your hardware in the hopes it will allow input signal.

Linux audio is an autist demonstration of masturbation with computer hardware while wasting time. If you like running four programs before you can hook up anything that produces a sound else you’ll get an xrun and have to start over fine. But I want nothing to do with this fucked up fantasy called Linux audio. It’s not my gear. Works fine in windows. All day long. Works fine on a Mac. All day long. Guaranteed to work in Linux. I’ve done nothing for the past two months except try to do everything possible except physically fuck my computer to produce even crackly garbage. Nothing. Fuck Linux as anything audio. Keep to coding and work g on the shit people who actually do create need to use.

If this pissed anyone off? Good fuck you. Youre worse than the bullshit artists who wrote ffado and jack and now Pipewire to fuck it all up

Pipewire is for automobiles and how the components speak to each other electrically folks. Quit laying an audio skin over it and test it’s latency on people who are working on 15 years old tech at best for audio. Straight up test it in cars. You do it with chemicals. Here force everyone to get a jab that’s straight up poinskn. They’re too stupid to realize anything else but we have to test a new way software works inside cars with audio in Linux? Why cause they’ll sue? Duck that noise.

[audiojunkie]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

I wouldn't call Debian a poor distro! I'm sure it's as capable as any distro, at least (and definitely more than some). I just think it's a terrible choice for an average Windows user going straight into Linux. It's more complicated to deal with than it seems on the surface.

I'll agree with you on that. Personally, to the musician with little computer experience, I would recommend one of the pre-made audio distros like Ubuntu Studio, or AV Linux. Everything is already set up for the user and nothing has to be configured. :-)

[audiojunkie]

Originally Posted by Bjorn.LaSanche

Don’t do it.

Unless what you call making music fucking off with configuration panels and listening to xruns making static through your monitors making music then stay with shit windows or shot mac. Because Linux isn’t about making music. It’s about fucking off doing nothing but trying to configure your hardware in the hopes it will allow input signal.

Linux audio is an autist demonstration of masturbation with computer hardware while wasting time. If you like running four programs before you can hook up anything that produces a sound else you’ll get an xrun and have to start over fine. But I want nothing to do with this fucked up fantasy called Linux audio. It’s not my gear. Works fine in windows. All day long. Works fine on a Mac. All day long. Guaranteed to work in Linux. I’ve done nothing for the past two months except try to do everything possible except physically fuck my computer to produce even crackly garbage. Nothing. Fuck Linux as anything audio. Keep to coding and work g on the shit people who actually do create need to use.

If this pissed anyone off? Good fuck you. Youre worse than the bullshit artists who wrote ffado and jack and now Pipewire to fuck it all up

Pipewire is for automobiles and how the components speak to each other electrically folks. Quit laying an audio skin over it and test it’s latency on people who are working on 15 years old tech at best for audio. Straight up test it in cars. You do it with chemicals. Here force everyone to get a jab that’s straight up poinskn. They’re too stupid to realize anything else but we have to test a new way software works inside cars with audio in Linux? Why cause they’ll sue? Duck that noise.

Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist. -- George Carlin

Sorry your experience has been less than satisfactory and you feel the need to vent. Enjoy your Windows. :-)

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by Bjorn.LaSanche

Don’t do it.

Unless what you call making music fucking off with configuration panels and listening to xruns making static through your monitors making music then stay with shit windows or shot mac. Because Linux isn’t about making music. It’s about fucking off doing nothing but trying to configure your hardware in the hopes it will allow input signal.

So Manjaro is the distro you reccommend?

Hehe, my 1.3/2.6ms (8ms real latency measured with a loopback cable) laughs at your silly statement. So do the first 30 of the 38 songs on my music page. The oldest 8 were done in Win7.

Linux audio is an autist demonstration of masturbation with computer hardware while wasting time. If you like running four programs before you can hook up anything that produces a sound else you’ll get an xrun and have to start over fine. But I want nothing to do with this fucked up fantasy called Linux audio. It’s not my gear. Works fine in windows. All day long. Works fine on a Mac. All day long. Guaranteed to work in Linux. I’ve done nothing for the past two months except try to do everything possible except physically fuck my computer to produce even crackly garbage. Nothing. Fuck Linux as anything audio. Keep to coding and work g on the shit people who actually do create need to use.

You must have stoopidly tried using JACK which is NOT at all needed to run REAPER for Linux. I never ever have any xruns using the native Linux ALSA audio system with my 16 Midas mic pres.

If this pissed anyone off? Good fuck you. Youre worse than the bullshit artists who wrote ffado and jack and now Pipewire to fuck it all up

Pissed off?!?! Nah, I'm laughing my ass off!!!

Pipewire is for automobiles and how the components speak to each other electrically folks. Quit laying an audio skin over it and test it’s latency on people who are working on 15 years old tech at best for audio. Straight up test it in cars. You do it with chemicals. Here force everyone to get a jab that’s straight up poinskn. They’re too stupid to realize anything else but we have to test a new way software works inside cars with audio in Linux? Why cause they’ll sue? Duck that noise.

Who the fuck uses PipeWire? No Linux users I know do, although a couple folks started a thread about it. I've used REAPER for Linux the last three years and I haven't had to do anything but use it. None of the bullshit tinkering you suggest is necessary.

[JamesPeters]

That guy has been complaining about Pipewire for who knows what reason and I've been trying to get him to explain why he's even attempting to use it. He's been told it's too bleeding-edge and it's not going to replace ALSA anyway, but all he does is post rants with vague references about things not working, making it impossible to help him in any way. He'd said that on the Manjaro forum he was treated poorly, and now I think I understand why.

[Glennbo]

You can't use Linux for music, but somehow I was able to record this three piece acoustic drums, real bass and real guitar thing with vocals in about ten minutes on my Linux based DAW using REAPER.

https://www.soundclick.com/music/son...ongID=14282997

Note all the pops and clicks and fussy dialog panels.

[JamesPeters]

I'm still baffled why he insisted on trying to force Pipewire to work on his distro at this point, when it's so bleeding-edge it's not even implemented fully in Manjaro (there's a hint!), or that he'd even need it at all for DAW use. I don't think it's even intended to be as low latency as ALSA.

He created a problem for himself, then blamed everyone for his failure. Great jorb! "Duck that noise" indeed!

The part of the rant about Pipewire being for automotive use makes me chuckle. Wine development was accelerated because of gaming on Linux, yet because Wine exists, we all get to use it to run Windows VST plugins in Linux. High-res video development was accelerated because of pr0n, and we get to have its benefit for every other reason too (but also teh pr0n lol).

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

I'm still baffled why he insisted on trying to force Pipewire to work on his distro at this point, when it's so bleeding-edge it's not even implemented fully in Manjaro (there's a hint!), or that he'd even need it at all for DAW use. I don't think it's even intended to be as low latency as ALSA.

He created a problem for himself, then blamed everyone for his failure. Great jorb!

I think it's related to using a Firewire interface or something you can't just plugin and start using like the Class Compliant USB audio interfaces that most successful Linux users are using. There was a reference to ffado and jack.

[JamesPeters]

Ok, finally, some information! Maybe with that, one of us could've helped him. No, don't tell us what you're actually trying to accomplish!

From there it would've been: forget Pipewire. Can FFADO work for the device or not. If not, sorry, time to get a new device that's not some dated technology which was clearly going to be abandoned as soon as USB got updated, which anyone could've seen coming. Let's blame Linux for our buying Firewire devices when the writing had been on the wall for years. Lol.

That's a bit of a joke. I hate it when hardware goes obsolete due to lack of support. But let's face it: Windows is doing far worse right now. Never mind the fact that Pipewire will work at some point, when it's actually ready and included in distros (probably Manjaro will be among the first).

[mike@overtonedsp]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

That's a bit of a joke. I hate it when hardware goes obsolete due to lack of support. But let's face it: Windows is doing far worse right now. Never mind the fact that Pipewire will work at some point, when it's actually ready and included in distros (probably Manjaro will be among the first).

I have some valve (tube) gear, which I can still get spares for (some of which I built myself out of 'modern' parts about 20 years ago, which is now vintage in its own right...) - fundamentally this is 1950's technology, it still works perfectly and you can get the parts for it. Anything digital and - well,its obsolete before you've connected it up...
That said - Linux does come with more drivers 'out of the box' than most other OS. Try finding a legitimate Windows driver for a graphics card or sound card that's more than a few years old - if you don't already have it, and it could be difficult.
The issue with pipewire is precisely that it has been 'released' - in my opinion - before it is ready.
Its in the nature of open projects that they are available often a little too early in their development, but that gets compounded when they become the default option.
I've been something of an evangelist for Ubuntu LTS distros, but that's why I generally prefer them, because you get something that might not be cutting edge, but has matured enough to be reliable - there's no point having the latest drivers for your audio or graphics card if they / or the rest of the system doesn't quite work yet - at best you gain nothing.
With an LTS you do still get important updates, but generally its not going to pull some critical component out from under you just before the session. In my experience, most industry professionals value stability and reliability above anything else.

I'm not affiliated to any distribution, but my own personal experience has been:

1. Find a class-compliant USB interface.
2. Install a recent Ubuntu LTS (most of the time it will present intelligent default choices, and - try to - play nicely with any other operating systems)
3. Install Reaper
4. Select the 'ALSA' sound card option in reaper (just like using ASIO on Windows)

That should be at least as good if not better than it would be with any other OS. For someone switching to Linux from another OS, especially if they've been using that system for a while, and its grown over time into something they are used to and have ironed out the glitches - there may be some setup details, but that's in the nature of any major (re)install.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Ok, finally, some information! Maybe with that, one of us could've helped him. No, don't tell us what you're actually trying to accomplish!

From there it would've been: forget Pipewire. Can FFADO work for the device or not. If not, sorry, time to get a new device that's not some dated technology which was clearly going to be abandoned as soon as USB got updated, which anyone could've seen coming. Let's blame Linux for our buying Firewire devices when the writing had been on the wall for years. Lol.

That's a bit of a joke. I hate it when hardware goes obsolete due to lack of support. But let's face it: Windows is doing far worse right now. Never mind the fact that Pipewire will work at some point, when it's actually ready and included in distros (probably Manjaro will be among the first).

Here ya go.

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=253699

I am running OpenSUSE, no I am not changing it because it is the only one that Big Tech has not compromised yet

[...]

For my interface I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 NON DSP

[maxdembo]

Originally Posted by Bjorn.LaSanche

Also if I dont answer its because I do not spend much trime online anymore. I will update my contact info in my profile to where if you reply drop me a line so I will know to come and look at this..

Interesting forum approach.

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by mike@overtonedsp

That said - Linux does come with more drivers 'out of the box' than most other OS. Try finding a legitimate Windows driver for a graphics card or sound card that's more than a few years old - if you don't already have it, and it could be difficult.

I tried Windows 10 recently and it hit me pretty quickly what a pain it was to install drivers for everything (then of course configure everything, and stop anything useless from installing alongside those drivers). I had gotten spoiled by Linux.

As for Pipewire: if it's not in the distro ready to go, it's probably not ready for prime time yet. Manjaro still uses Pulse Audio. This is one of the reasons I chose Manjaro: it can be ahead of LTS distros, but I don't see it trying to pull shenanigans with things that are too bleeding-edge such as Pipewire.

He went out of his way to add Pipewire to his distro, and expected it would work properly, despite what we had been saying. Unless he did switch distros to one that had it installed...and what would that be, Red Hat? Does OpenSuse have Pipewire set up as the default system? I don't think so. I only see Pipewire packages in some distros as dependencies of ALSA, but not implemented.

Originally Posted by Glennbo

Here ya go.

Maybe if he'd have stuck to a single thread, I'd have noticed that. Or if he'd answered me when I asked why he was trying to use Pipewire.

Maybe I'd have been able to tell him about this:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread....70#post2454970

The same thing Max did. Trade in the old firewire unit at Focusrite for 50% off a new USB device (which sounds noticeably better, with lower noise)...which do work properly in Linux:

https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic...135076#p135076

Another option to get that old firewire device working in Linux with Reaper: just use the latest kernel. I saw this on a forum today:

As of a couple days ago, FFADO support is no longer necessary! The Linux kernel has had native ALSA support for most FireWire audio interfaces for a while, but it was too broken to use (clocking issues causing glitches). That has now been fixed, and it should be released in Linux 5.14. I’ve been using PipeWire with my Focusrite Saffire 26 FireWire interface for a week (snd-dice driver on a testing kernel), and it works great.

[maxdembo]

I have a feeling that option wont go down well either tbh...

"I will not try another distro" and "I refuse to return to Pedophile Gates system"

That kinda leaves little room for solutions, sadly.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by bulevardi

I'm on Linux Mint already couple of years now.
Very, very happy with it.

Works out of the box, the ALSA does the trick right away, no Jack stuff needed.

I tried several distros before, but Mint was the one that really made me stick.

same here

[cern.th.skei]

Mint here too.. KISS all the way.. Install Mint, add the KXStudio repositories, the low-latency kernel, and that's about it.. Spend your time making music, not messing with config files, compiling software, or trying to get unsupported things running on your machine..

- Tor-Helge

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by cern.th.skei

Mint here too.. KISS all the way.. Install Mint, add the KXStudio repositories, the low-latency kernel, and that's about it.. Spend your time making music, not messing with config files, compiling software, or trying to get unsupported things running on your machine..

- Tor-Helge

Mint is a fine distro. It's well-thought-out, and helps people avoid problems managing the OS, especially people new to Linux. So I have no problem recommending it. To say that it's easier to set up for low-latency DAW use though, I'd disagree.

It takes approximately the same number of steps to set up for low-latency DAW use as most of the distros we're talking about (except Debian), and in some cases it might take more effort to set up (for using Windows VST using Wine and Yabridge, for instance, compared to Manjaro).

Mint doesn't come pre-configured with the CPU frequency governor set to performance or with a utility in the taskbar to change it, nor does it set your USB audio devices to avoid autosuspend. It also lacks some things that audio-specific distros have included and set up by default.

Also, most of these distros we're talking about on this thread have a low latency or realtime kernel in their repos. Some even have a low latency kernel by default (Manjaro, and the audio-specific distros).

Using KXstudio repo as an addon in a distro means there's a possibility of a dependency clash; I had it happen once using KXstudio in MXlinux (it wasn't anything serious, but it happened). Meanwhile the software and plugins in the KXstudio repo are already in the Arch (and Manjaro) main repos, with a few exceptions (some of the exceptions are pre-built VST plugins downloadable from the Distrho site, so that's not a problem).

As for compiling software: using something like Mint, you're more likely to be doing that if there's something you want which isn't in the main repo, compared to Manjaro which is more likely to already have it in the AUR (and it would build/install it for you automatically). If you're referring to Flatpak etc., that's in other distros too.

I don't know what you mean by saying "trying to get unsupported things running on your machine", in any case. Either something is supported by Linux or it isn't. If it is, there's a way to get it working. If you're suggesting people don't use Windows VST with Wine and Yabridge: as much as that would keep things simpler, you're going to have a lot of people disagreeing with you.

[cern.th.skei]

you have a point, multiple points, actually.. :-)
i didn't mean to be confrontational or start a discussion, just mention my opinions..

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Mint is a fine distro. It's well-thought-out, and helps people avoid problems managing the OS, especially people new to Linux. So I have no problem recommending it. To say that it's easier to set up for low-latency DAW use though, I'd disagree.

sorry, didn't mean to indicate it's easier, just easy.

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

It takes approximately the same number of steps to set up for low-latency DAW use as most of the distros we're talking about (except Debian), and in some cases it might take more effort to set up (for using Windows VST using Wine and Yabridge, for instance, compared to Manjaro).

yeah, i know.. but anyway, it's just a few clicks here and there, once in a while.. and i personally don't use windows plugins much, so i'm not too concerned about wine, but i understand other people are..

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Mint doesn't come pre-configured with the CPU frequency governor set to performance or with a utility in the taskbar to change it, nor does it set your USB audio devices to avoid autosuspend. It also lacks some things that audio-specific distros have included and set up by default.

you're right, i did install a few panel widgets (indicator-cpufreq) related to audio, but actually, i have mine set to ondemand, and everything works great, with big projects and quite low latencies (buffer size 128)..

i never did anything usb-specific setup, and have had no issues ??

i use a separate interface via usb for audio work, controlled using cadence.. desktop audio is using the builtin mother-board audio, so i don't have to do much alsa/pulseaudio/jack juggling..

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Also, most of these distros we're talking about on this thread have a low latency or realtime kernel in their repos. Some even have a low latency kernel by default (Manjaro, and the audio-specific distros).

yeah, i know.. that's what i wanted ot indicate.. kernel doesn't really matter much nowadays, almost all distros have lowlatency kernels, which is good enough for most uses.. if you need more, you can dive into realtime..

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Using KXstudio repo as an addon in a distro means there's a possibility of a dependency clash; I had it happen once using KXstudio in MXlinux (it wasn't anything serious, but it happened). Meanwhile the software and plugins in the KXstudio repo are already in the Arch (and Manjaro) main repos, with a few exceptions (some of the exceptions are pre-built VST plugins downloadable from the Distrho site, so that's not a problem).

yeah, that's a good thing!!

but again, i don't add many repositories (kiss), and there's seldom clashes..

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

As for compiling software: using something like Mint, you're more likely to be doing that if there's something you want which isn't in the main repo, compared to Manjaro which is more likely to already have it in the AUR (and it would build/install it for you automatically). If you're referring to Flatpak etc., that's in other distros too.

i compile software all the time (coder for over 30 years), and haven't needed to compile audio related software for many many years, except my own plugins.. almost everything is available in binary form, isn't it?

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

I don't know what you mean by saying "trying to get unsupported things running on your machine", in any case. Either something is supported by Linux or it isn't. If it is, there's a way to get it working. If you're suggesting people don't use Windows VST with Wine and Yabridge: as much as that would keep things simpler, you're going to have a lot of people disagreeing with you.

i thought about windows plugins, yes.. and i know i'm in the minority, so i have no intention to try to convert people, really..

[The Kid]

I use Reaper with ALSA with the generic kernel and it works OK.
For work, I use it as a tape machine with direct monitoring on my interface. (old machine, i don't care for ultra low latency)
With a little latency, I'm able to record virtual instruments at home (doesn't bother me)
I guess if I wanted the latest and greatest I'd use Manjaro, but for this machine Mint is perfect.

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by cern.th.skei

... didn't mean to be confrontational or start a discussion, just mention my opinions..

I just wanted to clarify that Mint isn't going to be better than most distros mentioned here, unless it's better in some other way than DAW-specific stuff (for instance, if you prefer its default software suite, installed themes, how it works with its package manager compared to Ubuntu, etc.)

Originally Posted by cern.th.skei

i never did anything usb-specific setup, and have had no issues ??

That will depend on the device, and also on the particular USB port to which it's connected. Some will have lots of xruns if usb_autosuspend is left enabled, while using ALSA at low latency. The same can be said about power saving on USB ports in Windows, or on firewire ports in Windows. Sometimes it's ok, but other times it's a really annoying (intermittent) problem.

Originally Posted by cern.th.skei

but again, i don't add many repositories (kiss), and there's seldom clashes..

Yes, but you add a third-party repo, which I don't do at all. KXstudio is probably the most trustworthy third-party repo I can think of, but it's still a potential source of dependency conflicts since it's not an official repo. I'm sure you understand this, but again I wanted to clarify this for beginners to avoid the kind of problem that I had. It can be confusing enough for Windows users to understand the software-repo paradigm instead of using separate installers. Dealing with conflicts of dependencies might be the sort of thing to make a person give up early on Linux, especially if they don't understand why the problem happened.

Originally Posted by cern.th.skei

almost everything is available in binary form, isn't it?

From my experience, no. Or, perhaps an older version is available as a binary, but a newer version exists with bugfixes that hasn't been officially released yet (DrumGizmo for instance has several bugfixes that are at least 6 months old, and it hasn't been released with those fixes yet, so I've been using a version I built from the code in the master branch). Or there's a Debian package but it's for a different base distro than you're using. Or in the case of packages in the Ubuntu repo (and Mint repo), the version you're using can be a year old and doesn't have features which are available now if you get the software elsewhere. The Arch (and Manjaro) repos are more up-to-date, plus the AUR can fill in gaps that it misses.

Originally Posted by cern.th.skei

i thought about windows plugins, yes.. and i know i'm in the minority, so i have no intention to try to convert people, really..

I just didn't understand what you had meant. I'm trying to use Linux software only, and thankfully some recently-released Linux VST solved that for me.

Anyway Mint can perform as well as any other Distro for DAW uses, so I'm not recommending against its use. It's more a matter of what a person wants to do with the distro. I notice some people struggling with adding different Wine versions and Yabridge for instance, when in Manjaro it's very easy for me to do. If a person plans to run Windows VST, it's hard to not recommend Manjaro as a result (unless they understand how to obtain, possibly build, and then install whatever they need to).

[francoisphils]

Originally Posted by mike@overtonedsp

I have some valve (tube) gear, which I can still get spares for (some of which I built myself out of 'modern' parts about 20 years ago, which is now vintage in its own right...) - fundamentally this is 1950's technology, it still works perfectly and you can get the parts for it. Anything digital and - well,its obsolete before you've connected it up...
That said - Linux does come with more drivers 'out of the box' than most other OS. Try finding a legitimate Windows driver for a graphics card or sound card that's more than a few years old - if you don't already have it, and it could be difficult.
The issue with pipewire is precisely that it has been 'released' - in my opinion - before it is ready.
Its in the nature of open projects that they are available often a little too early in their development, but that gets compounded when they become the default option.
I've been something of an evangelist for Ubuntu LTS distros, but that's why I generally prefer them, because you get something that might not be cutting edge, but has matured enough to be reliable - there's no point having the latest drivers for your audio or graphics card if they / or the rest of the system doesn't quite work yet - at best you gain nothing.
With an LTS you do still get important updates, but generally its not going to pull some critical component out from under you just before the session. In my experience, most industry professionals value stability and reliability above anything else.

I'm not affiliated to any distribution, but my own personal experience has been:

1. Find a class-compliant USB interface.
2. Install a recent Ubuntu LTS (most of the time it will present intelligent default choices, and - try to - play nicely with any other operating systems)
3. Install Reaper
4. Select the 'ALSA' sound card option in reaper (just like using ASIO on Windows)

That should be at least as good if not better than it would be with any other OS. For someone switching to Linux from another OS, especially if they've been using that system for a while, and its grown over time into something they are used to and have ironed out the glitches - there may be some setup details, but that's in the nature of any major (re)install.

My personnal experience:
i have been using Linux-lite 4.8 for a while with linVST , and Jack/cadence and was never really satisfied with the Xruns.I have Maudio 1010lt sound card.when i tried to upgrade LL4.8 to LL5.2 the result was many windows plugins did not work any more...Then i discovered Yabridge that changed everything.I tried different distros , Neon(really beautiful) , Debian ,Lmde , finally i fixed my choice on Mint Uma 20.2 Mate environment.I still had problems with xruns.People talk about RT kernel an say they don't see really differences , well i did.As i have a Nvidia graphic , i went to Xanmod kernel(stable edge and Dev. won't work) and with RT enabled for Jack i doubled my sample speed my latency is 5.3ms and no more xruns when playing or recording.I have tried to install Xanmod on Neon Plasma and it does not goes well with nvidia.Hope you'll find some interesting infos in this.
After reading many comments here , i tried reaper -Alsa without Jack , and it works fine.But no more sound on firefox/youtube.So , better Jack/Cadence , the performences are the same , i went down until 128 buffer so 2.5ms latency.

[MikeLacey]

Originally Posted by mike@overtonedsp

1. Find a class-compliant USB interface.
2. Install a recent Ubuntu LTS (most of the time it will present intelligent default choices, and - try to - play nicely with any other operating systems)
3. Install Reaper
4. Select the 'ALSA' sound card option in reaper (just like using ASIO on Windows)

You should get this stickied as a Getting Started guide. Just this. Anything else should be in a Next Steps post.

I've been using UNIX and then Linux for a long time. I'm a Python and R developer, all on Linux. I've been a UNIX admin, developer and DBA on large and small Linux and UNIX system. Lots more experience than on Windows. I'm not a Windows person, not at all.

For me, computer systems are things you use to accomplish other things, not an end in themselves to be fiddled with constantly. I've had such an unpleasant experience using REAPER on Linux so far that I'm honestly considering installing Windows. Audio on Linux is almost impenetrable, this thread for instance, is the first time I've read that you don't need jack.

If that strikes you as missing the blindingly obvious, then... Well that's what a "how to" guide should contain, information for people new to the field that will seem blindingly obvious to them in a week.

People here are friendly and try to be helpful, but the advice is wide ranging, often contradictory and doesn't have any any central voice. For instance, I'm not aware of any advice from cockos on a suggested distro or even configurations that are known to work. It's not as if the Linux version is too new for Cockos to advise people on.

[marwatt]

Originally Posted by toleolu

So I've been giving a lot of thought lately to ditching Windows and running a flavor of Linux that works well with Reaper...

switching from windows to linux to use Reaper seems "a bit risky" IMHO.
First you should install a Linux distro... settle in... understand how it works... and THEN deal with the Reaper installation.
Or try installing an AVlinux or UbuntuStudio ...

[michael diemer]

One thing to consider is whether you plan to use windows stuff on it. If not, pretty much any distro will do. If you do need Windows stuff, then you need to be concerned about wine, updates, etc. there are specialized distros that are better for that.

Another factor is whether you will be doing just midi, or audio. for the former, again any distro would do. for audio, especially live playing/ recording, latency is an issue. you definitely want a low-latency kernel. Some prefer a real-time kernel, but there are conflicting opinions on whether it's necessary these days, and some have pointed out potential security issues with it.

bottom line: Marwatt's advice is well-taken: do a lot of research and thinking up front. and be prepared for several months of learning curve.

[francoisphils]

Originally Posted by 4duhwinnn

AVLinux has wine 6.2 and wineasio installed and ready. If it's not needed,
just let it be a yard ornament. When it is needed, as when installing some cool windows app or plugin, you won't have that wine install/configure learning curve to deal with.

Yesterday, I did a Ubuntu system update from 19.10, to the latest 20.04.2,
something I normally would not recommend, but I had added an extra setup for my goto software, so I rolled the dice knowing I had multiple fallback distros. It took around 45-60 minutes, and required just two actions on my part once underway.

I only mention this to underline the stability of Ubuntu performing a difficult task. And as mentioned above, it does quite well with the day-to-day workings, and the Ubintu Studio comes well prepared to begin recording/editing.

isos are found at

www.bandshed.net/avlinux

I use a windows utility called rufus to burn isos to usbsticks:

https://rufus.ie/en_US/

Cheers

I tried also avlinux , not bad , but so overloaded...