A few questions to Linux experts

[klausbert]

Hello people,

I'm really happy with Windows but I always had the curiosity to try Reaper on Linux, so here I am asking you a few questions...

1 - Does Reaper have better performance?
2 - Is there a list with compatible Windows plugins? Do they perform better than in Windows?
3 - What is the recommended distro to install Reaper ?

Thanks in advance!

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by klausbert

1 - Does Reaper have better performance?

I see equal performance in Linux or Windows.

2 - Is there a list with compatible Windows plugins? Do they perform better than in Windows?

There's a thread with a continually updated list here in the Linux group. Windows plugins will run but not better than they do in Windows because they will be running in WINE and then bridged for Linux. I've got pretty much all the same plugins I used in Windows working.

3 - What is the recommended distro to install Reaper ?

That's a loaded question. The one that does what you want it to do. I use Xubuntu and it does what I want, but that might be different than next guy.

[4duhwinnn]

Hi, Klausbert, please list the dozen or so windows plugins/standalones
you most rely on, and we can share specific success/fail stories
if we have used them.

distros might be sorted by
barebones
all-in-one
suited for a purpose
centered around a given user interface or toolset

barebones could be bodhi or antiX
all-in-one could be avlinux or iognulinux
suited-for-purpose could be studio1337, ubuntu-studio
or avlinux

centered around tools/interface could be xubuntu, kde/neon,
or bodhi-extras-pack

Large distros like Fedora, and Suse can be used,
but lack direct kxstudio repository support,
which is important to many linux based musicians.

Put a linux on an external drive, and test the waters safely.
suited for purpose could be ubuntu-studio or studio1337
or avlinux

Cheers

[bulevardi]

Originally Posted by klausbert

Hello people,

I'm really happy with Windows but I always had the curiosity to try Reaper on Linux, so here I am asking you a few questions...

1 - Does Reaper have better performance?
2 - Is there a list with compatible Windows plugins? Do they perform better than in Windows?
3 - What is the recommended distro to install Reaper ?

Thanks in advance!

1/ I had Reaper before in Windows 7/10,... the performance is quite the same I guess. I have the impression it's faster or more stable under linux as my os is now more stable and less sluggishness than under windows.


2/ There are lots of vst plugins you can use in Linux (however, not the LV2, yet), I personally am using Hive plugins now (not free), they work under windows aswel:
http://linux-sound.org/linux-vst-plugins.html

3/ I only tested in Linux Mint (both cinnamon and Xfce) and it works out of the box. I don't know about other distros...

[s wave]

Agree with all above. If you would state what you kind of want to do - that helps with nailing a good distro. My first move would be load up a love boot OS and put Reaper on it. Cinnamon, Fedora, Modicia, Xfce they all work well just to test the waters. If you want the 'Lowest latency 'realtime' (live tracking) recording that would quickly narrow down your decisions, and the experts here can help you more than I. If you want plug and play you have many options I primarily do single tracking so do not need the (live band type) realtime kernel. I use Cinn as the daily driver and almost went with Fedora or Modicia, but any will work. I would also say if you can do just a bit of low level configuring - you can really customize Reaper linux really well.

Example for me - I wanted a large repository of alternative programs - To be able to just single track, run midi, have ease of access to other audio editors and use some soft synths or programs, also as stand alone sound makers. So I could use some Linux sound programs (Rave gen/Qsynth/Bristol etc.) independently or interdependently of Reaper. And since the lowest latency is not a priority with me I could use a slightly 'heavier' distro. (I can use low latency recording on my dinky standby pc if I need/want it) But my daily driver it is still pretty fast. I also wanted the ability to run a second PC that runs like Win and stuff and be able to use the one off program if needed and to grab audio files from that as a small WIN NAS or Mac server - so I wanted a distro with a simple Server (Samba) or sumtin like it to have that ability/possibility . That is more important to me. I wanted to have a recording system that had distinct modules (separate components) where I could fire just one up or all of them. Try a live boot flash drive or cd. gl

[quigonkick]

As a newcomer to Linux, say I wanted to do only recording on the computer... mainly mic'ed instruments (usually 1 incoming but on occasion up to 3) with occasional MIDI programming.

[Mcgiver69]

My advice, go for a version (distro) that has already done the hard parts for you. I would recommend AVLinux, it is constantly updated and works very well out of the bat. Most of the configuration is done and you'll be able to just download Reaper and start working.

That's the one I use and even comes with LinVST pre-loaded, I have a lot of Win plugins working in Wine with no issues.

You can find it here:
http://www.bandshed.net/avlinux/

The Manual is here:
http://bandshed.net/pdf/AVL2019UserManual.pdf

And they have a very active and helpful forum too:
https://bandshed.net/forum/index.php

Enjoy!

[mike@overtonedsp]

I'm really happy with Windows...

Then in all seriousness, the best advice is to stick with Windows - Most of the 'general' advantages of using Linux for audio have diminished, especially if your machine came with Windows installed, while at the same time, many of the perceived problems with Windows have improved or are no longer an issue.
It depends what you want to do. Linux allows you to customise and tweak more things, if you would rather do that than make music, but in practice you won't gain much over a stock e.g. Ubuntu installation (though you might be able to convince yourself that you do) - mostly if it works, it just works.
If you depend on Windows plug-ins, then definitely stick with Windows. Running them on Linux, via WINE etc is ultimately self defeating (you are trying to run a binary built for a completely different OS via a third-party compatibility layer emulating proprietary code, after all - it might work, but then one day it won't and you will have no way to discover why. Plus, with support for 32Bit going away in some popular Linux distros, support for plug-ins via WINE might become severely limited, if not impossible)
If you do want to use Linux, what you need is plug-ins (and hosts) built natively for Linux, (and the only way that's going to happen more, is if enough people want it that more developers take notice. Continuing to hack together Windows plug-ins - or host applications - on top of Linux does not make that need / market for native Linux equivalents visible.)

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by klausbert

1 - Does Reaper have better performance?
2 - Is there a list with compatible Windows plugins? Do they perform better than in Windows?
3 - What is the recommended distro to install Reaper ?

I should say first: I'm not an expert in Linux. But I can give you my opinion anyway.

1) Reaper has better performance for me in Linux than in Windows. That's not why I switched to Linux though, and it shouldn't be the reason you switch to Linux either. (I was willing to accept worse performance in Linux than Windows. I was however surprised to get better performance in Linux.)

2) There isn't "a list" of plugins. You'll find people talking about plugins on various forums, and you'll find some people making lists on websites. Nothing is complete. It's changing all the time. Also if you mean "are there Linux plugins which are the equivalent of Windows plugins", sometimes yes there are (or at least there are reasonable substitutes). My advice is to list all the plugins you use, the ones you consider important to you, and ask if there are plugins which can substitute those in Linux. We'll help if we can.

3) Which distro you use depends on what you consider important. I choose distros for these reasons:

-I want them to be relatively up-to-date, including security patches,
-I want the OS to be responsive/quick (not using too much CPU...I don't care about menu animations etc.)
-I want it to be well supported and "mature", less likely to have problems.

For these reasons I chose distros which use XFCE as the desktop environment (DE). Xubuntu and Mint (XFCE version) are my choices.

You can also get a distro that's more audio-specific. I don't mind setting up the distro for audio though. All I really have to do is: swap the kernel for a realtime one (looking for linux-lowlatency in the package manager), install qjackctl, install rtirq-init and make some changes to the rtirq file (naming my specific audio card in the file). However you might want to have a lot of software pre-installed for audio use in Linux. That's when an audio-specific distro would be more appealing. Check if the particular audio distro you're considering is more up-to-date compared to a more mainstream distro, and read some reviews (distrowatch.com is a good site for comparing distro information).