$100,000 in Studio Gear. Linux Killed it.

SpectreSoundStudios
SpectreSoundStudios
669K subscribers
139K views 7 days ago
I came. I tried. I failed. Thanks to Kreative Devices for building the awesome machine, though! Get yours at https://www.kreativedevices.com/ Seriously, they're amazing people! …...more
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Thanks to Kreative Devices for building the awesome machine! Get yours at https://www.kreativedevices.com/ Seriously, they're amazing people! Get the Stormblade Amp for free here: https://spectremedia.kit.com/45aecad3bb
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Thanks for calling out more of the industry to really start building their ecosystem in Linux. Linux user here and yes - it needs to happen.
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We support Linux since day zero. Fantastic platform.
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Linux doesn't have 3 audio driver subsystems. It has only one. It's called ALSA. Pulse audio, Jack, pipewire are audio servers. They are for mixing and managing different audio sources. They run on top of ALSA. PulseAudio was, for along time, the standard audio server for Linux. Jack was specifically made for low latency audio. Both got superseded by pipewire. Which is the defacto standard on Linux now.
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1. No password? Blame the laptop manufacturer 2. No drivers? Blame the fucking gear manufacturers.
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As a Linux guy, thanks for for taking the time to bring light to issues with your work flow on Linux. As a result there will most definitely be improvements following it.
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Linux user here and I do actually like this video. Videos like this are invaluable and exactly what the community needs. Audio production on linux is a nightmare. Unfortunately it's also a chicken and egg situation. Linux audio production support sucks cause audio producers don't really use it. Audio producers don't really use it because support sucks.
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Long-time Linux supporter here, and thank you for making this video! I can only hope that the negative publicity drives people to improve support for things on Linux, instead of shying away from it - as another commenter said, "Linux isn't for everybody, but Windows is for nobody."
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Good to have you back Glenn. My best to Ms Julie.
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SpectreSoundStudios
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This was a good video. As a die-hard Linux user, it wasn't what I wanted to hear, but rather what I needed to hear. I will be contributing to open source projects in the audio space
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As a linux user, I love this video. I hope more attention gets paid to audio software in the linux universe as a result. Also, Windows isn't plug and play either. I have spent just as much time figuring out why my Scarlett audio interface doesn't work in windows as I have in linux.
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Love how all my favorite channels have become Linux promoters
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Linux isn't for everybody, but windows is for nobody.
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I wondered when Glenn was going to go full Louis Rossman. Great minds after all. keep em on the ropes Glenn, You Rock!
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Started using Linux this year full-time, ditched Windows and wiped the partition, so no going back to my old setup. It was the only way I could force myself to use something new. I tolerate the fact my video and audio workflows have been impacted most, but I can get what I need done. It's a small price to pay for the flexibility I now have, and I am genuinely excited to see the momentum that's built for the platform in this year alone. Last week I migrated from Gmail and Onedrive, it's a good feeling.
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I work in Silicon Valley and have worked at a couple of the companies you are talking about. I appreciate you giving Linux a shot and as always your honesty. Agree with you 100% on Windows. Also understand the frustrations with Linux. My quibble is I would have put the emphasis on support from vendors rather than “Linux”. You discussed this at the end and that was great. Linux has done a lot to make it better for people to provide drivers. IMO companies need to step up and provide drivers and support for all their proprietary hardware/code. The Linux community can’t really reverse engineer and support this stuff on its own. Besides the legal problems it’s just not easy to do and in some cases near impossible. As customers we need to let companies know we NEED Linux support. Demand it. If we do get better Linux support it will be a boon for artists because the advantages to Linux are real.
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"Hostage situation with cupholders"...epic, man!
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That's why I never connect my main studio computer to the internet under any circumstances... It's been 5 years since the last upgrade, I use it daily, and it still works like a Swiss watch just like the first day...
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I do not engage in software rental
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1:30 A few days ago I saw someone crash out on tiktok because they needed to use their printer, which they've had for years. And it refused to work without being connected to the wifi, and once connected to the wifi, the printer refused to print because the cartridges weren't official HP branded ones, despite having plenty of ink.
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I've moved all my systems over to linux and creative spaces are still my biggest pain points. I've got my photography needs taken care of, and all my games work (some of them work better!), but video and audio are still found wanting. Has nothing to do with the kernel though. The more people that move over, the more market share there is to entice companies to include linux support for their products. Glenn, it shouldn't be on you to learn how to rebuild Rome overnight. Whoever flashed your system but didn't think it was necessary to include the password they used to flash it...That's like saying, "yeah, sure. You can borrow my car" but not giving you the keys. Linux isn't ready to be the backbone behind the audio industry yet, but the fact that you were willing to give it a shot and make a video about it is telling about how far along it has come. I believe we'll get there.
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Used Ubuntu Studio with Reaper and Neural VST (you can use wine/winetricks as a bridge and carla as a router) for a year or two - was blown away how everything worked right out of the box and without a hitch.
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Music Hardware Manufacturers have to start cooperating with the Linux Kernel Team, that way the hardware support can be built directly into the kernel, no drivers needed. My PreSonus gear worked directly, so did my BOSS Bass pedals.
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Good that you called out the manufacturers of audio gear, they really need to get going on making drivers for Linux. So far im still on windows 10 with the ESU but when that is over i am very unlikely to continue using windows after 30 years as a windows user, my plan is to go to Linux.
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I think this video proves a point that not enough studios are actually giving it full pelt like you have and then give the feedback. If more feedback and focus was put towards this im sure huge progress would steamroll.
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Hi Glenn, as a GNU/linux user since 1996 I must say you are absolutely correct. So much so that Linus Torvalds himself said more or less the same thing at a conference. Sadly, most HW companies don't provide linux drivers and independent developers are often scattered due to "philosophical" reasons... sighs Desktop linux is still a pain in the a** for pro users. Meanwhile, linux is the kernel of all android devices, which is insane...Great video as always! finger-red-number-one
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Open Source Software is free of cost, but not free of effort. If you're willing to pay the price, it might worth it. I don't use Linux for DAW work, but I'm a happy user of a Raspberry Pi that acts as the control plane of my entire guitar rig, automating with MIDI messages my looper, amp modeler, drum machine and even implementing a simple sequencer using a StreamDeck XL. I'm paying a hefty price on effort, and it's worth every penny :) Great content, Glenn, as always!
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Linux fan here. Not upset. Highly specialized use cases are often a real PITA on Linux. We would need a Linux developer, who also runs a studio and who has time and will to build a proper distro for exactly this use case. As long as developers and manufacturers just keep saying "Support for Linux? Nah, I don't think so." Linux won't be an alternative for studios.
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As a Linux daily driver, I will say that the presentation of your experience is very much on point. I said it time and again, picking your computer platform is just picking the torture that you're personally least uncomfortable with.
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thanks for making this video. i have actually been getting real close to switching over myself, and this has saved me heartache. really appreciate it.
Stormblade actually works in Wine on Linux, and you can get it running in the native version of Reaper with a tool called Yabridge -- it does require the command line, but don't panic, as it's very straightforward; just extract the program to where it tells you, install DXVK and VKD3D, copy and past the command to make it integrated into the system, then type in "yabridge-ctl sync" without the quotes and hit enter. Personally, I like the turn off the built-in boost, and use NAM captures I made myself of my TC Electronic Eyemaster, or my Joyo Precision Drive Clone. I also turned the gain down, and then used a NAM of the Donner Giant Metal into a Turbo Rat, which gave me one of the GNARLIEST Swedish chainsaw tones I've ever heard in my LIFE.
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Linux is a godsend for me as a programmer but even I probably would switch to mac os if I was doing audio stuff seriously. It's definitely an afterthought for all the audio stuff (even more so than Windows is)
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Thank you. Many of us had taken a peek through the years. So the ball in in the court of the hardware manufacturers.
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As a Linux user, thank you for scorching Linux. I'm glad you at least tested it out. As a hobbyist and a small time creator KDENLive works just fine for video and Audacity for audio. For pros... no way. Kudos to the Reaper crew - it's a good start. I don't need Reaper yet but I will in the future. It's time to put some fire to feet of both Linux and audio device manufactures so pros can use it without being Serious Nerds - which I am not. For what I use, Linux works just fine, but it could be better
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Your criticism is misplaced. It's not "Linux doesn't support Dante", it's Dante doesn't support Linux. They (and other gear manufacturers) would say because there's not enough Linux users – that's why we're advocating for more people to get onboard. So that we all have a choice outside of Microslop and Apple. Linux didn't kill your gear, you just weren't aware that your gear producers had made a decision to lock you into M$ and Apple. Imagine trying to install macOS on a ThinkPad, and saying it's ThinkPad's fault !
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Good video, and your conclusions are pretty spot on. Whether I'd be a Linux distro or even a FreeBSD one, the audio community would probably be best served from one built around that. I'm happy you calling out manufactures, as I agree, with microslop enshittification the bed with windows, a proper alternative is needed. My only critique, which is a common one I see on most I tried Linux videos is this. "I have 30+ years of Windows experience, that I can't replicate in Linux in a week" Like fucking duh, you didn't learn all you know in windows in a week either, so in my opinion, it's not that Linux is hard, it's that your expectations are unrealistic. Videos like this help to put pressure on the industry to support and is all call out to the nerds (you so lovingly call us) to work together on a distro with professional audio in mind. Good stuff.
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Jesus Christ, the lack of Linux drivers is to be blamed on the hardware manufacturers, not "Linux" god damn it.
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As an average computer user who has been using Linux since November, I'd like to make a couple of comments. - The Linux password issue is actually a factory-installed problem, since it can be configured during installation to not require a password to log in. - You could probably use Linux for anything else you might do on a computer besides music. If you have Steam or GOG games, you can easily play them on Linux, often with better performance than on Windows. - Currently, Linux is excellent for the average user who wants to leave Windows, but not for more specialized users. This isn't necessarily due to a problem with Linux itself, but because other companies (software and hardware) prefer to stick with what's "known" or "popular" (Microsoft and Apple) and don't create software/drivers for Linux. Therefore, those who program for Linux (mostly "volunteers" working in their free time, without being paid for their contributions) have to try to create alternatives whenever they can. - Just as "gaming distros" have become popular, perhaps it's time for someone (or a group of people) to release a distro dedicated to specific productive areas. Like a distro specifically for musicians (or designers, filmmakers, etc.), sold ready-made with all the necessary programs pre-installed and configured, ready to open and run immediately, as well as all the drivers they might need. Perhaps one of the major companies working with Linux (like Red Hat) could consider something like this (although it would probably be a "paid" distro; if done well, it probably wouldn't be as expensive as Windows, and it would come with the backing and support of a reputable company). - Unfortunately, for companies to really start considering Linux for software/drivers, it's necessary to increase its user base, which is currently difficult precisely because of the lack of software/drivers. Personally, as someone who's been using Linux for less than a year, I think it's necessary for the most enthusiastic Linux users to stop recommending it indiscriminately, especially if they don't know what hardware or software the person they're recommending it to uses, because they don't know if it will actually be useful for them. Should you recommend it to the average user or to the gamer? Absolutely. With average users and gamers, you can expand the Linux user base and start pressuring companies to focus on this OS, but for users with more specific needs... I, at least, recommend sticking with Windows 10 and looking for debloat alternatives.
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Oh, am I up for hearing Glenn rant about Linux for 20 minutes first thing on a Saturday morning? Yes. Yes I am. Coffee ready.
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Great honest discussion about Linux. Since first starting to use distros back since around 2009, there have been a lot of improvements with Linux. Over time I believe things will continue to improve and honest videos like this will help with that. Just go back 10 years with gaming...
Just wondering how you maintain the unsupported windows 10 installation? Do you unplug it from the internett?
I'm a hobbyist rather than a professional, but have used Linux for audio production for over a decade. For audio production they make special distributions of Linux such as Ubuntu studio that already have a low latency kernel and things like that so it is a lot more seamless. Using vanilla zorin for audio production is like using a hammer to drive a screw. It will sort of work, but the results are suboptimal
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Review of Linux: "I don't have time." Glenn, man, seriously. I get it, it's a completely different operating system, it doesn't work like the other ones you've been learning and using for decades. It's never going to be a drop in replacement for Windows that works exactly like it in every way, so yes, there's going to be a learning curve. And yeah, undocumented proprietary protocols like Dante aren't going to work great, even though there looks like a couple solutions out there. If the vendors don't support Linux and hide their shit, there's not much anyone else can do. If you want to use Linux you need to, from the ground up, choose hardware and protocols that Linux supports, just like you would for any other operating system. You can't take an already built system that was made to work with Windows, throw Linux at it, and bitch that shit doesn't work and insult Linux users for it on top of it. That's not a fair comparison.
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Manufacturers are busy trying to monetize us and forget that a revolution is finally starting that needs drivers.
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Most of your criticism of Linux should be targeted at the manufacturers of the hardware not supporting Linux. See how Valve made Linux great for gaming. They sell PCs that run their own distribution called SteamOS and they contribute to the open source community improving every distro. Linux isn't only for nerds anymore.
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This needs a concerted push by the whole industry to adopt Linux, and establish the base protocols. I'd love to leave Windows for a Linux music distribution for music production but sadly your assessment is spot on. We have to lobby the Linux creators and the music hardware and software makers to get this done.
Another great video, Glenn! Keep it up! I switched to (Arch) Linux recently. I was surprised how easy it was to get Reaper running with my Scarlett Solo (4th gen). No searching for a driver. Just a little config-stuff for PipeWire and I recorded my guitars with the lowest latency I've ever had! Most plugins I use work fine. Vital, EZDrummer 2, Kazrog 1992. If not native, it works very well via Wine + yabridge. For things that didn't work (like Bogren BassKnob) I quickly found an alternative (AugustRose Audio "The Grawler"). Some things just won't work well, with a lot of tinkering or not at all (Native Instruments - so no Krimh Drums free for me currently). Anyway... I got what I need and I'm soon going to upload new stuff fully produced on Linux to SoundCloud. Not going back to Windows anytime soon. Probably never. Edit: But I can totally understand that a home recording scenario is very different to running a full-blown studio.
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If regular PC users would massively use Linux for home tasks, which is not that hard and painful, the market share increase the chance of seeing drivers developed by audio hardware companies would increase too.
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Hey Glenn, Linux user here, that does some basic guitar recording. I'm not gonna deny what you said in the video, you're completely right. Honestly, this is the main weak spot of Linux right now: support for tools available on Windows. Especially pro tools, like your audio interface(s), as you said, and it can also be software (I mean you use REAPER from what I know, which has official Linux support and from what I know and it's pretty decent). Sadly the hardware support is something that the community may not be able to fix, and the actual manufacturers might need to at least help with some stuff. Linux has only recently become an actually non-negligible userbase, so there's still some stuff that doesn't work. As for the audio systems, ALSA, JACK, and PipeWire (by the way there is one more lol, it's PulseAudio, but you don't really need to worry about it, PipeWire kind of replaced it), you, the user, only need to worry about PipeWire and JACK, and actually technically just PipeWire. To not confuse you too much, PipeWire is the one for the "basic" applications (your browser, games...) and JACK is the pro-audio, low-latency system. I don't know what Zorin OS comes with, but for example, I just have PipeWire on my system and "PipeWire-JACK", which makes PipeWire act as JACK, I think. (And for ALSA, if you want to know, it's like the low level architecture, blablabla, even I don't understand...) Note about NAM A2: neural-amp-modeler-lv2 by mikeoliphant on GitHub supports A2 since not too long ago, I don't know when you recorded this video, but yeah that's what I use personally (and I also use the LSP plugin pack, plus the Calf plugin pack). The steep learning curve is true, but it's also because you are used to Windows. It's going to take time, it took some time for me as well, I've been using Linux for like 2 years now. But to be real honest here, the lack of support is also to be taken into account. Windows is still the most used operating system for consumers, so companies will still prioritize it over Linux. About the latency: honestly I've only gotten an audio interface up until recently (a very old one too lol, Alesis IO|2), so I've never used it on Windows. The latency for me is fine, I might have some, but I'm used to it now, so I couldn't tell. Linux has improved A LOT in the last 2 years, and I'm sure it will continue to improve, with more people trying it out and the user base growing. As of right now, a lot of pro workflows are quite unsupported on Linux: pro audio, video editing, image processing, CAD... There "are" tools for all of these on Linux, but a lot of them aren't industry standard. Another issue with Linux is the fact that people see it simply as "Linux", which is understandable, but the thing is that Linux is just a piece of what makes a Linux-based operating system, Linux is a "kernel", it's basically the interface between your hardware and your software. Those operating systems that use Linux are called Linux distributions (or "distros" for short, you might know that), and they happen to act quite similarly because they all use Linux. But they can still vary, a lot, so what might work on a distro might not work on another, if distro A comes with a certain program or library, and distro B doesn't, a certain tool might not work. And it's hard for me to say that the fragmentation of Linux is an "issue" because it's by design, Linux is open source and anyone can do anything with it, that's the beauty of it. But that also has a downside, especially for a program as huge as Linux, Linux is just everywhere, and every integrator adapts it to their use case. Unfortunately, Linux might not be ready yet for pro audio usage (it might be enough for me, because I don't have clients and I don't know crap about audio recording lol), and that''s just how it is. Windows is a piece of junk, and Linux lacks support, which is a dealbreaker. Maybe for now you might boot on Windows for your work stuff (try disabling auto updates I guess, or maybe you already have but Windows doesn't care and still forces them down your throat, idk), and use Zorin for your personal usage (I wanted to say that you could give gaming on Linux a try, but then I saw that Battlefield 6 is very badly supported on Linux 😭, you can still give another game a try if you want). I hope anything in this huge, unorganized comment, will help clarify some stuff! (and that I didn't waste your time by giving you an enormous comment to read)
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I love your callout to manufacturers to finally making drivers and solutions for linux. Thanks ! (But : I am already recording in linux with ardour and mixbus, but the latencies shoukd be better !)
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“The results don’t even make sense” is hilarious 😂. Underrated
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🔥 Another great video Glenn. Enjoy that beast of a laptop.
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On-point video Glenn! I have been using Linux since the nineties. I'm a security consultant by profession though... Be careful what you're getting into, especially if you don't have anybody to help you out. You're likely going to have to say goodbye to most of your software and especially drivers for your hardware. Corporate support for alternative operating systems is very low, usually even non-existent. Most people do not have the patience and interest to work around that lack of support.
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You know what's funny? I just kept my Windows 10 desktop rolling(couldn't update to 11) and the biggest slowdown the thing has had since the EOL date was when Microsoft put Copilot on there without me knowing about it. Other than that it's been fine.
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I'm glad I made it to the end. Video closed with an all-time top 3 TV clip! 😂👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Thank you for calling on the industry to step up the Linux support
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skill issue (just kidding, it's 95% patience of a saint)
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Perfect timming on this video Glen, I just spent the past week trying to make Linux work for my DAW, I ran into all the same problems as you. I really dont wana go back to Win11, but I will install Win10 on my machine just for DAW work. Thanks!!!!
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Linux user since 2008 and have been doing home recordings the whole time, Linux has gotten immeasurably better on this front and it's still not even close enough to being ready for prime time. That being said there's a shining glimmer of hope that if gamers can keep the momentum going, this will get prosumer products to start having native support because streamers will demand it and then eventually it trickles up to pro gear because of the overlap of the biggest streams like live events and more traditional live productions. It's a very exciting time to be a Linux user, that's for sure. By the way, the final hurdle for Linux gaming is kernel anti-cheat, everything else pretty much just works with a few exceptions where you'll want Glorious Eggroll's special Proton with proprietary video codecs packed in because Valve can't legally roll them into mainline proton.
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As a Linux penguine this video is AWESOME!!!! Linux always gains from good criticism like this!!! Great call outs at the end.
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