Page 1 of 2
Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2021 6:09 pm
by basementmedia
Hi,
one year ago i asked this question and now - after having tried manjaro for one year - i ask it again.
Which distribution do you prefer for professional audio recording.
My experience with manjaro was "ok".
But i often had to restart jack server and had problems with strange audio cracklings / noise qhich sometimes came and then after a few seconds disappeard.
Now - as my manjaro system doesnt want to start (after a system update) i am asking again:
Should i again use manjaro or is there a better audio distro available.
My main requirement is, that the distro works with my RME Fireface 800 (firewire), means FFADO should work.
What distros do you use and why?
Best wishes
Daniel
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2021 10:04 pm
by lazyklimm
Ubuntu(Xubuntu in my case, but it doesn't matter that much), it's debian-based, it has native KXstudio repos support etc
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 5:51 am
by Kott
Hi,
basementmedia wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 6:09 pm
What distros do you use
openSUSE Tumbleweed + Geekos DAW repo
https://geekosdaw.tuxfamily.org/en/
I'm a member of that team (package maintainer)
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 2:24 pm
by alex stone
AVL-MXE is a complete distro specializing in audio/midi/video.
http://www.bandshed.net/avlinux/
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 10:50 am
by Linuxmusician01
I always recommend a distro that a lot of people use so you can ask for help (on-line or from an acquaintance). And one that has Long Term Support (LTS). Distro's that are meant to use for one specific purpose (e.g. producing music) are less widely supported. You can adjust Linux to your specific needs: that's its strong point. An Ubuntu LTS flavor would be my advice.
As for "professional audio recording" (like you said): does that include using VST3's (as opposed to VST2)? If so then Ubuntu LTS 20.04 Focal needs some additional repositories to be activated. That's because, for example, the Carla and QTracor versions provided by Ubuntu's repo's don't yet support VST3.
Good luck and choose wisely!
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 12:45 pm
by skei
Linux Mint, because (almost) everything just works, and you can focus on the important things - the music..
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 3:17 am
by GMaq
Hi,
I develop AVL-MXE and use it daily, for many people (there are always exceptions) it is "install and use". I don't know of a more complete OOTB setup for Audio (and Video) production out there currently.. That doesn't mean it's perfect or even close to it but I think in your situation it's worth a Live boot to try.
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:02 am
by milo
+1 on @GMaq's suggestion. I was a long time Mint user, then decided to try AVL-MXE when I got a new SSD. I have not been disappointed. Works out of the box, very little config. All I really did was uninstall some of the stuff I don't use and edit /etc/fstab to mount my home network share. And I didn't have to spend an afternoon doing mortal combat with realtimequickconfigscan.
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:37 pm
by gennargiu
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=23528 
only native gnu linux software,easy uses,mate desktop, debian bullseye stable based + kx studio
ciao
gennaro
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 4:38 am
by baconature
I am far from a computer whiz, actually I am pretty ignorant to much of the tech end of computing. I am and have been using Ubuntu Studio with KX Studio repositories added since 2016. I update to the next LTR usually 8 - 10 months after they are released and have generally been pleased with the resulting system. Other than music production, I don't do very much with the computer other than general email communications and check out my scientific interests and news. I did have a problem with the switch of bios to what ever the new system is for that functionality. In general other than learning how to set software up correctly, it is a solid system that just works.
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 5:01 pm
by martibs
+1 for AVL-MXE
1. It's made for audio production
2. It's based on Debian stable, which will not break when you do a system update
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:44 am
by Linuxmusician01
martibs wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 5:01 pm
+1 for AVL-MXE
1. It's made for audio production
2. It's based on Debian stable, which will not break when you do a system update
Indeed it won't break if you do a sys upgr. However, if you've activated some external repositories (KXStudio for the latest version of Carla-rack with VST3 support for instance) then it might...
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:47 am
by martibs
It may break the apps from those repositories, but not the system itself. Which is, from my experience, a possibility with rolling release distros.
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:48 am
by sunrat
Linuxmusician01 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:44 am
martibs wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 5:01 pm
+1 for AVL-MXE
1. It's made for audio production
2. It's based on Debian stable, which will not break when you do a system update
Indeed it won't break if you do a sys upgr. However, if you've activated some external repositories (KXStudio for the latest version of Carla-rack with VST3 support for instance) then it might...
Pretty sure KX repos are active by default in AVL-MXE and are generally compatible with Debian Stable. Maybe if you have some other not-so-compatible third party repo active it might.
Re: Which Distro to choose for my recording studio
Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2021 9:01 am
by Linuxmusician01
sunrat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:48 am
Linuxmusician01 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 10:44 am
martibs wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 5:01 pm
+1 for AVL-MXE
1. It's made for audio production
2. It's based on Debian stable, which will not break when you do a system update
Indeed it won't break if you do a sys upgr. However, if you've activated some external repositories (KXStudio for the latest version of Carla-rack with VST3 support for instance) then it might...
Pretty sure KX repos are active by default in AVL-MXE and are generally compatible with Debian Stable. Maybe if you have some other not-so-compatible third party repo active it might.
Funny you should mention that. I spent the weekend de-activating 5 of the 7 of the repositories that are activated by following the official
KXStudio repo install instructions. Some of 'm gave an error like this one on updating repo info:
Code: Select all
The repository 'https://kx.studio/repo gcc5 Release' does not have a Release file.
I almost posted a topic with the title "Are the KXStudio repo's done?"
On KXStudio's site is says that they'll work w/ distro's from Debian 10 and Ubuntu 18.04 onwards. I have Ubuntu 20.04 which isn't even that new. All the info in the repo's say "Ubuntu Bionic" which is ver. 18.04. KXStudio has been "downgraded" from a distribution to a repository a while ago. It's developer de-activated his account here. I was afraid that he might have lost the interest in the project all together as of now.
I only use the KXStudio repo's to get me the latest version of Carla that is VST3 compatible which is not in the Ubuntu 20.04 repo's yet. In the future I'd like to be completely "KXStudio free/independent". The dev of KXStudio is the same as for Carla if I'm not mistaken.
