# Sigh....REALLY wanted to try Ubuntu Studio..... (rant content)



## buckaroobanzai (Feb 2, 2006)

I've been a Windows user ever since there WAS Windows.

Several people have suggested that I switch to Ubuntu Studio for my new recording projects. I have dabbled with Linux a few times but always got defeated by the level of geek-ness required to configure it, especially where audio is concerned.

So, I decided to try again....I rebuilt my backup recording PC, using common-as-mud components and a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 PCI card. An older card, sure, but it has worked fine in my Windows XP environment.

And, once again, Ubuntu lets me down. Audio is scratchy, hissy, and distorted thru the Audigy card. Completely unuseable. Internet searches lead to all sorts of tweaking inside Linux, patching obscure files, editing config files in some editor I don't know how to use, and so on.

Sorry, Ubuntu Studio, but your DVD goes into the bin again. Can't believe after all this time, you can't just install Linux and start recording. I give up.


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## buckaroobanzai (Feb 2, 2006)

Update: Same computer - Win7 installed and updated, Audacity installed, and 4 track demo completed @ 4PM same day as above rant. Windows it is.


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

I remember when so many people were claiming Linux was going to take over the desktop and Windows was doomed. It made sense, especially for enterprise business since Linux was 'free', and was already gaining ground on servers in the datacenter. That was at least 10 years ago. Wrongo! 

My experience with various Linux distros is similar to yours. It seems like guys who develop Linux stuff enjoy keeping it so it's only useable by 'Linux guys'. Whereas Windows always tried (sometimes failed) to be easy for anyone.


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## Beach Bob (Sep 12, 2009)

Robboman said:


> I remember when so many people were claiming Linux was going to take over the desktop and Windows was doomed. It made sense, especially for enterprise business since Linux was 'free', and was already gaining ground on servers in the datacenter. That was at least 10 years ago. Wrongo!
> 
> My experience with various Linux distros is similar to yours. It seems like guys who develop Linux stuff enjoy keeping it so it's only useable by 'Linux guys'. Whereas Windows always tried (sometimes failed) to be easy for anyone.


I can remember Unix being the latest and greatest that was about to take over the world.. in 1985... 

It can never seem to gain enough traction, even when free as Linux... sometimes I want to chuck it all, by something shiny and white and let the ghost of Steve Jobs take over...


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Add me to the list of those beat by Linux. Somewhere in the mid 90's I was so pissed at Win95 I tried to switch over. At the time my work was running Unix so I figured no problem, I got this. Wrong! I don't see how anyone who's not a programmer can configure and run Linux.


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

It depends entirely on the hardware you have. Linux is slowly improving its hardware compatibility. Around 3 years ago, I had an old Thinkpad laptop that I used to experiment with Ubuntu. For the most part, I was amazed at how far the UI had come since I tried it years ago.

I remember running Ardour (a Linux-based multi-track recording software) with no problems. It started to get buggy with more than a few tracks but that was because the computer was pretty slow and couldn't handle it. The same would happen in Windows on that laptop.

Laptop eventually died so I tried it on my latest PC and I can barely get anything to work. I like to tinker with things a little but it gets to a point where it is just not worth the time.


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## PulienJier (Dec 5, 2014)

Linux is good for text, youtube, emails and super geeks that can program a calculator to launch a space shuttle. And even though you can program Linux to work correctly with your hardware, it will never sound as good as ableton or all those expensives software. Sadly.


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## jtienhaara (Dec 4, 2013)

Ubuntu sucks. Old grizzled UNIX and Linux people hate the things Ubuntu does to bastardize a pristine operating system (for example they introduced the horrible Pulseaudio).

I don't even know if it has a realtime kernel. If not, that would kill it for any serious multi-channel audio work right out of the gate.

But good luck getting decent audio on a machine with any OS that isn't tweaked to maximize performance. I'll never understand why Windows users love tweaking their operating systems for video games or audio or 7 LED monitors, changing ASIO and virtual memory settings with proprietary terminology and user interfaces that I'll never understand, but then throw up their arms and rant about the crazy geeks and how they keep trying to convince everyone "Linux is better and it's going to take over the world". If you're the type of person who falls into the "Linux is better" / "Windows is better" / "Mac is better" traps then I have some old broken "better" music gear I'd like to sell you.

That said I have been a hard core Linux user since 1994 (!), and I have been frustrated by just about every audio distribution out there. I don't mind editing standard, well-documented configuration files. I *do* mind every developer under the sun introducing their "better" ideas to a family of operating systems that has been refined and tuned since 1970. Audio/visual developers seem to want to leave their personal marks on distributions, rather than just bundle a decent, compatible set of software that normal people (i.e. those of us who haven't read their quasi-religious manifestos) can use. All variants of Ubuntu fall into the latter category, IMHO.

I used 64Studio some years back, and enjoyed it until it disappeared due to lack of maintainers. Then, a few years ago, after slogging through many horribly ill-thought-out distributions, I finally stumbled upon a Linux distro that works for me.

It's Canadian, too.

AVLinux:

http://www.bandshed.net/AVLinux.html

It's not for everyone. But you can burn a Live CD and try it, without replacing OS etc, to see if it's right for you.

It's a realtime kernel (read: scheduling priority goes to audio stuff). You'd be best using "Jack" for audio routing, and some kind of UI to configure and control it. I use "QJackCtl" for historical reasons, but there are many alternatives these days, and they all come bundled with AVLinux. Once you've configured your hardware, apps like QJackCtl act as patch bays for audio and MIDI.










I much prefer having a standalone patchbay app, which is separate from my recording app, separate from drum machine, separate from synth, separate from plugins rack, etc. But "separate apps" is really a core design principle in UNIX/Linux -- or "modularity", as grizzled developers would call it; or, to be a bit salesman-y about it, "freedom to choose".

Or, if you prefer: "AVLinux is better, and it's going to take over the world!"

Merry Christmas everyone,

Johann


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