Production Studio: Linux Might Be The Answer

I’ve been using a computer as a part of my music production for the past 25 years. From Hip Hop eJay and “cracked” versions of Cool Edit Pro (now Adobe Audition) and Cubase SX 1.0 on Windows 98 and XP through to Pro Tools on Windows 8.1. My final state on the Windows platform was Studio One 7, which is what I’m currently running on Windows 11. For the past couple of months, I’ve been reorganizing my production setup to eliminate computer. The reason for that is part I never grasp composing music on a computer and really only relied on one for recording and mixing audio, and part the Window’s operating system has become a headache (lack of support for software, constant system updates, and way to often needs to upgrade operating system unnecessarily).

When I first started playing around with the Linux operating system(s) a year ago, I attempted to run Ubuntu Studio on a couple of systems (a 2013 iMac and my current Dell Optiplex 7080). The thing that made me want to test this out was finding out that Studio One, a DAW that I’d been using for over 10 years, was available on Linux. Being that I was somewhat spoiled by the simple plug-and-play of Windows ASIO audio devices and class-compliant USB devices, needing to do more than a little bit of research and studying on how to get audio to work in Linux was a little bit of a turnoff as I’d been away from music for so long and was ready to just jump back in quickly.

Two weeks ago, after building a table-top rack for some of my audio gear, I had an idea to build a second rack to house a dedicated recording box made from a mini PC, audio interface, and some interfacing devices all centered around Linux. While doing some more research into the Linux side of this project, I started to understand “audio on Linux” a lot more. JACK, the thing that made my head hurt, finally started to make sense. And the things that I realized that I could do became inspired. Not only did I now have an operating system that I didn’t hate and could rely on, but JACK, along with Studio One being available on Linux as well as REAPER, would allow me to, eventually, build the production studio that I’ve always wanted for a price that working on Windows or macOS wouldn’t allow me to; affordably. ASIO4ALL is cool, but JACK kills it.

I think Linux Might Be The Answer. So I’m planning to add this journey to Project Alphabet Soup. This will be a completely new way of working with digital audio for me and switch from a lot of what I’ve known for the past 25 years. I feel like I have more control over my workflow and the capabilities of my equipment. Although I can make this work with the equipment that I currently have, which will be the base of the studio, my goal is the build the production studio that I’ve always wanted as far as operation and technical capabilities. I’m still confined to my master-bedroom-turned-into-an-office-and-studio and don’t have the physical space that I would like to build in, but that may or may not come in the future.

So, come with me on this journey of Audio Production On Linux. I’ll be documenting everything for those who are just curious about the process or those who may be looking to do the same thing or something similar. Periodically check the tag linux-audio for updates.