Don´t want to suppor thes Window sh... anymore. Change to Linux?

[GaryG]

So what are those ugly windows all the plugins are in in those screenshots? Is that what Reaper does? Hideous!

That's actually the full effects windows for a track, you can reorder/add new fx on the left etc. A normal floating fx gui will just have that one line of extra bits (preset drop down, routing, Param button etc). No, not pretty but functional. I particularly like the wet knob and the bypass tick, find it handy to have them there.

[BONES]

I prefer a mixer-centric workflow, having all those instrument windows open just buries everything else. One of the things I particularly like about Studio One is that you can see and/or adjust some added effects directly in the mixer channel, without opening their GUI at all. e.g. Once you add ProEQ, you get a little window in the mixer strip so you can see and edit it without opening the GUI, and with the limiter I put on the Master I can see when it's working - you get that inverted meter thing alongside the usual meter. It's brilliant.

[chk071]

Yep. I also like the plugin window in Studio One, where you can just switch to another instance of the plugins on another track. No other DAW I tried has that. Makes some thing way more comfortable, e.g. when you added a arpeggiator which triggers another track. You don't have to select the track it triggers then, you just switch to the plugin it triggers in the open plugin window. Very easy.

BTW, did you try Linux?

[glokraw]

I would have to leave so many great plugins behind, it would not be worth it just to hamstring myself like that for no good reason.

Tell me your top ten plugins are (give or take) and I'll try and confirm those that should run in linux Reaper/Bitwig with wine-staging, and LinVst plugin wrapper, and mention alternatives should they exist.
Cheers

I have no interest in making a list sorry, I wont be trying Linux again anytime soon.
I will say that I am on FL Studio now and was a Cubase user for years.
I don't see the point in putting in the extra steps (WINE, vst wrappers etc and maybe learning a new DAW) just to get everything running on Linux when I already have a rock solid setup on Windows.
Honestly apart from the privacy issues there aren't any real benefits.
I tried Manjaro, Ubuntu Standard, Ubuntu Studio and AV Linux, all very nice I will admit and if I had no other option I would be happy to make use of one of them, most likely AV Linux.
Still, it's just that the user interface experience on Windows is so much smoother and I want as little steps between what plays in my head and whatever project I am working on as possible.
In that regard Linux is still a few steps behind.

Few linux users care about convincing 1st world power users who greatly enjoy their current setups, to toss it all in favor of the eternal beta known as linux.

But there are plenty of kids and people new to music creation who might enjoy what is available directly, and then what is possible with some mental gymnastics. Plenty of them can't afford a Mac, commercial daws, name-brand plugins etc, but can still be creative and proficient given what is freely available, and used on 2nd-hand computers. For example:

ZynAddSubFX/Yoshimi 16 part multi-timbral synth with fx
Surge, ObXD, and Dexed among other quality synths.
Hydrogen drum/bass machine, patterns, full songs, edit kits
Calf Plugin suite -dozens of gui based effects
Rakarrack standalone multi-effect suite
Guitarix ampsim with dozens of circuit modeled fx
LinuxSampler and sfz players for various sampled instruments
wine-staging and LinVst for 10 years of well-programmed windows freeware.
Ardour and Qtractor daws.

I recently got a 128 gig mini SD card and usb card-reader, $15... installed MX Linux with wine-staging, LinVst, Reaper, and Harrison Mixbus.
I added Reaktor, Kontakt, Battery4, some IK, and the parts of Komplete used most often. Also the U-he synths and SynthMasters.
Works very well for recording, with an occasional gui slowdown due to mini-card speed. This is a portable and reliable setup, not needed for daily use, but a good testbed, and also as a backup should the need arise.
AVLinux will be based on MX Linux in a few months, might be worth checking in 2021.
Cheers

[glokraw]

Yep. I also like the plugin window in Studio One, where you can just switch to another instance of the plugins on another track. No other DAW I tried has that. Makes some thing way more comfortable, e.g. when you added a arpeggiator which triggers another track. You don't have to select the track it triggers then, you just switch to the plugin it triggers in the open plugin window. Very easy.

BTW, did you try Linux?

That's an interesting feature, especially if it works on 3rd party plugins. Presonus understands the daw market, a free version, light version, full version with plugin suite, upgrades, crossgrades, educational discounts, how-2 videos, all bases covered. That said, I'm just a small-project Reaper user, and can't recall a task which I thought was oddly difficult to accomplish. Sends, receives, chains, daw-centric effects etc...and of course the wretched plugin windows can open/close as desired. What fool invented windows for plugins?

[glokraw]

So what are those ugly windows all the plugins are in in those screenshots? Is that what Reaper does? Hideous!

That's actually the full effects windows for a track, you can reorder/add new fx on the left etc. A normal floating fx gui will just have that one line of extra bits (preset drop down, routing, Param button etc). No, not pretty but functional. I particularly like the wet knob and the bypass tick, find it handy to have them there.

And also where you can load/save fxp presets (very handy)
and load/save fxb soundbanks. Reaper has 34 items in just the view menu alone, not that I have time to examine them unless I stumble upon a ravving endorsement of one.
Cheers

[GRUMP]

Linux is a Trap. The Usergroup is a Selection of People who have no Trust and potentially something to hide.

Hah!
I remember watching/reading news bits, circa ~2011 (a lot of news bits I recall) depicting those who avoid Facebook as the same; 'shady types who have something to hide--a possible danger even!' ... I was one of those people then. I avoided FB despite pleads and persuasion of friends, family and even employers to get an account!
I'm still one of those people today

And I´m one of those People who doesn´t even look Television. Except Octonauts or Paw Patrol maybe when my Daughties do... but that is no comparison to MS Win and reflects Preferences and no Attitude. Fuckbuck wastes Time and nothing else. MS Win instead can get damn serious if you know what you´re doing - and that is also the Reason why a certain Amount of "Control" is absolutely justified.

Another Aspect: Descisions should be based on Facts, Advantages and Disadvantages - and not on Fears and Misstrust. Or

See, I wouldn't leap to say that all those who use and or value Linux are paranoid kooks, who are fearful of Big Brother--and I'm not necessarily saying that you are. Nor would I leap to say that those who use Win/Mac are lemmings or dupes.

To be clear, my personal protest of MS & Apple is part philosophical and part practical. To the practical extent, I'm simply done being jerked around by them. I think they've become very abusive--much like Facebook has ... That's really it!

Nevertheless, I'm grateful for all the positive things these companies have contributed to the world.
GRUMP said earlier "... Windows is the mightiest Enabler ever on Earth. We should all respect that." I'd agree, to the extent that they've set some really good trends and developments. Of course, not all of these developments have been good ...

To the idea of 'justified control,' sure, that's the norm. 'Control' is the prevailing tendency; people don't need any help with this.
It's the opposite I'd like to see exalted. I'd rather patron the bazaar than the cathedral, as the old FOSS analogy goes.

The main thing I'm here to point out though is how powerful, practical and enabling Linux is. As a power user, it's been a true delight.
On the other hand, Windows and Mac don't need anymore celebration; we've been concertedly shown their vision of the world for years now. I'm not a fan and I don't have to be, because I've found an excellent alternative.

I am no Admin, but know about their Business quiet well and - yes - Linux is great and important and all that - but not the right Solution for normal Users who do better not touch deeper Configurations - as we know from Windows, too

Please don´t missunderstand my first Post, I didn´t want to misscredit anybody - but thinking that Linux would be much better in Terms of Privacy and "Freedom" is an Illusion i. m. O. and I principally question the alternative "Solution" when confronted with Conspiracy Talk.

"Self Selection" is a severe Problem today - and very "useful" for some Groups and Purposes.

[glokraw]

In the vein of linux as a supplement rather than a replacement of the duopoly, and recognizing the lack of name recognition and odd names of some linux apps, I'll mention two of the most useful apps, the Rakarrack multi-effects panel, and the Hydrogen sample-player/drum machine.

The example mp3 is a Hydrogen beat played through three different rakarrack effects presets, 20 seconds each. Each rak holds 10 effects, choosable from 40+ ...each with typical control sliders, a small group of presets, an off button and the panel has it's own master controls and browser. These apps are both part of Ubuntu Studio, AVLinux, and also in most standard linux repositories

rakarrack.png

Hydrogen is a grid/pattern based sample player, known mainly as a drum machine, simple to use, and each sample can have four of it's own pan-able effects. The supplied kits can be restocked with your own samples, and renamed accordingly.

Hydrogen-sample-player.png

Cheers

[glokraw]

Played a Gamelan 'kit' made in Hydrogen, with a couple Rakarrack sets for ambience. All very easy for any vst user to do.

[Kott]

rakarrack is abandoned

[glokraw]

Works fine, only abandoned if someone won't use it.
I saw an abandoned $20 bill once, it still had value.
I used it. Win users keep saying Absynth 5 is abandoned, even though it imports wave files. I still use it.

But the re_surge_nce of Surge gives me hope that
someone will like the project, and advance the code. A few minor bugs, but lots of potential. And lot's of fun.
Cheers

[ahanysz]

Once the source code is published, it's never truly abandoned. Just in hibernation until someone chooses to revive it.

[lunardigs]

... but thinking that Linux would be much better in Terms of Privacy and "Freedom" is an Illusion i. m. O. and I principally question the alternative "Solution" when confronted with Conspiracy Talk.

"Self Selection" is a severe Problem today - and very "useful" for some Groups and Purposes.

Sure, I understand. Same here, I don't mean to offend anyone.

Tell me though, what makes you think Linux isn't much better/an illusion 'in terms of privacy and freedom?' Are you saying it fails on some level to deliver this, because ... of it's design, the people behind it ... what?

[jancivil]

This is going to continue to grate on me as long as the thread gets top-posted so I'm going to remark:
"proprietary drivers aren't necessary. The Linux kernel is the driver"
Proprietary drivers are necessary when they are. If the drivers to the audio interface I have do not install under Linux there is no Linux for me (not that there would be anyway because of a number of deal-killers). And one doubts it is with that kind of ideological emphasis. It's that kind of a difference. The difference brought to us by good drivers vs not-so-good can be enormous. So with no support at all for 'the Linux kernel is all' it looks a bit fanatical rather than persuasive. Just sayin'

[glokraw]

There are plenty of fanatic for each OS, for open=source etc.
In my case, I use linux for music because of non-musical utilities:
configurable window managers (Enlightennment)
panel and menu flexibility
file managers (Thunar, Fileroller, pcmanfm
partition management (pclinuxos-distro)
portable filesystems (squash savefiles, usbstick installs)
text editors (Kwrite, gedit, leafpad)
archive handler integration in Thunar filemanager
basic graphics capabilities
disk space savings

To be fair, I've never seen a windows 10 session in progress, nor ever used a mac, I wouldn't even recognize their default gui, so in actuality, you can say 'I don't know what I'm missing'.

I do know that based on my win 7 dabbling, that I much prefer using a bunch of small and quite diverse linux distros based on their individual merits, compared to using a behemoth OS bringing a fair share of corporate impositions. Amid the diversity, there is enough core commonality that I can produce music across the board, I will also say, that XP and win 7 introduced me to great music software, thankfully almost all of which run well enough in linux. I purchased some Korg, Propellorheads and AIR etc software at no-brainer prices, hoping wine will eventually overcome lazy/sloppy programming.

Last knight, I installed a new pclinuxos on a 16 gig usb stick, and simply copied over my .u-he, .vst, .reaper and .config folder contents, the linvst wrapper bits, and a fresh wine, and began recording.