Are you migrating?

[neverbeeninariot]

I recently migrated from Windows 2000, which I kept offline since 1984, to the more recent XP and must say the performance and overall snappiness is just phenomenal. Synth1 is running perfectly fine and I am also glad that VoS is still offering their VST2 versions to those who know.

I've been running Debian Trixie with KDE on Wayland, and Pipewire, on my laptop for some months now (since the Trixie/Testing freeze started). Bitwig, Reaper, U-he, Apisonic, TAL, AudioDamage, HY-Plugins, AudioThing, Tiagolr (RipplerX, and some nifty Shaperbox-esque FX), Nakst, Chow, Vital, Surge, Odin, Audacity, and recently Toneboosters - all native and all working great (to my surprise, to be honest...). Haven't tried running any Win software via Wine/Yabridge yet, though I'll get around to it at some point. Debian needed a small Grub boot tweak to turn on Pre-empt, but otherwise it's been quite performant given the hardware it's running.

I'm planning for a new PC build which will be dual-boot, and the laptop build was really for testing the waters on the Linux side, but it's become a nice portable audio set-up to use while travelling. I am anticipating a few teething issues with the new hardware (9950x with a 9070 xt), although Trixie seems to meet both kernel and mesa requirements, so I'm hoping it will be fine or require minimal tweaks/effort - we'll see.

[El°HYM]

Exactly. I see absolutely no problem with using Linux native plugins, maybe except that you might just be using some different tools. Its all there!

[havran]

Yes, I am definitely migrating from Windows 10 Pro to Linux. I have also been considering getting a Mac Mini for some specific apps that don't run well (or at all) on Linux -- but that's an expense I should put off for now.

Sorry for any disappointment that might occur, but recently some balance tipped and I finally agreed with some advice offered here and there on the web that one should first consider which apps one wants to use, and use the OS that works with those apps best.

Not to disparage the great apps available for Linux these days, but I had paid for some Windows apps that I wanted to use more.

Therefore, recently I spent some money to upgrade my (computer's) CPU and necessarily also the system-board so that running Windows 11 could be an option. I replaced those components this morning without wrecking the computer, hoorah! (I am writing from EndeavourOS at the moment and everything seems fine.)

[On a tight budget in this pre-UBI (let alone pre-Universal Splurgy Income for All) year, I spent about $80 on an AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and $107 on a Gigabyte B550 Eagle ATX board, which conveniently for me had two M2 slots -- with both of those costs spread over a few months.]

Aesthetics are important to me -- probably more important than practicality, upon reflection [however, if you saw my house you might disagree so strongly that you might wonder what is wrong with me and why the house hadn't been condemned and me put into some kind of care facility] -- but one thing that helps is that Win11 at first glance doesn't seem as ugly to me as Win10 had come to look over time, especially after my exposure to how nice a Linux desktop can look. [However, my own taste prefers just a nice wallpaper and a clock on the desktop and keybinds for the most-used things, or a very minimal dock with just the app launcher, brightness controller, and digital clock.]

Early this morning while waiting for the new system-board to arrive I learned that there are some cool enhancers that can help with "ricing" Win11 to taste (e.g., Windhawk and JaxCore). I'll also have to test the rumored support for Android apps (primarily to use the Pleco Chinese dictionary app -- which would require ARM emulation).

Signing off for now to see how the Windows 11 installation goes. [P.S. -- Yes, I will run a debloater soon after installation if only to remove the telemetry stuff and unwanted "services".]

[BrokenTrance]

Yes, I am definitely migrating from Windows 10 Pro to Linux. I have also been considering getting a Mac Mini for some specific apps that don't run well (or at all) on Linux -- but that's an expense I should put off for now.

Sorry for any disappointment that might occur, but recently some balance tipped and I finally agreed with some advice offered here and there on the web that one should first consider which apps one wants to use, and use the OS that works with those apps best.

Not to disparage the great apps available for Linux these days, but I had paid for some Windows apps that I wanted to use more.

Therefore, recently I spent some money to upgrade my (computer's) CPU and necessarily also the system-board so that running Windows 11 could be an option. I replaced those components this morning without wrecking the computer, hoorah! (I am writing from EndeavourOS at the moment and everything seems fine.)

[On a tight budget in this pre-UBI (let alone pre-Universal Splurgy Income for All) year, I spent about $80 on an AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and $107 on a Gigabyte B550 Eagle ATX board, which conveniently for me had two M2 slots -- with both of those costs spread over a few months.]

Aesthetics are important to me -- probably more important than practicality, upon reflection [however, if you saw my house you might disagree so strongly that you might wonder what is wrong with me and why the house hadn't been condemned and me put into some kind of care facility] -- but one thing that helps is that Win11 at first glance doesn't seem as ugly to me as Win10 had come to look over time, especially after my exposure to how nice a Linux desktop can look. [However, my own taste prefers just a nice wallpaper and a clock on the desktop and keybinds for the most-used things, or a very minimal dock with just the app launcher, brightness controller, and digital clock.]

Early this morning while waiting for the new system-board to arrive I learned that there are some cool enhancers that can help with "ricing" Win11 to taste (e.g., Windhawk and JaxCore). I'll also have to test the rumored support for Android apps (primarily to use the Pleco Chinese dictionary app -- which would require ARM emulation).

Signing off for now to see how the Windows 11 installation goes. [P.S. -- Yes, I will run a debloater soon after installation if only to remove the telemetry stuff and unwanted "services".]

I know that for many people, even though the sun still shines and the birds still sing, their worlds are rather dark 24/7 -- so, good night and good luck to all, and may better days come sooner than expected.

Thanks for that. I will probably go the same route - Win11 it is. For me it is the familiarity with it. To bad there is no Windows 11 ltsc for a reasonable price. I would love that.
Also i am so used to the dock i use in Windows that i can't live without it. Also, and i might open up a can of worms here, but there just is something with the vibrancy and depth with the general graphics in Windows that is a bit more pleasing than in Linux. It might be purely placebo, but i don't think so.

[BrokenTrance]

(Edit)

[havran]

Thanks for that. I will probably go the same route - Win11 it is. For me it is the familiarity with it. To bad there is no Windows 11 ltsc for a reasonable price. I would love that.
Also i am so used to the dock i use in Windows that i can't live without it. Also, and i might open up a can of worms here, but there just is something with the vibrancy and depth with the general graphics in Windows that is a bit more pleasing than in Linux. It might be purely placebo, but i don't think so.

Well, I had my particular reasons -- to whatever extent I could even be said to exist. (No, I am not a chatbot.)

Also (on a tangent), this seems like such a transitional period to me. Some of the seniors and brats in D.C. are so mired in brainstemmy weeds that they are incapable of beneficially discussing the swiftly approaching future, which is already here and keeps coming on.

When no human can get a job because of Robot Replacement, how could they afford to get voluntarily chipped to "belong" like the cool kids unless the robot CEOs hand them out like candy?

That scenario aside, just looking ahead five or ten years, I think making digital music with any kind of external device will seem quaint and cumbersome. Hmm, making music with a DAW on a chip in the head versus just imagining some music in the head as in olden times. I guess the diff would be that with a chip in the head one could share one's music with others, or bother them with it against their will.

So, similar to the matter of psychic abilities, there probably would be some ethical discussions (or cat squabbles) re: boundaries and the respect thereof. On the other hand, if we become so interconnected that it all turns to mush, then where are us? How could we send and receive if we are one? So much for trotting something out and multiple interpretations.

Time enough to be indistinct before and after incarnation -- although of course there's something practical about generally going along to get along during whatever incarnation.

All that said, I wonder what FL Studio 2032 might bring to the table (or whatever metaphor would be appropriate for that year).

P.S. -- Oh! I discussed digital music above, but I think live, in-the-moment, human-made music will still have its appreciators for a while, maybe even including some of our "ghost-in-the-machine" progeny.

[legendCNCD]

I had a windows 10 machine given to me by a neighbor I used to do favors for while they were gone... it was like new & used it for 3 years offline with never a problem, worked perfect... Then Wife's machine was going south so I gave it to her which immediately went online... Became slow & lumbering with settings changing with constant updating which really isn't updating it's spying & copying files then 4 months later SSD goes out... Replaced it good for a few days then slow-slow again...

All I use is XP it is fast & zippy on a fraction of resources the old stuff sounds just as good as anything...

TBH I thought Win10 was quite awful. Running 11 pro here, no slowdowns, no problems. Then again I do not have defender installed and updater stays the f*** off

I never gelled with XP either. 7 was amazing for its time.

[havran]

Now with windows 11 and tpm 2 are you moving away from Windows to Linux or perhaaaps Mac? I know to circumvent tpm 2 requirment, but anyway. I use Ableton Live and it is nice. Bitwig is okay but a bit more, dare i say bloated. Ableton Live is more in line with my thinkig. I need clip launch so it is either of these - the others that have tried with clip launch is no good for me. Not that it matters anyway, because i do nothing productive
I try Ubuntu Studio and so far so good. I have an old computer, but it is still very powerful so i will not in the near future buy a new one.

What is your thoughts?

Oh! I see you are the one who started this thread (I thought I had better re-read the OP to make sure I stayed more on-topic).

If you prefer Ableton to Bitwig, then definitely not Linux at the moment, because Live doesn't work as well on Linux as on Windows or Mac. Too much time and trouble to get Live to 90% or 95% functional, in my view.

Some other thoughts (and let's hope fewer essays!):

I was also considering getting a Mac, but would have wanted to start off with 32GB of RAM, which would have added $100+ to my monthly expenditures -- and there's really no room in my budget for that at the moment. My reason for considering a Mac: it could run the dual-platform (Win/Mac) apps and plugins I had already paid for, and some apps (e.g., Pro Tools) would look better because Mac is their primary platform target.

For Mac shoppers: I read on the web that when deciding how to allocate money between RAM and storage on the Mac Minis, it's better to prefer more RAM than more internal storage, because external storage is cheaper than what Apple is asking, and current Thunderbolt transfer rates are so fast that access to external storage is about as fast as if it were internal storage (corrections and rebuttals welcome). When it comes to music production, I think this would be the most relevant for people who use a lot of sample libraries.

After two days on Windows 11, I'm somewhat dismayed that it uses 4GB of RAM even before you start any apps (Linux desktops would use about 1GB to 1.5GB). And then there's the lag between login and the taskbar icons showing up, not to mention the further delay for all the system-tray items to load. (On EndeavourOS with KDE Plasma desktop, it would take just a few seconds from logging in to ready-to-go.) Not to mention how long the Windows updates take compared to similar updates for Linux.

"It's a matter of patience / and a matter of time / but for me it's a matter of drive" -- (riffing off of Matthew Sweet)

Sure, I know one approach would be to just acknowledge, accept, and accommodate (e.g., by going off to do something else for a few minutes while some tedious process takes its leisurely time).

On the plus side, I do like Win 11's aesthetics much better compared to Win 10. It seems Microsoft has borrowed ideas from some of the Linux desktop environments and window managers: such as the volume and brightness indicators being shown at the bottom center of the screen, slightly rounded corners on the windows, and the option to have a thin border in the accent color drawn around the windows -- these are all things I like. However, too bad there's no built-in way to hide the date and just show the time in a larger font on the taskbar.

At the moment I'm on the fence. Spent a year or more distro-hopping in Linux-land without really settling on one for long enough to proceed to the next stage of actually making some music or visual art, and at the moment -- even though I have spent money on the hardware upgrade and spent time installing and updating Windows 11 -- this foundation also seems unstable to me in the sense that I might go back to Linux anyway, despite the apps and plugins I would not be able to run. Well, this is just how I am, I guess. (I'll mention that I still don't quite regret the hardware upgrade, because the previous CPU and mobo were already a little over eight years old.)

One of my thoughts is that for those apps and plugins that can be made to run on Linux through WINE, I would probably spend less time overall doing that compared to time spent waiting for Windows to wake up and get itself ready. Hmm.

Haven't quite decided. Give me a three-fold menu in a restaurant and I might be paralyzed by overchoice.

BTW, I learned of WONK (Tokyo) from Ableton's artists page a few years ago and they immediately became one of my favorite bands, so Ableton has my gratitude just for that. On my side, I think Bitwig has a lot going for it and offers a lot of value for money, but I also still prefer the overall look of Ableton as well as its theme-ability. Just had this thought: aside from spreadsheets, Ableton Live is also somewhat reminiscent of the sliding rice-paper walls used in Japan.

(If only I knew what kind of blog to set up to perhaps monetize my written spew. )

[carambo]

No, I stay at home this year

[havran]

Not that it matters anyway, because i do nothing productive

Same here, cousin.

Despite a bumpy start with Win 11 Pro (details in a prior post of mine in another thread), after disabling some telemetry and "services" and a little bit of customization, I'm finding it agreeable enough that I might stick with it for a while.

[Trancit]

No, I stay at home this year

That made my day!!

[husker37]

and even a second hand Silicon Mac is way more future proof than any machine in Windoze world...

Do you seriously believe that?

[CrystalWizard]

Yes, i am moving to Ecuador.

Oh, wait, OSs, DAWs, hardware?
No, still have fives machines, three frozen in time with Windoze 7, Reaper, Ableton Live 9, and a bunch of other old but imo excellent virtual gear. Two on Windoze 10. Last two synths i acquired were Pigments 6 on sale and Zebra 2 (a very generous gift).
Next stop for OS (if there is one) will be Linux.

[havran]

Next stop for OS (if there is one) will be Linux.

Such a nice segue for something I was going to post anyway.

This week I upgraded my (computer's) hardware so that I could run Windows 11, and after three installations and some exploration and consideration: even with a local account and after disabling as much telemetry and data-harvesting as I could with the tools at hand, I still feel uneasy enough about being on Windows that I might blow it all away (yet again) and YES! MIGRATE COMPLETELY TO LINUX as I had been intending to do.

(I should mention that I already have about 30 years of discontinuous Linux experience -- others who are switching from Windows to Linux for the first time should be prepared for a learning curve, especially when it comes to setting things up for music production; however, for people who mostly just use a web-browser, office apps, and Steam, Linux on the desktop is ready for them.)

On my side, because of my prior investment in some Windows VST plugins, my Linux-distro preference would be one that is either Arch- or Manjaro-based, for the ease of installing and then downgrading wine-staging to a version that is more compatible with yabridge.*

That said, if someone prefers Fedora, PatrickL has some great wine-staging and related COPRs with clear instructions, and for Debian/Ubuntu-based distros, look for Kron4ek's wine builds (these suggestions are for the more Linux-savvy).
_____
* TBH, I haven't kept up with yabridge news the past few weeks or checked its github page or Discord, so maybe some erstwhile difficulties involving yabridge and current wine-staging have been resolved (or not).

[EnGee]

Logically, I should use my mini Mac with Logic and software/hardware. Morally, I should use Linux with Bitwig or Reaper with my hardware rompler and 2 synths, but I'm mostly still using Windows 11 with Ableton Live and some VST instruments and plugins!
So, immigrating is failed for me now I chose comfort and laziness over logic and morals! Anyway, I may try again to use Linux (mostly CachyOS, Arch based) with Bitwig/Reaper and some plugins. It seems I'm abandoning my hardware with whatever way I choose!