Future of Windows in pro audio

[machinesworking]

Lol, I love how "Linux" is constantly disparaged for what software won't run on it. As if "Linux" decided to block Camelot Pro or something.

It's legit complaint, I have hundreds of plugins that almost to a one run on Mac and Windows, but only a few dozen at most run natively on Linux. I've got 7 DAWs on this Mac only two run in Linux, 6 run on windows.

You're limited in choices on Linux, whether that is the "fault" of Linux isn't even part of the equation, it's just a fact.

[lunardigs]

Lol, I love how "Linux" is constantly disparaged for what software won't run on it. As if "Linux" decided to block Camelot Pro or something.

It's legit complaint, I have hundreds of plugins that almost to a one run on Mac and Windows, but only a few dozen at most run natively on Linux. I've got 7 DAWs on this Mac only two run in Linux, 6 run on windows.

You're limited in choices on Linux, whether that is the "fault" of Linux isn't even part of the equation, it's just a fact.

So be it, but that's not a 'it's Linux's fault' thing. It's the fault of those beloved developers who don't care about Linux--and that's to say there's even some kind of fault involved. Personally, I don't care about those developers who don't build for Linux. My money can simply remain in my wallet.

Furthermore, this isn't a strength of Windows; Windows merely has a legacy and a monopoly currently. Which like everything else is temporal, and dependent upon the next thing they do--right or wrong--hence this thread.

[machinesworking]

So be it, but that's not a 'it's Linux's fault' thing. It's the fault of those beloved developers who don't care about Linux--and that's to say there's even some kind of fault involved. Personally, I don't care about those developers who don't build for Linux. My money can simply remain in my wallet.

Furthermore, this isn't a strength of Windows; Windows merely has a legacy and a monopoly currently. Which like everything else is temporal, and dependent upon the next thing they do--right or wrong--hence this thread.

Sure, but Windows isn't existing in a vacuum, Mac OS and Windows mostly both are developed for at the same rate, with few exceptions. Especially in terms of audio software.

I admit I'm fascinated with Linux, but it's still an uphill battle. You might be willing to give up hundreds of plugins for a not very well supported platform, but that makes you an exception not the rule. The migration from Windows or Mac OS to Linux is slow simply because Windows and Mac OS have worked.

The one Caveat could be Arm, and the newer chips that facilitate comparable specs to Apple Silicon, this is going so slow for Windows I do see an in for Linux to take over there. I guess unlike a lot of users I hate that Apple never adopted touch screens in the main OS, and Linux with Bitwig on an Arm touchscreen laptop does sound appealing, especially considering Bitwigs ability to sandbox plugins, so x86 native wouldn't be an issue.

[audiojunkie]

Lol, I love how "Linux" is constantly disparaged for what software won't run on it. As if "Linux" decided to block Camelot Pro or something.

It's legit complaint, I have hundreds of plugins that almost to a one run on Mac and Windows, but only a few dozen at most run natively on Linux. I've got 7 DAWs on this Mac only two run in Linux, 6 run on windows.

You're limited in choices on Linux, whether that is the "fault" of Linux isn't even part of the equation, it's just a fact.

I agree too. You are more limited on choices. The good news is that it’s getting better, year by year. But for those who need software that is not yet available, Linux, at this time, may not be the best choice.

[lunardigs]

I don't mind the creative restrictions.
I don't like buying plugins just to get inspired, so the less available, the better

[machinesworking]

I don't mind the creative restrictions.
I don't like buying plugins just to get inspired, so the less available, the better

Really depends on the type of music you do, you're OK if you do rock band recordings, but if you're doing modern electronic music then hopefully you have a lot of hardware that covers the missing bases and aren't a sample head, granular or orchestral library wise. Orchestral wise, you're just kinda screwed.

This is all another reason to wish billionaires weren't morons. Likely the first thing I would do if I became one is buy up Native Instruments, port to Linux, make their entire catalog touch compatible, open source NKS, free it from the hardware and software, bring back a modern version of ReWire, buy Vienna Instruments port VEP and drop the price to near zero for everything.

[lfm]

This is all another reason to wish billionaires weren't morons.

Didn't Uli Behringer do his part for music lovers?

I would exempt him...

[keys_au1]

One thing I do wish Microsoft would fix is the Bluetooth BLE issue! It connects a device then turns it off again to conserve power. Meaning users need to use something like a combo LoopMIDI and Midiberry, to keep attached bluetooth ble devices connected.

Of course in MacOS and Linux it all just works

[keys_au1]

Linux simply cannot handle live gig operations, as in, there are zero apps like Camelot Pro, Cantabile, Gig Performer et al.

Bitwig can more than do live gigs. I'm not a Bitwig user or Linux user, but Bitwig is very capable of being set up for live use.

can you link me to anything that could help explain that further? Bitwig in Linux and live work I mean....

[Grizzellda]

Likely the first thing I would do if I became one is buy up Native Instruments, port to Linux, make their entire catalog touch compatible, open source NKS, free it from the hardware and software, bring back a modern version of ReWire, buy Vienna Instruments port VEP and drop the price to near zero for everything.

And thank you! Very generous of you...

It would be awesome to access what you just described, but unlikely.

[audiojunkie]

I don't mind the creative restrictions.
I don't like buying plugins just to get inspired, so the less available, the better

Really depends on the type of music you do, you're OK if you do rock band recordings, but if you're doing modern electronic music then hopefully you have a lot of hardware that covers the missing bases and aren't a sample head, granular or orchestral library wise. Orchestral wise, you're just kinda screwed.

This is all another reason to wish billionaires weren't morons. Likely the first thing I would do if I became one is buy up Native Instruments, port to Linux, make their entire catalog touch compatible, open source NKS, free it from the hardware and software, bring back a modern version of ReWire, buy Vienna Instruments port VEP and drop the price to near zero for everything.

All of this sounds good to me! I hope you become a billionaire!

[audiojunkie]

This is all another reason to wish billionaires weren't morons.

Didn't Uli Behringer do his part for music lovers?

I would exempt him...

I wouldn’t. He’s still making up for the past sins of the 90s and 2000s.

[machinesworking]

Linux simply cannot handle live gig operations, as in, there are zero apps like Camelot Pro, Cantabile, Gig Performer et al.

Bitwig can more than do live gigs. I'm not a Bitwig user or Linux user, but Bitwig is very capable of being set up for live use.

can you link me to anything that could help explain that further? Bitwig in Linux and live work I mean....

There's a plugin making a rack of instruments the Instrument Selector, it also turns off power to the deselected one. the External Instrument plugin also does program change messages. Plus of course the basic Ableton Live like workflow for firing audio and midi like a phrase sampler. The equivalent worksflow in Live isn't as easy, and doesn't really release resources back to the DAW. IMO along with the plugin sandboxing in Bitwig it's a great choice for live performance.

[side note] I just wish they would look at DP11 with Chunks, that's the only thing that would cement it. You can make a single large project with all of your songs, backing tracks and clips for each song, but I kinda wish they would skip the fast project loading or single project, for the virtual racks and projects within projects than DP does.

[machinesworking]

This is all another reason to wish billionaires weren't morons.

Didn't Uli Behringer do his part for music lovers?

I would exempt him...

I wouldn’t. He’s still making up for the past sins of the 90s and 2000s.

That, and I think it's great he makes replicas of older retired gear, but targeting products that are currently being made is kinda evil. Plus there's no reason to keep a limitation, if he ever gets around to putting out a CS80 clone and it doesn't have MPE support he should be tarred and feathered. Where's the weird one of a kind gear? Polivoks? Moog Source? etc.

[Psychlist1972]

One thing I do wish Microsoft would fix is the Bluetooth BLE issue! It connects a device then turns it off again to conserve power. Meaning users need to use something like a combo LoopMIDI and Midiberry, to keep attached bluetooth ble devices connected.

Of course in MacOS and Linux it all just works

Yes. Our BLE MIDI 1.0 implementation is pretty lacking. It's not for power saving reasons, but just because when the support was put in-box, our APIs had really bad presence detection for BLE.

Updated BLE MIDI will come now that we have a much better foundation to put it on. Midiberry is actually using our WinRT MIDI 1.0 API's BLE MIDI support, and makes it available to the WinMM MIDI 1.0 API. The reason you have to use MidiBerry is because BLE isn't something that could be shoehorned into the old WinMM API. It's part of why there's a "use WinRT MIDI" option in Cubase -- so you can use BLE MIDI devices without loopMIDI and MIDIberry.

Also, in the MIDI Association, we're (Apple, Microsoft, Yamaha, etc.) all working together on BLE MIDI 2.0.

Pete
Microsoft