Poll: What operating systems (OSes) run your music production systems (Dec 2024)?

[seafire]

Yes! It's really cool tech! What latencies are you getting from your 10 year old laptop?

5 working days

[audiojunkie]

Yes! It's really cool tech! What latencies are you getting from your 10 year old laptop?

5 working days

Sounds useful!

[sacer]

win 11 - everything like kore2, steinberg guitar rig 2 and many old plugins and old versions for old projects are still working very well - never had any issues.
Best CPU's have been intel haswell 8 core 5960x, now i have 16 cores AMD 5950x and will upgrade to 9950X3D
Compared to mac - you can upgrade to high end systems for 20 Percent of da money.
When i was running my intel i7 5960x with 8 cores 10 years ago, a comperative Mac Pro costed around 50.000 and my system only <5000€, with same amount of ram and ssd. No frustrations that plugins or hardware devices stopped working with an Win update (i was always an early adopter of every Win release), except when apple has taken over Camel Audio with Alchemy -> it's still working, but what would have happened if they wouldn't have taken them ?

[BONES]

Intend on going Linux in the majority. Getting the spouse to do that will take time though. Everything I read implies to me that Windows 11 is a half baked test of how much they can inflict on the users.

If that's the case, you are reading in the wrong places. Yes, Microsoft annoy you very occasionally with "tips" that steer you towards one or another of their products but I only see a handful of those a year, maybe 3 or 4, and they are as easy to ignore as any other notification.

In pretty much every way that matters, Win11 is far and away the best version of Windows ever. The only thing I don't love about it is the Start menu, which for me is a huge step down from Win10. But I got over that pretty quickly and it doesn't bug me as much as the Dock in macOS (for example). Things like tabs in Windows explorer and the vast improvements in Notepad are worth the effort on their own. Win 11 also offers an incredible touch experience and I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't push that more.

Where Microsoft have gone over the top is in their other services. OneDrive and Outlook drive me up the wall with their intrusive entreaties to upgrade but Windows 11 itself isn't like that at all. It's also no different elsewhere, Google really piss me off with their promotions. e.g. Every, single time I open the photos app on my Android phone, I have to dismiss two screens that try to get me to buy Google Drive storage before I can access my photos. It's f**ked and I hate it, it's orders of magnitude more intrusive and annoying than anything Microsoft does.

Right now I'm dealing with Windows deciding and turning off cores and the ability to turn them back on.

What? I've never had a problem anything like that. What did you do to cause it?

It's also snuck in a bunch of junk programs and AI "assistant" that I don't want or need and I'm now researching how to remove them like I was able to do before for unnecessary Internet interference.

Where's the problem? I just ignore everything I don't need. I wouldn't even know how to find the AI. If it is there, it is totally unintrusive. Actually, I don't think it is there, I think it is exclusive to their Windows-on-ARM devices at this stage. That is certainly the only place I've seen them promoting it.

I want to remove it and keep it removed. As I've done with other useless apps from them which they eventually sneak back on with certain updates. I've even turned off updates many times and they find ways to turn it back on. The only mystery to me is why they insist that everybody needs to have everything they demand everyone to have.

Probably because we're not all you and everyone has different needs. But I'll ask again, why does it matter? Why can't you just ignore the stuff you don't need, like everybody else does? You seem to be cutting off your nose to spite your face. It makes no sense.

[BONES]

Not gonna lie producing an album on a Steam Deck would be pretty badass

I'm currently producing one on a Legion GO. Same kinda thing and it's more than capable.

Most mac based DAW users I know IRL do not frequent KVR.

I'd say the same about Windows based DAW users. The reality is that KVR is a tiny proportion of users overall. That said, I remember a time when it was much, much closer between macOS and Windows. I think Fruityloops tipped the scales at some point and it's never swung back, even though FL seems a lot less popular these days.

Not possible. Sooner or later support for win10 will be withdrawn and you will be forced to upgrade or run a system that is incompatible with "modern" software. It happened to me with Win XP and Win 8.1. I reluctantly upgraded to Win 11 last year.

Hasn't happened to me yet, except by my choice to switch to a 64 bit DAW. But my old 32 bit version of Orion, which dates back to WinXP, still installs and plays perfectly well on Win11 with absolutely no problems whatsoever. It's still rock-solid and far more reliable than Studio One, despite it being more than a decade since it was discontinued.

[IvyBirds]

Yes! It's really cool tech! What latencies are you getting from your 10 year old laptop?

The old laptop probably has around 15-20 MS it's just barely and I mean barley noticeable

That's why I use it for reverb where that doesn't matter

The others probably have 10ms-15ms total round trip

It's perfect for things like pads but I wouldn't use it for things like drums where timing is critical

I mainly do spacey Ambient stuff without drums so it doesn't matter

It's a great way to bring new life out of old machines

I am using an older cheapy router/switch with Cat 6 also, if I was using a faster one it would probably shave off a few milliseconds

[BBFG#]

I'll ask again, why does it matter? Why can't you just ignore the stuff you don't need?

If you have to ask, you probably don't want to know.
If I thought any discussion with you could result in an exchange of ideas that would be helpful, I would continue this. But it's clear that's not your purpose here.
The fact is I pay attention to what's going on in my system, even if others are content in not knowing.

[BONES]

Of course my purpose is to be helpful. Examining your motives is a great way to ensure you are making rational decisions. I used to spend countless hours getting my Windows installation just right, optimising everything to get maximum performance. But there came a point where it no longer made sense to bother, as processing power increased to a point where I had more than enough, so I stopped bothering. And with storage capacity being literally thousands of times what it used to be when I first started using computers for music, I can't imagine you do it to free up drive space. So from where I sit, there is no rational reason for your stance, which is why I asked the f**king question. Why is that such a difficult concept to get your head around?

[BBFG#]

And I answered you.

[machinesworking]

Most mac based DAW users I know IRL do not frequent KVR.

I'd say the same about Windows based DAW users. The reality is that KVR is a tiny proportion of users overall. That said, I remember a time when it was much, much closer between macOS and Windows. I think Fruityloops tipped the scales at some point and it's never swung back, even though FL seems a lot less popular these days.

IMO it started out with Macs dominating due to Pro Tools being the first solid popular option on a computer for recording and editing multiple tracks etc. the pendulum swung heavily in favor of PC especially for home users in the late 90's early 2000's since native production was solid on PCs with VST's being produced at a larger pace by Windows developers. Sometime around Apples acquisition of Logic and use of an easier cross platform Chip in x86, (or even a little before the chip it even out) it evened out again. There are always going to be pockets world wide. Macs seem to be far more popular in the USA, Canada and France for instance, the opposite is true of the UK, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America etc. etc.

By a long shot I would say that FL Studio, Pro Tools, Live, Logic and Cubase are the most popular DAWs, so I guess in the most brutal of ways that might have been part of Apples strategy, since FL Studio only recently went Mac, and it's likely neck and neck with Live for largest user base.

I would say without question when I joined this site in 2003 or so it was far more PC centric than even now, likely 85% or so. The numbers he comes back with in this poll I think reflect that long standing trend. You would see a near 50/50 split I would bet with V-Control, the Ableton Forum, Gearspace etc. etc.

[harryupbabble]

for attempts at musicmaking...
i was using windows 7 for a decade+
i was happy (with the computer, not with my "musicmaking")
then the power supply unit died

to replace that psu is like 140 dollars
i can buy refurbished computers for about 150 dollars
refurbished computers tend to mostly use windows 10

i guess i'll be using windows 10
or maybe get windows 7 inside windows 10,
to avoid learning "same thing really" on windows 10

[aanano]

for attempts at musicmaking...
i was using windows 7 for a decade+
i was happy (with the computer, not with my "musicmaking")
then the power supply unit died

to replace that psu is like 140 dollars
i can buy refurbished computers for about 150 dollars
refurbished computers tend to mostly use windows 10

i guess i'll be using windows 10
or maybe get windows 7 inside windows 10,
to avoid learning "same thing really" on windows 10

Don't think I've bought a computer since Vista?
People give me their old computers and the most I spend on them has been adding refurbished memory. But sometimes I get more than one and can use one for parts on the other.
I really liked win7 and win 8.1. Win 8 didn't feel good to me. Someone is already telling me they want to give me their Win 10 laptop as soon as they buy a new one.
I'm kinda interested in Linux, but think I'm too lazy for it.
I would use Max too but no one ever gives them away. And I have friends that have a few sitting unused in the corners of their homes.

[buffalo roam]

Regarding the poll: The OP admits this is unscientific. The respondents are self-selecting and not randomized from a big pool of users. I would find it more interesting if some major music software producers could be polled regarding what percentages of their purchasers use the different operating systems (they wouldn't have to reveal total sales, just percentages). That might provide a more representative picture.

[FigBug]

Regarding the poll: The OP admits this is unscientific. The respondents are self-selecting and not randomized from a big pool of users. I would find it more interesting if some major music software producers could be polled regarding what percentages of their purchasers use the different operating systems (they wouldn't have to reveal total sales, just percentages). That might provide a more representative picture.

It really depends on the product. I have one that is 55% macOS, 45% Windows. Others are 80% Windows, 18% macOS, 2% Linux.

In my experience Linux is not worth the effort, the support costs outweigh the sales. As Linux becomes more mainstream, the users are becoming less technical. Linux users used to be happy if you put any effort into supporting Linux at all. Now they expect it to go as smooth as installing from an app store. If I say I support Ubuntu 24.04, I'll get a bunch of tickets opened as to why doesn't it work on Arch Linux on an arm processor. I'm not doing 50 builds to support every distro / cpu combination.

[buffalo roam]

Regarding the poll: The OP admits this is unscientific. The respondents are self-selecting and not randomized from a big pool of users. I would find it more interesting if some major music software producers could be polled regarding what percentages of their purchasers use the different operating systems (they wouldn't have to reveal total sales, just percentages). That might provide a more representative picture.

It really depends on the product. I have one that is 55% macOS, 45% Windows. Others are 80% Windows, 18% macOS, 2% Linux.

In my experience Linux is not worth the effort, the support costs outweigh the sales. As Linux becomes more mainstream, the users are becoming less technical. Linux users used to be happy if you put any effort into supporting Linux at all. Now they expect it to go as smooth as installing from an app store. If I say I support Ubuntu 24.04, I'll get a bunch of tickets opened as to why doesn't it work on Arch Linux on an arm processor. I'm not doing 50 builds to support every distro / cpu combination.

Thanks for your very interesting reply. I can only guess at how hard it is to please all the users of various operating systems, not to mention all the different DAWs. Yikes!