Hey Wesley.

[soup-n-sandwich]

Hey Wesley,
Chris here. I stumbled on your Youtube channel and thought out loud "he seems like a great guy that's put a lot of time into pro level music production using Linux". I just wanted to touch base with you here.
Are you still active in the Linux Creative side of things or has it deminished over the years?
Are you still working professionally in regards to production, mixing/mastering and audio engineering?

Just curious. I'm a bit older than you are but kind of saw the same passion in this stuff that I had and thought I would make contact with you.

Had been using Windows since Windows "95"for music using Cakewalk. I've tried every DAW that existed from the early 90s to about 2005 I guess. I'm was an IT pro. My business started in 1998 or 97' making computers for the recording industry and branched off in the sales,service world of consumer PCs. However in 2008ish I built a project studio in the basement of a home I no longer own and never did a damn thing in it! Life just kept getting in the way. I had already been working with Linux systems since 2005 and had switched all of my business PCs over to ....I think it was "PC Linux" if I recall. I discovered Ardour I think in about 2008ish but like I said, I never really did anything in that studio.

It moved and bought a park model trailer and shop trailer and live on a farm right now but I built a project studio in my living trailer. I was basically doing everything from scratch. I got ride of my Alesis Studio 32 analog mixer for a Behringer XR-18 as my audio interface and mixer...at that point my MidiMan Sport 128 crapped out so I replaced it with a MOTU MIDI Express 128 and I thought long and hard for months to decide what I was going to do when it came to my DAW and OS. At the time (early 2022) I decided on Windows 10 and Cubase 12. I really didn't want to go back to WIndows but I only did it because of the amount support, content for learning and for colaberation reasons due to Cubase being only available on Windows and Mac OS.

The truth is that it's not necessary to use the saw DAW for colabration as WAV and MIDI files are univesal but also the incredible offerings of Cubase didn't really help me but in fact hurt me. I never really felt good about it or got comfortable with it...then the Windows issues are and were a nightmare. Updates that just keep messing up stuff...lock up issues...never mind the new AI related Windows 11 stuff that REQIRES a UEFI BIOS. After digging into why Win 11 requires this bios I just wanted out. So I'm back on Ubuntu...but this time Ubuntu MATE with the Ubuntu Studio package only. No bloat just what I need. I just made this change a week ago and are still working though everything.

The MOTU MIDI Express 128, although USB Class Complient didn't work and wasn't seen by Ubuntu. I found a driver that had to be built and made part of the low letency kernel....now that works! I have the Behringer XR-18 which uses the X-Edit software and I have an X-Touch conrol surface...all work great now. Next will be the X-Keys system that also can work on Linux. These are simlar to the StreamDeck but much cheaper and work as hot keys and macro keys to make audio production easier/faster by having a single button do many things or simply act as a hot key. I also use a Nektar Aruba pad controller that was triggering Addictive Drums and recently purchased Swam Saxophones and Modu Bass. I'm tring to replace all of the weak links in my music production...no more Alesis DM5 played on keyboards...stuff like that. Trying to finish the album that should have been finished in the 90s....but working on this now. I'm just hoping that I can get these plugins working under YaBridge...that's my next scary attempt at getting everything working that I had working in Windows. There is really something about getting away from the crap of Windows. Not just the WIndows issues but everything else. All the "Download Assistance" apps that Steinburg uses...all the update apps to update their software...the costs..then how the changes often make things NOT work afterwards...nightmare!

I've really thought about producing a linux based studio computer system. So out of the box it's configured and ready to work. It would only use USB class complient hardware....your choice of native DAWs, plugins and utilities. I'm talking prolevel desktop workstations with internal OS drives but also at least two caddy drives for backup data and music data that can be swapped out without taking the PC apart. All SSDs with your choice of RAM amount and type and a selected choice of motherboards, CPUs and GPUs (if necessary for graphics production). Maybe just start with audio production but I would want to team up with you, and maybe Unfa from https://www.youtube.com/@unfa00 because you guys I'm sure have experiance that I don't have and visa-versa.

Anyway, I hope you're doing well.
Chris

[wesley]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for reaching out! It's great to "meet" another desktop Linux enthusiast who has also been into home recording for half a lifetime or more.

While I have not been active on the YouTube channel for a while, I continue to use Linux for all of my own personal creative work: audio production, video production, and web design/development.

I stepped away from the video creation simply because I have been very busy with a new job since February, and a toddler in the house. I also seem to have noticed a bit of a shift in the Linux user crowd on YouTube, and I'm not sure if I still fit in there. There's a ton of entry-level Linux content, and it seems like a lot of commenters are looking for tech support or a one-size-fits-all solution. As you know, that sort of mentality doesn't go too far on Linux, but I would love to get back to producing tutorials when things calm down a bit here.

I really appreciate you taking the time to write!

- Wesley

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P.S. I am in the middle of a home server migration, so if this forum blows up and you're never able to reach it again, it's because that went poorly.