So I am wondering about installing MS Office on my Music Production computer - I know that I should keep the music computer separate from other work and I am and will continue to do that but I’m thinking it would be handy to have word and excel for things like lyrics and track sheets, respectively. Anyone running these programs on their Cubase machines? What has been your experience?
I don’t think you need to go so far as paying Microsoft for these programs to achieve those purposes. I worry about running unnecessary apps on my music computer if only to keep my SDD/HDD as healthy as possible for as long as possible. I’d suggest using free alternatives (such as LibreOffice). This suite is typically found in Linux distributions and can export into excel or word formats, if that’s what you need. There’s be no expense or psychology of previous investment to encourage unnecessary use. The only compelling case I’ve heard for Microsoft Office is when other people demand it, and there are strict formatting requirements, such as in the legal profession. (Sometimes LibreOffice exports to word format slightly differently in Word.)(LibreOffice Calc has somewhat different chart drawing than Excel, but is otherwise extremely similar.)
Thanks! That’s a better idea.
I see no problem using office apps on a DAW computer. Pretty much all issues I have had have been related to hardware or driver issues, and almost never interfering software. I guess the only thing I can imagine being an issue is if it would add some background process, but I’m guessing that will be less of a problem with a powerful computer, and/or if you can switch it off.
As for MS Office specifically; I guess part of it all is integration. I see a bigger and bigger push by MS to integrate productivity workflows in all their product offerings, ranging from mobile to desktop to cloud. That’s something to consider I think (i.e. possibly getting a OneDrive account and automatically backing up important documents there, while also then getting them available on all your compatible devices)…
Yeah, that was my initial thought: I use Office for everything else and I’m used to it.
I’m using Office 365, it has no impact on system performance whatsoever.
if you don’t mind performance and compatibility issues you can also use google or any of the other “close but no cigars” suites
I’m using Office 365, it has no impact on system performance whatsoever.
if you don’t mind performance and compatibility issues you can also use google or any of the other “close but no cigars” suites
I’m using Office 2010. It has no impact as far as I can tell. I am a home studio with typical projects having (10) Audio tracks and (10-12) Instrument tracks. Outlook for email is always running with Cubase and Word runs with them both when I am documenting lyrics and such.
Regards 
It’s not the 90s anymore. Installing software is extremely unlikely to affect completely unrelated programs.