There’s probably a few devices in my home that runs on some derivative of Linux. But I thought we were talking about personal computers, not smartphones and dishwashers.
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Windows is getting slower with every iteration.
Proof? That’s an urban myth IMO.
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Obviously you don’t either…
What do you think is “shared” between macOS and Linux? If at all, nothing of relevance for a DAW: filesystems, audio, video, graphics - none of those is shared.
How many applications have you successfully deployed on a large variety of distributions over multiple years, withotu re-installing the whole system each month?
If it was so easy - why do you think did most major Pro 3D Graphics/CAD/CAM vendors ditch Linux support?
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I love the expression “OS techno-dogma drama” 
I will use it in my professional environment (which is IT) - thank you, Raino! 
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Yeah Linux would be so awesome. I bet there are tons of musicians, who barely know how to work their Macs and PC’s enough to use their DAW, that cant wait to jump in and compile 3/4 of their system when they get it!!
I bet the pro studios just cant wait to tell clients they have to wait a week or two for booking while they piece together all the components from various repositories and hope it all builds, and then configure everything!!
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But what about all the other software and hardware not a bad idea but i think windows is the best platform as it the most compatible and customizable …
Give it time.
Even Microsoft went from the days of Ballmer’s “Linux is a cancer” to releasing their own Linux distro just this week.
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And that distro proves all the points against linux in this thread.
+1 for Cubase in Linux.
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Let’s have a truely functional track inspector first… 
And to which extent a Linux version of Cubase would be useful, if all the plug-in market persists being either MacOS or Windows oriented ? 
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A Linux option for Cubase would be useful for the same reason that Linux is useful on old laptops – control over the device you own. I don’t want a Chromebook, or a tablet, or a phone, but pretty soon there may be no other hardware option than to “rent” time on a cloud-based service that’s entirely controlled by someone else, using some crappy low-spec device that serves no other purpose other than to facilitate your subscription to said cloud service.
I can’t get a laptop with a good keyboard any more, so I refurbished one from 2011 with an open-source BIOS running Linux, and for day-to-day stuff it knocks the socks off any stock Windows 11 laptop for under $1000.
As for plug-ins, the stock plug-ins in Cubase would be fine for me. If I needed Windows or Mac plugins, then I could always run Windows or Mac.
So, again, as always, it’s all about having the option to use Linux …
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If Steinberg did this, they would to test every release on whichever versions of Linux they supported. They might even have to write Linux-specific code in certain parts of the app, such as the audio engine. This would be an extra cost and time burden and so, on balance, I don’t think this is a good idea.
Perhaps they should also drop iPhone and Android products, so they have less testing to do.
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Hi dear colleagues,
No doubt the idea about Cubase and even Dorico for Linux isn’t a bad idea.
I would personally recommend something rather better solution… Steinberg products for FreeBSD.
MacOS and FreeBSD share a lot in common, far more than MacOS and Linux. So, porting from MacOS, to FreeBSD, theoretically shouldn’t be a very painful task.
There are many FreeBSD desktop distros available. And if something can outfight Linux when it comes to performance, stability, security and support for older and newer computers, well this is the BSD family of operating systems
Unfortunately the problem doesn’t end here… we’ll need ASIO drivers for our audio interfaces. The virtual instruments and processing plugins should also need to become available for FreeBSD…
Most probably Steinberg should do an experiment to port one of their products from MacOS to FreeBSD. Theoretically it should take far less time and effort for the team… I don’t know?!
If a major company in this business makes a step in that direction, many others will follow it.
Here is an interesting, but yet official, topic about the statement of mine:
https://wiki.freebsd.org/Myths
Best wishes,
Thurisaz
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That sounds like a great idea!
Not joking.
In which sense you’re talking? Cause only REAPER can be installed as a portable thing. A full install of Bitwig Studio is 12GB and full installs of Cubase range from 15GB to 45GB depending on which version you have. That’s the complete opposite of portable.
Except Android is only Linux in the sense it uses the Linux kernel, which may not be a thing soon, as Google is developing their own in-house kernel for Android.
Those applications also use custom software and OS designed to take advantage of the large scalability of multiple PCs and cores in servers. That’s different to even someone owning a Mac Pro.
That’s not entirely true, but people might seem to have that impression because a lot of smart devices nowadays use custom FreeBSD builds and not Linux. Considering BSD and Linux don’t even use the same type of kernel architecture and licensing, one can see why FreeBSD is preferred for commercial devices.
That’s not entirely true either and it will become less true once Wayland hits the scene and developers are forced to write their own dpi scaling routines because the display server doesn’t do it.
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Here we go … again …
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Went with Cubase on Windows from the times of Cubase Audio up to the most recent Version 12, but decided that Windows 11 is something that I’ll never install on any of my computers. I tried Ubuntu 22.04 stable and bought Bitwig Studio. Most of my VSTs still work. Eventide Plugins and some others refused to install, most probably because of their “special” copy protection. Although that’s somewhat sad, as these plugins were not on the cheapest side, they can be replaced. Valhalla, Arturia, TAL and most other prominent VSTs were more cooperative. I’m on Ubuntu for a bit over a year now, and so far did not regret switching. If Steinberg ever decides to support Linux, even when it’s unofficial, I’d be glad to return to Cubase. I still like it. It’s Apple and Windows I don’t want to see in my setup anymore.
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Congrats on the switch over to Linux. I too would love to have Cubase on Linux, but let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen in this decade (or maybe ever, unless Linux on the desktop gets a far more substantial desktop market share). I think they have enough on their plate for them to start worrying about introducing another OS right now. But one can dream!
But I’ll give the idea of Cubase running on Linux a +1. Even though I know they won’t do it.
I love Linux and have run several DAWs on Linux and they’ve worked very well. Bitwig, Reaper, Mixbus32C, etc… they all work quite well, outstanding actually, but unfortunately the kinds of tools and plugins that I need on Linux are not available yet, and maybe never will be. Too many of my essential plugins just won’t work on Linux, so I have to stick to Win or MacOS for now (and actually I have moved a lot of projects over to MacOS, trying to ditch Windows entirely).
BTW, TAL, AudioThing, and DiscoDSP are great on Linux, and even U-he supports Linux, so there are great plugins, just not all the ones I need/use. (And BTW plugins from those developers also work great on Win/MacOS! So those developers are just great for many reasons.)
And Cubase is an important part of too many projects I work on, so that dictates my OS situation at this point, but I’m rooting for you, and hope it works out for you. And maybe one day Steinberg will consider Linux. Someone has to be a pioneer, and kudos to you for giving it a shot.
As for the idea of a Steinberg-based Linux distro, I am strongly against that though. I might have thought positively about that in the past, but as I have used many Linux distros, and know the complexities of creating a solid distro, I would rather leave the distros to the people who are passionate about distros.
So Steinberg should NOT be in the business of building a custom version of Linux. There are plenty of distros that already work great for DAW work, and I’ve personally tested several of them that work fine with Linux DAWs… so if Steinberg were to ever create a Cubase for Linux, they should just use the most popular distros as their targets. As I mentioned, Linux Mint has been outstanding in my Linux DAW testing, so if Steinberg were to focus on similar Ubuntu- and Ubuntu-releated distros (like Linux Mint), they would be fine.
But again, I’m definitely a +1 for Cubase running on Linux. Just not for Steinberg getting into the business of building their own distro of Linux.
Cheers and good luck with your Linux music journey.
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So Studio One 6.5 just released and has a linux version available for public beta testing, what a surprise.
Also they’ve developed a DAWProject file format to share projects across platforms, Bitwig announced support.
Some really interesting developments, can only applaud what they’re doing.
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