Bravo! I have a similar hybrid setup (with more machines still on Windows compared to you though), and I’ve mentioned before (probably more than once in this thread) that I almost made the full jump to Linux last year. But it didn’t work out (yet again) and I decided to stick it out with Windows for the time being due to some positive developments (IMO) and my need for specific plugins that don’t run under Wine. But I LOVE to hear when people make even a partial transition to Linux. While my opinion of Windows has changed (in a positive direction) due to people like Microsoft’s Pete Brown, I still dream of a Linux future at some point!
This may be an interesting related side story: over the last few weeks I’ve been in discussion with my son (now a young new professional musician) about what new DAW he should be using. He knows more or less what I have used over the years (which includes most DAWs, including on Mac, Windows, and Linux), and of course we talked about Cubase. As his dad, I’ve been supplying him with tech for years (you know the routine, Christmas presents, birthdays, etc.), but now he’s been forging his own paths.
I had assumed he was still stuck on Macs (I bought him his last Mac and at the time he wanted Studio One) and I figured he was going to be another long-term Mac user, eventually a Pro Tools user, and so forth. So when we talked about DAWs, I always like being really clear and honest about the landscape so that he can make an informed decision for himself. Of course I was hoping he’d pick Cubase, since I prefer to compose in Cubase, etc.. Previously he had chosen Studio One but he was losing confidence in it, so he needed to make a decision about another DAW for his next phase. So now we were discussing the possibilities of Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools, and Reaper, as the primary candidates for him.
But then out of the blue, to my utter SHOCK, he said he wanted to dump Macs and move to Linux in the future. WHAT?!?!?!?! He said he was sick of the “big corporate operating systems” and wanted to go Linux.
Now this is completely without me trying to persuade him in any way. He knew I loved Linux, but he never showed any real prior interest in it, and didn’t share his disappointment with current commercial OSes. Until now.
Then our conversation obviously changed completely to his NEW preference of future plans with Linux, that anything we collaborate with should be able to run on Linux too. Again, I was totally shocked by this.
I try to present information to him in an unbiased way (as much as I humanly can), so he can choose for himself. I was honestly holding out hope he’d choose Cubase. And he said if Cubase ran on Linux, he would choose it. BUT, after our discussion and my explanation of the landscape of Linux, and his personal preferences, he decided on, you guessed it… Reaper.
So what a shocker to me. In my mind I thought he was going Mac/Logic/ProTools, or MAYBE Mac/Cubase. But it was very interesting that his FIRST choice was Cubase on what?!?!? CUBASE ON LINUX. But since Cubase wasn’t on Linux, he didn’t want to even bother learning it and getting used to it, and would rather just dive in to Reaper.
Truth is, he’s a smart young man, and a very talented young musician, and if I personally didn’t ALREADY rely on the tools and workflows in Cubase, plus all the gazillions of plugins that I need for work (that DON’T run on Wine), I can theoretically see myself right there with him on Linux too! He’s right at the perfect age when he is able to make this kind of decision, and I post this story here because it’s kind of red flag to Steinberg because they are literally missing out on the kind of customer from Gen Z that they SHOULD be courting. He’s an ideal young long-term pro musician Cubase user.
And he said he’s done with the big corporate OSes, and where does he want to go? Linux.
Word to the wise at Steinberg HQ who is perhaps hopefully paying attention to this thread: You are losing young potential customers entering the professional world right now. My own son would have been a GREAT long-term paying customer from this new generation of young musicians, and he ALMOST chose Cubase… but passed on it because it doesn’t run on Linux.
Now this could all change of course (for a variety of reasons, he is still young after all), but if Steinberg announced interest in supporting Linux, I’m guessing that would have a positive impact on people like my son. You never know, things change, people change. BUT that seems like a long shot.
And since it’s a big dream of mine to collaborate with my son on projects from time to time, I’m obviously going to try to accommodate him! (After all, dads don’t always get to have cool opportunities like this with their grown kids, so I don’t want to create unnecessary barriers to collaboration!)
So now I’m going to set up a special computer just to collaborate with my son when he finally sets up a Linux machine, and guess what? It will be running Reaper of all things. The very DAW I was using less and less recently, due to the excellent C14/N14 release.
Of course I’ll keep running Cubase, etc., for my main stuff, but TBH I’m excited to collaborate with my son on whatever platform he wants to use. Fortunately, both Cubase and Reaper support DAWproject (thank goodness!) to some degree, so I can maybe start some of my stuff in Cubase, move it over to Reaper to work with him.
Crazy days, folks! CRAZY DAYS!