Cubase for Linux

+1 for Cubase on Linux.
It’s funny to see people talking about how not a lot of people use Linux nowadays.
I cannot do my work on Linux because Cubase doesn’t run on it. So that’s why not a lot of people are using it and are using Windows/OS X.
Now I can do most of my gaming on Linux, so if Cubase worked on any distro, I would not be using Windows/OS X anymore.

How can Linux get more users if people are not willing to port their software to it?

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Currently only 3% of the daw users do their thing on Linux
They do it with Ardour, Bitwig, Reaper and MixBus.
44% of the daw market is MacOS and 53% is windows

But why?

Almost all VSTs, audio related tools and interfaces work solely on macOS and Windows.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people saying they “would ditch some OS if some app worked on Linux” (myself included).

I think it was a smart move from Steinberg releasing the VST SDK with Linux support.
DO IT, Steinberg! Cubase on Linux :smiley:

I don’t really mind Windows or OSX, I use them both and I think they’re great, but I also use Linux and I can very much see the sense in using something that customizeable, secure and streamlined for a DAW over anything else.

Linux works on more hardware than either Win/OSX, it’s lighter and faster, more secure, and it can be tailored completely to the task of being a DAW on the kernel level. All it really needs is a better designed IO standard like ASIO, professional grade software like Cubase, and professional grade plugins from VST developers.

I think we just gotta wait till the 2010/2012 Mac Pro is no longer supported by MacOS, then we might see more people in our field who want to give their $15,000 investments another chance via Linux. Granted I was in a studio just a little while ago that was still on OSX Lion/PT9/Cubase 6 so a lot of us do have that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality, but sooner or later everything breaks or shows its age.

Anyway I’ve been using Bitwig in Linux for a while. It works great for what it can do, but it’s very limited and I cannot use it to the same capacity as Cubase, and not just because of the plugins either, I need something like ASIO or Core Audio because JACK doesn’t cut it.

Another +1 for Linux.

My studio pc runs on Windows 7, Cubase 8.5. At work I use Opensuze Linux.

I bought a new laptop for mobile recording. £600 Dell with a touchscreen (yay for the mixer screen!) - but it came with the Windows 10 virus installed on it. Despite my best efforts (35+ years in IT) the damn thing still insists on rebooting when it likes, and generally behaving badly. So i decided to roll it back to Windows 7. Nope - won’t install, it’s missing some drivers required for the installer. I went to the Dell website - no Windows 7 drivers will be made available.

It would appear I now have no choice. I refuse to carry on with this spyware that M$ have introduced, so my laptop is now running Linux. If Cubase isn’t ported, I’ll be moving to a competitor - which means I won’t be buying any more updates to Cubase, nor will I be investing in Dorico. I don’t suppose I’m the first user that’s abandoning the Windoze platform because of W10, nor will I be the last.

In a nutshell it’s not just the existing potential Linux userbase that Steinberg should consider, but also existing users that they will lose because of M$'s actions.

Cubase runs pretty underpowered in OS X, maybe they should improve this before having new OS in the game.

I would give up kidney for this:

  • Cubase for Linux
  • Cubase (parts of code) in Rust - for stability
  • Crossplatform abstraction to make it solid everywhere (like other cross-OS software that works just perfect)

I think Linux is in the cursed circle: no software - no users - no software :imp:

Yeah. People are not willing to port their software to Linux because Linux doesn’t have many users, but Linux doesn’t have many users because people are not willing to port their software to it. :unamused:

People have been asking for DAWs on Linux for like decades. Ain’t gonna happen.

Why do you think it’s not gonna happen? The number of games for Linux are rising since last year.

Because us professionals that pay for everything and get paid for everything kind’a need “everything”. So I need Nuendo, but I also need everything from Izotope RX to Exponential audio plugins, to office apps to browsers to Aspera download secure file transfer clients, to SourceConnect and others and messengers etc. I don’t need almost all of the apps I use, I need all of them. And I’m just an independent post engineer. Now imagine a facility with several rooms. Simply multiply the amount of people that need the stuff, and then add more software (most likely), plus the requirement to reliably support all of that.

The problem is that people like me aren’t going to switch to Linux to get only part of what we need hoping that maybe the rest will follow, and post facilities most certainly won’t. So who’s going to start buying these plugins so that there’s support for Nuendo / Cubase?

This market isn’t particularly big. Certainly smaller than gamers. People haven’t bought “anything” pro-audio for Linux for decades, so let’s turn the question around:

  • What is the argument you would make for ANY software developer that they should port their software over to Linux?

Remember, the market isn’t there yet.

What is the argument you would make for ANY software developer that they should port their software over to Linux?

They don’t have to. Microsoft office is replaced by Libre Office, Windows Media player is replaced by VLC player, Photoshop is replaced by Gimp, Illustrator is replaced by Inkscape, Internet Explorer is replaced by Firefox, and so on. The pattern isn’t that money people port their software to Linux, but the other way around. Open source people port to Windows. Mac is already Unix under the hood, so that one is easy. As these apps surpass the paid versions and come into fashion, the point of having a Microsoft OS vanishes. It mostly offers inefficiency and vulnerability to viruses. The fate of paid software is not to be ported, but to perish under the onslaught of open source. Mostly.

Then there’s the Wine project, which will eventually be the only way to run older software designed for Windows ME, or XP, or whatever. But it still has a long way to go.

When it comes to DAWs and games, the open source model is much less viable. Whereas most software is developed by people who need it, games and DAWs are developed by people who don’t need them, and used by people who don’t have time to develop software. This is more true of DAWs than games. I developed software for many years. I could spend hours developing plugings, optimizing the kernel for audio, upgrading Audacity, and so on. That would leave me no time to create music. If I’m not going to be paid for something, I’d rather it be music than software. It amazes me that Audacity exists at all. I doubt it will rise to the level of Cubase in my lifetime.

So i agree with Mattias. There would have to be an industry wide decision to support Linux. The open source business model is not suited to DAWs and plugins at this time, and quite possibly it never will be. The problem is getting paid. Some have suggested the Steam model. Together with existing support for the Mac, there might be an opening there. But does this really increase sales? Maybe when Linux is becomes more widely used. Which is not soon.

@MattiasNYC the only two thins I miss on linux is Photoshop and Cubase.
Dude what made Windows great are games. And nothing else. AAA games.
When AAA games will come to Linux. WIN will die.
Steam will bring them.

I think you’re completely wrong. Do you think corporations with thousands of employees picked Windows because of games?

Almost all corporate Windows applications are moving to cloud services. DAW software and other relative niche applications are of no real interest to Microsoft, and the specialised hardware necessary means it’s not a candidate for Azure anyway. The days of the Windows client in the form of a high-powered PC are numbered – just have a look at the 2GB RAM/32GB SSD devices masquerading as laptops in stores these days. In hardware, gamers have led the way and DAWs have followed, so perhaps the idea is not so crazy?

Many applications are, but many corporations still haven’t switched over. There are plenty of reasons for why some corporations would want to retain data within their own networks.

I don’t think it is in the sense you’re using the phrase. Yes, sooner or later it’ll go away probably, but the same can be said for a bunch of other technologies as well. Because the “niche” software developers that develop for PCs (and Macs) won’t spend the money to develop for Linux. The field is tough to stay competitive and profitable in. Again, you tell me which developer will take the lead to develop for a fraction of a fraction of the market…

And it extends beyond the developers of the “hosts” - Steinberg and Cubendo, Avid and Pro Tools etc - it also includes all the third party developers who produces all the plugins we use. Who’s going to get Michael Carnes, a one man operation of spectacular plugins, to spend valuable development time to not only develop for another OS but then also provide continuous support for it? Or Izotope? etc…

I disagree that gamers “led the way” over DAW users. That’s just not correct I think. DAW users and other content creators went to more cores long before gamers did, and we still generally benefit more from more cores. It could be argued that content creators also benefit from more memory as well as way faster and larger storage. A content creator and a gamer just have way different needs as far as the platform is concerned.

But let me also ask the following: Can anyone recap for me what advantage Linux would have for me over Win 10 or OSX?

If you’re happy with WIndows or OSX, then none, at least not for you. The argument is not against other operating systems, it is simply an argument to give users the option to use Cubase on Linux.

From my original post, back in 2014:
3. Windows turning into a mobile phone
4. The high price of Cubase is more attractive if there is no cost for the OS
6. Live distros means Cubase could boot from a USB stick

… the list could go on. I could even conceive of a USB device that would incorporate soundcard, eLicenser and storage with an optimized Linux, all in single device, that would eliminate a lot of the variables people encounter with general purpose computers.

You can boot windows from a stick too…

C’mon it’s useless to prove Win user that Linux is cool. It has totally different paradigm. You can not be monkey key presser to use it.

What I say Windows doesn’t have any advantages. It used to have, when they rolled up DirectX and it was super fun to make games using it. And tones of games appeared. Also it was “cross computer” system in compare to OSX, you could install it on any PC. Lot’s of games available made Windows popular.

I hate windows with all my heart after I installed brand new Win8 and the next day I got USB Flash drive virus from my mother’s work, that infected all *.EXE files.

All dat crap with cryptoware and viruses make me sick of it.
So now I am dual boot and load windows only to make music.