*nix and other alternative operating systems

[MagnaOpera]

Anybody use 'em?

Here's my story:
(BORING TECHNICAL STUFF)
Have been an avid Vista fan ever since it came out, the changes to the interface in Windows 7 & 8 didn't really appeal to me at all. Additionally one of my biggest problems (like many other hungry musicians) is a lack of expendable cash to drop on a blazingly fast computer. Right now I'm working with a laptop that was powerful by 2007's standards - You definitely cannot run 7 or 8 with 2gb ram and be working with multimedia.

Around December 2012 I started experiencing a lot of problems with Vista crashing, Windows update broke and hadn't/wouldn't install updates. I reinstalled Vista a whopping 8 times that month before I finally thought "fuck it".

Researched http://www.hackintosh.com (this is the process of installing OSX onto non-apple hardware) - but due to the lack of stability reported by many people and hackintosh not being a "works out of the box" type project (ie. troubleshooting can require some extensive technical knowledge) I decided to look elsewhere.

Now before I get into the next part, you may have heard of Linux - it's what the NYSE runs on (it should say something that the largest stock exchange in the world relies on Red Hat Linux as opposed to any Windows or Apple product). Those of you who are more technically inclined may recall Linux as being that scary (albeit free) alternative to Windows whose user interface generally consisted of just a command line (think MS-DOS). Well, no more. Linux seems to have taken off in Asia/Africa which has lead to a great deal of simplification (installation, user interface, 99.9% of hardware is supported etc.) on the part of the end user.

Enter Ubuntu Studio http://ubuntustudio.org/.

After installing you're looking at a desktop that resembles what would be the lovechild of Vista (or any Windows release that had an actual taskbar) and OSX.

All in all this "distribution" as they are called (distributions are like customized operating systems built around the Linux kernel) is not very flashy. That is to say, I have seen much "prettier" looking distros, for instance the plain Ubuntu is much more glossy and Windows 8-like.

Getting the hang of the operating system is a bit tricky, but people familiar with OSX will not find this too foreign, as both Linux and OSX are Unix derivatives (old-old-old school).

For the purposes of anyone who is actually interested in checking this out later, I'm running Ubuntu Studio 12.04 which is the latest stable version of the OS released for production machines.

(INTERESTING INFORMATION FOR PRODUCERS)

OK, so with my boring writing out of the way I'm now going to extol all the virtues of this fucking amazing operating system. I just wanted to get the pretext out there for anyone who was interested (nobody).

This shit is FAST - if I check my RAM usage while: watching a h.264 (hi hi def video), running firefox with 8 active tabs, running thunderbird (email), and downloading a few torrents all at the same time my usage clocks in at 500mb. With nothing open (just looking at the desktop) RAM usage peaks at ~200mb. This is fucking astounding if you've ever really paid attention to the task manager in Windows. Another spec I'll give you is this: running Vista with my on-board sound card and Asio4All I was achieving ~500ms latency when processing live audio. This is an appreciable amount of delay, rendering MIDI controllers and basically any improptu playing pointless and maddening. With the same hardware under Ubuntu Studio I now achieve ~13ms... Audiophiles consider anything below 10ms latency to be imperceptible to 90% of people. That's a reduction of almost half a second!

This shit is RELIABLE - As I mentioned earlier, I had to reinstall 'doze 8 times last December. Generally that's a sign that your mobo or some other vital piece of hardware is crapping out. I was so scared about my computer dying suddenly on me that I actually brought it to my preferred technician and had him run all the tests on the hardware he could. Computer came back just fine. Haven't had to re-install Ubuntu Studio once, have not had a single freeze, crash, or lock up. Nothing! Similar to OSX in this aspect, Linux is also an operating system which, by general consensus, does not require a virus scanner. Ubuntu Studio also ships with a "low latency" kernel, which is a Linux kernel (a kernel being the central component of an OS, the mediator between hardware and software) specifically designed for processing multimedia efficiently. There is the option to give full priority to audio/video applications.

This shit is CUSTOMIZABLE - The way the audio is handled on Linux is entirely different. All audio and midi information is handled through a "program" called Jack Audio Connection Kit. I would equate it somewhat to a straight up patch bay (think Reason but not so flashy) in which you can actually route audio from any application or sound card or audio device to another with just a few clicks. Jack could be thought of as an Asio4All on steroids x1000. If you've got a few braincells to rub together you can figure out how powerful that could be.

So yeah, I dunno. Blah blah blah, if you've got an old laptop or something kicking around that you want to breath new life into, load Ubuntu Studio 12.04 up on a USB and give it a shot. If nothing else I find switching up my setup (heresy, I know) every once in a while keeps me thinking "outside the box"... I tend to get lazy very quickly. It's been a fun and interesting experience for me to learn how to use a new operating system and be exposed to some new programs.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this. I expect a half-dozen tl;dr's or no responses whatsoever XD.

 

[thedreampolice]

#1 Vista SUCKS

#2 if you had been getting over 500ms latency with your old rig you where doing something VERY wrong.

#3 the DAW apps on linux SUCK and no producer should use it. Ardour is OK for mixing but that is it.

#4 Jack is NOT the audio system, it is more like rewire, ALSA is the linux audio driver system and IT SUCKS BALLS!

#5 not sure what about 7 you don't like over vista, but EVERYTHING is an improvement, in fact you are literally the only personal I have ever met that even likes Vista.

#6 OSX is a BSD derivative with SOME Unix roots, but neither OSX nor Linux is actually a UNIX derivative in fact the GNU in linux stands for GNU is NOT UNIX.

#7 the OSX interface is not at all like any Linux (kde, Gnome or Unity) windows system, all of them are closer to Windows.

#8 Latency is basically 1ms per foot from the sound source. so for 10ms would be like standing 10 feet away from the sound source. That is like standing in front of an amp.

I have actually mixed a few records on linux and have set up plenty of servers. I would NEVER recommend it to someone here. I wrote an article about it for prorec.com a few years ago that you can still read on my site.

http://new.chrisscheidies.com/?p=56

For example, no Maschine, no waves, no NI, no current Reason. I can go on. But if you do pro audio Linux is NOT a choice for pro work at all.

 

[Formant024]

I keeping an eye on it, i know its a powerfull platform but its limited to working almost entirely itb since the big oem's dont have support for linux, rendering my gear useless. Recompiling drivers at a point is not something that i consider a failsafe approach though i know that some budget cards and RME cards work perfectly.

Then again, for itb, making hiphop beats, it should be sufficient but most of the daw's still have a lot to develop before i trade in Logic or FL for the likes of ardour but its fine if its just used for tracking. 10ms may sound alright but I get 0,9 using ssl madi + alphalink through osx but these figures are not so relevant if you dont run a 24+ chnl project studio.

You gotta wonder what you want to pull out of your machine, i mean, ive made decent enough hiphop on just any stupid machine and worst i got going to work was a P1, 32mb running FL 2.54 lol. For one, i think youre in a lonely place considering Vista being the shiznit over Win XP if running a 2007 machine (no pun).

Regarding the hackintosh; There are Gold builds based on "slower" machines, dual core etc that have had no problems whatsoever. If youre into recording, mixing bands but just recording a mic and perhaps some drum/synth sampler stuff than anything dual core above 2.5Ghz would be enough to have OSX running nicely. There's been a few builds that use the 2500k for example with intel hd3000 gui succesfully, seems like its all you need really. The real pain is people wanting support for better gui's other than hd3000 or cards that are not factory installed options. If you want to game, just build a pc anyway

I had to look for another macbook pro and actualy just for aestethic reasons i wanted the old mbp. Dual core 2.5Ghz + 4gb, installed a hybrid SSD hd and this thing is flying in terms of doing productions on it and i could track over 48 chnls through it with 3 daisy chained motu 8pre's with no problems at all ( in fact, we did the same on a regular 1.8ghz macbook but had to use a usb drive to stream to). Sometimes i wonder why im using an octocore mac pro at the studio instead of just grabbing my mbp out.

 

[MagnaOpera]

#1 Vista SUCKS

#2 if you had been getting over 500ms latency with your old rig you where doing something VERY wrong.

#3 the DAW apps on linux SUCK and no producer should use it. Ardour is OK for mixing but that is it.

#4 Jack is NOT the audio system, it is more like rewire, ALSA is the linux audio driver system and IT SUCKS BALLS!

#5 not sure what about 7 you don't like over vista, but EVERYTHING is an improvement, in fact you are literally the only personal I have ever met that even likes Vista.

#6 OSX is a BSD derivative with SOME Unix roots, but neither OSX nor Linux is actually a UNIX derivative in fact the GNU in linux stands for GNU is NOT UNIX.

#7 the OSX interface is not at all like any Linux (kde, Gnome or Unity) windows system, all of them are closer to Windows.

#8 Latency is basically 1ms per foot from the sound source. so for 10ms would be like standing 10 feet away from the sound source. That is like standing in front of an amp.

I have actually mixed a few records on linux and have set up plenty of servers. I would NEVER recommend it to someone here. I wrote an article about it for prorec.com a few years ago that you can still read on my site.

http://new.chrisscheidies.com/?p=56

For example, no Maschine, no waves, no NI, no current Reason. I can go on. But if you do pro audio Linux is NOT a choice for pro work at all.

#1 - opinions are like assholes
#2 - 500ms to compensate for overruns (on-board audio) - granted it was a lot less shitty when I stopped using FL Studio (who knows why)
#3 - LOL, actually no. Ardour>every other daw. It was gay and shitty until they implemented a MIDI sequencer.
#4 - why does it "suck balls?"
#5 - mo opinions.
#6 - dude seriously if you're going to split hairs when I said unix derivative (which is technically true) and even wrote *nix in the title... I'll just ignore u bro. This isn't a pissing contest, I'm trying to open peoples minds to other things here.
#7 - Do you know what XFCE is? http://ursworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/xfce.png Surprised apple didn't sue them.
#8 - Ya. I dunno. My latency measurements are from itb anyways so they're skewed. Also the "speed of sound" is not 1f/1s... Sorry bruh. 10 ft from an amp would be sub 1ms latency. :? sound travels at more than 300m/s but yeah it would appear I really don't know a whole lot about the subject
#9 - "pro audio" is the new codeword for elitism - want to know why? I can list a hundred people who have made more money off recording music having never even touched a computer in their lives than you could ever hope to. I can list for you a hundred producers who don't use Reason (which was developed by kids... in sweden.... to make shit house music). Lots of people got great careers in the music biz without owning a NI Maschine. Lots of electronic music producers produced tracks eons before NI was incorporated or Massive was a twinkle in some programmer's eye. The list goes on dude. Most of the younger cats getting into producing today would shit all over an sp1200. It's all relative. Hell I'd shit on an sp303 but some of my most respected producers love that shit to death. So what if I want to record my drums using a dictaphone? What constitutes pro, when people are getting signed off a single youtube vid or a single half-assed album on bandcamp. If you can make something that sounds marketable in 2013 with a DX7 who the hell is anybody to say it was unprofessional to have not used an M3. It's like shitting on the FL Studio producers - yeah, they're real "unprofessional" but 9th has accomplished significantly more using that crappy program than most of us could ever hope to do with the most well equipped of studios.

I don't want to fight with you. I just wanted to show people here there are some other options available and let em know what i thought. no bad blood though man. I know we're all eager to flex the knowledge muscles.

formant:
- I was looking at getting a sapphire pro24 going. But yeah that seems to be the major issue with linux audio is the support for actual gear. They seem to be making progress all the time though. In terms of gear if I'm going to get something chances are it's going to be for otb.
- Didn't have XP, not really one to pirate.
- SSD HD on a production machine?! risque. limited number of reads and writes dontchaknow!

straight up tho. thanks to both of you for taking the time to read!

 

[Formant024]

#1. You might consider it an opinion, but vista, hands down is voted worst OS for audio (and what not) by pretty much everyone in the industry. It works for you because you dont seem to be using anything other than just the laptop but if a lot of OEM's are withdrawing driver support for Vista you gotta scratch your ear for second and wonder about picking it for your daw.

Ow and here's one, dont get a saphire! Instead get a second hand older type rme interface since you know that there is actualy good support for it from the community (and they are really miles better than a saphire).

And no! its a hybrid! ssd which buffs from 4Gb on a 10k rpm drive, pretty fast and decent. SSD have a good use for streaming, if you run a business you make backups anyway so that stuff is safe. Also, like i stated before tracking 48+ channels on the regular 1.8ghz macbook pro onto a usb flash drive, didnt give any problems whatsoever. The motu's used appeared to be more problematic in the end...

In regards to your perspective on pro audio, its not elitist but it is expensive (no point buying that stuff if you dont have the budget and means to run a commercial business, shit wont pay off). You seem to forget that all those hiphop producers eventually have the stuff properly mixed, mastered by a professional engineer. Those people are not likely to risk any possible downtime or failure when you have paying customers. We just dont like liabilities in our system but its not something you'd be bothered about unless you're a pro, paid and with a nice portfolio.
I mean, you seem to take this rather seriously and going indepth and looking at small things is key to get stuff running properly. If this is where you want to take it then *nix is still out of the question for now (hence me saying im keeping an eye out).


Anyway, knowledge muscles always flexed here, has nothing on eagerness but its part of the job cause knowing is half the battle. You can't expect me to be rational about things that dont make sense looking from my experience. Honestly, i wouldnt sweat it, if you cant bring it up to get into a half decent elitist setup then just dont. But if you do, dont go half stepping because as much as you'd like to want the nix to work for you, the alternatives are still better but it is going to cost you.

yoooooooooo joe!

 

[MagnaOpera]

there seems to be alot of misconceptions about FFADO, they support a host of things and I do know that particular focusrite has support but your input is duly noted! Thank you kind sir.

more on pro audio: it is what it is. I had a really good article a while ago detailing this setup using linux/osx in a professional studio and using netjack was shooting live audio all around the studio. I'll continue to look for it, because this was actually straight out of a live fire production studio. But they did have OSX to rely on for interoperability etc.

All I'm trying to say is that I don't buy into the "this gear/software is not pro" argument. It's like blaming the hammer for the shitty work of the carpenter. Don't forget there was even a time when mixing was done virtually by ear with analogue equipment. At the end of the day you do not need a computer or eyes at all to determine sonic space. I understand at this point I am pushing an extremely idealistic argument because I am not taking into account a bunch of things (most of which I am sure you guys could clue me in on).

I guess I should have pointed out that yes I am largely speaking about amateur musicians. Although at the end of the day stems is stems, unless you have an inherent need to work with session files directly instead I also don't see interoperability being an issue for most people, but any time I've gotten a placement it's been on amateur projects, never actually bought time in a professional studio etc.

I guess that makes me a prosumer or, even worse, an amateur!

 

[Fade]

Vista does suck, I'm surprised you actually like it. Everyone I know that used Vista hated it. I had it on a brand new laptop and the CPU and RAM was through the roof. I took it off and put XP (at the time) and it was back to normal. And I'm talking about a brand new laptop when I first turned it on! Nothing to do with audio recording.

Windows 7 is really good though, it's been great for recording, no complaints.

I tried Ubuntu Studio and it's solid, I just never got around to using it as a full-fledged audio production OS. But it is really good though. For years I've been dual booting between Windows 7 and Linux Mint. Right now I got Mint Cinnamon and it's great. I used to have trouble with it finding my Audio8 external soundcard, now it finds it no problem and works fine.

Since Maschine is at the center of my setup, I won't be using Linux for audio, but for everyday use and work, it's great. I just find myself going back and forth between Mint and 7, it's hard to pick one!

As always, I hope that Linux would finally get the hardware support it needs for everything, but that's wishful thinking. The general public uses whatever comes with their computer.

 

[MagnaOpera]

lol.. damn maybe I jumped the gun ditching windows. Not that I'm looking back but now that you mention it just viewing the desktop with nothing open (and all the UI lipstick disabled) I remember it would be using about a gig of ram, and I even went to the trouble of disabling non-essential processes. Hmm. Love what you have done with the site mr. fade, a bit of bootstrap magic n'est pas?

 

[thedreampolice]

#1 - opinions are like assholes
#2 - 500ms to compensate for overruns (on-board audio) - granted it was a lot less shitty when I stopped using FL Studio (who knows why)
#3 - LOL, actually no. Ardour>every other daw. It was gay and shitty until they implemented a MIDI sequencer.
#4 - why does it "suck balls?"
#5 - mo opinions.
#6 - dude seriously if you're going to split hairs when I said unix derivative (which is technically true) and even wrote *nix in the title... I'll just ignore u bro. This isn't a pissing contest, I'm trying to open peoples minds to other things here.
#7 - Do you know what XFCE is? http://ursworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/xfce.png Surprised apple didn't sue them.
#8 - Ya. I dunno. My latency measurements are from itb anyways so they're skewed. Also the "speed of sound" is not 1f/1s... Sorry bruh. 10 ft from an amp would be sub 1ms latency. :? sound travels at more than 300m/s but yeah it would appear I really don't know a whole lot about the subject
#9 - "pro audio" is the new codeword for elitism - want to know why?

#1 you are literally the lone voice in the world about vista being good, so good luck with that.

# 2 sounds like your audio device was set up wrong and honestly if you are trying to do this for real, why not have a real audio interface?

# 3 Been an ardour beta tester for years, and I can hands down say I don't know a SINGLE DAW that is worse than Ardour, and I have mixed several records in the thing. I am PT certified, and live in Cubase, Logic and Sonar almost daily. So no, I support the Ardour project but it has a LOOONNGGG way to go.

# 4 it sucks because at its core ALSA (the linux audio sub system) is a cluster fuck of duct tape. It is VERY poorly implemented and impossible to configure if it doesnt just work out of the box. If you want we can go down this rabbit hole, but I don't see a need.

#5 no it really is not, in fact I would not go around telling people how much you like vista, it REALLY hurts your creditably. Seriously

# 6 fair enough, my bad. PS, it is NOT a derivative. It shares some syntax and philosophies but it was built from the ground up as its own thing. See GNU

.#7 are you really comparing XFCE to OSX, Have you ever used a mac? Really???

#8 Sigh, look it up, it is 1ms per foot. But I what do I know I just have a masters degree in music technology from Berklee College of music. 1ms per foot is the GENERAL approximation for measuring latency in the studio. Of course you can be more exact. But this rule will get you in the ball park and it is pretty common knowledge.

#9 My point is that Linux is NOT there yet and probably wont ever be, it is a distraction that keeps people from making music.

But this is the quote that really gets me

I can list a hundred people who have made more money off recording music having never even touched a computer in their lives than you could ever hope to.

yea, I doubt that. I have been around the block in this business at this point. So good luck. http://new.chrisscheidies.com/?page_id=6

My point is simply that NO ONE, no real developer makes software for Linux, NOT ONE, now Bitwig may change that if they can get traction.

and seriously, not trying to be a dick or have a pissing match with you either, but some of your info is just not correct at all.

 

[Formant024]

there seems to be alot of misconceptions about FFADO, they support a host of things and I do know that particular focusrite has support but your input is duly noted! Thank you kind sir.

Software is one thing but RME has the better design regarding converters and clock, even the RME toolkit is a big asset if you're going to work otb.

more on pro audio: it is what it is. I had a really good article a while ago detailing this setup using linux/osx in a professional studio and using netjack was shooting live audio all around the studio. I'll continue to look for it, because this was actually straight out of a live fire production studio. But they did have OSX to rely on for interoperability etc.

This works for where you want to take it, a studio can be anything but i always look at limitations regarding expanding the setup hassle free. You have to take into account what it is that you want to be able to do in the studio. Is it 8,16, 24, 48 chnl setup, am i doing dance/hiphop orientated recording or recording bands (or both). Do i work otb but digital/virtual control elements, will i use a console and if not what do i need to get the same functionalities back in the studio. By the time you really start otb and upgrade on that, you'll see what things you might consider a good idea might imply unwanted limitations and though im not saying a budget approach will be a bad thing, you will become more demanding in sorting shit out which often means getting more cash involved.

All I'm trying to say is that I don't buy into the "this gear/software is not pro" argument. It's like blaming the hammer for the shitty work of the carpenter. Don't forget there was even a time when mixing was done virtually by ear with analogue equipment. At the end of the day you do not need a computer or eyes at all to determine sonic space. I understand at this point I am pushing an extremely idealistic argument because I am not taking into account a bunch of things (most of which I am sure you guys could clue me in on).

Either your point is invalid or you are positioning yourself wrong (what is it that you do in your studio). In your analogy you'd be someone with a hammer, but youre not a carpenter. It doesnt imply that you dont know how to use a hammer, but its not just the hammer that makes one a carpenter.

Furthermore, you seem to have any idea what set of conditions it takes to mix by ear without hesitating about how it really translates? I agree that those days were brilliant and granted that the things they built then cant be made for the same money and either way theres no cheap way to go around it.

I guess I should have pointed out that yes I am largely speaking about amateur musicians. Although at the end of the day stems is stems, unless you have an inherent need to work with session files directly instead I also don't see interoperability being an issue for most people, but any time I've gotten a placement it's been on amateur projects, never actually bought time in a professional studio etc.

I guess that makes me a prosumer or, even worse, an amateur!

Your point i still irrelevant, if you have the brains to work out the requirements than you can still achieve good results except that to own these requirement you'd need to invest serious money. I.e. Put your money where your mouth is

 

[Relic]

#1 I thought you had been banned I guess not, its "good" to have you back.
#2 Seriously Vista is the worst OS ever. It was taking XP and ruining it to just have a new realease.In fact most of the planet is pretty much unanimous about that. I let the tech heads here argue the rest.
#3 Win 7 is the absolute best OS I have worked with (that is subjective of course)
#4 I like lists that diss each other.
#5 LOL at DP!
#6 Haha That dude dropped a mufuggin resume on dat ass ! LOL
#7 Respect to Formant who knows more than I ever will about the tech stuff.

 

[MagnaOpera]

man no offence but it's super arrogant to have even posted that shit. I don't care about your website or your credentials. You seem to be missing an inherent point in my argument, and I'm not going to expand upon it if you're just going to keep masturbating your ego dp. Resume wasn't all that impressive either. I'm not trying to start shit with rel (dude you're a moderator, you ought to be impartial - I'm trying to come back here on different terms but if you guys are so well off you can stand to lose a member that's a super awesome community attitude you have).

Basically fuck you guys.

 

[Relic]

LOL maaan are you serious? I miss all the stuff you start!
Rock that shit homie!

But for real vista is seriously prolly the worst platform since win 95 .
I mean deabte the assholiness of anyone in this thread and Im going to say yeah everybody.
But its really not debatable how bad vista is. I hate that shit.
You are the first person I know who was rah rah ing that stuff.
Now, thats your opinion and I hear you , but in my own brain I cant see how its prefereably funtional.

It doesnt make you a evil entity but its hard to see that and not sort of disagree.

 

[Formant024]

^^ i think my points are valid though i dont know what you'd expect from your situation as it is.
I wouldnt bother about a damn thing in your position since you work entirely itb which to me is perfectly doable for making beats. I can go about roundtrips on latency etc but i dont see the point, afaik you're probably just recording a mic at most on which you can align the latency in audio afterwards. No biggy there.
I dont need an entire studio to make hiphop track, heck, most of the sketches i make are in the same conditions, i dont need anything to justify the making of decent track. But if i'd want to get the most out of it, ill export to individual tracks and mix it with the high end gear thus keeping processing on tracks minimal which means most of the things coming out of the most minimal setup sound very very dry. I need that room if i decide to pack out the big guns.

And no offense either but you're being just as arrogant here. You might be at disposition in your setup right now for your own reasons and i respect the approach you want to take it but its just far from ideal depending on where you want to take it.

 

[Fade]

I didn't follow up on this thread after I posted, I was off today drinking. Anyway, there's no need for anyone to be all dickish about this. Sure, Magna didn't necessarily know all the technical Linux stuff, but neither do I. He was just stating that he loves it for audio, there's no need to start comparing dick sizes. DP, I know you know your stuff but your post in my opinion was really arrogant.

I've told guys time and time again, it's all in how you post to someone. Before replying, you have the option to nice or not. Choose wisely.

P.S. Magna just sent me a message asking for me to delete his account, that's not cool. Whether he comes back or not, I don't like the fact that some of the members' posts have lead to another member possibly leaving. Man, it's so simple to post online, I never understood why people act the way they do.

 

[Relic]

Oh Fade we need to talk then.

 

[Formant024]

Hmm, just to point out, i have no beef with magna, just being informative. I dont think i crossed the line anywhere but magna dude, no reason to leave over this.

 

[Fade]

No prob Formant, I'm just saying, I thought that his thread was great since I'm a big Linux fan. I just don't know why DP had to get like that. He wasn't stating that he knows Linux inside out, he was merely saying how he likes it for audio, yet the replies were ridiculous.

 

[Formant024]

^^ yeah, id rather see the topic alive aswell.

The fact that its not suitable for my usage in a studio doesnt mean it cant be used for creative purposes. That's a big difference imo.

 

[Fade]

Ubuntu Studio is really good though from what I remember, especially for someone that's looking to start recording in Linux. It makes it much easier to do, rather than trying to use something else like an XFCE barebones OS.