Since I learned from the "free Gigasampler" thread on Audiominds that I'm not the only one to switch his DAW from Windows to Linux I feel encouraged to post on that topic. Especially since Linux based DAWs really have come a long way over the past years.

Of course nothing on god's green earth is either black or white. So there'll always be arguments why one might favor the one OS and all the applications running on it for his DAW over the other. No discussion on that point. But on the other hand there might be some reasons why one might want to take at least a glimpse.

The point is, for us as musicians, there's a lot to discover. There's so much great software readily available and constantly improving, that it's hard to come by and don't have a look at it. So if you have a spare box laying around, are setting up a new DAW or just want to try out something new, grab one of the available music centric Linux distros and give it a try.

LiveCDs like Dynbolic (http://www.dynebolic.org) allow for trying it all out without wiping your regular OS. Simply put the CD in and boot the system. When you're done remove the CD and reboot to your regular OS. How easy could it be?

Distros like 64Studio or Ubuntu Studio are based on Debian Linux which provides a stable ground for any kind of specialized OS. If you're adventurous enough and try to install Ubuntu Studio on your computer you'll notice that it's in fact way easier to get your machine up and running with Ubuntu Linux than it is to do so Windows. This comes mainly from the much simplified install routine and the fact that (as with 64Studio, too) the best software comes pre-installed with the system.

If you're interested, Sound on Sound ran an article on the topic in 2004:

Using Linux For Recording And Mastering

Finally if you try out, I'd love to hear how it worked out for you.

Dennis