SOUND ON SOUND

[Sam Spoons]

Thanks, I'm attracted to Ububtu as the GUI is supposed to be the closest to MacOS. TBF it is not particularly close visually or WRT placement of menus etc so probably irrelevant. Will maybe give Ububtu Studio a try then.

[Vox Gnus]

I've been using Ubuntu exclusively for a few years, having spent almost 30 on Mac. The transition has been pretty good, and the tools are excellent. There are a few plugins that I used to use that are no longer options (Melodyne, Speakerphone), but I've learned to adapt my thinking to get the best out of the tools at hand.

One thing to note: Ubuntu Studio doesn't use the same visual interface as plain Ubuntu. Both are excellent, but it's worth deciding which is best for you. I ended up using regular Ubuntu 20.04 LTS because it's stable and well supported, and then adding the complete Ubuntu Studio package on top ( https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-installer ). Best of both worlds!

I have no experience with Reaper, but Ardour is central to Ubuntu Studio, and it's great! The one hole has been a few deficiencies in MIDI, but that's getting much better, and Ardour 7 promises even more.

And of course, Ubuntu Studio gives you great packages for photography, videos, animation, illustration, etc.