Not the Linux Audio Post You Want…

…but maybe it’s the Linux audio post you need.

This started life as a post about my Linux audio setup, but apparently before I could write that blog post, I needed to vent a little. Soooo, fair warning: I’m about to use Linux audio as a wedge to try to get you to give up all sorts of things that are terrible for you, and for the world at large. If that sounds annoying, I will totally understand if you peace out.

Still here? Ready to be chastised? Great, let’s go!

It’s statistically likely that, if you’re reading the blog post, many of the hardware and software tools you use every day are bad. Bad for you, bad for me, bad for everyone. And you should abandon those tools. Because they are bad.

Still with me?

The problem is that the things I want you to abandon are convenient, and you’re used to them, and you have developed entire working methods that depend on them. You’re a capable and accomplished person, and those methods have been good to you. So it’s hard to give them up.

But my friend, you are still a capable and accomplished person without Google Calendar, without the Notes app, without Windows. The blue versus green bubbles are a false choice, like Coke and Pepsi, literally created to divide us and make us cheer for a team so that we buy a new $800 piece of trash every two years. Blue and green both totally suck and would absolutely take your soul if they could make an extra dime. In fact, they’re working hard to do just that.

But guess what? You have other options. Options that might not be quite as slick, and that might require some rethinking of your processes and methods. Options that might even require you to sacrifice a little convenience. Options that will require your precious time to switch to.

But despite what we’ve been led to believe, convenience is not the ultimate good. In fact, too much convenience is bad for us — it dulls our ability to solve problems and think on our feet. The convenience con is nothing but giant corporations preying on our evolutionary instinct to conserve energy. And once you’ve bought in to the con, it’s like a swimming pool: it requires quite a lot more effort to get out than to get in.

But also like a swimming pool, once you’re out and walking around, you’re good to go. You probably don’t even miss swimming. (Yes, this analogy is getting mighty thin. Sorry, no refunds.)

I’m not a person who enjoys telling people what they should do. In my ideal world, the word should wouldn’t even exist. But whatever world we’re living in, it sure as hell ain’t my ideal one. So I’m here to tell you right now that you should quit Google, you should quit Apple, you should quit Microsoft, you should quit all of these bullshit companies who have been stealing more and more of your mind every day for the last twenty years.

And, ahem, to get back to audio, you should start by forgetting about all the plugins you’ll miss, and how you might have to replace your audio interface, and you should wipe your Windows machine or your MacBook Pro and just install a Linux distro.

I did it, and I don’t have a lot of special skills or knowledge. I didn’t go to school for computer science. I just enjoy learning things and I’m tired of being fucked with and stolen from all day every day.

In fact, not being fucked with and stolen from all day is way more important to me than how good my UAD plugins sound or how much I prefer mixing in Studio One. (Which, incidentally, is not working on my distro of choice yet, but is well on its way!)

Because for fuck’s sake, I’m a musician. If you give me two rocks, I will make something cool sounding. Give me an acoustic guitar and it’s even better. The wealth of software available on Linux for making music is gluttonous compared to what any platform had available 20 years ago, much less before computers were used for music-making.

Is your music better than everything that was made more than 20 years ago? Mine’s definitely not.

Is the way you make music on your Mac the only way you could possibly make music? If it is, you probably need to take an honest look at what you’re really doing. Because in the history of music making, no one ever required that specific set of tools to make compelling music that moves people. Until now. Now that these giant companies need you to need them.

But the dirty secret is, you don’t fucking need them. You are a capable, accomplished person, and you can make music using tools made by people who are not trying to fuck with you and steal from you all day.

And, I can’t stress this enough, you don’t have to be fucked with and stolen from every day to make music.

Very soon, I will write a post about the specifics of how I’m using Linux to record and produce my music now. I have a 32-channel Debian 12 system that is totally cranking, and I want to talk about it! But for now, it feels good to get this off my chest.

Addendum…

There are always exceptions. Because should is a silly word, and it never applies universally. If you’re in a situation where you need to use software and/or hardware made by the evil empire to feed yourself or your family, or you just don’t have the bandwidth to make these changes, then I’m not talking to you here. Do your thang, you rule.

Or, you know, maybe you just think this is dumb and I’m wrong, and that these companies are awesome and make awesome products that everyone should use. In which case: