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As a plugin vendor supporting Linux: I think the problem might not be technical but is instead all about the UX. Regardless, it's been great supporting Linux as

by p0nce 6y ago

As a plugin vendor supporting Linux: I think the problem might not be technical but is instead all about the UX. Regardless, it's been great supporting Linux as it appear 5% to 20% of our userbase are now Linux users (macOS 30%). On Windows or macOS a dictatorship constrain the Audio API to be X and the Graphics API to be Y. On Linux, as a user I can choose ALSA, JACK, PulseAudio and while I'm sure there is a better option, why is the user asked to make this choice in the first place? Just choose "the best" for the user. So Linux software usually doesn't hide stuff to users (liberty?) and this quickly translate to a worse beginner/intermediate experience, having too many choices in audio software is usually something to combat. And Ardour is the perfect example of this: upon opening it asks several questions to the user in a pop-up, while virtually all other DAWs will reopen the last session. There is a significant divide in terms of UX, and I see a bit of this everywhere I go when booting under Linux.

PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
Thanks for the interesting response. Glad to hear you're supporting Linux with your plugins! There is no way for a DAW to choose "what is best" for the user. On Windows the same range of choices exists whether or not any particular DAW offers it to them. ASIO? WASAPI? WaveRT? MME? There's a case to be made for each, depending on circumstances. Only macOS really gets this right. The user can also select "auto-start" for the audio/MIDI I/O backend, which will cause them to no longer be asked which to use each time. This is a reasonable choice if they always use the same computer with the same audio interface. It's not so great if those things change quite a bit. You're absolutely right that the GUI situation is a mess though. There is no standard graphics API on Linux beside X Window, which is totally unsuitable for direct use in any modern development effort. The desktop toolkits (Qt and GTK etc.) are unsuitable because they cannot be easily statically linked into your plugin, which can then lead to version clashes with whatever the host might use (e.g. your plugin uses QtN, the host uses QtM). There is no good solution to this: we always advise plugin authors to avoid desktop toolkits, and if possible use small standalone statically-linkable GUI toolkits designed for the purpose (PUGL, RobTk and a few others). Alas, even JUCE by default tries to link in some version of Qt (it can be turned off, and should be). On restarting Ardour, it gives the user the choice of a new session or selecting from a list of recent sessions. I've never heard of anyone suggesting that the correct behavior is "open the last session" and this would differ from the behavior of numerous other creatives applications too. If you start up Inkscape or GIMP (or its derivatives) they will not open the most recent file/project automatically. > having too many choices in audio software is usually something to combat. Be sure you let the Reaper devs know this :))
- p0nce 6y ago
  > which will cause them to no longer be asked which to use each time. This sort of pattern is conceptualized well in the book "About Face". I think it's a helpful book that explain a lot of the DAW popularity variation.

by p0nce 6y ago

PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago

Thanks for the interesting response. Glad to hear you're supporting Linux with your plugins! There is no way for a DAW to choose "what is best" for the user. On Windows the same range of choices exists whether or not any particular DAW offers it to them. ASIO? WASAPI? WaveRT? MME? There's a case to be made for each, depending on circumstances. Only macOS really gets this right. The user can also select "auto-start" for the audio/MIDI I/O backend, which will cause them to no longer be asked which to use each time. This is a reasonable choice if they always use the same computer with the same audio interface. It's not so great if those things change quite a bit. You're absolutely right that the GUI situation is a mess though. There is no standard graphics API on Linux beside X Window, which is totally unsuitable for direct use in any modern development effort. The desktop toolkits (Qt and GTK etc.) are unsuitable because they cannot be easily statically linked into your plugin, which can then lead to version clashes with whatever the host might use (e.g. your plugin uses QtN, the host uses QtM). There is no good solution to this: we always advise plugin authors to avoid desktop toolkits, and if possible use small standalone statically-linkable GUI toolkits designed for the purpose (PUGL, RobTk and a few others). Alas, even JUCE by default tries to link in some version of Qt (it can be turned off, and should be). On restarting Ardour, it gives the user the choice of a new session or selecting from a list of recent sessions. I've never heard of anyone suggesting that the correct behavior is "open the last session" and this would differ from the behavior of numerous other creatives applications too. If you start up Inkscape or GIMP (or its derivatives) they will not open the most recent file/project automatically. > having too many choices in audio software is usually something to combat. Be sure you let the Reaper devs know this :))

p0nce 6y ago
> which will cause them to no longer be asked which to use each time. This sort of pattern is conceptualized well in the book "About Face". I think it's a helpful book that explain a lot of the DAW popularity variation.