4 ms·

I wonder what kind of software it is running on standalone mode

wheels 3y ago
It's probably a Linux stack. A lot of pro-audio companies have internal Linux versions, but don't ship them because of support / packaging reasons (which are miserable on Linux). That goes away for embedded usage.
- AndyPa32 3y ago
  I't think, it's not packaging. From RPM to DEB to Snap to flatpack there are lots of options. But support I get. KDE, Gnome or whatever choice of window manager, many different distributions etc., that sounds like support hell.
  - wheels 3y ago
    The problem isn't lack of options, it's too many. Also things like Snap and Flatpack don't work well if you're loading plugins in-process (e.g. VSTs).
- chuchana 3y ago
  Seems like a good guess. It would also explain why it doesn't support plugins.
capableweb 3y ago
Was wondering this too. Considering Ableton itself doesn't support Linux out-of-the-box, wonder if the device runs some sort of Windows on it, or if Ableton for Linux might be coming in the future. Maschine+ by Native Instruments (basically the same device but by another company) runs Linux although Maschine desktop software does not support Linux, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.
- wheels 3y ago
  I used to work for NI, and at that time (15 years ago) almost everything worked on Linux. But it wasn't shipped because of packaging and support. Now that I'm back to the audio software business, our current product has shipped on Linux so far, but we're dropping support in the next version because of the disproportionate support costs. To a first approximation, Linux support a bit more expensive than supporting macOS or Windows, with about 1/50th the return. Again, that calculus would change for embedded usage.
  - pabs3 3y ago
    By support do you mean that Linux users have more questions than macOS/Windows users? Or that porting/writing/updating/building the code takes more time?
    - wheels 3y ago
      It's a bunch of stuff. - Standard libraries for audio software are less tested on Linux and tend to be buggier there, and we have to chase down those bugs. - There are a bajillion versions of Linux, and even if you say you only support some subset of those, Linux users will ignore that and still write to support when it doesn't work on their distro / version. Sometimes that even extends to writing bad reviews online. - Packaging on Linux is annoying since there are a bunch of different formats, and nothing will make everyone happy. Because of those issues, we probably get almost as much support mail for Linux as for macOS or Windows, despite Linux being 1% of our user base. From a cost perspective, it just doesn't make sense to keep supporting it. Ironically, we'll keep developing it, because we do some of the development on Linux, and often test on Linux before Windows. From what I know of other companies: we're not unique there, and I thought some of this might be interesting info for pro-audio Linux users.
      - hammyhavoc 3y ago
        If it were me, I'd just focus on making sure it works well on Fedora. PipeWire is in the OOBE, and is where a good chunk of pro audio folks have settled due to top-notch PipeWire support.
- wellanyway 3y ago
  You should not buy just in case anyone at Ableton is watching, I'm buying the fuck out of your offering the day it has linux support.

It's probably a Linux stack. A lot of pro-audio companies have internal Linux versions, but don't ship them because of support / packaging reasons (which are miserable on Linux). That goes away for embedded usage.

AndyPa32 3y ago
I't think, it's not packaging. From RPM to DEB to Snap to flatpack there are lots of options. But support I get. KDE, Gnome or whatever choice of window manager, many different distributions etc., that sounds like support hell.
- wheels 3y ago
  The problem isn't lack of options, it's too many. Also things like Snap and Flatpack don't work well if you're loading plugins in-process (e.g. VSTs).
chuchana 3y ago
Seems like a good guess. It would also explain why it doesn't support plugins.

capableweb 3y ago

Was wondering this too. Considering Ableton itself doesn't support Linux out-of-the-box, wonder if the device runs some sort of Windows on it, or if Ableton for Linux might be coming in the future. Maschine+ by Native Instruments (basically the same device but by another company) runs Linux although Maschine desktop software does not support Linux, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.

wheels 3y ago
I used to work for NI, and at that time (15 years ago) almost everything worked on Linux. But it wasn't shipped because of packaging and support. Now that I'm back to the audio software business, our current product has shipped on Linux so far, but we're dropping support in the next version because of the disproportionate support costs. To a first approximation, Linux support a bit more expensive than supporting macOS or Windows, with about 1/50th the return. Again, that calculus would change for embedded usage.
- pabs3 3y ago
  By support do you mean that Linux users have more questions than macOS/Windows users? Or that porting/writing/updating/building the code takes more time?
  - wheels 3y ago
    It's a bunch of stuff. - Standard libraries for audio software are less tested on Linux and tend to be buggier there, and we have to chase down those bugs. - There are a bajillion versions of Linux, and even if you say you only support some subset of those, Linux users will ignore that and still write to support when it doesn't work on their distro / version. Sometimes that even extends to writing bad reviews online. - Packaging on Linux is annoying since there are a bunch of different formats, and nothing will make everyone happy. Because of those issues, we probably get almost as much support mail for Linux as for macOS or Windows, despite Linux being 1% of our user base. From a cost perspective, it just doesn't make sense to keep supporting it. Ironically, we'll keep developing it, because we do some of the development on Linux, and often test on Linux before Windows. From what I know of other companies: we're not unique there, and I thought some of this might be interesting info for pro-audio Linux users.
    - hammyhavoc 3y ago
      If it were me, I'd just focus on making sure it works well on Fedora. PipeWire is in the OOBE, and is where a good chunk of pro audio folks have settled due to top-notch PipeWire support.
wellanyway 3y ago
You should not buy just in case anyone at Ableton is watching, I'm buying the fuck out of your offering the day it has linux support.