I used to create songs in FL Studio when I used Windows, but now I have switched to Fedora. Does FL Studio run well via wine, or I should better pick a Linux-native DAW? How do I handle Windows vst3 plugins? It is possible to switch to native Linux solutions, but I would actually like to preserve my regular workflow within FL. Any relevant tips and advice are welcome
Bitwig is the best native software I could find for myself - it’s similar to ableton in some ways, but different enough to be unique.
You can also use yabridge to run most windows plugins (including kontakt)
I think Bitwig Studio and LMMS both support VST2 plugins. Don’t know about VST3. I kinda like the LMMS interface.
Reaper is the DAW for audio-engineers that is well supported on GNU/Linux.
FL Studio can works well with Wine or VM but its plugins are another story.
A few WebApps worth knowing (might not suit heavy usage):
There is also LMMS but this is more for small hobbyst rather than serious work.
You might wanna try running in a VM or WinBoat and maybe it’s worth asking on the CrossOver forum to see how well things run with CO.
To expand upon the point of running Windows VSTs in Linux in FL via WINE, teh initial setup is very, very tedious, as you have ot install all the essential windows dependencies/bloat in order to make all of them run. off the top of my head i can think of .net framework and visual c++ (yes, you will need to install most.all of them, takes quite a while you cna imagine). and enve after that, once you have all your VSTs working (or most of them), one odd WINE update can either cause the GUI of a plugin to not render, leaving you to either go in blind or control the plugin by browsing its parameters (which pray the dev has made them automatable), or less likely but more devastating it just won’t work anymore, either by instafreezing your daw, or straight up crashing it. had that happen with Spectral Compressor, it will forever be missed. Lucily subsequent WINE updates can fix the UI break issue, but it’ll feel like forever until that update lmao
TLDR if you can deal with maybe a few of your plugins breaking, hopefully getting ifxed after a WINE update, and a chance that one or two plugins just don’t run (classic WINE jank), it’s pretty much smooth sailing cause FL actually runs pretty damn good in WINE, i’d say shockingly close to native. Only things that don’t work for me are the WebView rendered stuff (like diagnostics and gophr but i don’t use gophr. A friend of mine got diagnostics to work by installing dotnet and webview2, i already had them installed and it didn’t work). WINE can vary from system to system.
The liste of what DAW you can try :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_audio_editorsThe one I tryed is LMMS, and it’s compatible with nearly all vst plugins I used.
I’ve had some pretty serious issues with usb audio class compliant hardware and linux. I’m not sure if it’s a pulse/pipe/alsa issue and i don’t care. I shouldn’t have to debug dmesg just to record audio.
Reaper and Bitwig work great, otherwise.
SunVox is a really cool piece of software. Tidalcycles and Strudel seem pretty goddam dope as well.
Best native Linux DAWS if you want to try:
- Bitwig - Like Ableton but better (paid, proprietary)
- Renoise - Tracker focused (paid, proprietary)
- Reaper - Clunky but very capable (cheap, proprietary)
- LLMS - Very simple daw (free, libre)
- Ardour - Full featured but rough around the edges (free, libre)
- Bespoke - Modular workflow, supports VSTs (free, libre)
- VCV Rack - Modular workflow, VCV modules only (free, libre)
All the paid daws have free demos.
FWIW I also release all my plugins with native Linux builds: https://replicataudio.com/
Got some cool new stuff coming out soon. HMU on discord and I will give you free copies (applies to anyone reading this comment).
Unless you’re fully committed to Fedora, why not give Ubuntu Studio a try? It’s fully kitted out for audio production, video production, and graphic design with ubuntu base and KDE. All the software amd codecs you need is preloaded and ready to go right out of the box