this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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There are several commercial options for Linux. The most-Ableton software out there is Bitwig Studio that has a Linux port. However, it's expensive. The cheapest commercial solution, with a bit of learning curve but powerful nonetheless, is Reaper.
However, if you want to go 100% open source, there's Ardour and LMMS (which is a lot like FL Studio). Ardour 9, which is expected by the end of the year, will be more MIDI-friendly than it used to be. LMMS latest git version (offered as binary on their site) has some good new features compared to their stable version, however, there's still no vst3 support.
I'm an visual artist and I used Photoshop for years to edit my hand-painted scanned paintings. When I moved to Linux, and Gimp3 was out, I was finally ready to leave Photoshop behind. Some features of Photoshop aren't there, but I was ready to leave them behind. Same with video, I used to have a rather popular blog about color grading with Resolve. I moved to kdenlive, which has none of these tools or plugins. It's a decision that I simply had to make. I wanted to use foss tools, and that was the price to pay. I'm cool with my decision.
If you gotta go commercial, go with Reaper. The people (a small team of 3 or 4 I believe) behind it are really cool, and they're doing it for the love of it, their profit is very small.
It’s not FOSS (IIRC) but I think Resolve is fully available on Linux?
Resolve doesn't do what Ableton does. It's more of an audio processor and editor (like Audacity), but not a real DAW for music.
Yes, but you said you were using Resolve for color grading. My understanding is you should still be able to use that on Linux, but I haven’t tried it yet myself.
It's not working properly. No AAC support either. I also used to use the Dehancer plugin for it which unfortunately has bugs under Linux.
Another good free DAW option with linux compatibility is Tracktion.
https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free
Its not free ig
Neither is ableton