Feature Request: ZorinOS for Music Production, Design and Creative Purposes

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Hello dear devs!

Features Request Zorinos for music production:

#FIRST OF ALL - LETS SUPPORT MIGRATING OF MUSICIANS, ARTISTS AND CREATORS FROM PROPRIETARY OS!

What we need as music producers out of the box:

  1. Real time Kernel installation option (I 've installed one from Ubuntu Studio, alongside with stock kernel, easy)

  2. Wine Staging option for Windows Support

  3. KX Studio Repository in the Software Store

  4. !Wineasio! Wineasio driver out of the box please!

  5. YABRIDGE or similar VST win plugin container links in software store or, better, preinstalled.

  6. Faq on wineprefixes and bottles for artists not for gaming purposes

  7. Photoshop and other designers software links to linux install github for designers and illustrators.

That's all we want.
I've managed to do it almost good but for newcomers its gonna be bomb!

Please consider it at least as a paid option out of the box
A lot of people migrating from "mustdie"now
And zorin is beautiful, slicky nice BUT needs these features for those who make art and not playing games!

Jol Tai,
The Orchestra of Mirrored Reflections

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I believe Zorin had done this in the past when times were different. Remember there are only two developers who have their hands full with Core, Pro and Education. The only other distro geared to Musicians by Musicians is AVLinux.

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True. I've tried both AVlinux and ubuntu studio. Did not impress me much.
Well I AM quite Noob in linux in general,(though i do remember DOS before MS quite well) and it took me only couple of weeks to more or less understand and figure out crucial things like Wineasio (the most complicated one) and some other points. And though i do understand, that devs are low in numbers and such THIS feature requeste is the most crucial one for most people who are stuck with "mustdie" just for professional reasons - such as creative purposes. For all others, modern Linux distros, especially Zorin are good enough by now-now. Even for most gamers.
Just creative sector is still laging behind..
And i guess the features i highlighted before are a lot more suitable for Paid Pro version, rather then few layouts and preinstalled free software, though i do also understand it more as a donations, of course to keep the things going.
Prove me wrong, if you will.
Jol Tai

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I think AVLinux has changed from what it used to be. I still have an old version of AV Linux lying around somewhere. Another great distro from South America was Musix.

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Its not supported anymore. And AVlinux is geeky and not pretty enough to introduce my girlfriend to it :roll_eyes:
:wink:

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Lets hear a word from Zorin Group, but these would be a potential GAMECHANGER - now ZorinOS is in top 5, amongst Linux Mint, pop!os and EndeavorOs, but it can slice the share of users as butter with those lets say paid features, 'cos most people I know use some DAWs or Photoshop as hobbie at least and it stopes them from moving on from "mustdie" and they re not geeky enough to hack the brains with weird wineasio situation and etc..

Hell, even my girlfriend finds ZorinOS handsome AF and even more pretty then MacOs and she's a painter and far away from all the tech issues...

Alternatively, if there are some advanced Lyn-peeps around, who can help me to implement all the awesome features for creatives, we can make our own build on top of ZorinOS, make it paid and distribute it from zorinOs website on percent of income, of course :wink:
I stillhave some issues in my setup, but i can start sharing guides on how to DIY this compicated audio stuff, especially if iI will find some support here from more expirienced Dudes...
Мир!

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I'm enjoying reading this thread.
What I'm loving about Zorin is how easy it is to install DAW's. So far I've installed the linux versions of Reaper, Bigwig and Tracktion Waveform and they have all been running fine. No stuffing around with tar.gz either. Looking forward to seeing if I can run Ableton Live (Windows version) next.
I've also been able to use the Ubuntu Studio installer to install stuff from them (and so far no problems).
I've generally found video editing a problem in linux (Kdenlive & Openshot). Looking forward to installing and playing around with DaVinci Resolve.
So primarily having had years of using Ubuntu Studio and Ardour I'm really feeling like there's never been a better time to use Linux and Zorin as a creative distro.

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This is a very interesting idea.

Create versions of Zorin aimed at specific audiences. In fact, not different versions of the OS, but of the embedded software.

Maybe managed by the community itself, as it would be difficult for the Zorin
staff to maintain everything.

It would be a difference that the "mustdie" would not be able to follow.

PS: I liked the term "mustdie" and I'm going to start using it. :sweat_smile:

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You are asking a lot of a two man team that just decided to discontinue Zorin Lite Xfce in a few years in order to focus on their GNOME based Core, Pro, and Education iterations.

Oh, and by the way, Zorin OS is always behind Ubuntu’s latest LTS release by about 18 or so months which will make some sound aficionados to grunt for not having the latest of whatever.

Someone could start a community edition of what you are asking for. Or develop a script that downloads all the applications from APT, Snap, AppImages, or Flatpak and like magic, you have what you want.

Just keep in-mind that a lot of the software in Zorin, not all of it, might be older which will cause some users to complain about something else in Linux land.

Hope it works out. :v:

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Just replying in respect of KDEnlive, for me, no issues of using KDEnlive as I use it for all my Vimeo uploads.

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Thanks for this, I'll try it. I've been running Zorin on my old ex-win8 laptop as an exercise in learning what works for me in moving from Windows. My current work machine is Win10, used for several main areas:

  1. The day job - .NET development. Unfortunately I have various legacy projects running .Net framework 4.8 so Microsoft's Visual Studio is the only practical tool/environment for these. I have it working in a Win10 install in Boxes. Amazingly so, in fact. Given that this is an old laptop which had crawled to a collapse under Win8. Its way too slow and clunky on this PC, but it reassures me that it will be possible in a newer system.

Newer projects can use VS Code / VSCodium.

  1. Graphics, again this is professional use. A mix of photography, graphics for web use, and a little publishing.

I've been using Affinity Photo for a while now. I really like Affinity 2 now that i have got used to it after years of Photoshop use. I used Photoshop from V2 on the Mac, eventually sticking at CS on windows which I used until Affinity.

Affinity is currently very problematic under Wine. It works in the Boxes Win10. I have added my voice to one of many threads on the Affinity forum requesting that they consider a Linux release.

For small quick edits Krita is fine.
I do need CMYK support, and non-destructive edit layers quite often.

I still have my old Photoshop 7 and CS CDs, which I shall try under Wine.
I currently use Lightroom Classic (V6) for RAW as I was never going to switch to the subscription plan. I'm happy to put in the time and switch to DarkTable. I haven't so far had the time.

  1. For publishing I just came across VivaDesigner (VivaDesigner - desktop, server & web-based publishing program) which is cross-platform. It looks intriguing as a Scribus alternative.

  2. The big one. Pro audio. Back to the thread subject - @Joltai did mention photoshop at the top so I feel I haven't totally deviated from the subject of Pro software.

In preparation for Linux research, my initial approach was to switch on Win10 to software that already has versions on both platforms. I switched to LibreOffice on Windows (although I am now more likely to buy a license for Softmaker office having tried it out).

I switched to Bitwig (my USB audio box came with a limited version) and Reaper to test both. Both are workable for me. Legacy projects are an issue.

I have quite an investment in NI software, which I shall be testing under Wine and Yabridge. This seems to be a good guide: GitHub - robbert-vdh/yabridge: A modern and transparent way to use Windows VST2, VST3 and CLAP plugins on Linux

Specifically, Reaktor which is an amazing beast of a soundmaking tool. If that works, it would be awesome. Various sample-based instruments also.

It'll be an interesting experiment. The issue may well be my soundcard.

Rather than the devs creating a specific version (which would be great, but I dont see them having resources for that), I suggest that having an install guide on this forum would be a good start. I shall take notes as I go, and would be happy to contribute to that guide. I think that the Ubuntu Studio installer will be a great place to start: Ubuntu Studio Installer – Ubuntu Studio

This adds software from the Ubuntu Studio OS to any Ubuntu-based distro.

Its an exciting time, as more people are looking for an exit route from Windows. I find Zorin uplifting to be sat in front of in a way that doesn't happen in front of my Windows box. I feel lighter, more fun.

  1. Writing. I have been compiling notes for a book for a while. Yesterday I installed the Scrivener Installer (windows .exe) under Wine. This was my fisrt use of Wine - just the standard Zorin install of Wine (+Bottles). It installed easily. I had to delete a specific folder (texttospeech) from that install which makes Scrivener crash on launch otherwise. See: Running the 3.1.5 Beta with Wine or Bottles - #11 by andrewbond - Scrivener on Linux (Unofficial) - Literature & Latte Forums

Initially there were visual glitches. I installed corefonts, and set the DPI in wine config to 144 which seemed to work for me, and in Scrivener's options set its menus to use a Linux font rather than the windows font it was looking for, and restarted. All visual glitches gone. It runs amazingly. I've tested all the main functionality.

I am seriously impressed by Zorin + Wine.

Apologies for such a long post. There's a lot of ground to cover here.

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Ubuntu Studio Installer is in the software installer already. Good start!

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https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-installer/
Something like this? I think it would be a great idea

It's a shame that ubuntu studio's claims to not support ubuntu-based distros that aren't official flavours (like mint or zorin), so i think it would be awesome if someone made something like this that not only support these distros, but also debian

Though, I'm aware that doing something like this supported across multiple distros would be too much effort, so maybe having as an integrated thing into Zorin (like the web browser installer from older zorin versions) would be nice, as I keep seeing many people in youtube saying the only reason that stops them from moving to linux is having a bad experience with music and video editing software, even if everything else works great

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Scribus has an official Linux version
https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Debian
Zorin is based on Ubuntu, so if it's in Ubuntu's repositories, it's in Zorin's software store

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Sure. That might work. Or you identify what software you want that is in the APT repository or Snap or Flatpak and create an "install" script for that which you just paste into the command line and all the software is installed. It would look something like this:

sudo apt install kdenlive

flatpak install flathub org.kde.kdenlive

sudo snap install digikam

The programs listed are just examples. Just pick what you want/need and save the script for later installation - it should work on any Ubuntu based installation as long you have Flatpaks and/or Snaps installed.

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Post edited: I was mistakenly referring to Scrivener in my initial reply. Apologies for any confusion.

Yes, I have it installed. I just meant its good to see additional pro software. Its not something I have much need for these days, very occasional use. I used Quark Express and Pagemaker on Mac 20+ years ago at different times.

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Yeah, Chris Titus has made some awesome "tool kits" which do what you're suggesting, but for other distros, so it's certainly possible, as long as the version of Ubuntu is up to the job.

It is annoying when it isn't possible to install the latest version of something that you need to work. I can't replace Mint 21.3 because even though I think it's based on the same version of Ubuntu as Zorin 17.1, I can't install Kodi 21. Omega, and I absolutely need that version.

There's no point in complaining though, I just run both OSs! I can see that being a deal breaker for some people though. Zorin is definitely more familiar and noob-friendly than Mint, so hopefully someone can come up with the scripts to attract more people over.

By the way - Welcome @zenbren - good to see you here.

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