Ardour is basically a Linux port of Pro Tools. I’ve been running PT11 as the hardware I use is at the moment Windows only. Apart from the lack of decent MIDI editing Ardour 3.5 wasn’t that far behind, and dare I say it actually sounded better. Jack has a lot more capability than ReWire does, Reason 3 can be made to work on Linux with a bit of work, as can Reaper, and the Jack system pretty much allows any program to be used as a plug in by any other.

Something I’m reluctant to do at the moment is run Linux on my Windows box, as friends have had issues with Windows activation and other copy protection when setting up dual boot.

The latest KX studio should be including an updated Ardour, or you can get it for a £1 minimum price (being open source, you can build it yourself, but paying for the compiled version is easier and ethical)

Main thing is from a computer musician’s point of view is that the audio side of things has caught up to the level where Linux can be used as a studio tool as effectively as Windows
and Mac.

On my Windows box I’m no longer running any pirate software, I was lucky to get an inheritance from my late gran to put this right and one of the commercial packages I use is NI Reaktor. So far I’ve only just got around to building my own synths- there are so many presets etc, but the package is absolutely amazing, you can pretty much build any synth. My mum isn’t really into music so we sort of came to tussles about this, but happily we’ve made up and have a better relationship than ever now :)