Make your DAW a closed system

[Steviebone]

A common question I get in real life about my set up concerns why I don't have any of my studio equipment connected to the Internet. A musician friend of mine suggested to me today that I should share this perspective here in hopes of maybe helping some folk.

The long and short of it is that I prefer my production DAW to be a closed system, never connected to the Internet and only rarely connected to the LAN.

I have been using computer based DAWs since sometime in the 90s beginning with very early versions of cakewalk and then later ProTools, followed by probably at least a dozen others ending with reaper which I anticipate will be my DAW of choice for the foreseeable future and beyond.

I have also made a living during that time on the Internet producing literally millions of webpages that are still online today. While I am not a networking expert guru I probably know more than the average home recording enthusiast and probably many professional musicians and engineers as well. That said, you can take my perspective with a grain of salt, everyone's situation is different and your mileage may vary.

The simple truth for me, however, is that NO-ONE should EVER be connected to the Internet without properly configured firewalls and antivirus. Not even for a minute. All computers are being constantly bombarded with robot programs seeking to probe your computer and its network for vulnerabilities. And when I say constantly bombarded I mean if you are on the Internet your machine is probably being probed thousands of times a day. Most consumers do not have the knowledge (and never will) to properly configure firewalls and router configurations to try and protect themselves adequately.

The problem with antivirus is that it does not play friendly with DAWs. Even if you think you do it every day and you don't have problems you are selling yourself short. ALL antivirus programs are intercepting every bit of data that flies around in your computer inspecting it for possible virus signatures. That is by their very definition what they are designed to do. This consumes resources which can impact your DAWs performance at the very least, and at the very worst cause very hard to troubleshoot problems that are hard to reproduce and difficult to solve. Not only will this reduce your memory footprint, it steals computer cycles and slows transfer of data which is the direct enemy of your DAW's performance.

The mistake I think many people make today is that they want their computer DAW to serve several functions. But just because your DAW can surf the Internet or fire up the latest video game doesn't mean that it should. Do you expect your favorite keyboard or guitar to surf the Internet?

In my humble opinion you will have the best results by seeing your DAW as just another musical instrument that happens to be enclosed in a computer box. I never have any issues with my system because they are closed systems. There is nothing running on the system that doesn't relate to the DAW. This means there are no third-party drivers, video programs, ant-virus, antispyware or whatever that might interfere with the DAW in any way.

If you use your DAW to make music or do anything that you can't afford to lose then your best bet is to keep it isolated. There is no better security than brute force. Something that is not connected to the Internet, or for that matter a local area network, will remain protected while at the same time allowing your DAW to work very reliably at its optimum.

Computers are cheap. You can get a computer for 100 bucks that will allow you to surf the Internet. You don't need to do it on your DAW. Most of us have phones that are more than sufficient for this task. If you really need to play video games get an Xbox.

I know most people will tell you that every computer should have antivirus. Generally speaking this is absolutely true. But my perspective is that a working DAW may be an exception to that rule. But that only works if you keep your computer off of the network. Religiously. No exceptions.

If you have a local area network that you use to transfer files you should keep it disconnected and only connect while you are transferring those files. You can have an antivirus on the local network inspecting the files being transferred to your DAW. Then disconnect from the LAN keeping your music production safe and at its optimum performance. For what it's worth, I also disconnect the Internet from the LAN while I am transferring files. And I usually go one step further and physically disconnect the cable itself after I'm done just in case I forget and screw up something somewhere else. This approach has saved me many headaches.

I can't tell you how many friends of mine I've had over the years call me up freaking out because they have not sufficiently backed up their computer (a whole other thing) with all their music and now suddenly have a big problem. Inevitably, they are connected to the Internet and doing all kinds of things on that computer besides music. If your music is something you can't live without then by all means protect it properly. In my opinion, and it's just my opinion, the best way to do that is to make your computer music workstation a closed system, one that does not need antivirus because it is never connected to the Internet.

Yes it may be technically possible to disable your antivirus while running your DAW. But it has been my experience no matter what you turn off in the software interface there are still things loaded that can impact your DAW performance as well as interfere with certain forms of copy protection and other things you will find when loading a DAW down with VST's.

You don't need to surf the Internet, write email or play video games on your DAW computer. You really don't. If you want a truly stable system and one that is protected consider making your DAW a closed system. You won't regret it.

Peace and good music...

[karbomusic]

I know most people will tell you that every computer should have antivirus. Generally speaking this is absolutely true. But my perspective is that a working DAW may be an exception to that rule. But that only works if you keep your computer off of the network. Religiously. No exceptions.

I'm sure I misunderstood but... As someone who understands measuring performance on enterprise servers at the global level and am somewhat of a networking guru. I've not seen a need to avoid AV as standard practice on a DAW assuming it's configured properly.

There are two main areas where it would come into play performance wise. 1) Filter drivers - aka a driver that sits in the storage stack that inspects each IOP, which could affect disk latency but - being disk bound with a DAW these days is fairly rare in my experience. 2) Filters that can inspect block inter-process communication etc. but that would be pretty rare too other than say bridging etc. 3) just flat out blocking file access or similar solved by excluding Reaper et al in the AV settings. Not technically performance hence "#3" of 2.

I think your overall advice is fine but I don't expect AV to be a performance issue to the extent one should automatically avoid it. It's more likely to cause other issues where it block some action but that's usually solvable as mentioned via exception rule. Performance can/will take a tiny hit but my point is that it shouldn't won't be a concern unless the machine is already on the edge perf wise or the same thing in the form of running projects so large that tiny hit is noticeable. For example, my 100+ tracks/200+ VSTs projects have not hit any bottlenecks related to AV.

If it isn't going to be on the net anyway then of course, but I don't necessarily agree you should take it off the internet just so you can uninstall AV. Again though, not dissing your advice but since it's something I'm familiar with I chimed in but like I said could have misunderstood.

[Eisenspalter]

I surf the Internet, write emails, cut videos, work with 2d and 3d software, have video conferences, watch Twitch, Youtube and You...., play shooting games for relaxation and have 2 stable computer systems (1 backup system). I use Skype to talk with my customers about their mixes. Or discuss with my mastering engineer online which things I don't like. In addition, I use the Internet for further education. And learn something new every day. Without the Internet, on the same computer, I would be far too slow and no longer competitive. And I hope that in at least 5 years I'll only need my (i)Phone to do all the tasks on one device. Despite Windows, I have never had any problems with Viruses or Trojans. In addition, as recommended by Google, I no longer use any third-party virus programs. Do not open email attachments from non-reputable sources. The same applies to the download. And everything is OK!

[lucas_LCS]

Originally Posted by karbomusic

I've not seen a need to avoid AV as standard practice on a DAW assuming it's configured properly.

In addition to not running or disabling AV, being off the the NET allows you to disable the network drivers.
While this is probably negligible on newer PCs, it provides an additional performance boost on older machines, especially old laptops running WiFi.

I can see how keeping the DAW off the network might be difficult for people with 1 system.
This isn't an issue for me since I have 2nd system for general use to switch to if I need to access something on the NET.

My DAW system also doubles as a gaming system that is connected when in that mode.
I use a separate drive for the games and just swap them for the whichever mode I want.
This has work well for me for 12+ years.

If I pared down to 1 system, I have a tablet I could use for browsing the NET instead or just use my phone.
In that case, I would use 3 drives for each of the different tasks:
- General use
- DAW
- Gaming

::

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by lucas_LCS

In addition to not running or disabling AV, being off the the NET allows you to disable the network drivers.
While this is probably negligible on newer PCs, it provides an additional performance boost on older machines, especially old laptops running WiFi.

Sure when older machine but that's measurable To be more clear... in my computer world, I'm a numbers guy. So yea, if Wi-Fi is causing DPCs/Interrupts, you can confirm/deny with something like LatencyMon. Network affecting perf in general... NICs these days do a good bit of the of the processing on the NIC itself so there is less use in blindly disabling unless we can show the improvement with data balanced against the need for the network connectivity - or just disable/enable as needed.

My main point is better if we measure and quantify so we don't end up disabling things that aren't actually improving the DAWs performance. If you have paying recording clients, run a DAW solely and only for recording, do whatever, doesn't matter at that point really. I don't do this professionaly these days, but as a heavy DAW user anyway and spending alot of time in development, work and other hobbies. My current DAW is also my work machine, my dev machine, my video editing machine, my whoknowswhat machine and I can still do 110 tracks and 250 VST with 300 apps installed using 95% out of the box OS settings aka almost zero DAW perf changes.

In Windows 98 days, completely different ball of wax because technology/performance was barely even up to the task then so you had no choice but to nearly strip the OS.

[richie43]

I have a 9 year old i7 that was built for me as a dedicated DAW (i7 4790). I had been doing the "never on internet" thing for the first 6 years...and I have to be honest, my experience is so much better leaving it on the internet 24/7. Not for everyone, but I'd never go back to that hassle.

[Glennbo]

I go web browsing at the same time as I'm composing music in REAPER, and almost always have email and a stock ticker running at the same time.

This is on an eleven year old Asus P7P55D/i5 running on Xubuntu Linux and frequently with several Kontakt instruments running in WINE and bridged via LinVST.

I did the very same with Windows 7 up until it's die date. I still have Win7 with all networking disabled as the other half of my dual boot DAW, but I disabled the networking for security reasons. Not for performance ones.

[toleolu]

Seems to me having a computer setup to do nothing but audio without any communications considerations is perfectly reasonable.

However, a computer is still a tool, and as with all tools it needs to be well maintained. Part of that is keeping software and firmware up to date.

Maybe find a happy median where you don't run AV software, keep your DAW off any network, but do some monthly scheduled maintenance where you connect to a network and check for updates. In a specific application like that, you wouldn't need to check many places for updates.

Once updated, disconnect and rock on.

[fakemaxwell]

Originally Posted by Steviebone

While I am not a networking expert guru I probably know more than the average home recording enthusiast and probably many professional musicians and engineers as well.

Man didn't you just start a thread about how to uninstall Reaper? Don't know how these two things can coexist.

This "never connect your computer to the internet, it's too dangerous" is sovereign citizen, luddite nonsense. If you don't want to connect because it's better for maintaining focus during work, that's one thing. "The internet is too scary!!" is silly.

Haven't personally had network issues with anything but Pro Tools, and even that has been better recently.

[ashcat_lt]

My “mix” machine could go to the internet if it felt like it, but it never does. I have a KVM switch so I can flip over to the “living room” machine with the push a button, and anything I need to download for the other goes to that machine and gets virus scanned first. My “live” machine lives in a rack with its own wireless router that has never been connected to the internet. The laptop that I use to control it via VNC can connect to the home WiFi and thence the web, but it almost never does.

[Steviebone]

As I said in my original post this was not meant to be an absolute. There is a lot of gray area here. Yes if you have a superfast machine the AV hit may be very small, but it's still there. Personally I've had issues with crashes and other bizarre behavior that all vanished when I got rid of it. But that's just my experience and like I said everybody else's mileage may vary.

Like someone above said, especially on older systems, every little bit of efficiency can make a difference. Also, many less experienced users that rely on standard AV configurations are eventually going to run into security holes anyway. Why put your valuable creative efforts at risk if they don't have to be? If it's not on the net it can't become a target. (Here is where I could speak volumes on proper backup procedure, but that's a whole other thing for another day.)

I've had several machines in the past where over time the entire machine became sluggish due to the growing database of the antivirus system. Removing the antivirus or resetting it made an enormous difference in overall machine performance and that was on a machine that was just doing non-real-time tasks like word processing. This is a real thing. If you Google it you will see what I'm saying. So anything that can cost that kind of noticeable performance loss in non-real-time applications is definitely likely to affect real-time stuff.

If your machine is connected to the Internet and you DO have a problem, your music is going to be at risk. I sleep well at night knowing that this will never be an issue for me.

This is just a philosophy on my part. Anything that doesn't have to be on the Internet, shouldn't be. Anything on the LAN that isn't requiring the use of LAN services at the moment doesn't need to be connected to the LAN until it does. I think we've all become lazy thinking everything needs to be connected all the time. From my own experience it just makes sense not to expose something that doesn't need to be exposed and only expose it when it needs to be.

If you only have one computer and that's all you can afford then do the best you can and live with it. On the other hand if your situation is more flexible you may want to consider keeping some systems better isolated.

Again, this is just suggested philosophy, I'm not trying to debate wrong or right just giving an alternative perspective that has worked for me.

I appreciate all the comments. Now I'm going to go make some music!

Peace

[lizzard]

It makes sense to keep your creative tool away from bots that infect so much of every click we make .

any body with solid ip training knows what can be in every byte that cannot be identified unless "known about" .

Its great that computers can do so much that we know about that is in our interests ...a so much we dont know about .

The horse of troy is a sadly forgotten tale .

[hardplay]

Agree woth the OP, it's common sense that a computer should not be connected to the internet, it will save you grief and firepower !

The big guns in any pro staudio have their machines offline period!

[fakemaxwell]

Originally Posted by Steviebone

If your machine is connected to the Internet and you DO have a problem, your music is going to be at risk. I sleep well at night knowing that this will never be an issue for me.

If you don't have a backup system, your music is at risk regardless. And if you do have a backup system, you have....a backup.

If you really need to play video games get an Xbox.

Some people want to play computer games

It makes sense to keep your creative tool away from bots that infect so much of every click we make .

What are you talking about

The big guns in any pro staudio have their machines offline period!

Because, for the most part, they are not spending time in the studio browsing Amazon. They're in the studio to do studio things. I don't want to "simply spend 100 dollars" on some Chinese garbage for an "internet browsing machine" when I have a perfectly capable computer ready to go.

Just to reiterate my point here: if you want to disconnect for productivity reasons, that's great. If you're disconnecting because of some 1998 internet boogeyman paranoia, that's also fine, but please do not attempt to infect other people with this world view. It is perfectly possible to connect to the internet, remain safe, and not have your computer explode. If this happens to you frequently, it's not because of the ethernet cable.

[Sibben]

Originally Posted by hardplay

The big guns in any pro staudio have their machines offline period!

No shit? I’m taking my computer offline right now!

[operator]

Originally Posted by richie43

I have a 9 year old i7 that was built for me as a dedicated DAW (i7 4790). I had been doing the "never on internet" thing for the first 6 years...and I have to be honest, my experience is so much better leaving it on the internet 24/7. Not for everyone, but I'd never go back to that hassle.

Of cousre locking down the DAW to preserve it´s performance sounds really romantic... same romantic as sitting infront of the fireplace druing a snowstorm with a cup of hot chocolate... But it is so much more fun and worth-while-living to go outside having fun in the snowstrom (I live in Austria) and take it all in, even though one risks having a cold for a few days... BUT maybe you´ll come across and help some animals who were suprised by the strom and need your help (otherwise they´ll die...). And while you´re doing this thing called "living", being outside of the cumfort zone, you might meet people who are the exact same as you are...

I also have a a six year old i7 4790k and am on the internet since day 1 ... despite the strong suggestion from my old "music production teacher" from the course i visited back then... the whole time I had it on the internet, always updated and beta tested AND I would do it the same again... never lost something but gained so much other things...

when i look at my collueges which followed the advice of my teacher i can see what their struggles are... they never really listen to a lot of music on their monitors, they only know how their own music sounds through their speaker.. listening hours of hours to learn your monitors and room is imperative to grow as producer... and without internet you probably won t listen to that much music or watch thousand of tutorials...

I also started to play Call of Duty during Corona-Lockdown.. maybe this isn t the best thing you can do to your DAW pc... but heck.. life is made for living, taking a risk, accumulating/sharing knowledge and helping others... locking down pc will only isolate you from many helpful and beautyful things/people... especially if you sit alone in the studio for 24/7...So as long as you ain´t got your own eco-system running (like a studio does), don´t go offline...

#FreeTheDaw


E.g. Only if your DAW is situated on the Skywalker Ranch or in another million dollar income studio (or maybe even with less income than that)... then I also would strongly recommend to lock it down... BUT for most semi-professionals or even for some professionals it makes more sense to stay online (especially if you are still learning... AND who`ll ever stop learning??)

[Sibben]

This is some stupid practise started by old computer dilletants. Somehow, like with a lot of bullshit in the audio domain, it was something of a truth for a while. It happens all the time because people who are good at one thing are assumed to be authorities on others as well. Hans Zimmer may be great at banging out film scores but I won’t be taking computer purchasing advice from him, thank you very much.

[synkrotron]

Originally Posted by Steviebone

The mistake I think many people make today is that they want their computer DAW to serve several functions. But just because your DAW can surf the Internet or fire up the latest video game doesn't mean that it should.

I'm sixty and I've been using my computer for absolutely everything. Music creation, shooting people online, graphics, interwebs, e-mail, business accounts.

I'm not going to have one computer for music creation, one for graphics stuff and yet another for office type work, emails and the internet.

My current setup is an i9 and isn't at all troubled by what I do with it.


But I'm just a hobbyist, not a proper producer. I can understand professional studios having a policy of having a computer just and only for music stuff.

[operator]

Originally Posted by Sibben

This is some stupid practise started by old computer dilletants. Somehow, like with a lot of bullshit in the audio domain, it’s was something of a truth for a while. It happens all the time because people who are good at one thing are assumed to be authorities on others as well.

THIS... TOTALY THIS!!! You totaly summed it up in one sentence.... Music Prodctuion Biz in general is one of the most conservative buisinesses I ever encountered... just look at all the skeuomorphic Plugin GUIs... just gross. :-)...

[Fex]

Originally Posted by fakemaxwell

Just to reiterate my point here: if you want to disconnect for productivity reasons, that's great. If you're disconnecting because of some 1998 internet boogeyman paranoia, that's also fine, but please do not attempt to infect other people with this world view. It is perfectly possible to connect to the internet, remain safe, and not have your computer explode. If this happens to you frequently, it's not because of the ethernet cable.

^ This, really.

Call it 1998 internet boogeyman paranoia, but not so very long ago, everyone I knew who had a computer ran Windows, some of the best software was exclusively for Windows, all the crackers targeted Windows, Windows didn't come with any inbuilt security worth a damn, and such security software as I might acquire for Windows would periodically decide that my music software was malware and stick it in a vault somewhere.

Now, not so much.

I largely ignored the advice to keep my music computer off the net back then, because I had little choice. Terrible things happened to my computer; I learned a great deal unravelling the mess, time and time again. Apart from the occasional crash, however, I never lost any work because of any cyber disaster.

I entirely ignore the advice to keep my music computer off the net now, because I'm fairly confident that I know what I'm doing, and because I don't want to spend half my life moving data from one machine to another.

$0.02

[Sibben]

Originally Posted by operator

THIS... TOTALY THIS!!! You totaly summed it up in one sentence.... Music Prodctuion Biz in general is one of the most conservative buisinesses I ever encountered... just look at all the skeuomorphic Plugin GUIs... just gross. :-)...

Yes. The GUI thing is dumb founding. In no other business would that pass for professional. On the contrary. Professional software usually looks drab and functional and the shiny stuff is found in consumer software.

[hardplay]

Originally Posted by fakemaxwell

Because, for the most part, they are not spending time in the studio browsing Amazon. They're in the studio to do studio things.

Oh that i didn't know, wow !!They also do it for security reasons and not only that, it seems that for some people having a machine offline is silly?

It's just common sense and nobody will shoot you if you8 are connected!!

[hardplay]

Originally Posted by Sibben

This is some stupid practise started by old computer dilletants. Somehow, like with a lot of bullshit in the audio domain, it was something of a truth for a while.

So everybody that doesn't agree with your statement is stupid and /or a computer dilletante?? So your saying the internet is a nice friendly open space and only intelligent and tech savy people make music while connected??

Wow great stuff , i learn new things everyday when i open the Reaper forums!

[operator]

Originally Posted by Sibben

Professional software usually looks drab and functional and the shiny stuff is found in consumer software.

Totaly agree with the first part :-)... but I can´t share (unfortunatly) the same opinions on terms like "professional software"... Does the "pro" come from because professional musicians are useing it, or because programmers who could make their hobby to a profession (either working on their own, or in a established company) released it under a brand.

Skrillex uses a CamelPhat on the Master (WTF!), does this makes camelphat a state of the art/professional mastering plugin? Not intentional, but now it is... (at least in his setup.. I could never do that... :-D :-D)... it always depends on the circumstances and therefore none AND all plugins can be professional... Damn most professional tool I got in my arsenal is the "Gain-Utility"...

Xfer LFO-Tool, a small cheap plugin... but used by a majority of electronic music producers all over the globe.. but this was a hobby project from Steve Duda, same story with the Xfer OTT... (he just saw how Deadmau5 and Skrillex did stuff, and took that professional input and combined it with his mediocer coding abilities and that led to amazing plugins... finally to Xfer Serum...

But I understand what you mean by "professional", you mean companies like iZotope or Melda who give you amazing GUI + amazing DSP... *love both*... In my opinion this is how all plugins should look like... ValhallaDSP also has very nice GUI..


I think there are plenty of so called "professional" Plugins with skeuomorphic UI Design out there --> Slate Digital, Plugin Alliance, Logic X Compressor (hahahaha, poor bastards) and many, MANY more...

[Fex]

Originally Posted by hardplay

So everybody that doesn't agree with your statement is stupid and /or a computer dilletante?? So your saying the internet is a nice friendly open space and only intelligent and tech savy people make music while connected??

You have heard of a "straw man" argument, right? We have!

[SonicAxiom]

I had one incisive key experience back in 2000. I had absolutely no knowledge of computers at that time when some serious Windows error and a BSOD occured which interrupted an ongoing tracking session and I had to send my clients home. I had no clue whatsoever of computers and Windows but I had to reinstall and reconfigure everything (Windows, programs, Cubase, etc.) while learing how this is done properly for the first time. I sweared to myself that I'd do everything to avoid a situation like this in the future and started looking for advice on the internet. It took me three years to get to a point where I could configure a computer in a way that it was safe to leave it connected to the internet at all times.

Today, 20 years later, all my computers have not had any mentionable system issue, malware infection or other trouble since I established my current workflow back in 2003! All computers are constantly connected to the internet. Down-time per machine is less than 4 hours/year. Here's what I'm doing with a newly purchased computer:

1. Partition the OS drive leaving reasonable space for C:\ while adding one or more partitions for personal user data and project data.
2. Install the AV of my choice which I know well and which I configure to make it work/protect properly. No AV software will protect you well in its factory settings!
3. Install Sandboxie and have all my browsers automatically launch inside the sandbox.
4. Whenever possible use portable apps which I put on my D.\ drive (Reaper, LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Opera, various audio/video/system/graphics/networking utilities.
5. Use PopMan to pre-filter my emails.
6. Disable a few startup processes and services that are not needed.
7. Use Macrium Reflect or AOMEI Backupper to create a clean and well configured system image after having installed and parametrized all apps.
8. I'm using Windows firewall but have disabled Defender.
9. No system/registry tweaker or optimizing utility is needed to keep Windows running at optimal specs.
10. Never click on a link inside an email but instead copy and paste it into the sandboxed browser.
11. Test unknown programs inside the sandbox to avoid polluting the system.

Some of the VST plugins/instruments I'm using require an internet connection to function. Lot's of programs I'm using require regular updating. Finally, I wanna have access to everything anytime on each of my computers. I wanna co video conferencing with my clients and friends. Clients shall be able to listen to their mixes while I'm mixing in real-time from wherever they are. It's a matter of good service and convenience. However, I second that leaving an unprotected and non-configured Windows computer connected to the internet even for only a few moments will lead to immediate contamination. You should never connect a non-configured machine to the internet but once configured properly, it's resonably safe (though probably never 100% safe) to virtually never experience any trouble but the user experience is MUCH better than having an isolated system.

.

[Sibben]

Originally Posted by hardplay

So everybody that doesn't agree with your statement is stupid and /or a computer dilletante?? So your saying the internet is a nice friendly open space and only intelligent and tech savy people make music while connected??

Wow great stuff , i learn new things everyday when i open the Reaper forums!

I'm not even going to touch that childish and emotional statement.

My point was that there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about technology floating around amongst musicians and audio engineers. It's because they're good at making music or mixing and not technology. That's fine. I have absolutely no problem with that.

There are people like me and many other in this thread, who work professionally with computers, who can explain and provide facts instead of superstitious nonsense. Most oftenly people are grateful for that. Sometimes though, the response will instead be aggressive pushback and stubborn repetition of misinformation.

That's when ignorance has passed over the threshold to become arrogance. I do have a problem with that.

[Sibben]

Originally Posted by operator

Totaly agree with the first part :-)... but I can´t share (unfortunatly) the same opinions on terms like "professional software"... Does the "pro" come from because professional musicians are useing it, or because programmers who could make their hobby to a profession (either working on their own, or in a established company) released it under a brand.

Look, I'm making no argument what audio software is professional or not. I'm merely stating a fact about how they look.

Just google screenshots of some professional grade software from other fields and see for yourself. Try things like CAD, medical software or commercial customer management solutions. Try programming environments (VisualStudio) or software used by meteorologists. Anything really. Heck you can even look at Excel.

Usually, for professional software, you don't spend too much resources on making it look nice but rather focus on functionality. Because pros usually care about what the tools can do and less how they look.

[operator]

Originally Posted by Sibben

Usually, for professional software, you don't spend too much resources on making it look nice but rather focus on functionality.

Yes, that´s true... you´re totaly right...

[toleolu]

Originally Posted by SonicAxiom

[*]Never click on a link inside an email but instead copy and paste it into the sandboxed browser.

To paraphrase something Paul Reed Smith said about guitars going out of tune because "something moved", in most cases, you pick up nasty stuff on the internet because "you clicked on something".

[peter5992]

I am keeping my DAW computer connected to the internet all the time.

I don't use for emails or web browsing (except when I want to look up something music related).

I have so many VSTs and plugins that need to be updated from time to time, and these days all that happens online (NI, EW, Avid, Reaper, Arturia, and so on and so forth).

Also I need to send stuff to people online, and back up my work product which happens online.

My other DAW computer (PT rig) is online as well, for the same reason, though I don't use it nearly as much.

My daily laptop which I use for office work is online as well, as is my fourth computer (Surface Pro).

[Quasar]

I am a huge believer in keeping my computer offline, and though I much prefer not having to worry about AV, firewalls, updates etc., for me it doesn't come down to whether or not it's "safe" to have a globally connected workstation. Rather, it's about the right to use a personal computer in an entirely private way (akin to a personal diary) if one chooses to do so.

Policies by software vendors that mandate an online connection in order to use their software are barbaric. DRM that requires such is immoral, should be illegal, and should be resisted by any and all means necessary.

[Steviebone]

Okay so I had not looked at this in a couple of days because I've been busy playing music and doing other things in the studio. I expected to see a few differing opinions but I was surprised to see such a polarity of divisiveness. My OP was not meant to suggest that anyone that didn't agree with me or consider my thoughts and views on this valid was wrong. The vast majority of people make music just fine on a connected system. I am definitely in the minority.

Nevertheless, I stand by my original comments. They will be of use to maybe one or two and maybe not so many. That's fine.

No need for insults or negative banter. Make music however you can.

If you have an older system where you are stretching resources thin, you might want to consider my perspective. If you have a blazing fast machine the difference may be negligible (but not nil) although I still contend that I have had weird buggy issues that were solved by removing everything from machine that wasn't directly related to the DAW. And I don't have to worry about buggy Windows updates, ransom software or any other oddball stuff that you become unilaterally exposed to on a connected machine. Once my machine works it keeps on working because nothing changes on it without my direct intervention.

If you have a machine with music that you can't afford to lose that must be connected to the Internet then by all means make darn sure you're well backed up. I could go deep here because 99% of people who think they are backed up sufficiently are not. (But I will save that for another day.)

I do both. I backup my machines to the point of ridiculous redundancy. I also keep the most important machines isolated. Works for me. Everybody's different.

Now please stop insulting each other, pick up your guitar and crank the amp to thirteen, or whatever else floats your boat! Peace.

[Steviebone]

Originally Posted by Quasar

I am a huge believer in keeping my computer offline, and though I much prefer not having to worry about AV, firewalls, updates etc., for me it doesn't come down to whether or not it's "safe" to have a globally connected workstation. Rather, it's about the right to use a personal computer in an entirely private way (akin to a personal diary) if one chooses to do so.

Policies by software vendors that mandate an online connection in order to use their software are barbaric. DRM that requires such is immoral, should be illegal, and should be resisted by any and all means necessary.

and.... this

[Steviebone]

Originally Posted by fakemaxwell

Man didn't you just start a thread about how to uninstall Reaper? Don't know how these two things can coexist.

This "never connect your computer to the internet, it's too dangerous" is sovereign citizen, luddite nonsense. If you don't want to connect because it's better for maintaining focus during work, that's one thing. "The internet is too scary!!" is silly.

Haven't personally had network issues with anything but Pro Tools, and even that has been better recently.

Thanks for that insight. I was trying to completely uninstall Reaper on a development machine so I could test how the process would go on an outside fresh install. Has absolutely nothing to do with this post.

As for the other part you obviously have zero experience in a mission critical networking situation. The Internet is ABSOLUTELY a dangerous place, lol. You, sir, are naive.

[richie43]

Originally Posted by Steviebone

Now please stop insulting each other.....

Originally Posted by Steviebone

You, sir, are naive.

Um....right.

[Trancit]

Originally Posted by Steviebone

...The Internet is ABSOLUTELY a dangerous place...

Hmm, don´t know if that isn´t a bit overdriven...

I am on a windows machine since ever and always online since 25 years...

I´ve got never running anything else than the inbuilt windows firewall and have never ever noticed any issues at all I could relate to hackers or viruses at all...

Second, there are so many articles over the net from experienced hackers which are explaining why there is no protection at all...
No matter if it´s a firewall or AV, these programms just open the door but never close them...
If a hacker wants to get into your system he´s using ports opened by these programms first...

In general this would support your demand to stay completely offline with the working machine but then I have to say again:

25 years with no protection... no issues... so why should I care??

If it will happen some day I´ve my backups and a clean system on the machine within an hour... not a big deal...

Why should I care???

[karbomusic]

^It's a conflation between being on the internet somewhat protected vs bent over and butt naked. Even you guys who are saying you don't have protection, do have basics like a firewall and closed ports, browsers with security patches and other mitigation/safety features.

Try popping that machine directly on the net with no router firewall, no OS firewall, no AV, no OS updates or other default protections disabled and see how long before you are screwed. The internet is actually dangerous but most have multiple levels of protection when connecting, that's the difference concerning "dangerous".

Again, conflating terms or at minimum using them too loosely.

[toleolu]

I'm reminded of something the comedian Gallagher used to say. (The guy who smashed watermelons with that big hammer. Guess I'm dating myself here. )

Anyway, the quote was something like, "If you want to put ketchup on your baked potato and sour cream on your french fries, who cares".

Just trying to lighten things up a bit.

Day after a Category 1 hurricane was supposed to wreck havoc on my tiny little island and I'm getting ready to play some golf.

Peace everyone and stay safe.

[Fex]

Originally Posted by toleolu

Guess I'm dating myself here.

Guess that's ok so long as you don't kiss on the first date.