Nix might be a bit overwhelming when his first installation of linux was only a few months ago, I guess :D

isn’t it the other way? Ubuntu/Kubuntu -> Mint -> Arch-based (Manjaro, …), Arch … -> “btw”

Audio Engineer here, too.

What he said. Plus: I’ve been using Ardour for years. Then I tried Reaper, “evaluated” for about 3 months, then decided to pay the ~ 70€. You get a licence for the existing and a future release. It feels much more “natural” to me than Ardour.