I'm sure you have your reasons (no pun intended) but given all you've said here I'm curious as to why your studio PC isn't a Mac? I've done a bit of recording with bands and have never come across anyone running a recording studio on Windows.

FWIW I'm a Linux user too and as a musician I would love Steinberg et al to pull their fingers out so I can have a dabble in that world. We can but dream.