Linux music production workflow without a low-latency kernel

I would like to do some music composition on my linux mint pc, but I have run into instabilities while trying to install and use a low-latency kernel (system freezes, possibly due to conflicts with the nvidia proprietary graphics drivers). So as I see it, I have three options: 1. Either use my current system, i.e. the normal, generic kernel 1. Install a dedicated audio distribution like Ubuntustudio 1. Install the low-latency kernel on my current system but disable my graphics card. Option 2 involves repartitioning etc so I'd like to avoid that, and option 3 is pretty ugly and tedious to work with. So I would like to know, if I go with option 1, what am I missing out on by not using a low-latency kernel for music production? (both in general, and w.r.t. the linux toolchain in particular)? If I choose to use a generic kernel for music production, what side-effects, problems can I expect that a low-latency kernel is supposed to solve? Will I not be able to use JACK effectively? Will I be able to record? Will there be a lag in my recordings? Noise / skips / screetches? Will midi input accuracy via piano keyboard suffer? PS. This question is [crossposted from music.SE](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/57041/linux-music-production-workflow-without-a-low-latency-kernel) as per a comment there suggesting this may be a more appropriate forum. I'd be interested in people's opinion here on whether a linux workflow for music production is a suitable topic for this forum.