*Official Announcement:* Ubuntu Studio is switching to XFCE.

[Ralf]

The wild enthusiasm when using XFCE IMO quickly will switch to
disillusion. You should stay at GNOME.

Anyway, XFCE is a good choice compared with similar light weighted
environments, such as e.g. e17.

What are the reasons to switch the WM/DE?

There's a win for the performance etc. when using Ion, a frame based
environment, but that causes issues regarding to windows opened by some
apps. There's no noticeable win when using Fluxbox, e17, XFCE etc., but
a lot of PITA.

IMO GNOME is the best choice for a DAW.
> 
2 Cents,

Ralf