Calling Vista Users - Hows it going right now?

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:59 am

I'v almost decided to take the plunge with Vista after SP1 and seeing it working well for some people...

Compatibility isnt a concern as my Saffire LE is well supported on Vista and I guess Ableton Live isnt a problem either.

I know there was a MIDI timing issue with the initial release of Vista but that has been addressed in SP1?

So whats your experience been like with Vista? are u happy with its performance as a DAW? bearing in mind low latency, stable performance is the key...

Also which version would you recommend? i'm planning on getting the Home Premium (i dont think I need the additional security features of Business or Ultimate) 32bit version since 64bit is not supported by Live and many other softwares just yet.

Would be nice to hear what users think of Vista now... from a DAW perspective...

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:22 am

Live on Vista can only be used with Aero enabled and priority preferably set to "Realtime" via Task-Manager. Other than that it runs fine on both 32 and 64 bit. It's no 64-bit application though and Ableton doesn't officially support 64-bit Vista.

aburgener · Post by **aburgener** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:53 am

I've never had any issues but, if i'm being honest... i don't think i really push it that hard.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:35 pm

Without Aero you run into serious performance problems because Live uses some exotic Windows' graphic-routines that seem to have changed with Vista. With Aero you run into troubles when using small audio buffers because Aero's CPU priorities are as high as those of Live's audio routines.

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:27 pm

Hmm... that doesnt sound very comforting... any others wanna share their experiences?

Grappadura · Post by **Grappadura** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:59 pm

I was a while on Vista, but had issues with drivers for a midi keyboard, so I went back to xp. XP is also easier on the cpu.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:16 pm

Grappadura wrote:XP is also easier on the cpu.

That bit doesn't really matter once you've properly setup Vista for Audio Production and your drivers are bugfree.

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:39 pm

teejay wrote:Hmm... that doesnt sound very comforting... any others wanna share their experiences?

I haven't had my Vista computer as long as my XP, so haven't played out as much with it, but I've used it with Live 6.10 or Live 7.07 and it's been fine. My notebook has a T7200 processor with 2GB of RAM, 7200 rpm HD and I will use typically from 6-10 tracks, midi and audio clips, and 4-6 sends.

blank · Post by **blank** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:39 am

teejay wrote:I'v almost decided to take the plunge with Vista

I'm not telling vista is a complete piece of krap but I wonder why you could be tempted to take the vista plunge for audio production.

I assume you will dive into vista 32 bits, why use vista and simply risk some troubles when xp is running just fine.

I can understand people migrating to vista for esthetic reasons but when it comes to audio production does it really matter ?

just wondering

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:09 am

+1

although 2 issues.

1) XP will soon be an obsolete and extinct o/s and new gear won't support it.

2) Drivers are key. As Vista becomes a more familiar o/s, the quality of the drivers for it will be more numerous and improved - the problem is that some audio and MIDi interfaces will never have Vista drivers written because the manufacturers have moved on and won't be persuaded - for example Steinberg's very expensive MIDEX interface will never be Vista supported and that is a bone of contention on the Cubase forum, yet Steinberg are developing new hardware projects that WILL support Vista.

This is probably why my next computer will be a Mac ... too much uncertainty and variables on windows platforms right now

Anubis · Post by **Anubis** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:43 am

works fine here, well, for Vista that is

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:14 am

blank wrote:
teejay wrote:I'v almost decided to take the plunge with Vista
I'm not telling vista is a complete piece of krap but I wonder why you could be tempted to take the vista plunge for audio production.

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ight=vista

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:16 am

the thing is Timur, (I basically agree with what you're saying), very early on in that thread appears the line 'in theory at least'.

This is the problem. Vista ought to be coming into a more mature and stable o/s than it is already. And for sure, with devices optimized for it, there should not be any problems. And in theory it should become a better platform in the coming months and years. It needs to be because we can't all be using XP forever, when it won't be supported for very much longer.

The problem is that many companies, even though they've had forever, still have pathetic drivers for Vista (to be fair, their XP drivers were probably pathetic for 2 or 3 years too in many cases, some still are 8 years down the road). And of course, 'legacy' products, sometimes very good and expensive products on XP or W2K which will never have drivers for Vista, requiring yet more money shelled out.

And Microsoft don't help things by announcing they already are working on Vista's replacement - even though that will probably be scheduled for 3 years (which means 5-6 years in reality with MS), it just gets people jittery about investing money into something that will be obsolete again soon.

And I have to say that I don't like Apple's smug commercials, but Vista's freaking constant security pop ups is VERY annoying and offputting

that plus all the constant errors it flags (but can't fix) on my wife's computer, it is like a nightmare, even the stuff preinstalled on it was not working, roxio burner for example flagged errors for months every boot until a recent updated driver (thank God). Stuff that was never a problem on XP and it doesn't help that Microsoft go and mess about with Office 2008 to make that very different and a lousy experience compared to Office 2003.

I used to hate Apple's closed in systems, ramped up prices and the attitude of their tunnel visioned fanboys who thought they were better than everyone else but I swear, I am no longer of that opinion, finally they are delivering product that has a great o/s, is closer pricewise and more to the point, offers the most functionality for pro audio work right now without the mess of Vista (plus more upgradeability than in the past and more peripheral choice). No brainer for my next upgrade and I have sworn many times in the past I would never box myself in and restrict myself with an Apple computer, but if you want to get things done, minimal fuss for pro audio, it is the way to go now.[/i]

It doesn't matter what stonking hardware you can put into a tower unit for 'way cheaper than a mac' if the o/s sucks and spoils the computing experience....

blank · Post by **blank** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:04 pm

Timur wrote:
blank wrote:
teejay wrote:I'v almost decided to take the plunge with Vista
I'm not telling vista is a complete piece of krap but I wonder why you could be tempted to take the vista plunge for audio production.
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ight=vista

Pretty interesting.

optimistic · Post by **optimistic** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:44 am

It works great for me now...but took alot of kicking and screaming to make it so.

Calling Vista Users - Hows it going right now?

Calling Vista Users - Hows it going right now?

Re: Calling Vista Users - Hows it going right now?

Re: Calling Vista Users - Hows it going right now?

Re: Calling Vista Users - Hows it going right now?