Windows 7 Status report (surprisingly pleased)

[rhythminmind]

So I decided to jump head first into the Windows 7 RC. (32 bit do to interface driver needs)

I installed it on 3 systems. My main DAW, Laptop/DAW, & work PC. 2 upgrade installs & 1 clean.
Being the Linux geek I am I have to bite my lip & say nice job M$. Well done. This is an actually useful OS upgrade.
I had my vista DAW's tweaked & they worked well but I have to admit it was a struggle at times. The same systems are performing much smoother on W7. All software, plugs, & hardware are working well.
These are pretty elaborate hardware setups. The one tweak/hack needed was to change the new 1394 controller driver back to the (legacy) for my interfaces to be happy.

DAW & audio hardware info:
Ableton Live 8.x
Sonar 8.x
TC Konnekt 48 & 24d firewire combo
SSL Duende mini expanded
Novation Remote ZeroSL
MOTU micro express


ScreenShots:

[ethios4]

Interesting. 7 is looking goood.

[leedsquietman]

Were you done with tracking and mixing down in this picture, given the large 1024 buffer sample size ?

How does it vary from Vista - everyone tells me it uses all the same drivers as Vista, so I can't see it being much of an improvement for DAW work, although the GUI changes are more noticeable on screenshots etc.

[rhythminmind]

I always keep it @ 1024. It's a mix only system. I use a dual system setup. One for mixing/tracking one for realtime vsti's. This way i don't have to deal worry about latency & can play/mix and not have to make any compromises. I use mostly external analog hardware, synth inserts, & dsp plugs. You can't get around latency with DSP/insert based plugs. But with a dual setup & hardware it doesn't matter. This is just how I ended up working. I used to be all ITB but now i'm mostly out. It came down to what works better/is more fun.

[djsynchro]

those blurry glassy window borders are uuuuuuggggglyyyyyyyy

[abletoff]

W7 its a new world really. Stable on 3 machines here too, uad+liquidmix working ok

[crofter]

I've been using Win 7 since the beta came out, now on RC, no problems at all, very smooth and rock solid, I'll update all my machines when the real version comes out having given Vista a miss, well done MS

[Frederik654]

I have two problems with it ..

First me serial key for Zebra is not accepted by the zebra txt file .. no permission and I put administrator rights all on allow and what not but it won't work.

Secondly, my resolution of 1650 * 1050 makes ableton very slow and when I switch to 800 * 600 it's fine.

Since I only have Win7 now installed I'm not able to make some music.

Any hints ?

[ilia]

sounds good, but what are the advantages for audio production over XP (other than a larger RAM address space)?

[hoffman2k]

I have two problems with it ..

First me serial key for Zebra is not accepted by the zebra txt file .. no permission and I put administrator rights all on allow and what not but it won't work.

Secondly, my resolution of 1650 * 1050 makes ableton very slow and when I switch to 800 * 600 it's fine.

Since I only have Win7 now installed I'm not able to make some music.

Any hints ?

Lend me your APC till mine arrives. If you can't use it anyway, I might as well write a step sequencer for it to hold us over till M4L
Lovely day at the coast...

[daniel_grieff]

Ill chime in here too.So far, w7 is good. A welcome upgrade from vista, even if it is hard to tell the difference at 1st glance. Whats better for music production? Not much really, afaik. Still no MIDI over LAN, no aggregate devices, no IAC bus.
etc

Looks pretty though. sometimes too pretty...


dan

[djsynchro]

sounds good, but what are the advantages for audio production over XP (other than a larger RAM address space)?

none if you ask me

[Frederik654]

Lend me your APC till mine arrives. If you can't use it anyway, I might as well write a step sequencer for it to hold us over till M4L
Lovely day at the coast...

I'll arrive in an hour ..

[leedsquietman]

Thanks Rhythm, that's what I figured. When I saw the SSL Duende stuff, I assumed that you were using this setup purely for mixdown, (all DSP card products induce a long latency, UAD, LiquidMix etc) and a nice set up it is !

[adventurepants_]

sounds good, but what are the advantages for audio production over XP (other than a larger RAM address space)?

none if you ask me

Win 7 32 has the same ram limit as XP32, ie 3.75GB. It has no advantages for audio over xp, except it is pretty. Havent tested exactly the performance difference between xp and 7 on the same hardware with Live, but I estimate XP to be about 15-20% faster based on use so far. it also depends on your drivers.