Vista & 64 Bit, My Impressions |
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Vista & 64 Bit, My Impressions |
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Oct 15 2008, 10:55 PM |
Well on the back of creating my monster, I have everything setup as I like it and since there were so many differing opinions on Vista & 64 bit, I will now confuse the issue further by telling you what I think having been through it!
So, my initial impressions of Vista are good - I'm a sucker for flashy graphics and love the new Aero theme. Since I am working on a way more powerful machine I don't notice any performance impact - in fact, this is the best way to move to Vista IMO - buy a new more powerful machine, and don't bother upgrading your older machines. The install was fairly routine - I'm glad to see Vista is a bit cleverer than XP was about getting SATA drivers of an actual CD instead of forcing you to make floppy image (especially as I have no floppy drive!) So, on to the software, this was the make or break. I had previously verified that my 2 most important devices not only had vista drivers but also 64 bit versions of those drivers - my EMU1212m soundcard and my PodXT Live. Both installed without a hitch and work perfectly. This is a key factpr in upgrading though - make sure all of your devices have support or you willneed to throw them away. I spent some time installing my many VSTs and various pieces of software, and I am gratified to report that with one single exception, everything worked! That exception is Bournemark Broomstick Bass which actually installs and runs ok but crashes whenever you try and open the interface. Sadly, Bournemark have no plans to produce a Vista copy. In all other cases, I found updated Vista compatible versions of my programs, and in one solitary case I needed to pay an upgrade fee of $10. I managed to install a couple of non Vista aware programs ok by running the install and registration as administrator - necessary for some registry writing rights that would otherwise fail. So, in terms of software coverage, I have all I had before with that single exception - a lot better than I thought! Now, I have to say that 64 bit version of programs are still few and far between. Although I can get a 64 bit reaper, it won;t work with 32 bit VSTs as previously reported on this forum, so I have to use the 32 bit version of Reaper. 64 bit support is still very spotty elsewhere as well - I have just a handful of 64 bit apps installed, including surprisingly iTunes - make sense I suppose since OSX is 64 bit by now I guess. However the good news is that 32 bit programs run just fine on 64 bit Vista so going to 64 bit hasn't actually hurt me, I am just not necessarily using the full 64 bit potential of my machine, which for now is fine. I think it will be another couple of years at least before the move to 64 bit gains headway. Also, there were various opinions on having 8 cores instead of 4 or 2. People were right in that software mostly doesn't make use of all cores, but some of my key software does, particularly reaper. Sony Vegas does for rendering but dissapointingly doesn't seem to for previewing projects with effects on. This will get better over time as well though, and I think somewhat quicker than the 64 bit situation so we will see. All in all, I am very pleased with my decisions and now have a much faster machine than I did before! Final Conclusion: Vista - Yes! The time is Now! 8 Cores - sure why not 64 bit - still a couple of years away but won't do any harm to start now. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Oct 15 2008, 11:06 PM |
Nice to hear that you're happy with your new system. Yesterday I was prompted to install Vista SP1. It went automatically and I haven't notice any difference than before. Vista is slowly becoming stable system but Microsoft has already announced Windows 7 for the next year.
-------------------- Check out my <a href="https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructor/Emir-Hot" target="_blank">Instructor profile</a>
www.emirhot.com www.myspace.com/emirhotguitar www.myspace.com/sevdahmetal |
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Oct 15 2008, 11:07 PM |
Great to see things are working out for you
I for one am always surfing in the back water, partly because I'm not the least interested in computers and software and partly because I don't have the energy too keep up and I don't understand half of it, I just want things to work. So I'm happy there are people like yourself who are willing to take a shot at it so everything will work well in the future for the illiterate I mostly entered this thread since it said 64 and I thought Commodore, felt a bit tricked at first but evetually enjoyed the reading. I'll be there in a few years from now when all the fit falls are filled, I will probably not be aware how many cores my future computer will be using at a time. But I hope there will be many. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Oct 16 2008, 01:53 AM |
How is iTunes 8 working for you? It SUCKED for me. I sacked it and moved to Media Monkey. I'm running Vista 64 on a quad core 4GB machine. Well, I really just wanted Quicktime I don;t use iTunes for music usually, I do use it on another machine for my iPhone. So, it may well suck and I wouldn't know! I bought a AR series VAIO laptop last year, and it had Vista pre-installed. At the time Vista had horrendous support for a lot of my guitar based software (most notably Adobe Audition), so glad to hear it sounds like Vista is now a bit more supported Would be very interested to know if you encounter any problems, otherwise I guess it may be time to stop using my XP dual boot! (Which I might add, was the biggest computer pain in my life! SATA drive drivers, among others, screwed me around for months!) Nice to hear its working smoothly for you though I'll let you know if anything else broken shows up ... -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Oct 16 2008, 02:08 PM |
Good news Andrew, I'm glad everything is working nicely. Instead of broomstick I suggest trilogy.
-------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons - (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel - Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :) |
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Oct 16 2008, 02:12 PM |
How is iTunes 8 working for you? It SUCKED for me. I sacked it and moved to Media Monkey. I'm running Vista 64 on a quad core 4GB machine. I am running Vista 64 on a dual core 4 GB machine and use Itunes 8 a lot without any problems/issues. -------------------- "Don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you can't get it wrong." Guitars & Amps Brian Moore DC-1 Custom Shop (Cherry Sunburst, mahogany/rosewood) Eric Johnson Signature Strat (2-tone Sunburst, alder/maple) Ibanez RG770 (Black, basswood/rosewood) Peerless Journeyman (solid spruce/maple) Sixt Bov-105C (Ovation-like acoustic) - Ibanez SGT-130 (Jumbo acoustic) London City VS-1 (Precision bass) - Baton Rouge U3S (Ukelele) Fender HotRod Deluxe 40W combo - Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue 5W combo - Marshall JCM 900 50W Hi-Gain combo Effects & Other stuff POD Studio UX2 audio interface - Edirol MA-15D monitors EH Double Muff - Fulltone GT-500 - Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet - Guitarsystems TrebleTool Junior - Guitarsystems FuzzTool Junior Korg Pitchblack Tuner - MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay - TC Electronics Nova Modulator - Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah Shure SM58 - Roland PCR-500 midi controller/keyboard & Yamaha Clavinova CL-910 piano My Website My MySpace Page My YouTube Channel My Twitter Account My Band 'Gonzo!' |
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Oct 16 2008, 02:45 PM |
These are great news (that everything works!)..You really inspired me , I should be getting an PC upgrade myself some time soon
-------------------- For GMC support please email support (at) guitarmasterclass.net
Check out my lessons and my instructor board. Check out my beginner guitar lessons course! ; Take a bass course now! |
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Oct 17 2008, 12:13 AM |
Absolutely - in fact trilogy is why i'm not so upset at losing Broomstick - I swapped a few months ago and Trilogy rocks - great reccomendation
Good news Andrew, I'm glad everything is working nicely. Instead of broomstick I suggest trilogy.
-------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Oct 17 2008, 11:43 AM |
Trying it now - thanks!
-------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Oct 17 2008, 12:12 PM |
I could have been polite enough to add a link to it.
http://getsongbird.com/ -------------------- Schecter C1 Hellraiser EMG 81/85, replaced with JB/Jazz (SH4/SH2n) w. coilsplit Schecter Revenger HB-105, replaced with EMG 81/85 Stratocaster Deluxe Players Noiseless Ibanez 2550z Blackstar HT5H, Blackheart BH5H w. BH112, Laney LX35D, Line6 Pod XT, Marshall MS-2 Headphones: Sennheiser RS120 Stay tuned... |
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Oct 17 2008, 03:49 PM |
I also have vista (the 32-bits) and no problems at all!
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