A bit off topic... but related to Cubase. So, has everyone downloaded the current release candidate for Windows 7? I'm taking a look at it on an older computer, Nforce2 chipset, AMD 3000+XP processor, ATI 9250 128meg memory.... it runs very well so far. Had to force install some of the Nvidia and ATI drivers but everything is up and running. Going to install Cubase 4 tonight. Anyone else giving it a try, it's good until the end of March 2010, then pops up a warning/shutdown every two hours, then it dies June 1st 2010. Ap
"Aphelion" <> wrote in message news:... > > A bit off topic... but related to Cubase. > > So, has everyone downloaded the current release candidate for Windows > 7? I'm taking a look at it on an older computer, Nforce2 chipset, AMD > 3000+XP processor, ATI 9250 128meg memory.... it runs very well so > far. Had to force install some of the Nvidia and ATI drivers but > everything is up and running. > > Going to install Cubase 4 tonight. > > Anyone else giving it a try, it's good until the end of March 2010, > then pops up a warning/shutdown every two hours, then it dies June 1st > 2010. > > Ap Yep. Downloaded and installed in a spare machine - 64 bit version. Just wanted to take a general look-see. It certainly seems more responsive and quicker all round than Vista. Sorry to see the fiddlers (sorry, I mean developers) at Microsoft haven't been able to resist changing non-essential stuff - silly stuff like the position of te 'Show Desktop' icon which after years of being part of the Quick Launch toolbar on the left of the Taskbar (and moveable) is now in the Notification Area (System Tray), Windows Mail is no longer included, so you have to download it, and there's no longer any way to revert to the Classic Start menu which is the most annoying thing to me about Windows 7 by a long way. I know I'll get used to it, but really, what's the point of them wasting time on stuff like that? I wonder who, if anyone, in the real world actually requests this kind of stuff. I work in IT with a lot of companies, and as far as I can recall, absolutely no-one who has it at any of the offices I visit has anything good to say about the Office ribbon menu and say they spend a lot of time in Office Help looking for stuff that they used to be able to do easily. They've extended the 'ribbon' style menus as used in Office 2007 into other applications too - again: why? Overall though the really important under the hood stuff feels more efficient than Vista. I haven't tried anything 'real' in Windows 7 RC yet as far as audio and Cubase 5 goes. Like you the computer I have it on is a couple of years old or so. Asus P5DWH motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM. Older Nvidia GeForce 7300 series graphics card. It found all the drivers needed without my having to resort to the installation CD at all
On Tue, 19 May 2009 00:40:32 GMT, (Aphelion) wrote: > >A bit off topic... but related to Cubase. > >So, has everyone downloaded the current release candidate for Windows >7? I'm taking a look at it on an older computer, Nforce2 chipset, AMD >3000+XP processor, ATI 9250 128meg memory.... it runs very well so >far. Had to force install some of the Nvidia and ATI drivers but >everything is up and running. > >Going to install Cubase 4 tonight. > >Anyone else giving it a try, it's good until the end of March 2010, >then pops up a warning/shutdown every two hours, then it dies June 1st >2010. > >Ap I've got it dual-boot installed on a spare partition. Difficult to judge it against XP or Vista as far as performance goes - a brand new install of any OS always feels nippy Cubase and Sibelius are OK. I haven't found any other application that won't run (but haven't tries all that many yet). My Fireface 800 is working well, after discovering the trick required from the RME web site. Doubtless this will all become user-transparent with final releases. The deal-breaker for me at the moment is that I can't use my third screen - Windows 7 won't see both my dual-head Matrox and Radeon PCIe cards. CubaseFAQ page: http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
"Laurence Payne" <> wrote in message news:... > On Tue, 19 May 2009 00:40:32 GMT, (Aphelion) > wrote: > >> >>A bit off topic... but related to Cubase. >> >>So, has everyone downloaded the current release candidate for Windows >>7? I'm taking a look at it on an older computer, Nforce2 chipset, AMD >>3000+XP processor, ATI 9250 128meg memory.... it runs very well so >>far. Had to force install some of the Nvidia and ATI drivers but >>everything is up and running. >> >>Going to install Cubase 4 tonight. >> >>Anyone else giving it a try, it's good until the end of March 2010, >>then pops up a warning/shutdown every two hours, then it dies June 1st >>2010. >> >>Ap > > I've got it dual-boot installed on a spare partition. > > Difficult to judge it against XP or Vista as far as performance goes - > a brand new install of any OS always feels nippy > > Cubase and Sibelius are OK. I haven't found any other application > that won't run (but haven't tries all that many yet). > > My Fireface 800 is working well, after discovering the trick required > from the RME web site. Doubtless this will all become > user-transparent with final releases. > > The deal-breaker for me at the moment is that I can't use my third > screen - Windows 7 won't see both my dual-head Matrox and Radeon PCIe > cards. > > CubaseFAQ page: http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm It's (32bit rc) going OK for me after getting SE3 installed, but it won't install my VG99 ASIO driver properly. Peter
On Tue, 19 May 2009 07:16:52 +0100, "NickM" <> trained 100 monkeys to jump on the keyboard and write: > They've extended the >'ribbon' style menus as used in Office 2007 into other applications too - >again: why? The things that bug me the most about Vista and 7 are the unnecessary obfuscations of simple system knowledge, or having to go through several different windows to change related settings - display resolution and icon size, for instance. But what really bugs me, as an IT guy, is the easiest way I've found so far to retrieve the MAC address of a NIC (wireless or otherwise) is to get into the console and use the ipconfig command. Under XP it was simple and logical - not so much anymore. Things along those lines. Granted, I am still new to both of the OS's. I bought a machine from a neighbor that had Vista on it, and played with it for a while (not enough to really learn it from a tech's perspective, but enough to learn it from an everday user's perspective). I wasn't impressed. Win7, I've had on my old studio box for a few days know, and I like most of the changes they've made. There are still a few bugs in the system - like the 64bit version of iTunes and my 1Gb Shuffle don't play together at all. Like the firewall/AV package I installed tried to block all communication with my printer, so I'm looking for a new one to install. I still don't like the networking organization - I don't need my hands held that much. I've got a few months to go to learn a few things - I'll be transferring my department to Win7 when it gets released, so I need to be at the 'this is how I fixed it when I broke it at home' speed. Yippee. My old studio box : Athlon 64 +3500 mobo : ASUS K8NE 2Gb RAM 4 HDs of various sizes (*nothing* is being saved to the boot drive - I want to be free to wipe it should I have to) Today, I'm going to be setting up the new studio box: Athlon 64 X2 +4400 mobo : Gigabyte MA770something n rather 4Gb RAM 1 200 GB SATA drive for the OS (XP SP3) 1 1 TB SATA drive for recording 1 320 GB SATA drive for housing samples and the like Oh, and I managed to snag one of the UAD-1e cards from Musician's Friend when they had them for their Stupid Deal of the Day. Now the fun starts! :-D Trying to decide if I want to install iTunes to the new studio box... ideally I don't want anything on there that isn't recording related, but on the other hand it can be a quick way to check mixes, should I pick up an AppleTV. I'd like to move it off my laptop since it doesn't have USB 2.0, and doing a random Autofill that replaces *everything* can be a lengthy process. Opinions? -- jtougas "listen- there's a hell of a good universe next door let's go" - e.e. cummings
On Tue, 19 May 2009 00:40:32 GMT, (Aphelion) wrote: > >A bit off topic... but related to Cubase. > >So, has everyone downloaded the current release candidate for Windows >7? I'm taking a look at it on an older computer, Nforce2 chipset, AMD >3000+XP processor, ATI 9250 128meg memory.... it runs very well so >far. Had to force install some of the Nvidia and ATI drivers but >everything is up and running. > >Going to install Cubase 4 tonight. > >Anyone else giving it a try, it's good until the end of March 2010, >then pops up a warning/shutdown every two hours, then it dies June 1st >2010. > >Ap I havn't downloaded it yet but no doubt curiosity will get the better of me sooner or later. I do have a spare machine so its not a problem. I don't feel any sense of urgency this time. I'm still with XP Pro (32)...I recently went for Cubase 5 which, after teething problems with a faulty dongle, is now working a treat. My setup is doing what I want it to do...I could upgrade just about every aspect of it if I wanted (assuming that I had some spare cash!)..but why? I think that Vista was a bad experience for a lot of people...I tried it it for a couple of months and I didn't like it at all. I just couldn't find any practical advantage over XP...what I did find was more problems. Ok some technical aspects might be better in theory...but there was just nothing in there for me. I use Windows for general internet/office work...though as a home user and not as a professional. My work with Cubase is primarily song-writing and recording for the pleasure of it, though I've recently started creating and manipulating midi files for live work. Sadly backing tracks are a necessary evil these days. I'm shortly going to be doing a part-time day job while enhancing my income with the live work which is going surprisingly well at the moment, despite my advancing years and the recession (financial - not my hairline!!) So what will Windows 7 have for me? It will need to offer some real practical advantages over XP and not a load of theoretical ifs and maybes. I'm not interested in any of the awful visual gimmicks (3d flip, Aero, Sidebar etc) which came with Vista and, if they must alter the layout again, then it needs to be for the right reasons and not just change for the sake of change. I guess I'll have to go 64bit at some stage (maybe)...but that's a seperate issue. I won't shell out on Win7 unless there's a really good reason to do so. A lot of us are still using what is now quite an old operating system cause we like it and it works. Microsoft are taking an awful long time to come up with anything of real substance to tempt us away. LL
On Tue, 19 May 2009 08:22:54 -0400, jtougas <> wrote: >On Tue, 19 May 2009 07:16:52 +0100, "NickM" <> trained >100 monkeys to jump on the keyboard and write: > >> They've extended the >>'ribbon' style menus as used in Office 2007 into other applications too - >>again: why? > >The things that bug me the most about Vista and 7 are the unnecessary >obfuscations of simple system knowledge, or having to go through >several different windows to change related settings - display >resolution and icon size, for instance. Yep, couple of more layers to wade through. Is this supposed to make things easier for the novice? Ap
On Tue, 19 May 2009 07:16:52 +0100, "NickM" <> wrote: > >Yep. Downloaded and installed in a spare machine - 64 bit version. Just >wanted to take a general look-see. It certainly seems more responsive and >quicker all round than Vista. Sorry to see the fiddlers (sorry, I mean >developers) at Microsoft haven't been able to resist changing non-essential >stuff - silly stuff like the position of te 'Show Desktop' icon which after >years of being part of the Quick Launch toolbar on the left of the Taskbar >(and moveable) is now in the Notification Area (System Tray), Right click on the taskbar? >and there's no longer any way to revert to the Classic Start menu which is the >most annoying thing to me about Windows 7 by a long way. Agreed... One problem and I'm sure it's driver related, system or other. Upon shutdown or restart I'm getting a "System Stop" error right at the moment of shutoff. It doesn't even register with the system as the next boot preceeds normally, no safe mode screen...etc. The error listed is "Stop" then a string of numbers... no driver listed. If I start up in safe mode shutdown and restart work normally. This is an old Nvidea chipset mainboard running the XP Nvidea driver. Could it be an ACPI error? Don't think I'm going to bother troubleshooting (as much fun as it might be). Ap
On Wed, 20 May 2009 00:52:54 +0100, lancelightning <> trained 100 monkeys to jump on the keyboard and write: >So what will Windows 7 have for me? It will need to offer some real >practical advantages over XP and not a load of theoretical ifs and >maybes. I'm not interested in any of the awful visual gimmicks (3d >flip, Aero, Sidebar etc) which came with Vista and, if they must >alter the layout again, then it needs to be for the right reasons and >not just change for the sake of change. The version of Win7 I'm running is 64bit, and while I haven't loaded a whole lot of software into it yet, seems to be quite zippy. The changes to the interface from Vista seem minimal, but extremely effective, to me. Perfect? No, but I don't know of any interface that is. To be clear : I didn't much like Vista, but the little changes they've made to get to 7 have been worthwhile - IMO. Am I still grumpy about the obfuscations that they've left in? Damn straight. But the average user (like the people I'll be running support for) won't be looking at those things (least, not if they know what's good for 'em ;-) ). Change for the sake of change is annoying - change for the sake of improvement is (hopefully) worthwhile. Win 7 appears to be more of the latter, while Vista was much more of the former. -- jtougas "listen- there's a hell of a good universe next door let's go" - e.e. cummings
"Aphelion" <> wrote in message news:... > > A bit off topic... but related to Cubase. > > So, has everyone downloaded the current release candidate for Windows > 7? I'm taking a look at it on an older computer, Nforce2 chipset, AMD > 3000+XP processor, ATI 9250 128meg memory.... it runs very well so > far. Had to force install some of the Nvidia and ATI drivers but > everything is up and running. > > Going to install Cubase 4 tonight. > > Anyone else giving it a try, it's good until the end of March 2010, > then pops up a warning/shutdown every two hours, then it dies June 1st > 2010. I'll be forced to migrate sooner or later, so no need to rush things now. Besides, trying out a new OS is like testing the steering wheel on a new car without taking the whole thing for a drive.
On Wed, 20 May 2009 00:26:50 GMT, (Aphelion) wrote: >One problem and I'm sure it's driver related, system or other. > >Upon shutdown or restart I'm getting a "System Stop" error right at >the moment of shutoff. It doesn't even register with the system as the >next boot preceeds normally, no safe mode screen...etc. > >The error listed is "Stop" then a string of numbers... no driver >listed. > >If I start up in safe mode shutdown and restart work normally. > >This is an old Nvidea chipset mainboard running the XP Nvidea driver. >Could it be an ACPI error? > >Don't think I'm going to bother troubleshooting (as much fun as it >might be). Ok, I had to find the error, something I never would've expected,.... the RME driver. Evidently I'd installed the version prior to the last release. With the latest driver, everything is good. Ap
On Wed, 20 May 2009 00:52:54 +0100, lancelightning <> wrote: >Sadly backing tracks are a necessary evil these days. So they say. Some of us resist At my drinking hole we get a selection of "one man band" entertainers. Most hide behind a battery of equipment and can only perform songs they've "prepared". The most entertaining (and the most popular, even among non-musicians) is a middle-aged man with guitar, bass pedals and a drum box. CubaseFAQ page: http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
On Tue, 19 May 2009 23:54:43 GMT, (Aphelion) wrote: >>> They've extended the >>>'ribbon' style menus as used in Office 2007 into other applications too - >>>again: why? >> >>The things that bug me the most about Vista and 7 are the unnecessary >>obfuscations of simple system knowledge, or having to go through >>several different windows to change related settings - display >>resolution and icon size, for instance. > >Yep, couple of more layers to wade through. > >Is this supposed to make things easier for the novice? I fully agree about the ribbon menu. Were display resolution and icon size EVER on the same page? Novices generally use default settings anyway, accepting that's what Vista etc. "look like". Those who DO delve beneath the surface are frustrated by the reorganisation of menus, but it's a small issue. One thing I really like in Vista is "shadow copies". Disk space allowing, previous versions of ALL files are retained (not just the system settings preserved by System Restore). This has just today saved me several hours work - a client sheepishly admitted to having lost the CD of a complicated cut-and-paste job I'd done for her. Though cleared from my Recycle Bin a month ago, the files were still on my computer. CubaseFAQ page: http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
On Wed, 20 May 2009 10:39:14 +0100, Laurence Payne <> wrote: >On Wed, 20 May 2009 00:52:54 +0100, lancelightning <> wrote: > >>Sadly backing tracks are a necessary evil these days. > >So they say. Some of us resist > >At my drinking hole we get a selection of "one man band" entertainers. >Most hide behind a battery of equipment and can only perform songs >they've "prepared". The most entertaining (and the most popular, even >among non-musicians) is a middle-aged man with guitar, bass pedals and >a drum box. > >CubaseFAQ page: http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm Some of us can't afford to resist...that's the reality of it. We do at least play real instruments on stage so we can busk if we're asked to do one we havn't prepared earlier so to speak. Some of our best/funniest moments happen that way. Some of the 'one man band' types I've seen are pretty awful. With that in mind we do try to avoid being a glorified karaoke act. I hasten to add that I do also play for a proper band. I'm paid considerably less for those gigs...it aint right but that's the way it is. LL
One thing I have been playing with extensively over the last couple of days on behalf of a client who works remotely on a Windows 2008 Server Terminal Server machine at head office, but from home over a secure VPN connection is Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. The reason for this is that the company have a couple of bespoke applications that aren't happy at all running in Vista or it's server cousin, Server 2008. We can't downgrade to Server 2003, so the only workaround was to set up a virtual computer insde the user's profile on the Terminal Server and install Windows XP Pro on it along with all her favourite software, and to connect it to the company network domain just like a real PC. The troublesome software works like a charm. The version of Virtual PC 2007 that's compatible with existing Windows operating systems is free, but it doesn't have USB support. This doesn't matter for the example I've outlined above but it's a bit of a showstopper for musicians who need to use dongle protected software and USB audio interfaces. In Windows 7 however, Microsoft are really pushing the backwardly compatible thing with what they're calling Windows XP Mode, but which in fact appears to be a new bundled version of Virtual PC which does support USB connectivity for the guest operating system, and even better, there's a free version of XP Professional that users can download and install in their Virtual PC running on top of Windows 7. that has to be a good thing. Now there will be some performance overhead, but if you have bought a new but pretty powerful PC which is running Windows 7, and still have older USB interfaces that will only run in XP 32 bit, you'll almost certainly be able to do what you need to. The fact that Virtual PC allows the guest operating system to connect to a network in its own right, you can transfer data between the host machine and the virtual machine very easily via a netwrk connection. This technology has been around for quite a while with Microsoft having bought the Virtual PC technology in from elsehwere, and with VMWare too and I've occasionally used it, but it now appears to be getting quite useful for us musicians too. Virtual PC is free whilst VMWare isn't. I'm not sure whether Virtual PC would support a Hackintosh scenario on a suitable Windows 7 box, but it might be fun to find out The only downside that might prevent this is that Virtual PC has a virtual BIOS which doesn't appear to be configurable, a virtual hard disk which is a file on a real hard disk (a bit of overhead here), and a virtual graphics card which is based on an old S3 Trio with 8MB RAM assigned to it. It does however see the real CPU of the host machine and various other real bits of hardware. Not sure about IEEE1394 firewire though. I'm going to try Windows 7, Virtual PC, Cubase 5 and my Yamaha 01v96 ver 2/VCM which is fitted with a MY16 mLAN interface. There is still no Vista 64 bit driver for the mLAN card although the 64bit XP driver can be persuaded to work well enough to play back audio, but sadly not to record it. If there is also firewire support in Windows 7's version of Virtual PC I'd be very happy indeed.
