Any Vista Users out there?

[dabresk]

I have recently upgraded my system to Windows Vista (I did this on a seperate hard drive, keeping my old XP system just to play it safe). Well, my Echo Gina24 sound card just will not work with Vista. Had to up my video card as well. Overall, Vista works good.Reason and Cubase are fine as well as my VSTi's.Soooooo..........I need ideas for a new sound card (or usb sound device...don't have firewire, but I guess I could get a card). Having a light pipe input would be a plus, but not necessary (for my Alesis QS8). I need a pair of stereo inputs for the analog stuff coming out of my board. i saw the lexicon Lambda. Seems to fit the bill, but I would like your opinions.What specs should i be looking for?Running an HP xw4100 Workstation, 3.2GHZ with 3GIG RAM (and a ton of storage).ThanksBresky

[vermeer]

Dave,Sorry that you had these problems with Vista. What's really sad about Vista is that it takes 2x or 3x of ram to do the same thing as XP. On the link I posted above, they interview the R&D head at Cakewalk. You can read in the first interview, he is really upbeat about Vista and how they worked with Microsoft to make things better. By the second interview, one year later, they are basically throwing their hands and stop short of recommending that people downgrade to XP Meanwhile, my 2002 Mac G4 with OS-X 4.9 is still going strong, running the latest software, recording & playing audio in real time. Best choice I ever made - Vermeer -

[slideboardouts]

Quote:Meanwhile, my 2002 Mac G4 with OS-X 4.9 is still going strong, running the latest software, recording & playing audio in real time. Best choice I ever made - Vermeer -I "switched" to macs last year and this was part of the reason. While my buddies macs didn't really run faster than my windows PC's at first, they did do more for a longer period of time without losing as much performance as I was on windows. The macs just seemed to keep tickin'.Vista was another reason. I absolutely hate that OS and wasn't about to invest the next 5-10 years of my computing life to that resource hog.The other was the spyware/virus situation.I still use my windows box from time to time but I definitely like my mac more -Steve

[vermeer]

Dave,Even as a technically-enclined person (I'm a programmer), I can't justify the time I'd loose fidling with Vista settings. Notice that most helpful Vista audio advice come from fellow users, not Microsoft. As far as they know, everything is fine.Life is too short. In the time it takes to troubleshoot Vista, I could have written two new songs. The iMac is a nice machine, but if possible, go to an Apple store and try one yourself by launching GarageBand and playing back the demo song. Then, try a MacMini and see if it makes a diffence for you. It's really surprising what you can get for the 3rd of the cost of a iMac .Vermeer

[vermeer]

Dave,I know I sound like such a fan boy, but I just cannot believe how long these things last. I'm just amazed that Apple does not forc me to upgrade but instad just keep on supporting 6-year-old systems. I can attest that not only have I never got a crash but I've never had any virus or a need for a Virus checker. This is mostly because most viruses are developped in Russia and China where Macs are not very common. Also, online theives don't bother targeting a platform that has "only" 7% of the market. Also, as a programmer, I can tell you that the inside is a whole lot cleaner and stable than Windows. I could go on and on but I'll end by mentionning that Macs can now run every Windows software, sometime even faster (MacBook Pro portables) than comparable PCs. I was sceptical until I tried it myself in mid-2006 and never went back Vermeer

[slideboardouts]

Quote:Personally I'd like to change to an apple system but the cost of changing all the software and losing all my old sessions just doesn't make it feasible.For the most part, you'd be surprised how little it costs and you probably wouldn't lose any old sessions unless you used something like sonar that is exclusively a windows program.The software cost for me when I "switched" a year ago was $0. My audio stuff all worked on macs as well, and instead of buying microsoft office I downloaded neo office for FREE and thus far have had no problem with it playing nice with microsoft office. I'm sure I'll eventually run in to something, but so far (its been nearly a year) I've had no problems in the office I work in. I did buy iwork '08 for keynote though Thats only about 80 bucks though.Quote:I hear Macs never crash. Now that would be a novelty!Don't believe what you hear. I have had one complete OSX crash on my mac. I will say this though, the crash, and pretty much every other funny thing I've had happen with my mac, happened while working in keynote '08. I'm starting to think they haven't had all the bugs worked out with keynote '08.The other thing I will say about crashes or freezes is that I would much rather it happen on my mac. When software freezes on a mac, you can still work in other programs no problem. When software freezes in windows... generally thats it. You might as well get up and make a sandwich because the whole OS will be locked up until the program starts working again. Or you can press ctrl-alt-delete and try to terminate it.That has been my experience with both macs and pc's. Neither are perfect but I do prefer the mac -Steve

[53mph]

Quote:Quote:Personally I'd like to change to an apple system but the cost of changing all the software and losing all my old sessions just doesn't make it feasible.For the most part, you'd be surprised how little it costs and you probably wouldn't lose any old sessions unless you used something like sonar that is exclusively a windows program.-SteveGuess which DAW I have?

[slideboardouts]

Quote:Quote:For the most part, you'd be surprised how little it costs and you probably wouldn't lose any old sessions unless you used something like sonar that is exclusively a windows program.-SteveGuess which DAW I have? lol...well, then yeah switching to a mac WOULD be quite costly for you. Both time and money wise -Steve

[vermeer]

A G4 1.6MHz?Jump on it...now! As it happens, this baby will be able to run the latest Mac Leopard 10.5 OS. Unbelievable! Try upgrading like this this with an ancient Windows machine You may have to boot from an external DVD if this one doesn't have one. Back in the days, those were optional. Yeah, plenty of life left. I'm assuming that it was well cared for at the hospital Yeah, all the major cross-platform apps will write machine independent sessions..They don't like doing the same work twice. Just double check with their support site to make sure the path is clear. This should definitely keep you busy until you get the money for a new (or used) Mac.Vermeer

[vermeer]

ciskokidd,Common' you know you want it...join the bright side...;D. My final argument: a recent survey showed that Mac users were getting laid more often than Windows users. If that doesn't convince you to switch, nothing will Vermeer