The Windows 8 thread - post your experience here

[loopy]

Originally Posted by Red Black

Yeah.. that thread paints a more complex picture. I think I'm just gonna wait a year and let the dust settle!

Cheers..

RB

Same here however I would suggest you buy into the program before the promotional price ends because it's going to cost a lot more then.

[TAFKAT]

Originally Posted by nosleepPDX

I disagree (respectfully) and think that there are possible performance advancements.

Thats your prerogative.

Could you point me to these threads?

Sorry Mate, No, I have no interest in channelling traffic directly to their forums , nor discussing anything further to do with the Cake developers on this forum.

There are 2 threads that are easy enough to find by searching for my few recent posts , if you want to read in. Both threads have tumble weeds blowing thru them now, not to mention the signal to noise over there is not within the range I feel comfortable with.

[Whatisvalis]

Windows 8 for Desktop Music Making: Faster, No Reason *Not* to Upgrade

[TAFKAT]

Its not faster , they bring no quantifiable evidence to support that claim and simply babble on about people needing to get jiggy with the new GUI !

I could easily make an argument for No Reason *to* Upgrade, buts whats the point.

[Whatisvalis]

I think Rain ran a pretty balanced bench, and on average win 8 sneaks ahead if you're not running loads of live tiles etc.

Overall win 8 is just much nicer to use, feels really snappy, and is very stable. The first 20 mins are pretty alien, but the changes are really nowhere near as bad as what people make out.

All you need to learn are a few key commands and everything is right there, much more intuitive.

It still needs time for some drivers to mature, so research compatibilty before you upgrade.

[TAFKAT]

Originally Posted by Whatisvalis

I think Rain ran a pretty balanced bench, and on average win 8 sneaks ahead if you're not running loads of live tiles etc.

We will find our own truth.

Overall win 8 is just much nicer to use... snip

I think what you meant to say was " IMO win 8 is just much nicer to use " , you will not find consensus on the prior.

[Masaaki]

Installed RME UFX drivers and Reaper 64 on Win 8. Did 8ch, 24/96 tracking for half an hour. Flawless.........as expected (thanks to the RME's driver).

I didn't feel anything 'improved', though.

After two weeks, I started to like Win 8 UI, although other machines are either Win 7 or Win XP, so it's kind of confusing when I switch desks. Media players and PDF readers are kind of confusing.

[mfx]

I am curious as I recall reading Win8 was meant to be better in utilising multicore processors and being more efficient. So I am wondering, until a lot of software is tweaked and makes use of the multicores are we not likely to see an improvement in Win8 until all the software devolper's have recoded?

I wouldn't expect to see an improvement on multitrack audio handling, but I was hoping to see better handling and lower cpu usage in the vst plugin department. Anyone care to contribute their knowledge to date?

[Bob Olhsson]

The true benefits of Win 8 will only show up after developers begin to take advantage of whatever it can do that W7 couldn't.

That's how it is with every new OS.

[sensing]

Originally Posted by CharlesEdward

Lol! I was also at it for like a half hour trying figure out how shut down windows 8 the first time round. I know I could of just looked it up online, but my pride wasn't having it.

Just use ALT and F4 key combination.
This will exit any program and if you are on the desktop will show the shutdown menu. Been that way since 1990 if i remember correctly

Most admin stuff that you need occasionally is on the windows + x key combi.

[loopy]

Alright I couldn't resist and went for the $39 upgrade. I did a CLEAN install.

First impression is it's pretty. Second impression is, I have no idea what I am doing and I suspect this thing is spying on me right and left. I don't like it being tied closely to a Microsoft account but that's another story.
The default applications suck BTW.

Other than that, the UAC and permissions are driving me crazy. For example, I like to create a shortcut to my download folder. Can't drag and drop it to desktop so I have to create one manually. Tried changing drive permissions and got all kinds of errors. Seems Microsoft really locked this one down tight. REAL TIGHT. From what I'm reading on the net, turning off UAC isn't really turning it off.

As for applications, Studio One 2.5, Addictive Drums, Ivory II, EZ/Superior Drummer, iLok all seem to work fine although I have gotten a few crackles with Ivory running on full steam. Never happened with Windows 7. The machine is n i7 3.0ghz with 8GB and 7200 RPM Seagate drives. Samples on their own drive.

Also having twin LCD monitors makes for a lot of mousing around to do things that were easy to do with Windows 7. It almost seems like I am running 2 operating systems at the same time, which I suppose I sort of am. Metro and classic Windows desktop.

I guess the good news is, nothing broke and all those drivers I had to manually enter for my Gigabyte X51a-UD3r board loaded on install fine.
That was nice.
Also my printer was added and all functions like fax, copy etc work without loading the manufacturers bloatware. That's nice too.

Delta 66 card also works fine.

So, I dunno...... Am I happy?
Not really.
I feel like there is a lot going on that I have little control over.

Has anyone put up a blog on how to streamline / tweak Windows 8 for digital audio yet?
That might be something to try but it has to be a professional, reliable person and not some basement dwelling hack type.

Just thought I would report in.

[Psychlist1972]

Originally Posted by loopy

Alright I couldn't resist and went for the $39 upgrade. I did a CLEAN install.

First impression is it's pretty. Second impression is, I have no idea what I am doing and I suspect this thing is spying on me right and left. I don't like it being tied closely to a Microsoft account but that's another story.
The default applications suck BTW.

Other than that, the UAC and permissions are driving me crazy. For example, I like to create a shortcut to my download folder. Can't drag and drop it to desktop so I have to create one manually. Tried changing drive permissions and got all kinds of errors. Seems Microsoft really locked this one down tight. REAL TIGHT. From what I'm reading on the net, turning off UAC isn't really turning it off.

As for applications, Studio One 2.5, Addictive Drums, Ivory II, EZ/Superior Drummer, iLok all seem to work fine although I have gotten a few crackles with Ivory running on full steam. Never happened with Windows 7. The machine is n i7 3.0ghz with 8GB and 7200 RPM Seagate drives. Samples on their own drive.

Also having twin LCD monitors makes for a lot of mousing around to do things that were easy to do with Windows 7. It almost seems like I am running 2 operating systems at the same time, which I suppose I sort of am. Metro and classic Windows desktop.

I guess the good news is, nothing broke and all those drivers I had to manually enter for my Gigabyte X51a-UD3r board loaded on install fine.
That was nice.
Also my printer was added and all functions like fax, copy etc work without loading the manufacturers bloatware. That's nice too.

Delta 66 card also works fine.

So, I dunno...... Am I happy?
Not really.
I feel like there is a lot going on that I have little control over.

Has anyone put up a blog on how to streamline / tweak Windows 8 for digital audio yet?
That might be something to try but it has to be a professional, reliable person and not some basement dwelling hack type.

Just thought I would report in.

What makes you think Microsoft is "spying" on you? The Windows Account stuff (which isn't a requirement to just use Windows) enables synchronization across multiple machines, skydrive, Windows Phone, and more. It can also be the account you use to purchase apps in the Windows Store. The only things that get reported back are ones you've opted into ("Improve X by sending usage/error information to company Y" type stuff during install).

Multiple monitors: I get what you're saying there. I run two 30" displays on my Win8 machine. Learning the keyboard shortcuts will really help you out. Also, I use a new Logitech touchpad (my blog post on that) which gives me edge swipe gestures, pinch, and two finger scrolling. I find that makes it faster to use certain features.

As a power user, Windows + X will be your friend (same as right-clicking the bottom left corner of the screen)

Another thing you can do is offset the displays by a few pixels so your mouse will get trapped in the corner. That can make getting to the start page easier if you need to do it with a pointing device and your secondary monitor is on the left.

Crackles: you did a clean install, so likely don't have current drivers. Double-check that you've installed the latest drivers from the sound card manufacturer.

Downloads folder: Dragging that will move it just like in Win7. Shift-drag will let you create a shortcut, just as in Win7.

Locked down: The desktop side is about the same lockdown-wise as Win7. The permissions model there hasn't really changed, so not sure what you're trying to do that's different from Windows 7. If you're coming from XP (which I know you're not), yes, permissions have changed quite a bit.

Pete

[loopy]

Originally Posted by Psychlist1972

What makes you think Microsoft is "spying" on you? The Windows Account stuff (which isn't a requirement to just use Windows) enables synchronization across multiple machines, skydrive, Windows Phone, and more. It can also be the account you use to purchase apps in the Windows Store. The only things that get reported back are ones you've opted into ("Improve X by sending usage/error information to company Y" type stuff during install).

I guess I'm paranoid as despite having been building my own systems since before the first IBM PC, I tend to keep my information as private as possible. I don't usually purchase apps from the various stores (Google Play, Windows etc) so maybe I misunderstood the requirement for having an account during the install of Windows 8. It appeared to me it's a needed item and at the time I wasn't sure how it's tied to my registration, authorizations etc if at all.


Multiple monitors: I get what you're saying there. I run two 30" displays on my Win8 machine. Learning the keyboard shortcuts will really help you out. Also, I use a new Logitech touchpad (my blog post on that) which gives me edge swipe gestures, pinch, and two finger scrolling. I find that makes it faster to use certain features.

As a power user, Windows + X will be your friend (same as right-clicking the bottom left corner of the screen)

Another thing you can do is offset the displays by a few pixels so your mouse will get trapped in the corner. That can make getting to the start page easier if you need to do it with a pointing device and your secondary monitor is on the left.

That's great advice! I'm learning the keyboard shortcuts and there are things I do like such as typing the program name on the start screen to access programs. That's very nice and I know it was present in Windows 7, more or less, but I never used it.

You are correct, keyboard shortcuts are a big time saver. It's kind of funny how an old command line junkie like me has come full circle back to the keyboard again.
It's kind of refreshing in fact.

Crackles: you did a clean install, so likely don't have current drivers. Double-check that you've installed the latest drivers from the sound card manufacturer.

Downloads folder: Dragging that will move it just like in Win7. Shift-drag will let you create a shortcut, just as in Win7.

I have the latest drivers and like I said it's only with Ivory and extremely intermittent. I tend to use Ivory full steam with 160 voices and at 64 samples and I play a lot of notes.I suspect it's related to Studio One 2.5 because I loaded up Reaper and not a single crackle. I'm talking about one slight crackle after 2 hours of playing so it's very, very intermittent.

I'd like to check the DPC but as far as I know, the checkers are not Windows 8 kernel compatible so they give false data.

All of a sudden now I can drag and drop the downloads folder. Really weird. So I can cross that one off the list


Locked down: The desktop side is about the same lockdown-wise as Win7. The permissions model there hasn't really changed, so not sure what you're trying to do that's different from Windows 7. If you're coming from XP (which I know you're not), yes, permissions have changed quite a bit.

Pete

With Windows 7 I turned off UAC, allowed display of hidden and system files and everything just sort of worked. With Windows 8 I've had a few problems not being able to access system folders. I'll have to dig deeper for more specifics but it's not a big deal as everything does seem to be working.

Thank you so much for the suggestions!

[MacMacMac]

Given that any new OS brings compatibility problems, I wonder why people are so eager to upgrade from Win 7 to Win 8?

Is there anything in Win 8, missing from Win 7, that you simply must have?

[loopy]

Originally Posted by MacMacMac

Given that any new OS brings compatibility problems, I wonder why people are so eager to upgrade from Win 7 to Win 8?

Is there anything in Win 8, missing from Win 7, that you simply must have?

For me no there wasn't. It was just a convienient time to do it because of an hdisk failure.

I could have just used my Windows 7 image file on the new drive and been right back where I started. I still can if I want.

I had purchased Win 8 at the give away price and intended to wait a while before installing but things change

[Masaaki]

Originally Posted by MacMacMac

Given that any new OS brings compatibility problems, I wonder why people are so eager to upgrade from Win 7 to Win 8?

Is there anything in Win 8, missing from Win 7, that you simply must have?

Nothing for me too, at the moment. Win7 64bit is very close to complete/perfect OS for me, and all the workhorse machines still run on Win 7. But I'm going to get Win 8 Tablet/Ultrabook hybrid soon, and want to use it with my audio interfaces for location recordings. So, I'm testing just ahead of time, to get myself familialize to the new user interface.

[UltimateOutsider]

Originally Posted by loopy

With Windows 7 I turned off UAC, allowed display of hidden and system files and everything just sort of worked. With Windows 8 I've had a few problems not being able to access system folders. I'll have to dig deeper for more specifics but it's not a big deal as everything does seem to be working.

In my experience, even on an Administrator account with UAC disabled, you need to explicitly use "Run as Administrator" with a lot of installers, scripts, and programs on Windows 8 that you didn't have to with Win 7. Many things just silently fail otherwise. Granted, this is mostly the developers' fault; software that follows all of Microsoft's design guidelines from Vista onward probably won't have these issues. But almost everyone's got something on their system that doesn't play by the rules.

If it's something I need to run a lot, I'll just make a shortcut for it and change the shortcut properties to force Run as Administrator.

[4damind]

The only "problem" I had was, to get a driver and the needed utilities for my Epson printer. It's supported with a default class driver but this doesn't help because it doesn't have the ink-utilities. But the Epson Windows 7 drivers are working and so as a result it works the same like in Windows 7 - but not out of the box and needs some searching.
So there is this old problem that some companies don't have it on the high priority list to support a newer version of the OS. But this is not the mistake of Microsoft or Windows 8.

[DAWgEAR]

Originally Posted by UltimateOutsider

In my experience, even on an Administrator account with UAC disabled, you need to explicitly use "Run as Administrator" with a lot of installers, scripts, and programs on Windows 8 that you didn't have to with Win 7. Many things just silently fail otherwise. Granted, this is mostly the developers' fault; software that follows all of Microsoft's design guidelines from Vista onward probably won't have these issues. But almost everyone's got something on their system that doesn't play by the rules.

If it's something I need to run a lot, I'll just make a shortcut for it and change the shortcut properties to force Run as Administrator.

This has been my experience too. When something acts weird, this is the first tactic I try and, so far, I have had success each time.

Given that, Win 8 64 has been a smooth transition from Win 7 64.

[claurence]

I upgraded on a whim this past Saturday. (Win 7 64 to Win 8 64). Using Cubase 6.5 as my primary DAW. I had to download the latest drivers for the Elicenser. Stylus RMX could not find its library until I put UAC at the lowest setting (I assume that this means it is disabled). I also set Cubase to "Run As Administrator."

I had some Cubase hanging, which required hard reboot of the system, something I have not had to deal with for a very, very long time. Studio One seems perfectly fine. I had to reinstall Ableton Live Lite 8 for some reason. Everything kept its registration. This includes Native Instruments, Spectrasonics, Rapture and Arturia Minimoog V (uses same Elicenser as Cubase). The Cubase hanging may have been due to using the X to close it instead of the menu as I usually do. I'll be watching it a bit more closely. So far, it's my only concern with upgrading.

I set it up to bypass the login screen: How to bypass the Windows 8 log-in screen | Microsoft - CNET News

I went through the Apps section and right-clicked my favorite programs, selecting pin to start page. With a little bit of upfront effort, I have it configured for me. I have hated the Start Menu since Vista, so I much prefer the new start page.

The pictures app is great for scrolling through all of my folders of pictures. It would be even more fun with a touch screen, but even with a mouse, it's a lot better than anything we've had before with Windows.

I still don't care for the two separate interfaces. I would have preferred that they were more bold with changing the Desktop. That said, when I'm in the Desktop, it's as if nothing signifcant has changed. I'm using File History to back up all of my libraries to a USB drive. Anything that you want backed up, you simply put into a Library. You can create new Libraries by right-clicking on the folder or drive you want to include. (i.e. you could create a library called Z:Samples that backs up the entirety of the drive).

I like the weather and maps apps. I also like that Microsoft are creating some kind of cohesive ecosystem. I didn't become fully enveloped in the Google ecosystem overnight. I started with gmail and then slowly migrated to more Google services as they became convenient. I can see this happening with Microsoft. They have the money to survive the transition.

Worth it to upgrade? I'm glad I did, with one caveat -- I remain unsure about Cubase stability.

P.S. To close full-screen apps, put your mouse pointer at the top of the screen until it becomes a hand, then pull down to the bottom of the screen. Convenient.

[CharlesEdward]

Windows 8 is the shit!!!

[4damind]

For me Cubase 7 with Windows 8 is more stable than with Windows 7. But... I must take in to account, that I used a fresh installation of Windows 8 so there was no problematic stuff from older installations. Together with the improvements in Cubase 7 this combination works very nice.
But it's also stated by Steinberg... RAM is important, not only for Windows 8 but also for Cubase 7 which uses a bit more RAM. So a 64Bit DAW and at least 8GB RAM are recommended for a stable running DAW.

[funkyspacecadet]

Enjoying Win8 for the most part.

Boots up in about 3 secs thanks to my solid state drive, runs Reaper flawlessly, very snappy. Haven't done benches but I have projects with tons of VSTs and generally getting great latency.

The only issue I have is that Microsoft have removed the much loved legacy firewire driver, so if you depended on that driver for your audio interface, be warned.

RME User Forum / Win8: For those needing the 1394 OHCI (Legacy) driver.

My workaround, but it is tedious.

Here's hoping Microsoft sort this out.

[claurence]

Follow up: After using Cubase today in Windows 8, Cubase 6.5 x64 is solid. With Cubase 6.5 x32 I was asked by windows after closing if the application closed correctly. I clicked "yes" and that was that. No worries. I have the window borders set to a grayish-blue that looks good with Cubase. Better than Aero in fact. I like the Aero look, so I was not sure if I would like the more muted, subdued version of it in Windows 8, but the new window bars are configurable in a way that, I feel, enhances the look of Cubase (or any other window-heavy application).

[Solidtrax]

Windows 8 Pro x64
EMU 1820 soundcard
Cubase 6.5.3 x64

Plugins installed (64bit when available) from Waves, Slate Digital, DMG Audio, ValhallaDSP, Soundtoys, Plugin-Alliance, FXpansion, u-he, Novation, Fabfilter and probably some others I can't remember at the moment.

My experience in the last few weeks has been very positive. Mixing and producing has been very stable and compared to Win7 I don't feel a difference in performance.

So, no issues for me, happy to have a legal Windows for such a crazy low price!

[UltimateOutsider]

Still cannot get Win 8 to acknowledge the Plextor SATA DVD drive installed in my DAW PC. (The same drive I used to install the bloody OS!!!)

If I show hidden devices in Device Manager it says the device isn't connected. (Error 43 I think?). It's a pretty common symptom, but none of the remedies I've seen on the 'net have helped. I have to keep plugging in this old Memorex USB DVD drive if I ever need to install something from a disc. The Win 7 partition has no trouble with the drive.

Had this problem all the time at work as well, on all sorts of systems. Optical drive would be fine all through Win 8 install, then POOF! Weird.

[funkyspacecadet]

UltimateOutsider, maybe this will help? Plextor DVD burner not detected

[KevWest]

Ive been on windows 8 for a few weeks now maybe a month and I really like it a lot. better than windows 7? debatable but windows 8 is still a great os.

[Mats H]

I've been running Windows 8 Professional on my Mac Mini Server i7 2.0 GHz with 8 GB ram since the release. Before that, I tried some betas, but kept the Win7 installation for quite long. Long story short, my video drivers decided to go bananas and wouldn't get fixed, so the upgrade was more of a way of getting from the old Windows installation. I did a clean install.

My experience with the operating system so far is that it's quite snappy and fast to work with. Most applications work the way they should. Desktop mode gets used most of the time except when watching movies in Netflix or the other odd app.

I use Adobe Creative Suite 6, Sonar, Sound Forge, Izotope RX, Korg Audiogate and a lot of other applications. They all work but there are some quirks with a few of the apps.

Sonar crashed every five minutes until the latest update. Since then, it's been stable for hours on end. Not a single crash since. Sound Forge curiously has to be started in Administrator mode, or else the registration box comes up and the program won't start. Relab LX480 Lite just won't work on my setup. At all.

I count on getting updates for the software to fix these issues. Nothing that really stops me from getting work done.

[thenoodle]

The msfn forums have lots of tips for those wanting the old start menu etc.