upgrade from CW GTPro v.2 to v.3?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thom IV
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Thom IV

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Hi all

Anyone have any experiences with upgrading from CW Guitar Tracks Pro v.2/Windows 98se to CW Guitar Tracks Pro v.3/Windows XP home edition?

I’ve got all the software (GTPro upgrade was on sale, and I got a super deal on the upgrade to XP—an offer I couldn’t refuse), now I just have to get the balls up to make the change. I’ve heard different things (all the way from “what a nightmare—if I had to do it all over again, I would format the hard disk and do a full install of both” to “I did it, no problems whatsoever”).

Obviously it’s gonna depend on the bazillions of variables in the individual systems. I’m currently running an AMD Athlon 1.8, Epox 8kta3Pro mobo (via chipset), 512 (soon to be 768—I hear Win 98se becomes unstable with >512) mb ram, Delta 44 soundcard, using separate hdds for programs vs audio (each as master on their own IDE channels) without a problem, recording 2 tracks of digital audio at a time. The reason I'm trying to 'fix what ain't really broke' is that I wanted to be able to use more effects per track (GTPro v.2=3 fx/track whereas GTPro v.3=unlimited fx/track--at least that's my understanding).

I wanted to get the folks on this bbs’ thoughts.

Any experiences or insights are appreciated.

Tom
 
I went from GT2 + 98 to GT2 + XP to GT3 + XP.
Also use a delta 44.

The first upgrade fixed all my pops & whistles. The second gave me 24/96 recording, more busses, more effects, VST, more plugins, plus it kept all the old GT2 plugins.

The only mistake I made was I accidentally blew away my Cakewalk Project folder. I had all my audio files on a second HD, which I still have, but I lost the project info tying them together.

But yeh GT3/XP is a great step up. Highly recommended
 
Thanks for your encouragement Bulls...

If ya don't mind my asking...
What did you do (or not do) that caused you to lose your project files?

That's a scary thought...
 
Another question...

I've been reading that xp will ask if you want to use FAT32 or NTFS file 'structures', and that it is best to choose FAT32 (which is what 98se uses) because FAT32 offers advantages and none of the downsides of NTFS when working with digital audio.

When you installed xp, did it give you this choice? What did you choose, and why?

Don't mean to be bugging you with other questions, but I figure, if there's another brain out there that's experienced what I am about to experience, I might as well ask.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Tom
 
It was just me being stupid with the project folders. I had the audio files in a seperate partition and I copied them across to a 2nd drive. For some reason I forgot to copy the Cakewalk Projects folder beforeI blew the drive away.

I'm not sure, but I think there's a size restriction with FAT32. I've actally got both on my new machine - the smaller (30GB) partitions are FAT32, and the big (90GB) partitions are NTFS. I don't think NTFS is bad for audio. When you get to specify the block size, pick the biggest one on your audio drive as that's best for sequential access
 
Thanks Bulls

Appreciate the info...

I guess it's just time for me to take the leap!
Tom
 
Bulls

Just went to do the upgrade...

I did the 'system compatibility report' first, and now xp is saying that my Delta 44 control panel may not support xp.

Did you get this message? You had said that you also use the Delta 44.

It's probably because I'm using older beta (.27) drivers (installed these way back when to fix some 'crackling' issues I was having when I started using the Delta--worked like a charm).

Also, in reading the literature for xp, it talks about how FAT32 doesn't support hdds larger than 32gig. I'm currently using a 40gig and an 80gig hdd with seemingly no problem whatsoever. This is kind of a moot question since I will probably choose to go with NTFS anyway, but I thought I would throw the issue out there, just for my own edification.

Any thoughts??
Tom
 
Never mind!!!

Got my courage up (I think the Bushmills helped—surefire method for success—let’s get all liquored up and start farkling around with the DAW)

Did the upgrade (yes, it was the ‘upgrade’, not a ‘clean install’, as is recommended by many peoples—didn’t have the psychic wherewithal to actually backup/format/clean install—besides, I figure I will do that in the future, if necessary) shortly after I posted. Initially I had to tweak the buffer size a few notches, and mess with the drivers—finally settled on ASIO.

Working great at this point. Going through the usual tweaks for windows, although I have to say, I’m being pretty conservative. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Thanks for all your encouragement...sometimes, ya just gotta take the leap...
Tom
 
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Now my next question...

I noticed that there was this weird, 'slap-back echo' thing going on when tracking (sounded fine upon playback). I thought it might be related to the drivers I was using at the time (ASIO). I switched to 'use default' drivers in the 'options--audio--advanced' settings of GTPro. It seems to have resolved the issue, but I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts as to why this might have been happening.

I think the 'default drivers' for my Delta are WDM (MAudio mentions both WDM and ASIO in the manual for the soundcard). When I was initially experimenting with selecting the drivers manually, I had chosen WDM and the performance was awful.

At present, I would say there is virtually no noticeable latency.
Any thoughts?
Tom
 
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