Which OS should I get for Sonar?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tcdave
  • Start date Start date

Which OS system do you use?

  • I use Windows XP. It's "tight" and da BOMB !!! (it's good)

    Votes: 18 64.3%

  • I use Windows 2000 and it works for me !!!!!

    Votes: 7 25.0%

  • I use Windows ME. It lets me be ME !!!!!!

    Votes: 2 7.1%

  • I don't use a PC. I use a MAC. (I like fries with my "MAC") besides I don't like Bill Gates......

    Votes: 1 3.6%
  • Total voters
    28
T

tcdave

New member
I have Windows 98SE and want to upgrade to a WDM OS (ie, Windows ME, Windows XP and Windows 2000). I want to play Sonar in "realtime" with software synths.

Which one should I get?

I also own Windows ME but I have not put it on my computer due to what I have heard about ME.

Windows XP has compatablity problems I hear. I know for a fact that my printer is not compatable and my palm pilot with XP. I dont know if my scanner, DVD-Rom or my CD-Rom is compatable either. The "upgrade wizards" can only do so much....

Windows 2000 seems like the way to go.......Cakewalk told me at the NAMM show that they think it's better than XP and ME.

What do you think????

thanks
tcdave
 
Last edited:
i don't think wdm is very friendly wit ME....u gotta go wit 2000 or XP
 
I use 2000 and I noticed a performance difference after I installed service pack 2.
I've talked to people having good luck with xp - also after installing a service pack or patches.
I go to the Cakewalk user group meetings regularly in the Boston area and I was told by one of their programmers that Sonar was developed on Win2K. That was endorsement enough for me.
 
2000 is definitely the way to go. very fast, very stable.
 
XP is significantly faster than 2000 on my "older" machine (PII-400 w/512Mb RAM). Latency even went down with Sonar as well.

XP is just as or even moreso stable than 2000 was on my machine.
 
I was running Sonar on 98SE. Dropouts, dropouts, dropouts.
WDM drivers are supposed to work on 98SE --> wrong. It is possible to get it running, but you're wasting your time. So I threw 2000 on and what a difference. Latency way down and much fewer dropouts. Still not good enough for running half a dozen audio tracks with effects at once. Hmmm...

The answer is Firewire. I got a Western Digital and the problems were gone. Not one dropout. I gave it a punishing test, I loaded up mucho tracks with lots of audio, effects, MIDI, the works. It finally crashed when I had a riduclous amount of stuff playing at the same time. For real world applications, Firewire will allow you to use several tracks at once. But...it's going to cost around $400 for the card and the drive. And it takes some effort to get it running and the bugs worked out. But what a difference. You can take modestly equipped PC and change the dynamics of data flow so that your sound card and hard drive can actually keep up with each other. Then you can stop noodling with the settings and all that, and use that time productively to do the thing we all love --> make music.

Just my $0.02 worth.
 
Mr Martin said:
I was running Sonar on 98SE. Dropouts, dropouts, dropouts.
WDM drivers are supposed to work on 98SE --> wrong. It is possible to get it running, but you're wasting your time. So I threw 2000 on and what a difference. Latency way down and much fewer dropouts. Still not good enough for running half a dozen audio tracks with effects at once. Hmmm...

The answer is Firewire. I got a Western Digital and the problems were gone. Not one dropout. I gave it a punishing test, I loaded up mucho tracks with lots of audio, effects, MIDI, the works. It finally crashed when I had a riduclous amount of stuff playing at the same time. For real world applications, Firewire will allow you to use several tracks at once. But...it's going to cost around $400 for the card and the drive. And it takes some effort to get it running and the bugs worked out. But what a difference. You can take modestly equipped PC and change the dynamics of data flow so that your sound card and hard drive can actually keep up with each other. Then you can stop noodling with the settings and all that, and use that time productively to do the thing we all love --> make music.

Just my $0.02 worth.
Click to expand...

?!?!

Here's computer architecture 101 for ya:

USB - 12Mbits/sec
Firewire - 400Mbits/sec
IDE - 33 to 100 Mbytes/sec
PCI - 25 to over 100Mbytes/sec

Notice that the last two are in Megabytes/sec and not megabits like Firewire and USB. 1Mbit/sec equals 125k/sec (1,000,000 / 8)

Firewire is nowhere close to being as fast as the IDE and PCI busses...
 
Called my Computer Manufacturer Today...they said put ME on the computer

Thanks for all the responses. I am going to put ME on my computer. Here's why.

Today, I called my computer manufacturer ( www.buyabs.com )and they told me that XP is the worst OS they have ever incountered. They even had to start a new department to handle the XP "compatability" problems they are having with all their systems. They told me that Microsoft STILL needs to work out all the bugs. They recommended that I do not install XP because most everything that is in my computer will not run. A driver issue with the components of the system. I asked about Windows 2000 and they told me that there are still problems with it. I told them that I do own Windows ME and have not installed it because of the rumours I heard about it. They told me that ME is a stable and good operating system for me to install if I want WDM drivers.

Basically, If I wanted to have XP, I have to buy an XP system from the start. Software compatability is an issue too.....

So there you go...........

tcdave




( About 6 months ago, I bought a new computer. AMD 1.4gig with ATI radeon.....SB live.....DVD, CDrom........etc....etc...etc..... Warranty? I have lifetime labor and customer support. Parts are 3 years. )
 
?!?!?!

Thats a load of CRAP!!!

I have the almost the same exact system (ATI, SB Live....) and everything works just fine in XP.
 
Yeah, and what's that crap with "still problems with Win2000"? I've never had problems with it, it's the most stable OS I've ever tried...
 
ME is the biggest piece of crap!

Windows 2k is the best option for performance and supported drivers.

Otherwise get Win98SE.
 
This thread is FRUSTRATING!

I use PA 9 and Win 98 SE. I plan on upgrading to SONAR 2.0 and, I hope, Win XP. Can someone who knows this stuff PLEASE explain whether this will work?

I have a P III 1 gig on an ASUS motherboard. My hard drive currently is only 5200 but I plan on upgrading to 7200 or maybe even 10,000.

I use a Delta 44 soundcard - and I know that the WDM driver is available for download.

So..... would it be better to stick with 98 SE and SONAR, or go with XP???

Help?

Fab:confused:
 
Fab4Ever -

I believe the answer is to go with Win XP IF you can find XP drivers for all your hardware.

If not, the next best choice for Sonar is probably Win 2000.

In 3rd place are 98SE or ME (and it's probably a toss-up between them). Most of the drivers for 98 will work in ME and vice-versa.

FWIW I personally use Sonar on Win ME and it works fine for me thank you. But I run with 100+ ms latency (which is quite tolerable for my needs). Like some of the previous comments, I have never been able to get the WDM drivers for my Delta 1010 to work properly with ME. So my solution was simply to stick with the MME drivers.

However, I believe the best performance/stability will be found on XP and 2000 (most particularly if you plan to use WDM drivers). The only issue with XP seems to be the lack of available drivers for many devices - otherwise, I heard nothing but positive comments regarding XP for DAW usage with Sonar. If you can't find XP drivers for your equipment, go with 2000.
 
Ah, clarity!

Thanks. Now... I assume finding the new drivers entails going to the web sites of my peripherals - printer, cd burner, of course sound card.

What am I overlooking? Would I have to look for a driver for my CD burner software? For my mouse?
 
XP has drivers for all my stuff. Sonar was written for XP.

cheers
John
 
winME sucks

I hate WinME! it's the owrst system out there. I upgraded to XP nad everything is great. stay away from WinME.
 
i recently just upgraded my whole system.
i have 2 computers now. 1 for recording music only and the other for browsing the internet, playing video games, emails,etc...
i used to use 1 computer for everything. this system was a ASUS P3BF motherboard, 700mhz P3, 256Mb ram and a 40 Gb hard drive 7200 rpm. i was using an GForce2 v7700 video card and an ether card for the intertnet.
i upgraded to ASUS P4T-E motherboard, 2.0 Ghz P4, 512 Mb ram, and a 60 Gb hard drive 7200rpm. still using the v7700 video card, which i will soon upgrade to an ATI (for the tv outs), just havent figured which model yet. i have an ethernet card installed for networking of both computers. my compaq piece of crap will now do the browsing and emails, etc.. and the ASUS P4T-E will never know what the internet is.
i chose XP as the OS. everything runs fine because besides a virus scan program and the ASUS utility probe, SONAR is the only thing running on it. everything else i need (printers, files, etc...) is networked on the other computer.
 
Spacedye - why do you need a virus scan program for the DAW if it "will never know what the internet is"

Seems a waste of resources to me.
 
dachay2tnr,
the virus scan is a just in case scan. i plan on turning it off when im using sonar. but that was a good observation by you.....
 
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