Windows 7 v Windows 10 for music production?

linz

linz

Member
I have been a long time user of Windows 7 which I love because of it's ease of use and accessability.
I am running Ableton for my music compositions which is running sweet.

The need for Windows 10 applications is now creeping in as Windows 7 is starting to become more redundant for certain programs .

My friend has Windows 10 and I hate it, but am I missing out in regards to music production or should I carry on with Windows 7 to the death as it were?
 
Morning Linz. I have read several times on a forum I respect greatly that W10 has a better "engine" (whatever TF that means!) for music applications than all previous Msft operating systems. However I would think that these improvements would only be evident on DAWs and equipment developed POST win 10? I am NO computer guru but I doubt your existing DAW and interface would benefit at all from an OS change.

This laptop is W10 and runs Samplitude Pro X 6 very well (not that I do a lot!) but I also have an i3 4core HP laptop that runs Sam Pro X3 perfectly fine as well. (FWIIW I also use the HP on the internet and have never had a problem)

My advice would be to keep the W7 machine going. Maybe keep it off the net? Unless you can find a really good deal on a W10 machine (lap or desktop?) start saving for a seriously powerful W11 PC. (pref' from someone like Scan)

I would not EVER consider installing W10 on the W7 machine.

Dave.
 
If it works - there seems little point changing. At some point, one or two things you use regularly will require Windows 10 for an update. If you swap OS on any computer, you rarely get a "wow - that's better' moment. Often, just a stop to annoying banner reminders X isn't supported any more or Z won't work next week.

I have never subscribed to the keep it off the net approach simply because virtually everything I have now - Steinberg, Spitfire, Adobe etc, requires the net, all the time. With a bot of protection against silly stuff, and common sense, downloading and connection's not an issue for me.

The most annoying thing is where advice is always to use the latest drivers, you get to a stage when an ancient, in computer terms, OS stops you installing things you'd rather like. That is the time to upgrade. My 7 to 10 never even cost me. windows asked if I wanted a free upgrade to 10, and I said yes. It upgraded and carried on working as before. I now have two windows 10 machines next to each other and their menus and features are a bit different. They both say they are up to date. That's windows for you.
 
Hi Rob, I don't subscribe to the "Web is evil" cabal either. I just meant the OP could 'retire' the W7 machine from the internet, 'just in case'? I use my W10 laptop for everything and have never had a problem and I only have ever used Msft Defender and an occasional sweep with Malwarebytes.

I too ran the free W10 upgrade on my 'best' desktop (6 core AMD Black 3g) and hated it so I rolled back to W7 PDQ. Most of the extra functions of my M-A 2496 card were gone, never to be foind again.

"If ain't broke......."

Dave.
 
Thanks for the comments, so I run my Windows 7 off the net. My pc is duel booted to Linux for going on the net.
I run Ableton
Premiere Pro
Audition
Photoshop Lightroom with no problems at the moment.

So looks like I will be keeping the 7 till the end then.

Going to build a new pc with a better CPU and motherboard, buy a small used RME interface off ebay then I'm done for a while.

Just to add regarding windows 10 update, one thing I do know is my friend updated his Windows 7 to 10. It never ran his Cubase 10 properly, so I did a complete install of the actual Windows 10 and it made a massive difference. So the update works nowhere near as good as a clean install of windows 10.
 
linz said:
Thanks for the comments, so I run my Windows 7 off the net. My pc is duel booted to Linux for going on the net.
I run Ableton
Premiere Pro
Audition
Photoshop Lightroom with no problems at the moment.

So looks like I will be keeping the 7 till the end then.
Click to expand...
I was gonna say, the main disadvantage of using an old OS (assuming your process works) is that you're not getting security updates anymore.

If you run an old computer offline, that problem is mitigated.
 
My original laptop that was dedicated to recording had XP on it and I kept that until newer software that I wanted didn't support XP and I upgraded to Win7. I will switch to a newer OS when the same thing happens with 7.
 
markmann said:
My original laptop that was dedicated to recording had XP on it and I kept that until newer software that I wanted didn't support XP and I upgraded to Win7. I will switch to a newer OS when the same thing happens with 7.
Click to expand...
Well, you can try but the old XP motherboard may not run on W10. If had seen any of the debates about W11 Microsoft initially said not all computers would be suitable for an upgrade from 10 to 11. Just ONE OS jump! Going from W7 to W10 is not a likely scenario IMHO.
Msft have since pulled back a bit on "you are going to need a new computer" and it seems that with a bit of know how most W10 machines can be upgraded?

Not this little bunny tho! I bought a W10 laptop when I was told my W7 HP would be instantly sent to buggery if I tried to use it on the internet. Total BLLX. As I said the HP goes online several times a week, nay bother.
I am pretty sure Ten will see me right until I am too ga-ga to use a computer!

Dave.
 
linz said:
I have been a long time user of Windows 7 which I love because of it's ease of use and accessability.
I am running Ableton for my music compositions which is running sweet.

The need for Windows 10 applications is now creeping in as Windows 7 is starting to become more redundant for certain programs .

My friend has Windows 10 and I hate it, but am I missing out in regards to music production or should I carry on with Windows 7 to the death as it were?
Click to expand...
Whichever one you are using, there is a big difference between the home and professional versions. Definitely go with pro. Windows is not optimal for audio production but it is a lot more functional than it used to be. My love affair with Mac OS is dying and I'm about to switch from ProTools on Mac to Reaper on Ubuntu Studio Linux. If your is DAW compatible, then I would highly recommend looking into switching to Linux. Ubuntu studio is a great OS for audio and video production and it is free. Ardour and Reaper are practically free, with just about the same exact functions as logic and ProTools. and a permanent license is no more than $50. That includes lifetime updates. I don't know if you are already using a specific digital audio workstation as you did not mention one. ultimately, whether you use version seven or ten of windows would boil down to which version of your JW software you're having which one it is most compatible with. Also, remember that with windows, there're a lot of deep system settings that you need to change to make audio production goes smoothly. Turn off any background processes and apps running. Turn off all graphic effects and make it run for best performance rather than have Windows choose for you. Pro tools require some serious changes to deep system settings. Windows has many uses and as far as 3-D graphics and gaming go, hands down is the winter. It has come a Long Way, leaps and bounds, for audio production but still nuts native in a lot of awkwardness and frustration involved. If you use the machine for things like a gaming, the changes you have to make to run a DW smoothie will possibly interfere with that. I have used ProTools 12.3 on Windows 7 professional with all of the graphic bells and whistles turn off and it runs okay but still not nearly as native as with Mac OS. You have to install extra drivers and codecs, and sometimes there's a conflict between the windows AES I O drivers and your audio interface drivers and it can get confusing. Also it's sometimes possible to brick your audio interface device to do a firmware glitch. MacOS & Linux are almost always plug-and-play with audio. If you are using software that is compatible with Windows 7, I would stick with seven Pro and make sure to keep it as slimmed down as possible. If not, then do the same thing with 10 pro. You might want to consider a separate hard drive or partition for the version of windows in which you're using to produce music as some of the system settings may conflict with some of the other things use it for
 
ecc83 said:
Well, you can try but the old XP motherboard may not run on W10. If had seen any of the debates about W11 Microsoft initially said not all computers would be suitable for an upgrade from 10 to 11. Just ONE OS jump! Going from W7 to W10 is not a likely scenario IMHO.
Msft have since pulled back a bit on "you are going to need a new computer" and it seems that with a bit of know how most W10 machines can be upgraded?

Not this little bunny tho! I bought a W10 laptop when I was told my W7 HP would be instantly sent to buggery if I tried to use it on the internet. Total BLLX. As I said the HP goes online several times a week, nay bother.
I am pretty sure Ten will see me right until I am too ga-ga to use a computer!

Dave.
Click to expand...
You can disable those annoying pop-ups trying to get you to update
 
ecc83 said:
Well, you can try but the old XP motherboard may not run on W10. If had seen any of the debates about W11 Microsoft initially said not all computers would be suitable for an upgrade from 10 to 11. Just ONE OS jump! Going from W7 to W10 is not a likely scenario IMHO.
Msft have since pulled back a bit on "you are going to need a new computer" and it seems that with a bit of know how most W10 machines can be upgraded?

Not this little bunny tho! I bought a W10 laptop when I was told my W7 HP would be instantly sent to buggery if I tried to use it on the internet. Total BLLX. As I said the HP goes online several times a week, nay bother.
I am pretty sure Ten will see me right until I am too ga-ga to use a computer!

Dave.
Click to expand...
The big issue with Win 11 not supporting older computers has to do with the Trusted Platform Module which is a hardware security system. Win 11 wants TPM 2.0 which was implemented into Intel Processors starting with Gen 8 and AMD with Zen2 processors. A few motherboards had TPM2 modules on a chip, but that wasn't widely done.

It is possible to install Win11 on older processors as long as they have TPM 1.2 , however. It takes some fiddling with the registry. There is a fellow locally who refurbishes computers and has installed 11 on them.

I'm not enamored with Win 11 so far. They seem to enjoy having people learn how to do something, then change it all. Microsoft continues to try to hide anything technical from the user, as they clearly understand that we common user folk are too incompetent to use a product without screwing it up. If they were building cars, they would move the throttle from side to side every few years, make the speedo read from right to left, then left to right the following year, and hide the light and wiper controls because they can be made automatic. You would need a mechanics license to open the hood!
 
So I have a new problem now.
I want to keep windows 7 and upgrade my pc motherboard and CPU.

I was thinking of Asus and Intel i7 proccessor, but trying to find an up to date motherboard that supports windows 7 is now a problem...geez I am not giving in. so will research further.
 
I was hesitant to upgrade to Win10. It was an unfounded fear. Once I worked with it a bit, I've converted all four of my active computers to Win 10 and have had no real issues with any of them. I have some pretty old hardware. My "main" email/taxes/document computer is a 2010 Dell with AMD Phenom. My old laptop is a 2nd Gen I3 from 2011. Both computer came with Win 7. I didn't even upgrade the old laptop until about a year ago.. They work fine for basic duties.

All the drivers are available. The ONLY issue is a couple of programs that won't run in a 64bit environment. If I REALLY needed to run them, I have a machine with Win 2000 on it. So far, it hasn't been an issue.

You can expect issues if you have a very current motherboard and try to run Win7. The issues I've heard about most were regarded getting USB drivers that run at max speed, and things like SSDs dropping down to a lower performance level. That kind of negates the reason to upgrade the system hardware. You really can't expect manufacturers to support drivers for new standards on an OS that was put out 12 years ago, and discontinued 2 1/2 years ago.
 
linz said:
So I have a new problem now.
I want to keep windows 7 and upgrade my pc motherboard and CPU.

I was thinking of Asus and Intel i7 proccessor, but trying to find an up to date motherboard that supports windows 7 is now a problem...geez I am not giving in. so will research further.
Click to expand...
Eventually time moves on from old software and hardware alike. I would use the hardware upgrade as an opportunity to also transition to Windows 10 (or 11). This will, after all the bugs and quirks are worked out, futureproof you for a bit like your current Windows 7 setup had.

I did a major music software and audio interface upgrade in conjunction with my Windows 8 to 10 transition. Then eventually upgraded my DAW as well. Doing everything new, at once, I find is less daunting than trying to get old versions of software working on the latest operating systems. And on top of that, some old software won't run, won't run smoothly/without bugs, or require an expensive software support purchase to get the latest compatible version of the software.

If done fresh, you should be able to get 10 years from a full music production setup before being forced to consider new operating system and software. Microsoft sets the support lifecycle for their operating systems on a 8 to 10-ish year timeline. And if recent history is any guide, we might be able to go from windows 10 to 11 to 12 to 13 fairly seamlessly (assuming no major advancements or complete strategy overhauls for audio routing in the operating system is implemented).
 
linz said:
I have been a long time user of Windows 7 which I love because of it's ease of use and accessability.
I am running Ableton for my music compositions which is running sweet.

The need for Windows 10 applications is now creeping in as Windows 7 is starting to become more redundant for certain programs .

My friend has Windows 10 and I hate it, but am I missing out in regards to music production or should I carry on with Windows 7 to the death as it were?
Click to expand...
Exactly how I feel about Windows.
 
As so much of what you do on computers in studios relates to downloading stuff you have bought, then if they've been produced by very experienced, very musical producers, why would you ever want to not be using the same systems they used to produce it. They test it on the Macs and the PCs they have on site. They won't be testing or supporting windows 7 users. I have a simple policy, keep up to date, unless there is a reason not to. I just bought some brand new, but old Motorola radios. I cannot program them because the software is XP, and simply won't run on 10. XP was born in 2001, I think. Windows 7 ran out of steam in 2012 or so and started in 09 - In computer terms, how many of us are doing music on computers that elderly? Most of the staff at the software producers were in high school or even primary then!
 
linz said:
I have been a long time user of Windows 7 which I love because of it's ease of use and accessability.
I am running Ableton for my music compositions which is running sweet.

The need for Windows 10 applications is now creeping in as Windows 7 is starting to become more redundant for certain programs .

My friend has Windows 10 and I hate it, but am I missing out in regards to music production or should I carry on with Windows 7 to the death as it were?
Click to expand...
get a new hard drive and do a clean install of win 10 , Ableton etc etc and try it out. I use Win 10 and its fine , used to be a huge Win 7 fan and resisted upgrading for ages but after i did its been fine. I dont put my studio pc on line ever so i dont have to worry about windows doing weird stuff , downloading new drivers , replacing stuff with their stuff etc etc .. which they do and it sucks .. be sure to get an older version of win 10 ..
 
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