Ableton/Hardware & Windows 7

[AL_X]

Hey guys,

Just looking for some advice. I'm about to buy a new laptop (PC). Probably going to get a Vaio and they all come pre-installed with Windows 7 64 bit (ouch).

Anyone have much experience with Windows 7?... I've lost my XP disks years ago, but don't mind buying a new copy of XP or Windows 7 (to install the 32bit version) if necessary.

My setup is Live 8, novation nio & apc40.


I've been searching all over the internet to find out if my hardware/software will work under windows 7, but am getting very limited information.


Can someone please advise!


thanks:)

[Trypset]

i have no experience with windows 7. My satellite came with Vista 32bit. I immediately wiped it and installed XP64bit. I have had 0 problems. I mean ZERO!!!

[AL_X]

That's promising

What hardware are you using?

[McQ714]

Live 8 and the APC40 work fine on Windows 7 Pro 64-bit here. don't know about the nio, though.

[mode:masters]

The only hardware that might be an issue is the Nio.

Keep your eye on http://beta.novation.com for the latest drivers.

I have had some issues getting my Focusrite Sapphire Pro 40 running under Win7, and since Novation is a Focusrite company I would expect the drivers are written by the same crew of poeple. One of the problems is that you have to tell Windows 7 to use a Legacy Firewire chipset driver, but this is easy to do.

***2 Important things about Win7 and pro audio devices***

Firstly - Windows Vista and Windows 7 both suffer from DPC Latency issues when using some Firewire audio interfaces. So make sure you get hold of Thesycon's DPC latency checker tool (http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml) if you are getting major dropouts. The main offenders are usually wireless network cards (check out WLAN Optimizer in this case) and NVIDIA graphics cards. The problem with the NVIDIA cards is due to the drivers not letting you turn off PowerMizer settings. Check out NV GPU Pro to get around this.

Secondly - Check the Firewire chipset that comes in your new laptop. If it is a Ricoh or a generic chipset don't buy the laptop. Only Texas Instruments or VIA chipsets seem to work well with Pro Audio interfaces. This is widely documented across the internet. Basically even if you have a crap Firewire chip and you add a card with a good chip, it's very likely that it still won't fix the issue, due to the way the BIOS in most laptops handles IRQ's and resource allocation. What i did was to buy a PC that had NO firewire at all and added a Belkin brand Firewire Expresscard, which uses a Texas Instruments chip and it has been fairly smooth sailing.

[Trypset]

edirol FA-101 (sound card)

microkorg, electribe ES-1 MKII

no issues here

i also run midi-ox to extend the NRPN->MIDI capabilities of the electribe

[AL_X]

Thanks for the advice guys......


So I guess under 64bit Windows 7.. Live and the APC will be fine, but maybe not the Nio, which is kinda crucial since I'm using it for DJ gigs mostly.


The Nio is usb 2.0, so wont have the same issues as the Focusrite Sapphire Pro, but was thinking that I might get a firewire card at some point so will keep the above points in mind.


I've checked the novation beta site and there's no sign of Windows 7 drivers, so I've emailed them the query. I have however decided that I hate Dell and Sony for pushing windows 7 and giving extremely limited or no downgrade options !

[Simmo]

Hi AL_X

I'm using Win7 x64 on both my MBP Unibody and Dell M1330 both without any problems.

Software I'm currently using:
Live 8.0.5
Cubase 5.1 x64
Some archaic version of Albino
ABL Trial
Massive 1.1.4

Hardware:
APC40
Fireface 400 (with SIIG PCIE firewire card as the one in the Dell is rubbish!)
Edirol ua-1ex

Latency with true ASIO drivers and also ASIO4ALL is fine for what I use it for but I've heard not great things about recording etc with Win7. Its a shed load better than that Vista crap was for me anyhow!


Hope that helps mate

Simmo

[stan_-_]

Hi mode:masters,

just read your judgement about firewire. I cannot exchange my Laptop and trying to find out a workaround. The attempt to unable all devices in BIOS failed. The Latency Checker shows still ~1000ms

Maybe you have an idea what else I could try...

Cheers,
Stan
---------------------------------------
Dell E6510 / Alesis IO26 / Ableton8
---------------------------------------

The only hardware that might be an issue is the Nio.

Keep your eye on http://beta.novation.com for the latest drivers.

I have had some issues getting my Focusrite Sapphire Pro 40 running under Win7, and since Novation is a Focusrite company I would expect the drivers are written by the same crew of poeple. One of the problems is that you have to tell Windows 7 to use a Legacy Firewire chipset driver, but this is easy to do.

***2 Important things about Win7 and pro audio devices***

Firstly - Windows Vista and Windows 7 both suffer from DPC Latency issues when using some Firewire audio interfaces. So make sure you get hold of Thesycon's DPC latency checker tool (http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml) if you are getting major dropouts. The main offenders are usually wireless network cards (check out WLAN Optimizer in this case) and NVIDIA graphics cards. The problem with the NVIDIA cards is due to the drivers not letting you turn off PowerMizer settings. Check out NV GPU Pro to get around this.

Secondly - Check the Firewire chipset that comes in your new laptop. If it is a Ricoh or a generic chipset don't buy the laptop. Only Texas Instruments or VIA chipsets seem to work well with Pro Audio interfaces. This is widely documented across the internet. Basically even if you have a crap Firewire chip and you add a card with a good chip, it's very likely that it still won't fix the issue, due to the way the BIOS in most laptops handles IRQ's and resource allocation. What i did was to buy a PC that had NO firewire at all and added a Belkin brand Firewire Expresscard, which uses a Texas Instruments chip and it has been fairly smooth sailing.

[Khazul]

The Latency Checker shows still ~1000ms

Maybe you have an idea what else I could try...

Using it as a door wedge?


More seriously, tried disabling any onboard devioces and software that isnt essential for audio? Wireless, networking, setting it to full performance mode etc?

To date Ive come across three laptops that I have found to be eventually ok for audio - a lenovo model (T61 P), an acer model (cant remember which - from a couple of years ago) and of course mac books and mac book pros.

Guess why my next laptop will hopefully be an MBP even if it dont even like mac os much.

[stan_-_]

Very funny...

The windows performance index shows 4,5!

... The attempt to unable all devices in BIOS failed...

Well all devices disabled and setting to full performance mode certainly done es well - no result...


By the way my previous Lenovo T500 and T61 were absolutely fine with processing audio (Latency Checker values - 60-70ms) even though the Windows Perf. Index showed 3.1. But that were the XP times...

Any other ideas?

Cheers,
Stan

Using it as a door wedge?

More seriously, tried disabling any onboard devioces and software that isnt essential for audio? Wireless, networking, setting it to full performance mode etc?

To date Ive come across three laptops that I have found to be eventually ok for audio - a lenovo model (T61 P), an acer model (cant remember which - from a couple of years ago) and of course mac books and mac book pros.

[MacGuffin]

win7 64 on a dell studio here, works fine, apc 40 too.

I have a focusrite saphire 6 usb, which was released after win7 so the drivers work properly.

I have a friend who has a tascam interface and the drivers have problems with win7, so I guess the only thing to worry about is older hardware. If you are going to buy new gear just check out forums to see if the drivers are working properly.

[stan_-_]

I've got alesis io26 firewire. But the external soundcard or its driver cannot be the evildoer. The Latency Checker shows delays up to 1600ms before connecting the soundcard and USB controllers. This seems to be the HW problem of Dell E6510 model... Too bad - I liked it till now.

win7 64 on a dell studio here, works fine, apc 40 too.

I have a focusrite saphire 6 usb, which was released after win7 so the drivers work properly.

I have a friend who has a tascam interface and the drivers have problems with win7, so I guess the only thing to worry about is older hardware. If you are going to buy new gear just check out forums to see if the drivers are working properly.

[MacGuffin]

strange, that's a better computer than mine and I don't have this problem.

[Mattymel]

Hi there ... I am having a lot of problems with my Nio 2/4, recently swapped to a new dell laptop which runs Windows 7, I can get sound coming through the audio interface using Live when I select MME/Direct X driver but as soon as I switch to ASIO it freezes ... my setup was working fine on my old dell desktop ... I have installed the Nio 1.03 Driver which apparently works with Windows 7 ... is anyone else having problems??