Still confused asbout 32 or 64 bit. Arrgghhh!

hello lampoon,
i reread your post and i can't tell for sure if your computer is a 64 bit machine.
if that is part of your confusion, you must have a 64 bit computer in order to run 64 bit software. however, a 64 bit computer can also run 32 bit software, though not always with the stability of native 64 bit software.

sonar vs is a 32 bit program. there is no 64 bit version, but it will run on a 64 bit machine. my experience with that was that it ran, but was not nearly as stable as sonar x1 64 bit is. i don't recommend it from my experience with doing it.

i don't know what your intentions are for your computer other than audio, but you did say you want to stay with sonar vs, that you don't need the bells and whistles of other sonar packages. so then i would assume, for the purposes of your audio, that you wouldn't need more than 4 gigs of ram. in that case, and for the sake of native compatibility, you could install the 32 bit version of windows 7. from what i've read, that is supposed to work normally.

my suggestion is, if your machine is 64 bit, then install the 64 bit version of windows 7 and upgrade your sonar vs to sonar x1-studio 64bit. at least you'll have the potential of your new 64 bit computer and native stability. why fool around when you've already said you want to upgrade in the future?

edit:
you mentioned not having any 64 bit plugins, well if you decide to install w7 x64, then you should check for the free 64 bit updates to your plugins. many plugins have new 64 bit versions, the update is free. waves and a couple of others still do not offer x64 updates.

hope that helps,
matt

i felt the same way, moving from vs to x1producer was a giant step. there are some things you'll recognize and lots other stuff that's brand new. all in all, it's much better, it's more than bells and whistles. there's quite a learning curve in the beginning and even still 6 months later, but not as steep. i found these to be very helpful and i recommend them:

http://www.store.cakewalk...ductid=30-G3X11.00-20E

http://www.store.cakewalk...ductid=30-CTSP1.00-20C

hth.

edit:
fyi, check out the sonar university vids. they are all good and free. some new ones are due out this summer also.

rock on.