Up on Windows 8 without issues

Made a recording and everything... haha... feeling all happy.
 
Things are working fine for me.
 
Not a new PC... same old HP DV something or other laptop.
 
Takes a long time to re-install with all patches for x1 and all the diff plugins that are now sold separately.
 
Only issue I've got so far is that I could not install the AlphaTrack driver... but that's a device not Sonar, and I'll bet I get that worked out too.
 
Thought I'd share my good news. Excuse me if this is the wrong place to post a happy word.

I'm assuming you reinstalled Sonar after the upgrade. Log into your Native Instruments account (you should have had to create one when you first installed Sonar to access GR4. If not do so using your GR4 Serial number). Download the update(s). You probably just forgot to affiliate your registration with the new install. It may not work with Win8 anyway but it is worth a shot. When doing stuff like this with GR always use Run As Administrator. If you have further problems just call Native Instruments support.

I thought W8 could just be installed as an upgrade to W7?   If it means I have to reformat my PC and reinstall everything then I'll have to pass.

Well - I would NOT use Windows 8 at this moment without an backup system. It is possible Sonar (or any other program) runs without problems, but it is not guaranteed at all!! Most times only long term use will tell if there are problems or not. And do not forget - Sonar is NOT guaranteed to run under Windows 8, so ANY problem that will occur is the problem of the user and not Cakewalk's problem. Simply said - you cannot get support installing your software on a not-supported system. So - testing is good, but never use a Windows 8 install as a mission-critical system...

Beepster, btw, you totally knew how to fix it. My problem with Guitar Rig was that I needed to install all the patches. I'm grooving now!

Create a partition on the current C: drive. Install w8 clean and new.

Do all the windows updates.

Start tweaking: stop the WMP sharing service,.... and the auto stuff: updates, defrag, performance testing,...

And then add the hardware, and then the software. Learn about how to get around.

Soon, I'm gonna do some in-place upgrades on other boxes to know what does and does not get through the metal detector.

============

Get at least 1 external disk for images and backups. Use often.

And: when using MS win imager: after it is finished, find the folder and rename it with the day's date. Otherwise the next image write over it.

j

JSkeen


I have a coupon for a 15 or 20 dollar win 8 upgrade. Been curious to how its working for people. I have been following these threads as of late. 

You can't buy it yet. It hasn't been released. End of October is the target date. You can download and install the preview version, but I would only do that if you have a spare computer to use.  


I've used the Release Preview and its very different from Windows 7. There is definitely a learning curve involved. At this point, I'm undecided as to whether I like it or not although I've only used it a few times and it does take some getting used to. Its like when Vista came out and they moved everything around so that no matter how well you knew Windows XP, you had a lot to learn to use Vista. 

I start the computer
after a bit the OS boot menu is displayed
5 seconds and w8 boots
the LOCK screen is displayed
I click the mouse, or press escape
The login screen is displayed
I type the user name and press enter
THe TILE view is displayed
I click the "desktop" pad
The "desktop" is displayed
I click on the sonar shortcut and smile with joy

Or: at the tiles I click what ever I wanna, and the "desktop" is (usually) displayed and the program is started with a link placed on the taskbar.

The TILE screen ("metro) is the START-MENU. It can be bypassed by starting a program/notepad from the startup folder.

The TILE view is a 1-click menu, showing too many choices, and does not play well with moving shortcuts to folders.

Right click, click ALL and watch in horror as ALL shortcuts to ALL programs, ALL utilites, ALL accessories,,,, are displayed. Prolly like Hundreds, fur shur, for a reasonably loaded audio box.

$40 buys you the option to create a partition, install w8 and sonar,... and learn stuff you never wanted ta.

Is that so wrong???

j

Put a new mother board and ram in the music computer. And been configuring win8 with new drivers, having crashes, using utilities to identify the culprits (korg nano drivers are not ready), and I figger the video card/drivers are being petulent. Might need to replace the card.

For the UI, Lots of light grey on white.  Way stupid.

Most interesting:::  the color schemes are primarily pastel, NO 3D crap for windows,... No transparency. Except for the task bar which cannot be disabled. WTF?

But mostly, just the way I usually configure all my computers.

But the light colors on light colors is no doubt from letting graphic designers make final decisions. This is never to be allowed. They only care about "what it looks like" not "is the information easily and correctly conveyed."

Same with Sonar X1: the selected console strip is a slightly lighter grey, really annoying.

Sonar X1De is working fine. Except when the video driver restarts the computer.

I find transparency within Sonar (shift X to make floating windows transparent so you can use items beneath the floating window and still retrieve the floating window quickly using shift x again) works for plug ins that do not require the bit bridge. For example, it does not work for perfect space, but it does work for Channel tools. Doesn't work for Vintage Channel (32 bit) does work for TL64 Tube Leveler. This is only on x64, I'll bet, where you've installed the 64 bit version of Sonar.

Hmm. I'm not having any trouble with crashing unless I sleep the computer with the m-audio interface active. Then I get problems, but I always have.

So I don't usually use win+r for run because if you use win alone plus type, it's effectively the same thing plus a global search.

Yes if you make whatever.bat files with shutdown -s or shutdown -r you can shutdown and restart by running the files. I remote too at times, but I never create files for this purpose... you can hit win key then type shutdown -s and have the same effect.

I can get to safe mode at boot time. As your PC Starts, use F8 and follow instructions.
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-enable-windows-8-safe-mode/

If you hit win+f and type *.dmp you can hope to find dump files. Sometimes just the location of these files is helpful. Further, when my PC crashes because I slept it while the audio interface was active, it tells me in the corner that the m-audio power fault is the reason. This may not help you, but for me, it creates a crash dump before shutting down. In Windows 7 there was a handy cancel button so I could just restart. In Windows 8 I have to hold in the power button to avoid writing the dmp. Obviously, while I'm pretty good at saving and closing Sonar before sleeping, I'm not so great at remembering to turn off the m-audio.

Smiles. Your Video card shouldn't be the problem, but you can always update the driver to be sure. Further, if you go into device manager you can disable display adapter (don't disable the monitor itself). This should put you on default drivers that I find cause lower DPC latency than the one written for the device. The one written for the device has power saving features that cause DPC spikes... good to save the earth... bad for recording.

I counted the clicks for the new path to shutdown and it's the same number as the old path, btw, just a new path.

If you go to control panel and type 'appearance' in the search window, you can find 'adjust the appearance and performance of windows' and you can use this to disable the transparency, I believe. I didn't both since I kinda like it... but...

win 8 = 3 clicks to shutdown... mouse bottom right > settings (1 click) > shutdown (2nd click) > shutdown (3rd click)

sorry the other stuff is a pain.

Best

I've noticed that I can't set the bit depth to 24. I'm using an M-Audio Fasttrack Ultry with the win 7 x64 driver. Looks like I have to wait for the win 8 driver to be back to 24 bits?

Thanks for the tip, Mike. I'm doing something wrong though. I don't have it quite working. I followed your instructions and got the driver installed (1.3 version). In sonar, I can see the device under midi and check the boxes. Then I add the device to the controllers and ensured that the midi channels were set for in and out. I'm tired and will look again in the morning, but tonight, I'm missing something.

On another note, both my line6 and m-audio interfaces are not allowing me to set the bit depth to 24. They are both working at 16 and the box for setting it is disabled. I'm starting to think I might flip back to 7 until I see the 8 drivers show up on the various vender sites. I must say, I'm disappointed to say so. I do like 8 better, but I like to be able to record at 24 bit too.

@mikedocy

Yay I got the alphatrack working. I had it set to generic midi thingy rather than frontier alphatrack thingy. Now It works. 
 
I fixed the 16 bit issue as well. Under File > Audio Data > you can set the Record Bit Depth. It was at 16. The Audio Driver Bit Depth grayed out on Driver Settings apparently only shows the depth available. That's why it says 24 but was recording at 16. All fixed.
Thanks, Mike!