bluezguy
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64Bit Question Again
I'm a contented Producer 4.04 user. After being with Cakewalk since 6.0, I figured it was time to stop when the software reached a certain plateau.
Is Sonar 6.0 really so far ahead of 4.04 to justify buying a new OS (XP Pro with 64 Bit support) and goin' through all the tweeks and changes to your system and existing software?
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LionSound
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 07:02:54
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Bluezguy,
That's a great question. Unfortunately the answer really is not yes or no as the X64 quwstion really raises a few new questions. The biggest thing to figure out is if all of your gear has 64 bit driver support. If you are an RME, Edirol, or M-Audio user (among others) than you are in decent shape. If you have a UAD-1 or TC Powercore then 64 bit wont happen until at least the end of this year. So it pays to find out X64 compatibility before jumping in.
The other question is wether or not your software works in X64. We know Sonar will, so thats cool. But if you use rewire at all then you are out of luck.
I would say as far as building an X64 system, the hardware right now will be your biggest upgrade. A fast dual core machine with two or three gigs of RAM and several fast hard drives will be great wether you use XP 64-bit or 32-bit. And Sonar 6 has so many cool improvements I'd upgrade to it anyways. If you do want to at least try out an X64 OS, I would go dual boot and keep my original 32 bit set up as my workhorse, and see if th 64-bit environment is as stable and compatible as you'd need it to be to work in.
www.soundclick.com/lionsound FirstStrike 1.2 IS RELEASED! www.fsmod.com
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tok2burn
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 11:23:44
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I think the distinction is whether you use WinXP Pro , which supposedly will work with all your hardware, vs. changing to Win x64, where the drivers will not work....
In other words, upgrade the Hardware to 64-bit, but retain WinXP Pro as the OS. What you'll be getting is the ability for more ram, smoother operation from SONAR, (improved performance if you go dual core, of course), and wait for Vista and the vendors to re-write their drivers.
But I think you'll be OK with WinXP Pro and 64-bit hardware after a few shocks (see the thread "On my way to 64 Bit" for a clear discussion of some of the issues involved.)
I may be wrong about this, though, since I am trying to learn about this too before making the jump...
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kilgoretrout 
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 12:05:48
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I agree with tok2burn (what the heck does that mean?).
Do the hardware upgrade now. Dual core. 2 GB ram with expansion capability. XP Pro (does it really offer anything over Home) and have things ready when Vista comes out.
Yes you will have to install drivers and stuff, but hopefully you will have the benefit of a faster machine in the mean time.
Sonica dual core 3.4 GHz with 2GB ram, 2-300GB audio drives 1-80Gb system drive, RME DIGI 9652, Sonar 6 PE, Mackie D8B, 2x MOTU MTP AV USB, TC Powercore Firewire, UAD1, vintage synths, Modcan modular, guitars, outboard gear,
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tok2burn
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 12:08:51
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I believe that only WinXP Pro (vs WinXP home) can utilize the 64-bit hardware/core 2 duo (for Sonar) .... for me, the real issue is replacing my IDE drives (at least the boot drive) with ATA, which is necessary unless you want to use the pci adapter card solution, which seems like kind of a kluge.. My feeling is leaning toward biting the bullet and going with ATA.... but that may be a show stopper financially for me at this point in time..... Maybe I'll just have to do without the convolution reverbs for awhile.....
post edited by tok2burn - 2006/09/22 12:26:54
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Randy42649
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 12:32:48
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What about plugging the hard drives into the supplied IDE connector and plugging the CD and DVD drives into a PCI card? Would that work better?
Randy
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tok2burn
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 12:42:02
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Good point; I hadn't realized there was an available IDE connector (I'm still trying to assimilate all the new info). I guess I'm back to thinking about it again.....:-) Now that I'm looking at the specs, I noticed the external SATA-to-go connector. So one can use external SATA Drives? Any suggestions for the PCI card? ORIGINAL: Randy42649
What about plugging the hard drives into the supplied IDE connector and plugging the CD and DVD drives into a PCI card? Would that work better?
Randy
post edited by tok2burn - 2006/09/22 12:57:45
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OrchardHouse
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 14:37:36
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There is only one version of 64-bit XP OS, and that is XP Pro x64 (http://support.microsoft.com/windowsxpprox64). Note that you need to also have a separate license for a 32-bit OS in addition if you want to run a dual boot situation.
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AndyW
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 14:49:10
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I agree with the advice from others that upgrading your machine will give you more power...but to be clear, you current system can run SONAR 6 with the 64bit audio engine engaged just fine(I say this because this is how the S5 engine works and there have been no statements of a change in behavior for the S6 engine). There is no requirement to have a 64bit processor or 64bit OS to use the 64bit audio engine. It is just more efficient on a 64bit machine. This is a common misconception BTW... I would go the exact opposite...I would get SONAR 6, see if you are running into CPU limits, then analyze for a hardware upgrade. There really is a dearth of 64bit drivers and plugins that will work properly in a 64bit environment(cpu and OS). IMO, going with a 64bit system running XP64 is on the *bleeding edge* not the cutting edge. Just my .02.
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tok2burn
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 17:55:46
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There is only one version of 64-bit XP OS, and that is XP Pro x64 (http://support.microsoft.com/windowsxpprox64). Note that you need to also have a separate license for a 32-bit OS in addition if you want to run a dual boot situation. The point is, don't buy the 64 bit OS; there are no drivers for it. But you can still run 64-bit programs like Sonar under WinXP Pro, which will be upgradeable to Vista when it becomes available. There are practically no drivers available for Win x64, even for things like DVD's', much less video and audio interfaces. Most of the vendors are waiting for Vista, when there will be a huge bandwagon. The point is, you can take at least some advantage of the 64-bit hardware and some software now under WinXP Pro now, particularly Core 2 Duo..... But I also think Andy W makes good sense, for sure....
post edited by tok2burn - 2006/09/22 18:10:44
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agincourtdb
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 18:01:38
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There are plenty of interfaces with stable x64 drivers available. Mackie I don't think is one of them though.
You're not 'out of luck' in a 64 bit OS if you use rewire... both the x32 (with rewire) and the x64 (without rewire) versions of Sonar will run on Winpro x64.
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Jose7822
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 22:59:28
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I just got in the 64-bit experience recently and, my suggestion like many others have said, is to wait until Vista comes out. Unless you wanna use over two gigs of RAM it will not be worth your while, even though you do get better system stabilitty on both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Sonar. Another thing I noticed in Windows x64 was the better support for multi-processors. In Windows XP Pro x86, with multi-processor engine enabled in Sonar, my CPU was being stressed more than without it. In Windows XP Pro x64, multi-processor engine works better. So there are some benefits but I can tell you they're not that great from 32-bit windows (unless again you want more RAM and you have more than 2 GB of RAM--if not don't waste your money and wait for Vista). HTH
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Jose7822
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RE: 64Bit Question Again
2006/09/22 23:00:28
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By the way this are my specs....
Intel Q9400 2.66 GHz 8 GB of RAM @ 800 Mhz ATI Radeon HD 3650 Windows 7 Professional (SP1) x64 Cubase 6.03 x64 Sonar PE 8.5.3 x64 RME FireFace 400 Frontier Design Alpha Track Studio Logic VMK-188 Plus http://www.youtube.com/user/SonarHD
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