RobertB
LOL, Kenny. I can totally see Duke as your dog. He looks happy to have you.
Over the years, our dogs have all come from the Humane Society or a box of puppies in front of K-Mart.
They've all been great dogs.
Only one made the trip to Texas (Peppa), and she's been Daddy's girl for over ten years.
Like you, I was stalled by an outdated, but reliable XP system. However, I did go as far as X1 Essential.
On my birthday this year (Aug 22), the system died. The bond between the P4 and the heat sink had broken, and it baked itself to death in a very short time. I discovered the problem after disassembling the machine.
So I pressed my Vista laptop into service. Luckily, I had loaded all of my Cakewalk software onto the laptop earlier, even though I never actually used it. I still need an interface, as Vista has a quirk handling the audio input, but that's in the works.
Anyhow, I downloaded X3 Studio. Even though it is not supported, the docs indicated it will run under Vista.
I've hit one or two minor hiccups, but so far so good.
Like you, I really appreciate that Cakewalk keeps us in the loop.
Welcome to the future, brother Kenny. Onward and upward.
It's always good to receive a transmission from Tele X

Hi Robert ,
it is Great to hear from you again  isn't it great to have such a wonderful blessing as having a Daddy's girl or a Daddy's boy in a good dog . I know we have that in common . Lucy gave me a solid 13 years of loving memorys . 
 
Duke is sure working me over w all his puppy mojo and charm .
Apparently he must of gotten an A on his puppy play book test , I'm starting to think he can out Bambi Bambi w all his mugs and expressions 
 
I'm sorry to her about your P4 ...I know the feeling well.....
 
Yes, it's a very good thing you had that Vista lap top  having it gives you the opportunity to stay in the loop .
You have built up a lot of good Karma over the years helping people , you never know whats right around the corner .
 
When I took my DAW permanently off the net , my back up plan usually was to set up a secondary PC that doubled as an audio workstation and my internet computer  ...
 
I've managed to get a few trouble free years out of some of these out dated XP back up machines before they gave up the ghost .
Yeah , I do feel pretty lucky that I got a really good deal on that lap top (it was a refurb) then when I factor in the upgrade to SONAR X3 PE from S 6 PE ....WOW that in itself was super righteous  ....the features , the price , the support 
 
I feel like I'm getting a fresh start ...I hope the best is yet to come 
 
it has been real nice rapping with you Robert  
 
Kenny
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kenny, having heard your recordings for the last several years, I think you will be in for a treat.  Once you get past the learning curve, you will discover that X3 will be a fantastic mixing platform for your music.  Hopefully, your workflow will be faster, and your fans will be the biggest recipient of your upgrade.  All the best to you.

guigz2000
Hello,
 
Do not forget your laptop can do dual screen.When I mentioned using an external screen,I was meaning in a dual screen setup (both screen are a part of desktop). Sonar is the best DAW concerning dual screen support (make windows floating)
 
I'm not a focusrite representative.:) 
The scarlett 2i4 is a bit more expansive than 2i2 but it has 4 outputs and MIDI. Same preamps as 2i2 and same compatibilies (same product range).
There are other brands that should fit well,too. 

Hi guigz2000 , 
 
I had a feeling when you mentioned that my lap top can do dual screen, that it meant I could use both screens and be able to float my views in SONAR . This info is great news and I will have to try that out .
 
I do like your audio interface recommendation  . It is very possible that the scarlett 214 (or even a similar config / manufacturer  ) would be my best option for my price point , in the long run being able to have the midi self contained in one interface seems to be the way I need to go .
I will have to see how my bills and expenses are gonna play out this month now that I have a new very large hungry mouth to feed 
you have been a great help in clarifying some of the things I'm in the process of sorting out over here w my new set up
I sincerely do appreciate your help. 
 
Kenny

Lynn
Kenny, having heard your recordings for the last several years, I think you will be in for a treat.  Once you get past the learning curve, you will discover that X3 will be a fantastic mixing platform for your music.  Hopefully, your workflow will be faster, and your fans will be the biggest recipient of your upgrade.  All the best to you.

Hi Lynn, 
 
I have found that I am enjoying my time spent learning my way around X3 and Windows 8 .
So far my progress has been slow and steady .
I feel very lucky to have been able to load an old SONAR 6 PE project from a few months ago and hear an amazing difference in sound once I fiddled around in X3 a bit ...
I didn't even know what I was doing at the time and it sounded a whole lot better  
Eventually , I hope to get up to speed over here .
 
Lynn , thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement  I sincerely appreciate having heard them .
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny