You get to know pretty quickly which 32-bit plugs aren't happy in a 64-bit environment and which ones are sweet. I used TP Basslane on every project and haven't had one single issue with it, but if I insert Cakewalk's 32-bit tape emulation on a track it's guaranteed to crash Sonar every time. As for the Waves plugs I don't own any but I'm sure there must be a hundred forum discussions out there which discuss their behavior in a 64-bit DAW. 

My current DAW PC is dual-boot with XP-32 and W7-64.  Exactly the same hardware and software is installed in both setups and there is no obvious difference in performance when running 32-bit Sonar.  However 64-bit Sonar (obviously only installed in W7) displays hardly any CPU use even for large projects.  Impressive.  Unfortunately most of my old projects won't open in the 64-bit version so I tend to stick with 32 most of the time.

My upgrade from X1/xp32bit to X2/win7 was pretty manageable and I think a fairly low risk one

My son gave me a 128Gig Solid Solid State Drive and a copy of Win7 for Christmas

I went dual boot (8 gig of memory on an Asus MB) and a EMU1212m card

The dual boot was pretty painless and getting the soundcard up in both OS's was okay

Then I bought the X2 Producer download and installed it in 64 bit on Win 7

But the big thing is to go slowly on getting the plugins up - pretty much install the whole Sonar X2 and then pick off the plugins one by one.  Not sure if this is everyone's cup of tea but it kept my stress level down.  

With the SSD drive this thing loads REALLY fast - and between the Breverb and 64 bit OS this thing never is breathing hard and that's a really good feeling.  

MelodicJimmy


Yeah, I just checked.... the X1D update implemented Rewire 64-bit.

Pity Sibelius 64 didn't yet though ain't it?...

Anderton


I went to 64-bit operation with Vista (please, stop laughing) and never looked back. It bugged me that I couldn't ReWire and that both Waves and UA plugs were 32-bit, but I just held tight until they caved and went 64-bit. 32GB of RAM and 64-bit operation is a beautiful thing.

I wonder if the 64-bit angle is why software (not just X2) runs so reliably on my computer. 

I see as much reliability running 32 bit software as I do running 64 bit stuff.
 
Bridging between the two can cause issues though so I'd recommend if you are wanting to use 32 bit applications still then install Sonar 32 bit to service them.
 
I wonder if people who didn't have a REAL need for 64 bit, for rendering big libraries and stuff like that, just ran Sonar 32, 32 bit plugs and Rewire how many times they'd actually HAVE TO reach for the 64 bit version, and how many issues they'd not have by avoiding bridged plugs whilst still having access to their 'old favourites'?
 
Just food for thought as it's come up a couple of times today with people still wanting to run some of their 32 bit stuff but being insistent on doing it from their 64 bit DAW .

scook posted this link in a thread a couple of days ago. I have used this little program and it works great with my old Waves DX 32 bit plugins. On a few occasions the UI wouldn't draw the plugin completely, but I think that's a video driver issue for me. I could usually refresh the page and it was fine. But it allows you to use the old plugs in 64 bit apps such as X2. http://www.kvraudio.com/f...w.php?t=177538&start=0

Mod Bod


I was keeping some 32 bit hosts and plugins/instruments on my computer for betatesting purposes but I finally said enough of that.  If someone wants to live in the past, let 'em but I'm not going to waste my time with 32 bit plugins or hosts.

 
+1
 
I agree with you Dave.
Cheers!

Freddie H

Mod Bod


I was keeping some 32 bit hosts and plugins/instruments on my computer for betatesting purposes but I finally said enough of that.  If someone wants to live in the past, let 'em but I'm not going to waste my time with 32 bit plugins or hosts.

 
+1
 
I agree with you Dave.
Cheers!

Yup, all that software modelled emulation of hardware gear dating from the 50's onwards that is characteristic of the 'now', sounds much better in glorious 64 bit form.