Mackie Control here and Windows 8 Pro 64 bit.  I use MIDI to connect the MC. I have had no problems what so ever with Windows 8. 

Windows 8 is fabulous! Sonar X2 and Windows 8 were made for one another.

One thing though is be sure to get Windows 8 drivers for all your hardware.

 

For those who miss the Start Menu, you can download one from IOBITS that works just about the same as the original. 

Personally, I just pin all of the applications I use a lot to the Taskbar, so they are never more than a click away (kind of like a Mac...)

Peace,

Tunes

I love win 8, and my impression is that X2 runs a bit better in it.
 
I don't like the metro UI, so I downloaded the free Classic Shell, which allows you to get back the Win 7 start menu, and disable the metro UI.

Win8 is working well for me with Sonar.  I do wish MS would put the Start Menu back and allow booting directly to the Desktop, but both are such minor things I definitely don't want to add a hack to the OS for them.  I rarely used the Start Menu and getting to the desktop is literally the blink of an eye so while on principle I'd like them back I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Dan

firefly9000


Please chime in if you've been using Win8. I think this would be useful for all users that are thinking about the upgrade. Please try to be as impartial as possible - NO fanboys, or anti-MS people. Separate in 2 please:

1. How do you find the experience of Win8 by itself. Do you have to do a lot of customizing to get to something you can live with? etc...

2. How do you like it with Sonar? Any problems? Any hacks that need to be done? etc..

Feel free to add anything else that you feel might be interesting.

Thanks.

I can only speak for myself. Also, I am not a Sonar power user. Just a hobbyist. I had Windows 7 x64 and did an upgrade to Win 8, keeping all my apps and data.


1) I like Windows 8. It "feels" faster but the benchmarks (outside of Cakes Sonar benchmark) say it is the same speed as Win 7. The only customization I did was to place the tiles of the my most frequently used apps on the modern UI (Chrome, Thunderbird, Sonar X2, etc...). I also added a few keyboard shortcuts (I.E. ctrl-alt-S opens Sonar, ctrl-alt-C opens Chrome)



2) All my apps and drivers, including Sonar X2 and m-audio Profire 610, ram out of the box. I have not run into any issues yet.


The new UI takes some getting used to. I jump to the desktop a fair amount. I am not going to get a Start Menu replacement app. I am getting used to and liking not having it. I can get to my less frequently used apps without the Start Menu quicker in Win 8.

My experience on Win8 (x86) is good, and I didn't had any trouble (except I had to buy a new video card, since the old one was really old).

I didn't test it very much, but I will use it intensely soon.

With audio hardware no problems (Venice F16 - m-audio midisport 2x2 - frontier tranzport).

Giorgio

Lots of stuff here:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012885/20-must-know-windows-8-tips-and-tricks.html

Including booting directly to the desktop, without need to enter password.

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I have placed shortcuts on the desktop for the most used applications. Including Control panel.

I have placed the task bar on the left, and have it auto-hide.

And I have a link to the all-users start menu, that I have arranged with folders so I do not have to waste my life scrolling the start screen to find one shortcut in the sea of dozens, without structure.

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w8-64 X2 crashes the computer when closed.  8.5 and X1 do not. Figger it is the audio drivers. But, 'tis strange mostly happens at exit. 

I have had X2 crash in w7-64 after opening closing lots of projects. But it did not freeze the computer.

The lack of printing to shared network printers is still an annoyance: very vista.

Did get my wife's camera and skype working last night. Logitech updated the driver.

On one forum a dude wrote the only way he could get the printers to work was to create a Homegroup.  I don't need another door and key.

One of the first things to do is right-click on each active tile on the Start-Wall and disable updating.

I have lost one hour due to an anomaly that was x2 or win8. I have lost three to four hours due to user errors around auto zoom.a I'm happy on win8.

I am very pleased with the £25 upgrades. On my PC workstation I get a lot of features I wanted from '7 Ultimate' in Win 8 Pro for a fraction of the cost, plus I am finding it generally a bit more stable, leaner and cleaner.

My wife (who isn't very 'technical') is using purely the Metro interface to launch things like her browser, skype, photo, music and mail apps. For her, Metro is a lot better and simpler to use.

So on their own, Desktop and Metro each have their own benefits and strengths. I feel however, that they just haven;t been integrated very well together (if at all). 

So for my workstation I downloaded Start8 from Stardock for < $5 which gives me some cool menu options so I can stay inside my desktop environment...and I haven't missed Metro yet.

On my laptop, I use a combination of both but still feel I have some more tweaking to get it right for me.