I'm sorry it's taken so long to get to this point but things became insanely busy for a while there. It's all good though as it's enabled me to build a number of Windows 7 systems with a range of audio interfaces – it's almost all good news. Over the last month loads of drivers have become available making life so much easier for everyone. The craziest thing is that on the whole, everything seems to be working. In terms of software there's very little reason why something wouldn't install and run, even older programs, and with Windows 7 compatibility functions where it can install something in Vista or Windows XP mode then as yet I can't find anything that won't – except Pro Tools of course (no surprises there).



 So let's have a look at what i've got working so far and what issues I encountered, if any.

Software

Roger Linn's Adrenalinn III is one of the most creative and interesting guitar effects boxes in the world today. It's able to produce the most mind boggling delay and beat syncing effects all designed by the man who created the Linn drum machine back in 1979 which essentially gave birth to the sampled drum machine. Many moons later he re-emerged with this weird guitar effects box which also has built in guitar amp models and all sorts of wonderful jiggery pokery. I really fancied one but i'm not into hardware effects any more and there seemed to be loads of stuff in the box that I didn't need - i just wanted his amazing beat synced rhythms. Well, into my inbox this morning popped an email from Roger announcing the release of the plug-in version called Adrenalinn Sync which contains all the wonderfully delay stuff and none of the extras - perfect!

All righty then, the computer is all together, fresh and clean, the BIOS is set to boot from the CD/DVD drive. Plonk the Windows 7 disk into the drive and let's get it going. Just to note that I'm installing Windows 7 Pro 64bit so if you're using a different version there might be some slight differences. I also got my camera out for some old school screen shots so please excuse the shakiness but hopefully they're helpful. To be honest though, it was really easy so just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.

1. Start the computer – put Windows 7 disk into the optical drive.




2. A message saying “Press a key to boot from CD” may come up in which case press a key!




3. The CD drive will spin up and you'll be told that “Windows is loading files...”.

Every year Intel manages to come up with new desktop technology. That means a new type of processor plus all the associated bits and pieces required to make it work – processor, socket size, chipset, motherboard, CPU fan, so when upgrading to the latest Intel technology you are essentially buying a new computer. With AMD they've gone down a much more wholesome route where each new processor can be dropped into your existing motherboard (usually), but still, Intel drive the technology and in forcing the creation of new motherboards it allows other technologies to advance along with it. So, we have the latest PCI Express slots, the latest LAN and audio architectures, but they are also quick to lose older technologies like floppy drive support and IDE drive support forcing you to buy new and move on.

Lot's of new stuff about, time to bring my rickety old system up to date with a bit of an overhaul. Thought you might like to join me in the process of building a brand spanking new system for music making with the latest Intel Core i5 processor and the all new Windows 7. I'm going to split it up into parts to make it more manageable and spread it over a few days:

In view of all the new Intel technology turning up and of course Windows 7 we thought it would be a good time to put some searching and penetrating questions to a builder of audio computers. Rain Recording has been running for 3 years in the UK (a few more in the States) offering a range of computers designed for music production. It's headed up by musician, author, technical whiz and all round PC music guru Robin Vincent.

PC-Music.com – So what's your computer music experience up to this point?

Never been that fond of sample CD's or the increasingly common sample CD released as a virtual instrument. They tend to be a bit too specific, can work well together but often it's hard to find sounds that could be used elsewhere. They can also be expensive, justified by the enormous library in which you can only find a handful of really usable sounds. So it wasn't with enormous enthusiasm that I responded to Cinematique Instruments offer to try some of their samples. Glancing at their list of instruments I was immediately roused from my apathy by the odd mix – it was a small selection but very unexpected. No less unexpected was the price – a handful of Euros for individual instruments, this is much more like it.

Things have been a little bit slow around here over the summer. As we head into the autumn we will be making a renewed effort to keep content fresh and interesting and to bring you our perspective on the world of computer music. We have a bunch of articles and reviews in the pipeline so make sure you follow us on Twitter to get all the latest updates. PC Music Guru is a little bit different to other news and reviews sites. If you're new to it then here's what we're about. We are into gear and making music - that's our starting point. We're not employed by a magazine or at the mercy of advertisers we're independent, opinionated users of the gear we're talking about and who also have regular day jobs. When we review something it gets used in real situations, not just a five minute overview.

October the 1st is a big date for Native Instruments as they launch a load of new versions of their range of software instruments and effects. Probably the most exciting thing is that their "Komplete" package which features all their main products bundled together has reached the dizzy heights of version 6 - but more importantly they are selling it for about half the original price. It used to retail for over a grand and now you can pick it up for 499€ or $599 - so that's under 500 quid to us Brits. It's astoundingly good value and you'd be an idiot not to pounce on this. I already own most of what's inside the bundle but the combined cost of upgrading Kontakt and Guitar Rig to the latest versions is more than it costs to upgrade to the whole package of Komplete 6 - mad!

I'm always on the look out for the perfect audio interface. Perfect for me, that is, for what I need and what I do. I've been using the M-Audio Omni I/O and Delta 44 card for about 10 years and although tempted from time to time I've yet to find anything with the right feature set that could replace it – until now. I don't need outputs as I mix everything on the computer, I don't want a rack unit as I don't have any other rack gear and they tend to be either in the way or inaccessible while at the computer, and I don't want something ugly or fiddly. Ta-da! In walks the Lexicon U82s – gleaming, understated, accessible, weighty, lovely knobs and a level of design that sets it apart from pretty much everything else out there. Oh yes, this could be the one.