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

Without a hitch i've installed:

1. Cubase 5 – now officially supported
2. Ableton Live 8
3. Arturia V Collection of synths
4. Spectrasonics Omnisphere, Trilian, Stylus RMX
5. Native Instruments Komplete 6
6. Automap Pro
7. Presonus Studio One
8. IK Amplitude, T-Racks 3, Miroslav
9. Sony Vegas Pro 8
10. Sony Sound Forge 8
    

I had a little bit of trouble with IK's Ampeg in that it crashed Cubase on the first attempt at authorisation – but now appears to be fine. What I have found is that my foray into 64bit computing is bringing up a few issues with Cubase that I hadn't anticipated.

Cubase 5 comes in two versions, 32bit and 64bit, and both can install and run on Windows 7 64bit. Cubase 32bit with 32bit plug-ins runs fine, Cubase 64bit with 64bit plug-ins runs fine – the problem is that a lot of plug-ins don't have a 64bit version. Steinberg gets around this by using a piece of technology called a “Bit Bridge” the idea being that it bridges the disparity between a 32bit and 64bit environment – ummm.... meaning that you can run 32bit plugs in 64bit Cubase – hooray! Unfortunately Steinberg's VSTBitBridge is far from perfect. You tend to get unexpected crashes when messing about with third party 32bit plug-ins – moving them around too quickly, copying them to other insert slots – it just doesn't like it. This leaves you in a bit of a quandary. You can run regular 32bit Cubase and have everything working perfectly, but you have a 64bit OS and so have loads of RAM that's not being used by 32bit Cubase. Or you can run 64bit Cubase and either ignore your 32bit plug-ins or hope that they'll work ok and regularly save your work. The Spectrasonics synths are 64bit which is great because there are some massive instruments in there and i've been looking forward to using them without the memory limits I encountered on my last system. However, T-Racks and Miroslav are not but I want to run everything! The answer might lay in a third party bit bridge called the Jbridge which does the same job as Steinberg's VSTBitBridge but without the instability. I'll try that out and report back at another time as this is a 64bit issue not a specific Windows 7 one.

Hardware

Many bits of hardware without specific or supported Windows 7 drivers seem to be working brilliantly, to the point where you may as well give them a go. The only things that won't install are any hardware that contains OS tripwires in the installer – by which I mean if the installer checks the OS version and comes up saying “I'm sorry this version of Windows in not supported” then you are screwed. Although you could try finding the driver files on your old system and copying them across – doesn't sound like that's going to be very successful though :)

USB is very easy, I've had my Korg Kontrol 49 installed without any bother, plus my Novation Nocturn and Launchpad complete with Automap Pro. My PCI based Delta card from M-Audio now has official drivers but the beta ones were also really good. Firewire seems a bit trickier – it always is! Early on it was discovered that Vista drivers for many firewire audio interfaces would work with Windows 7 provided that you did a bit of giggery pokery with the firewire port driver. What you had to do was open the Device Manager and find your Firewire card – right-click it and select “update driver”, then “Browse...” and then “Let me pick....” and select the “1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)” driver. Suddenly your Focusrite, Presonus or Mackie firewire box would start working – and weirdly it would actually perform better than running on Vista or XP – result!



The firewire driver trick didn't work with the Steinberg MR816 hardware, it worked on the regular driver and now has proper Windows 7 drivers so that's sorted. The MR816 suffered from a large latency hit when running on Vista 64, they called it a “safety buffer” or something which basically made software synths unplayable – this seems to be sorted out with Windows 7.

One thing that didn't work was the Edirol FA66 – the problem was in the installer where it installs some drivers and then changes them and renames them – this didn't work in Windows 7 and no amount of fiddling would persuade it otherwise. There's always some casualties I guess.

Here's a list of audio interfaces that i have personally installed and got working on Windows 7 so far:

1. M-Audio Delta 44
2. Presonus FireStudio
3. Presonus FireStudio Mobile
4. Focusrite Liquid 56
5. Focusrite Saffire Pro 40
6. Steinberg MR816 CSX
7. Steinberg CC121
8. Novation Nio 2/4
9. Novation Launch Pad & Nocturn
   
10. Mackie Onyx
11. MOTU MIDI Express
12. MOTU MicroLite
13. Universal Audio UAD-1
14. RME Fireface 800
    

One thing I haven't tried yet is my Powercore Firewire from TC Electronic - mainly because i'm too scared. Bad Powercore installs have wrecked systems in the past and currently they are only on private beta drivers. I love my Powercore but it's currently a bit risky, but maybe, after some Christmas boozing, I might give it a go.

I maintain a list of Windows 7 compatible hardware on the Rain Recording website. I do my best to keep it updated and i'm surprised to see how many ticks there are on there now, especially when compared to how Vista was a year ago. http://rainrecording.co.uk/windows-watch/

Windows 7 Reflections

I'm a complete believer in Windows 7. I was an early adopter of Vista and thought it brought a lot of good things to the table once it had been calmed down a bit, but it did suffer in terms of performance and, more than anything, perception. Windows 7 seems to have addressed all the troubles that dogged Vista and brings a more professional feel to the desktop. It even has some fabulous features that make computing easier. There's more for me to discover, I haven't yet got to grips with Libraries or with media sharing between Win7 boxes but in the simple day to day of using a computer I'm really enjoying it.

In terms of music production it's working much better than my Vista system did and so the experience has been all positive. The 64bit/32bit issues require a bit more thought and i'll put together some of my findings on it in another article. I don't see any compelling reasons not to move to Windows 7 with your next PC. Although there are few reasons to run out and upgrade your current system, if you are looking to buy a new system then Windows 7 should be on it.

Computer Hardware Reflections

The Intel Core i5 and P55 motherboard combination is probably the most stable and powerful that i've seen in a long time. With most systems there's often something odd or weird that crops up from time to time but this system has been flawless. I've built quite a few now with the DP55WG board, the i5 750 or i7 860 CPU, 4GB of RAM and Windows 7 and they are a system builders dream. It's good value, powerful and reliable and with Windows 7 it's all prepared to go with you into the next few years.

Windows 7 Tweaks

I'm going to do a bit more research on this one but as far as I can tell so far I've had the best results from turning off any background notifications via “Customise” by the clock and reducing the Aero interface down to “Aero Basic”. I'll do a new article about it once i've looked into it a bit deeper.

So yeah, building a new Intel based PC with Windows 7 is an absolute dream. Or if you'd prefer to get someone to do it for you with an emphasis on audio and music production then give me a shout at http://www.rainrecording.co.uk