Do I dare to go Windows?

[fcerha]

I am a long time DP user, though I haven't upgraded for quite a while.
This summer I will finally have the time to work with my music again.
I'll be away from my work station for three months and need to
buy some laptop. I have not used windows much for the last ten years
but I am considering to give it a try.
How happy are you people with DP on Windows? How is it compared to DP/OSX?
Any recommendations for a setup?

Thanks!/Fredrik

[Robert Randolph]

I suggest trying the demo in windows first if you can. The fonts are unreadable for me, specifically the fonts are blurry and too small., and the alignment of the text is off.

Motu has acknowledged the issue, and there are other users with the same problem.

[bayswater]

I tried the demo on a Core 2 Duo PC Windows 7, similar power etc to a 10 year old Mac Mini. It was pretty much the same experience as running on the Mini. Given the limits of that hardware, it was fine. I didn't have the font problem -- used an old 1280x1028 monitor, and that might be why.

If you browse the PC forum here, you might get the impression the most frequent problem is related to getting a stable audio interface set up. If I was sure I could deal with that, using a PC instead of a Mac would be fine with me.

But on the other hand, I saw no advantage to using a PC. I did spend a lot of time looking at various PC alternatives, and once I was happy that the options were comparable to a Mac in power and quality, the price difference was immaterial.

It's good that the alternative is there if Apple continues its march to an all consumer all the time strategy.

[HCMarkus]

It's good that the alternative is there if Apple continues its march to an all consumer all the time strategy.

Amen Brother Bays.

[jsg]

I am a long time DP user, though I haven't upgraded for quite a while.
This summer I will finally have the time to work with my music again.
I'll be away from my work station for three months and need to
buy some laptop. I have not used windows much for the last ten years
but I am considering to give it a try.
How happy are you people with DP on Windows? How is it compared to DP/OSX?
Any recommendations for a setup?

Thanks!/Fredrik

I am very happy with DP8.07 for Windows. I'm running it with 16GB of RAM,a fast i7 chip and Windows 7-64 bit sp1. DP is also 64-bit. MIDI, audio, plugins--all working great. Every 64-bit VST plugin I have on my computer works well, even a 32-bit synth with a VST wrapper (jbridge) works well. The program is gorgeous just to look at, it projects depth, precision and flexibility. I was a Sonar user for 22 years and very recently switched for the first time to another DAW.

DP is superior to Sonar in almost every way, more MIDI functions, better and more features in audio editing. Its scoring features are the very best and its color options are stupendous. And of course DP's notation is far better as well.

One person commented about how small the fonts are, and yeah, they are small, but I'm 64 years old and can read them easily, so I don't find them too small.

Jerry
http://www.jerrygerber.com

[kelldammit]

Test it if you can, particularly if you use 3rd party plugs and instruments heavily.
Bear in mind that VST is a pretty "loose" format, so the odd issue here or there isn't unusual, even among hosts that have supported it for a long time. For me, some plugs have issues, while others work just fine. The stock stuff works well, and overall, DP behaves as expected.
In general, there's always room for improvement, but I'm over the moon to be running DP on a windows machine!
(NOTE: i'm not having issues with the fonts, etc...i find the gui to be quite lovely)

[monkey man]

It's good that the alternative is there if Apple continues its march to an all consumer all the time strategy.

Amen Brother Bays.

My life ends when I can no longer buy a steekin', throbbing Mac tower off the shelf and stuff it full of cards, RAM and drives.

Just sayin'.

I laugh, but this is serious stuff for me. My mods will hopefully allow me to keep this Mac until such time as Apple offers something along the lines I've mentioned to die-hards such as myself.

I can't even contemplate a PC option. Guess I've been vicariously burned by others' experiences of the past 25 years or so.

[billf]

My life ends when I can no longer buy a steekin', throbbing Mac tower off the shelf and stuff it full of cards, RAM and drives.

Just sayin'.

I laugh, but this is serious stuff for me. My mods will hopefully allow me to keep this Mac until such time as Apple offers something along the lines I've mentioned to die-hards such as myself.

I can't even contemplate a PC option. Guess I've been vicariously burned by others' experiences of the past 25 years or so.

I hope you're right, for even things in the Windows world are changing in not so appealing ways (subscription for future versions of Windows OS for example), so even that may not be an alternative in a few years.

[bayswater]

My life ends when I can no longer buy a steekin', throbbing Mac tower off the shelf and stuff it full of cards, RAM and drives.

Maybe we'll see the day when people look for vintage Mac Pros the way they look for mixing desks and 24 track tape machines. UAD and Slate will sell a Mac Pro emulation plugin, complete with a latency knob, a drop out switch, and the ability to quit without saving your work.

[monkey man]

Drool...

Maybe I should buy a spare CPU set. Hmm...

[frankymax]

Here's my 2 cents.... I have been a DP user since it was just Performer in 1985 on a Mac Plus. I continued with it through DP7.2.4 and when MOTU announced it was doing a Windows version I jumped ship as I've been very unhappy with Apple's focus on phones, pads, TVs et al and want a COMPUTER that will handle my large projects - I have been a very happy camper with my PC on Windows 7 with 64 bit DP8 (and now DP9) and have had no major troubles with it- sheesh, I even forget I'm on a PC from time to time! I have done some large orchestral projects with over 24 instances of Kontakt, plus Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Battery, Korg Wavestation VI, and over 40 audio tracks plus lots of plug-ins (see my signature). It's running great! I'm not gonna say I never have a crash; when you run a project with that much stuff in it and you start moving too fast, sometimes things can crash but really, I've been really enjoying my new setup. I'm very intrigued with jumping to Windows 10 as I hear it may have better MIDI and audio functions but I'll definitely wait until MOTU tells me it's a-ok to run DP on it. I give DP and Windows a thumbs up!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

This gets my vote! Frank knows his stuff. Also, the Windows machines can do music handwriting recognition, so there's a Surface or Windows touchscreen in my future as well.

Thanks, Franky.

Here's my 2 cents.... I have been a DP user since it was just Performer in 1985 on a Mac Plus. I continued with it through DP7.2.4 and when MOTU announced it was doing a Windows version I jumped ship as I've been very unhappy with Apple's focus on phones, pads, TVs et al and want a COMPUTER that will handle my large projects - I have been a very happy camper with my PC on Windows 7 with 64 bit DP8 (and now DP9) and have had no major troubles with it- sheesh, I even forget I'm on a PC from time to time! I have done some large orchestral projects with over 24 instances of Kontakt, plus Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Battery, Korg Wavestation VI, and over 40 audio tracks plus lots of plug-ins (see my signature). It's running great! I'm not gonna say I never have a crash; when you run a project with that much stuff in it and you start moving too fast, sometimes things can crash but really, I've been really enjoying my new setup. I'm very intrigued with jumping to Windows 10 as I hear it may have better MIDI and audio functions but I'll definitely wait until MOTU tells me it's a-ok to run DP on it. I give DP and Windows a thumbs up!

[frankymax]

Yeah MLC that handwriting software looks great for the Surface Pro 3! What is it called, StaffPad!? The demo looked amazing!!