PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Like many, I'm still contemplating moving to W2K or XP, and V3. Everything else I use is compatible (Cubase, etc)

This site has seen some threads on specific problems/issues. Some are known bugs, others are solvable problems with settings, etc, as users get up the learning curve. Both of these are going to be found with any match of app with OS.

What I'd really like to see is a list of basic pros and cons to making the jump to V3 with W2K/XP. Like Many or most users on this site, I'm still on 2.04 with Win98 (98Lite/micro in my case, after persistent probs with SE and ME).

What can I expect with V3 and W2k/XP, in terms of:

speed/latency (aside from Mobo/CPU/RAM factors)
stability (once setup/settings probs are worked out)
compatibility (with other main DAW apps)
user-friendliness (need for frequent maintenence, re-installs, clumsy work-arounds, etc)

Experienecd upgraders, summarise your views!!!

BTW, in Tips and Tricks forum Subhuman has kicked off a very useful thread on tweaking W2K for audio, which is, of course, closely related to this thread. Anybody interested in this one should check out that one also

I say don't go to win2k or xp at lease for the pulsar. The drivers aren't yet optimized. If you have windows 98 installed windows 2k automatically installs a bootmenu (boot.ini) which allows you to have 2 operating systems (provided you don't pick upgrade current windows on installation). You can still install the Pulsar drivers in win2k so you can have the wav driver operating in the background (even without the software installed).

interesting.

Since I first launched this thread, other similar threads seem to be coming out on the whole favourably on XP, mainly based on impressions of superior stability with no meaningful loss of performance.

Braincell warns "drivers not yet optimised". Okay, but I think real user impressions are probably most relevant. So far, I've seen reports of minor bugs/incompatibilities, like a GX450 problem and others, but no serious complaints which might relate directly to drivers being not optimised.

Anyway, fact is, its always tradeoffs, isn't it.

In my case, I value system stability and robustness highly. Latency is also important, (I like 3ms or 7, but can live with 13) but I don't need a million ASIO channels at once with heavy effects. Others are no doubt different.

I wonder, anyone used XP with V3 long enough now to offer direct A/B comparisons to W9x options, in terms of:

1) achievable latency
2) sustainable PCI bandwidth
3) stability/compatibility with other DAW apps
4) reliable/fast CDR/W writes/reads