compatibility old win/ Sonar Band Camp

[Kawika]

Hi,

I bought a computer 4 years ago and it has been working great without incident. It (windows) was configured to not update automatically.

I have not updated windows since. I’m vacillating between “If it aint broke don’t fix it” and “You don’t know what you are missing”.

My behavior:  I usually run about 40 trks per song. Midi is relatively minimal, a couple synths . I use live drums.

I still use the last Cakewalk Sonar (Plat) program. I use high end 3rd party plugs and synths.

I plan on downloading  Sonar-band camp and perhaps another DAW.  Can you guys weigh in on whether I should  update my win os?

Thanks!

 

Kawika

 

[Promidi]

5 hours ago, Kawika said:

Hi,

I plan on downloading  Sonar-band camp and perhaps another DAW.  Can you guys weigh in on whether I should  update my win os?

Thanks!

 

Kawika

 

I am assuming you mean you plan on downloading and installing Cakewalk by Bandlab.

In answer to your question as to whether you should update your Windows OS.

Yes, absolutely you should update your Windows OS.  Also you should enable Windows updates to stay up to date.  Same goes for Cakewalk by Bandlab.

You can only really say “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” if you are a developer of said software and have deep knowledge of the source code. 

[John Vere]

This topic has been beat to death and very, very few people seem to have reasons to not keep up to date. If any reason was valid, it would be a hardware issue, not a software one. For myself running an updated system is now 100% trouble free experience. I even invested in a new Interface for that reason alone. There's nothing wrong with my old ones, but the drivers will no longer be updated so eventually I expect trouble. 

The improvements to Cakewalk since SPlat are huge. I still have Splat installed and could never go back. It doesn't take up room so I just leave it sitting there abandoned like a car with flat tires.  

[Starship Krupa]

4 hours ago, John Vere said:

I just leave it sitting there abandoned like a car with flat tires

Interesting metaphor. I'd speculate that for those of you fortunate enough to have the Platinum suite, maybe it's like having an earlier loaded model of a car you keep around so that you can salvage parts from it. ?

I sure wouldn't mind having that Cakewalk LP Multiband EQ around to play with. It's too bad that I can't pick up some Studio One convert's used Platinum license to pull parts from!

[Kawika]

Ok, thanks guys. Although I don't miss the intruding updates, I suppose it makes sense to accept them. I bought the rig from a Jim Roseberry 4 years ago. It worked so well with updates disengaged, I didn't change it. thanks again.

[msmcleod]

4 hours ago, Kawika said:

Ok, thanks guys. Although I don't miss the intruding updates, I suppose it makes sense to accept them. I bought the rig from a Jim Roseberry 4 years ago. It worked so well with updates disengaged, I didn't change it. thanks again.

FWIW my DAW rig is now 8 years old, and still working fine with Windows 10 21H1.  It's a 3rd gen Intel i3770 (3.4Hgz, 16Gb RAM).

Granted, I don't got OTT with plugins (usually < 5 synths & < 50 effects), but considering I normally run at a buffer of 64 with my Focusrite Scarlett / RME DigiFace USB, I think it holds up pretty well.

If your machine was built by Jim, is likely to be much more powerful than mine.
 

[azslow3]

Just don't update right before critical work...

By luck, we was visiting a friend when her Windows has decided to do major update and ended with continuous reboot... I was able to do "black magic" in console so it was working again in two hours. But I guess many people will be in trouble in such situation (it seems like corruption in distribution files has happened some time before the update, so "restoring from backup" was not a good option, update was stuck exactly the same way).

Servers I administrate at work run without updates normally for 2+ years (except for exposed to Internet services). For home/hobby computers continuous updates are fine, for things which "should work" I avoid that. It is extremely rare when something is updated without side effects. Normally they are not important/not noticed, but I prefer to deal with bugs which I already know... I am Russian who does not like "Russian roulette"  (may be something to do with 20+ years living in Germany ) ?

[Kawika]

"If your machine was built by Jim, is likely to be much more powerful than mine." Yes it is and runs great. The reason I'm posing the question now is I am between projects. By the way I do fear problems as a result of being online. Although, with that computer, I am only online when I have to be.e.g., downloading a 3rd party new plug in.

[msmcleod]

10 hours ago, Kawika said:

"If your machine was built by Jim, is likely to be much more powerful than mine." Yes it is and runs great. The reason I'm posing the question now is I am between projects. By the way I do fear problems as a result of being online. Although, with that computer, I am only online when I have to be.e.g., downloading a 3rd party new plug in.

Best thing to do then, is to either:

1. Backup your system drive before you start; or
2. Buy a brand new SSD for your Windows 10 system drive and either remove & keep the old one safe, or do as I did and have a dual boot system. That way you can easily switch between the two if you have any issues. 

[Kawika]

Thanks Mark: Good advice.  And I will do one of the 2.  Yea, I guess, before I open up the flood gates, I was just wondering if anybody wished they'd had their old OS version. I have been out of the loop for several years , but working smoothly. In fact, I just released Down in Smoke, David Gale (10-songs).

Thanks guys ....looks like it's a (cautious) go.

 

 

[Kawika]

OMG. I thought I was in for a nightmare: I updated Win 10, 4 years ahead, and downloaded cakewalk. No problems, none! Thanks everyone for the sage advice! This Cakewalk is much better than Splat (or the HELP pop ups are educating me on features that Splat had). Anyway: fun city!

[Starship Krupa]

On 5/31/2021 at 4:41 AM, msmcleod said:

my DAW rig is now 8 years old, and still working fine with Windows 10 21H1.  It's a 3rd gen Intel i3770 (3.4Hgz, 16Gb RAM)

Oh man does it ever warm my heart that a member of the development team has a rig that is in the same class as mine. I have the same processor and RAM in my Dell Optiplex. A neighbor gave it to me about 6 years ago because it was being retired at his place of work in Silicon Valley. My guess is that some manager dumped it as soon as it was no longer the slickest Dell in the office. I figured out how to nail the CPU clock up to 3.67, probably the closest you can get to overclocking a Dell.