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Windows 10 upgrade from 7

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jerrynazard

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostWed Oct 14, 2015 8:50 pm

1961TC4ME wrote:
IainStinson wrote:I updated my laptop from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 10 Professional (64 bit) allowing the update to be applied to the Windows 7 system rather than starting from a freshly formatted drive. The update went smoothly and all my applications, including HW 4.2.1 seem to continue to work correctly.



I'm not sure what advantages Windows 10 has brought to the laptop, but things are continuing to work;



Iain


I'm not trying to be the troll under the bridge so don't anybody take any of this the wrong way. I use portions of Iain's post here just as an example and have been reading through the other posts here on the subject of upgrading to Win 10. I keep seeing things like "it went smooth," "no problems," continues to work as beautifully as it did before" and so on, but I don't see anything like "wow, it sounds way better now!" So the million dollar question is: If it's working as well (but not necessarily better in terms of any kind of audible improvement), why bother upgrading? I can see at some point Win 7 no longer being supported but I'd guess before that happens there's going to be something beyond even Win 10. The only reason I could see to upgrade from Win 7 would be if a person were using Win 7 home addition as an example which only allows the use of up to 16GB of memory, and if by going to Win 10 your computer can now use more than 16 GB, then it's worth upgrading. If that's not the case, there's no real improvement other than it keeps working as good as it did before, then why bother? I sometimes feel some people just can't resist messing with things because they can. :mrgreen:

I guess I'm of the school of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!' :wink:

Marc


Marc,

I updated my Windows 8.1 to 10 earlier in the week. The improvement in audio performance is astounding. I'm running an Asus 32 gb machine that was on it's way to early retirement. The audio was horrible. Windows 10 seems to have corrected the problems. I cannot speak directly to your situation, but can assure you that the upgrade was most beneficial in my case.

-Jerry
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1961TC4ME

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostWed Oct 14, 2015 9:39 pm

Hi Jerry,

Well, we already know what your problem was, you were using Win 8.1! :lol: Just kidding!

If there is indeed a real and noticeable improvement in the audio then I'd be all for upgrading. I recall reading elsewhere here on the forum that Martin felt there could possibly be a 'slight' improvement, I would imagine much of that could depend on the system as a whole a person is using now. Now that the cat is out of the bag so to speak, perhaps others that have upgraded to Win 10 can report on what if any improvements in audio they've noticed? Since my computer is used for HW only, runs the latest version of HW and is fully supported on Win 7, if there is no audio improvement, and until all that changes or I'm forced to upgrade because of no Win 7 support for a new sound card as an example, there really is no monetary or other benefit for me to change. By the time all that happened I'd probably be due for a new computer anyways which would come with Win 10 or whatever current version is being offered.

Marc
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jerrynazard

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostWed Oct 14, 2015 10:49 pm

Marc,

I really hated Win 8. It had a mind all it's own, and in retrospect I really should have returned the computer immediately and done something differently. As I said, the audio was awful.

This evening we uploaded Windows 10 onto the Win 7 computer that I am typing this on, and also a Win 7 laptop. The laptop got totally fried. This machine is just fine. Evidently there is some risk of something going wrong.

If my Windows 8 system had been satisfactory, I may have been less prone to do the 10 upgrade. If you do decide to change, I hope that you will be as pleased as I am with the results.

-Jerry
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1961TC4ME

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostThu Oct 15, 2015 9:57 am

Hi Jerry,

Hmmm... sorry to hear about the lap top, perhaps there was another underlying problem? From what I gathered here most folks said Win 8 was kind of a joke in comparison to Win 7 and like you report, had problems. Seems Win 8 was more an attempt to lure folks over from Mac and make the PC's look a bit more like a Mac or perhaps more like the I-Phone layout in function? Honestly I never looked at it other than a few screen shots and decided right away I'll stick with what I have as it looked more to be a visual eye candy thing than anything else, beyond that and any real benefits it offered I don't know.

I've been very satisfied with Win 7 Pro, it's a great platform, and unless there's very good reason to update my now 3+ year old PC to Win 10, I'll lean on the side of staying with what I have. In any case glad to hear it worked out well for you, a large improvement in audio is a good thing!

Still interested though to hear from anyone else noticing a very substantial improvement in audio quality by going from 7 to 10.

Marc
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mdyde

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostThu Oct 15, 2015 10:48 am

Hello Marc,

Audio quality is determined almost entirely by the audio hardware, audio drivers, and Hauptwerk (and the sample set, of course).

Apart from different/better driver versions, the only difference an operating system should make is to performance, which is only likely to make a difference to the realism that Hauptwerk can deliver (e.g. polyphony) if you're already pushing your system to the limits, or if you previously had some signficant audio/driver/hardware performance problem, such as audio glitches.

Windows 8.1 was supposed to give very, very slightly better than performance with real-time audio applications (e.g. Hauptwerk) than Windows 7 did (although of course many people didn't like the Windows 8 user interface, since it was primarily designed for tablets/smartphones). From what I've read, Windows 10 is also supposed to have slight benefits in terms of real-time audio performance, all else being equal.

However, I doubt you would see a significant performance difference (unless your audio interface has better drivers for Windows 10, etc.).

Anyway, according to Microsoft's website, the upgrade to Windows 10 is available for free until 29th July 2016:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-10-upgrade
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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1961TC4ME

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostThu Oct 15, 2015 11:41 am

Thanks, Martin, for that clarification. I recall you commenting on this earlier and as I figured, much would depend on a person's current overall computer set up, how it's currently performing and so on. Being I'm running what is now considered the outdated 1010 LT, but at the same time coming nowhere near pushing my computer or having audio glitches of any sort with the current sample sets I use, from what I'm gathering it's probably not going to offer much if anything to go to Win 10. Is that a pretty accurate assumption?

Thanks as always for all you offer here! :D

Marc
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mdyde

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostFri Oct 16, 2015 3:21 am

Hello Marc,

Yes -- if it's all working and performing well for you on Windows 7, then there's probably no significant technical advantage (from Hauptwerk's point of view) to upgrading to Windows 10 (apart from the fact that Windows 7 will inevitably become obsolete and desupported at some point in the future, but I imagine that will be quite a few years away yet).
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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jkinkennon

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostFri Oct 16, 2015 8:37 am

I realize that experiences can vary, but for what it's worth Windows 10 was a first for me in that it required no tweaking to get clean, low-latency audio. Most of the inconvenience of Windows 8 and 8.1 is gone with the exception that I keep the Control Panel available on the task bar so I don't have to search for it or use the simplified Settings choice.
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1961TC4ME

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Re: Windows 10 upgrade from 7

PostFri Oct 16, 2015 8:19 pm

Interesting you should mention that, that's one of the things I immediately appreciated about Win 7, it was pretty much turn it on and go, no fiddling to get optimum sound other than disabling 'auto update' to eliminate an occasional momentary audio glitch. And thanks, Martin, your reassurance to stick with what I have for now seems the best bet to me as well, and that there's really no advantage for me in making an upgrade to 10.

Marc
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