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XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:59 am
by kr236rk
Hi,

Have Dell Precision 490 (refurbished) which came with Windows 10 pre-installed. But after 2 years it has gone haywire. The native platform for the 490 was XP, so what Mixcraft versions were cool with XP Pro please? I am going to have to downgrade from 10 to XP Pro, there is no option.

Thanks.

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:29 pm
by kr236rk
Tricked the software into accepting Wave RT by selecting that driver after unplugging the usb interface, then saving the setting/project. When I replugged the interface I was able to record and playback again by way of Wave RT. Hopefully this has sorted problem (silent prayer).

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 7:51 pm
by Mark Bliss
I am not certain, but as I recall, WaveRT was introduced and supported starting with Windows Vista, so it surprises me you can make it work at all in XP. I would suspect its likely to be problematic.

There's also the fact that XP is no longer supported or updated by Microsoft, no security patches, no bug fixes, nothing. As I recall it was already "dated" back when I was learning MX5 or so.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... of-support

And I suspect that audio driver support is currently a similar situation. In fact it was never "good" from what I understand.

Then there's many other potential issues. If it was originally an XP machine......Does your motherboard support the 64 bit XP Pro version? Modern fast RAM? Etc. This could be a long list of potential issues. And if I am correct- I suspect running Win10 on it may expose some issues that are not the fault of Win10 as well.

As I understand it, starting with Windows 7 there were substantial audio related improvements. This combined with all of the above is why I suspect it would be rare to find anyone currently attempting this. Unless the thing was a pretty rare beast back in its day..... You may find much frustration ahead.

Maybe one of the resident computer gurus has more on this. I could be wrong...... I know just enough computer stuff to be "dangerous"
I do know how to break one REAL good. 8)

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 8:33 pm
by JonInc
Win 10 can be a high-wire act in the world of DAW recording, especially if you are using an audio interface that's no longer supported by the manufacturer (Your sig says M-Audio Fast Track, so I'm assuming that's what you're using).

Some M-Audio users are able to get their units working on Win10, but (from what I've seen on various forums) it brings with it a lot of unpredictable problems. If I were an M-Audio interface user, I'd go with Windows 8.1 (In fact, I do use it on two different systems).

Forget XP and Windows 7. Yes, I know a lot of people love Win 7, but unless you already own a copy, it doesn't make sense to go out and buy Win 7 when Win 8.1 is essentially a new and improved Win 7. Buy Win 8.1 instead.

You can pick up legit OEM licenses of Win 8.1 (and Win 10 for that matter ) on Ebay for starting around $10 each. The seller emails you the product key and you're good to go! (The full O.S. installer is freely available as a download from Microsoft). Also, I recommend you go with the pro version. This has a few more customization features that come in handy, especially when tweaking for audio recording.

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:01 am
by kr236rk
JonInc wrote:Win 10 can be a high-wire act in the world of DAW recording...

Forget XP and Windows 7. Yes, I know a lot of people love Win 7, but unless you already own a copy, it doesn't make sense to go out and buy Win 7 when Win 8.1 is essentially a new and improved Win 7. Buy Win 8.1 instead
Thanks Jon,

My main problem is that the Dell 490 Precision 'steam engine' is a pre- 7,8,10 beast, so I think some of the trouble I'm experiencing is down to that. It arrived refurbished with 10 already on board. But the latest Windows it officially ran was XP Pro, so that operating system is the safest bet. I also notice to my amazement that MC8 is compatible with XP.

My signature is out of date, I now run M-Audio M-Track II, I have the latest drivers installed.

Have reinstalled 10 on the Precision, after backing up. If MC7 fails on that as well then I need to downgrade to a Precision-compatible platform, hopefully XP Pro. I know it's no longer supported but my options are limited, I want to squeeze as much use from the Precision as I can, it served me faultlessly for 2 years but has developed a considerable instability over the past few weeks. I run anti-virus plus anti-malware btw.

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:54 am
by kr236rk
The reinstall of Windows 10 and indeed MC7 has gone well, I just opened the last project I was working on - from the back-up hard drive - into MC7 on the Precision, and it's fine.

Fingers crossed.

XP on hold - for now.

Even resurrected my previous old DAW as belt & braces, got it up and running. It had been under a table for two years minus hard drive :-o

:lol:

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 1:03 pm
by Acoustica Eric
All versions will run on xp

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:57 am
by kr236rk
Thanks Eric,

That's good news.

Currently I've done a Windows 10 re-installation on my Dell Precision 490. I re-downloaded MC7 and the o/s has recognised and enabled M-Audio M-Track II. Am now using Wave RT on all versions of Mixcraft.

This is the problem:-

When the pc boots there is no sound. No wav or mp3 will play and the playline on MC7 projects is frozen, even though the software opens.

The Win10 sound troubleshooter, when opened, takes you through a loop of trouble-shooting options then eventually asks you to restart. You restart and there is sound, sound files play and MC7 works perfectly.

If you skip the trouble-shooting loop you get a pop-up telling you 'Windows Generic Driver Missing' and giving you no more information. But on rebooting, the driver is obviously there again, because you have sound.

So I have my DAW back but I have to restart it every time before I use Mixcraft. That's not too much of a pain, plus there is the option to downgrade to XP Pro.

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:19 am
by Acoustica Greg
Hi,

Windows 10 should be fine.

What happens if you download and install the latest M-Audio M-Track II driver and try it in ASIO mode? Make sure that the M-Track is connected and recognized by Windows before you start up Mixcraft.

Greg

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 1:54 pm
by kr236rk
Acoustica Greg wrote:Hi,

Windows 10 should be fine.

What happens if you download and install the latest M-Audio M-Track II driver and try it in ASIO mode? Make sure that the M-Track is connected and recognized by Windows before you start up Mixcraft.
Thanks, that seemed to do it! :)

Have downloaded that driver previously so it would only let me 'repair', but it's done the trick, I now reboot and the Windows sound is there, so I know everything's working okay.

But I'll believe it when I boot up tomorrow, I had everything great last night and was recording, but this morning I was going round in a loop again with the Windows trouble-shooter.

Fingers crossed!

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:10 am
by kr236rk
Update:

As I wondered if it would, the boot has gone back to silent. So you start the Windows audio trouble-shooter loop which takes you to restart. After the re-boot you have sound.

Checked MC7 which still has ASIO set as driver, so this is a Windows 10 glitch.

However, even though I have to go through the troubleshooting loop, I can use the DAW as normal after the reboot. It was a refurbished pc so I'm not that unhappy with it, as long as I can get Mixcraft to work all is cool.

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:43 am
by Acoustica Greg
kr236rk wrote:Update:

As I wondered if it would, the boot has gone back to silent. So you start the Windows audio trouble-shooter loop which takes you to restart. After the re-boot you have sound.

Checked MC7 which still has ASIO set as driver, so this is a Windows 10 glitch.

However, even though I have to go through the troubleshooting loop, I can use the DAW as normal after the reboot. It was a refurbished pc so I'm not that unhappy with it, as long as I can get Mixcraft to work all is cool.
Hi,

If you're using a USB hub, try bypassing that and plugging directly into your computer instead. You can also try just using a different USB port.

If those things don't help, the next time you get the silent treatment, quit Mixcraft and send us the mixcraft-log.txt file.

To find the mixcraft-log file, highlight the following line and press Ctrl+C to copy it:

Code: Select all

%appdata%\Acoustica\Mixcraft\
Press the Windows Key+R to pop up the Run box in Windows. Click in the Run box and press Ctrl+V to paste in the line from above. Finally, click OK to go to the location of the mixcraft-log.txt file. Submit an Acoustica Support Request and attach the log file along with a brief description of the problem.

Greg

Re: XP Pro Mixcraft programs?

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 12:15 pm
by kr236rk
Thanks Greg,

The USB interface plugs straight into the back of the pc. Will update when I next boot up.

Although recording is okay after the restart procedure, one or two weird things are cropping up. I got my first beat-marker red arrow and I am not in beat mode, plus a volume automation point on one of my tracks is stuck to 100%, can't move it up or down, or delete it. Got round it by using the drop-down volume control underneath, instead.

Looks like a one-off glitch.