Are Windows XP, Vista or MacOS 10.5 still important to you?

  • OH NO!
    I'm sticking to Vista and XP because my soundcard has reached end of life... Please Access don't send me shopping for a new one, I'm on a budget here... I hope I'm not a minority... if there's anyone in my situation please make yourself heard!

    Hi, i have an extra audigy 4 i dont use and would be willing to send you this card. I'm not sure if it surpasses your old one, but if it does and you think you could use it, its all yours. :D
    http://support.creative.com/Pr…D=14103&prodName=Audigy+4

  • I'm on Mac OS 10.6, with no reason to upgrade to Lion or beyond.


    I completely understand the reasoning behind the need to drop older OS support. I think that's okay so long as you leave the last release versions of VC etc. that do work reliably on the older OS systems available for download from the Access site.

  • Moved to windows 7 as soon as it hit the msdnaa store and been a pioneer of the x64 platform. The rest is of no use to me at least.
    I would want to get some help installing the latest OS5 beta though. Last time i had to call support to help me fix my TI (first gen TI).

    http://www.myspace.com/monoproductionstm


    DAW: Cubase 5
    OS: Windows 7


    MB: Asus Rampage Extreme
    RAM: 4x 2GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
    CPU: Intel core 2 quad @ 3.0 GHz
    GPU: ATI EAH 4890 1GB
    Sound: t.c. eletronic Konnekt 8
    Monitoring: 2x KRK rp6 g2 + 1x KRK rp10s
    DSP: UAD, t.c. eletronic Powercore 6000 including virus powercore
    USB: Virus Ti Polar
    FW: Korg m3

  • Ive been using Windows 7 64-bit for quite a while now. I'd echo the suggestion to keep the last stable TIOS versions for each of the old OSs available for download. There's no reason why users of old OSs need stop playing their Viruses if Access does end support.

    Virus TI2 Polar | TIOS 4.5.3.00 | Cubase Pro 9.5 | Windows 10 Professional

  • No. These OS'es are dead to me.


    As spanda said, there's excellent versions that work with these OS'es, and there's no reason why current XP/Vista/OS 10.5 users can't continue to enjoy their Virus TI with the current OS as the final release.


    Times gotta move on at some point for the sake of productivity.


    Cheers

  • I plan to upgrade to Win 8 or 9,. my XP SP3 machine is Perfect and all NI Win 7 products work perfectly,. as well as other Win 7 programs,.. I can not upgrade yet as I have 3 albums in the works ...


    So to Marc and others: Any XP SP3 users having any luck, any OS related problems etc :?::?: I want to use the new Virus OS 502.1 I am on the older XP version running Sonar X1 with No problems :)


    Please give us your XP stories and details with this new Virus OS,.. Thanks !!! :thumbup:

  • So to Marc and others: Any XP SP3 users having any luck, any OS related problems etc I want to use the new Virus OS 502.1 I am on the older XP version running Sonar X1 with No problems


    to my knowledge, it still works. have have done nothing to prevent it from working. we will not test against XP anymore and in case there will be a condition in the future which would create an incompatibility, we will decide then what to do. for now it is only a matter of focusing on up-to-date operating systems.
    best, marc

  • we will decide then what to do.


    Thanks for that info Marc :) What would or could Access do ? Many are still on XP,. though yes they should move on,.. But some of us can not for a long time as we are in the midst of many projects that could take a few more years to complete & of course us XP users will probably want to go 64 bit,. thus many of our music programs that we are using now for our music projects will not work,.. We need more time,. please ask Access to keep this in mind,. and not to complain but we did spend a lot of money on hardware where as software VST companies it's a bit more understandable as they cost so much less,. and different versions can be on different OS's,.. Most of us can not afford two TI's to use two different TI OS's,.. Also I notice the installer for OS5 lets you choose either VST2 or 3 or both,.. If i selected to install both does that result in two .dll's for each :?: The reason I ask is some of software such as Kore 2 do not like VST 3,.. Thanks for your help Marc and Happy New Year !!! :thumbup:

  • we have two PC test stations. one, which we used for testing against XP died last year and the replacement cannot run XP anymore. the other wasn't XP compatible when we obtained it. now we're using an old imac in order to boot into XP. our decision to part with XP wasn't an easy one: we don't like to be restricted in what we use use and we don't like to restrict our users either. by removing XP (official) XP compatibility we don't gain in user base and the decision is certainly not something many will cheer for. at the same time, it enables us to focus the future and we have more time to test against the latest and greatest (e.g. windows 8 ).


    So what would or could Access do ?


    we will do nothing to prevent XP from working unless there will be something in the future which forces us to. if it comes to the point where XP support costs extra time, we will probably decide against it. we will not test against XP anymore.


    for those who rely on tools which are only available for XP: try to build a virtual machine running XP. this will not work for a sequencer interfacing with the outside world (e.g the virus ti) but i can work for many other things including a sample editor running old plug-ins. it is not ideal but better then nothing.


    here are some details on the windows life cycles:


    http://windows.microsoft.com/e…indows/products/lifecycle


    best, marc

  • we will do nothing to prevent XP from working unless there will be something in the future which forces us to. if it comes to the point where XP support costs extra time, we will probably decide against it. we will not test against XP anymore.


    But Marc,. The Virus is not a software VST,. it is Very expensive hardware,. surely Access can afford a few used machines that run XP,. that is not expensive,.. Also newer machines will run XP as long as the right drivers are used,. there is also dual boot like what you do with your Mac (any Mac will run XP) ...


    Windows 8 is not a bad OS but I sure hate that Metro and no more start menu :thumbdown:


    I could see if you were a software only company not wanting to bother with cost and an older OS as well as piracy,.. But you are a hardware company that makes beautiful and very expensive hardware,. if there is a company in this field that should make an exception for XP it is Access,. I know Korg does (Kronos e.g.) Now I do understand that if something changes with MSI installers, runtime libraries, & API's regarding the newer OS's how that would effect the ability to make future software that would work/install on XP,.. Of course Access could make an alternate VC for XP and Vista & 7 once they have support dropped I only suggest this as you are a hardware company,. good points I already stressed,. please pass these on to the Access Team :)


    Okay so I will drop this issue for now,.. BTW I will probably wait till Windows 9 :D Oh yes though I know I mentioned this,. all software made for Win 7 & 8 runs perfectly on XP unless touch features are used,. so Don't use them,. that is what iPads's are for 8)


    I still need to know if choosing to install VST 2 and VST 3 will result in two seperate .dll VST files so I can choose to use in my hosts either VST 2 or VST 3 in them :?::?:


    Will the New OS5 have less polyphony for sounds I made with the previous OS4 or only with the use of new OS5 features :?::?: These are Very important questions Marc that I and others need answers to,.. Many Thanks for all of your help :!::!::thumbup:

  • To be fair to Access, there's a point where any software developer has to assess whether it's worthwhile to (officially) support a platform.
    They made this thread months ago to assess how many still use these platforms, and it doesn't seem like most do.
    Also, Microsoft itself must be near the point of discontinuing support for XP if they haven't already - it's very clear that Windows 8 is a major release for them, probably more important than any since XP.


    You suggest that since Access is a hardware company, they should be more receptive to supporting older platforms than if they were a software company. That actually seems backwards to me, since if their focus is on hardware, they probably have limited software development resources. Personally, I see them as a software company, for what it's worth; just their software happens to run on dedicated hardware. To that end, my view of the company actually makes me more receptive to your argument than if I saw them as a hardware company. Nonetheless, I highly suspect their resources are primarily geared towards programming embedded systems (dsp processors and hardware) rather than at an operating system or vst level.


    Also, I'm not trying to pick a fight and I'm not suggesting that Access should or should not give up support on these OSes - I honestly don't care either way - but isn't it a bit illogical to suggest that you need to keep using an old computer OS because that's what you've been doing your project(s) on for so long, but then complain that you can't use the new Virus OS; wouldn't continuing to use the old Virus OS that you've been using on your projects all along continue to work fine?


    One thing I do agree with though, if there reaches a point where the software will no longer work on e.g. XP, and they decide not to keep it compatible, they should branch it off and ensure the last working version remains available.

  • All points I understand,. yet I understand mine & others too,.. (but I will say again that Access regardless of it being software inside makes very expensive hardware to host it) Also many DAW users are still on XP,.. But I digress,. what is, is and what shall be will be :) Once I am finished up with my albums that is when I will upgrade,.. Probably by Windows 9 or 10 :) What sucks tho is that I will not give up my current system for when I have to go back to masters etc,. and each time I do I will have to push back the Virus OS internally to that system then back to the new one on the new DAW,. I just hope I don't burn out the flash ROM,. my Snow is all over most of my tracks :love:


    Do you by any chance have answers to my last questions about polyphony and VST 2 and 3 :?:


    Afterthought,. The more I have looked around the net people are using OS5 on XP just fine,.. Also what I find very weird are many people on Win 7 (even 32 bit) have more problems with VST software made for it then those who use it on XP,.. I use a lot of Win 7 only VST such as all of NI on XP with incredibly good luck,.. Of course that won't last forever,. but I will milk XP for as long as I can,. till my albums at the very least are finished :)

  • It doesn't really surprise me if people are having more issues on the newer OSes, if the software was originally written for the older ones.
    I imagine that may be part of Access' motivation - it is more important for them to ensure their software works properly on the platforms people are migrating to than to maintain functionality on older systems. Ideally, they would be able to manage both, of course, but I have no idea what their code, requirements or the libraries they use look like.


    I will admit that I don't exactly produce much, I'm a hobbyist that always loved the Virus sound since I heard it in the 90s and bought one when I could afford to a few years ago (on that note, believe me when I say I can appreciate your feelings about the price of the Virus!).
    My reply was made more with my own perspective as a computer programmer as opposed to a synth programmer or musician (sometimes I get the impression people don't appreciate why a developer might make a decision like Access may end up doing, so I felt compelled to point out some of the probable reasons).


    That being the case, I'm sure I don't understand a lot of the issues you and others may have with migrating to a new system while in the middle of a project. From my point of view,
    it technically shouldn't be a major issue, so long as all your software works. I'm sure there's far more concerns than that though. So, I certainly don't mean to criticize anyone for lobbying for Access to not take a path that may cause them issues in their work.


    Regarding the Flash ROM, I seem to recall having asked about this some time ago, and that I was assured that there wasn't much reason to worry about it running out of "writes", so to speak.


    Regarding the polyphony, I'd expect the polyphony, if anything, would improve for patches not using OS5 features, but it's certainly possible that it would degrade; for instance, if a bug were introduced, or even if a bug were fixed, if the fix required changes that had a performance penalty. So without testing, I have no real answer for you on that.


    So far as installing multiple versions of the OS on one computer, which is what I assume you meant by VST2 and VST3, and whether that would allow you to select between them in your DAW, I'm not certain.
    It seems to me that the filename of the dll that is installed for the Virus VST does not seem to vary based on version, so you'd at least have to have to do something to keep them from overwriting one another on installation, either move them to different locations or try renaming them.


    I don't think there's likely to be a reason the path or name of the .dll should matter to your host, since I imagine your DAW doesn't assume a particular path/name, but rather just gets paths from you, and grabs .dlls from those locations. Therefore, it shouldn't care about names or any such thing. Assuming your DAW has you select VSTs via the .dll file names, you could then pick between them if they had different names. Just to be clear, I'm referring to the VST .dlls, e.g. Virus TI.dll or Virus TI Snow.dll, not the Virus Control.dll or Virus USB.dll. I suspect the VST .dlls probably use Virus Control .dll and would not work if that were moved.


    Note though, I highly suspect that even if you had all these .dlls installed on your computer, you'd only be able to *run* with whichever matched the OS the Virus itself was running; it just seems likely there would be some changes in the communications between the VST/dll and the Virus. Actually, the Virus Control.dll and Virus USB.dll could very well change as well, thus even if the OS on the Virus didn't matter, those files might have to have multiple versions and you'd possibly have to swap them back and forth depending which version you wanted to use.


    The above is all guesswork on my part though. It would be much better to get answers on these questions from Marc/Access. I'm actually curious about this myself, now that I've gotten thinking about it.

  • But Marc,. The Virus is not a software VST,. it is Very expensive hardware,. surely Access can afford a few used machines that run XP,. that is not expensive,.. Also newer machines will run XP as long as the right drivers are used,. there is also dual boot like what you do with your Mac (any Mac will run XP) ...


    no, it is certainly not about affording a used PC. i only mentioned it to illustrate that things move on anyway ...


    I still need to know if choosing to install VST 2 and VST 3 will result in two seperate .dll VST files so I can choose to use in my hosts either VST 2 or VST 3 in them


    yes.


    Will the New OS5 have less polyphony for sounds I made with the previous OS4 or only with the use of new OS5 features


    no


    best, marc