Windows 10: apps, operating system, hardware, etc

[Markus]

You can use foobar2000 for this

[donrock]

Long time mac user here (~15 years). It’s time for a new desktop for me and I just couldn’t justify shelling out the huge amount of €€€ for what seems to be a desktop computer, that isn’t all that capable as it should be. I mean, I just ordered the parts for my PC, and will have a machine more powerful than a maxed out MB Pro, for less than the lowest tier MB Pro costs. It won’t be a laptop, sure, but there’s just no comparison, even if you compare it with the iMacs. They’re either overpriced or outdated. They’re pretty, alright, but I was over that as soon as I saw the prices. My 2009 MB Pro still works, and will serve as my traveling companion for light work, but for heavy lifting, I’ll have a desktop. I don’t do live gigs with a laptop (all hardware), so there’s no need for a laptop. I work with Ableton, Sibelius, MaxMSP, VCV Rack and Illustrator, which are all also on windows.

So my questions for the people who switched are:

How was the switch? Do the apps that are cross-platform work similarly or are there many differences between mac and win versions?
Did anyone make a hackintosh from their PC that is stable enough for music making?
Anything else I should know, making the switch?

I intend to try out windows for a few months, and if I can’t possibly work on a PC, try to hackintosh it.

Disclamer: I’m not looking for advice on how to make a hackintosh, there’s enough info on that elswhere, just curious about the experience of fellow musicians that made it work.

Thanks!

[cmcavoy]

I switched a year or so ago. Biggest issue for me was midi and audio support. Mac has soundflower for inter-app audio routing, aggregate sound devices and really great native midi support. I have everything I need set up on windows today, but I struggled a bit with audio routing especially.

Things that helped:

• Virtual Cable
• Voice Meter (though I’ve stopped using it, but it was good early on before I knew what I needed)
• ASIO 4 All if you have sound devices that only support WDM, this will wrap it in ASIO. It also allows for aggregate devices in ASIO. It’s not the greatest, I’ve had issues on and off, but it’s ok.
• reminds me, spend a bit of time reading about ASIO…it’s worth it.
• Virtual Midi (link is currently down, not sure why)
• This article on video codecs in windows from Ableton

[donrock]

Thanks for the info! I don’t think I have that kind of hardware, usually just need a USB interface and that’s it, so hopefully everything will work fine.

[jonatron]

i think one thing to make note of is that aside from ASIO 4 All, you’re now dependent on your interface manufacturer’s drivers for audio. this can be a blessing or a curse - I’d recommend doing some research on your hardware and what its windows drivers are like.

[cmwoof]

A simple program that helps a lot with legibility is MacType:
https://www.mactype.net/

Windows uses an old and out of date way to display text on a computer screen, whereas macOS and most Linux builds use a cleaner way that looks “modern.” MacType lets Windows display text like a Mac. The easiest way is to have it modify the registry (its undoable with a reboot), so it is seamlessly integrated and won’t affect stability or performance. AFAIK originally developed because Windows is terrible at displaying Chinese characters, but it is beneficial for everyone

[sam]

Hi Windows users.

I’m contemplating dual booting my Linux computer with Windows 10 (mainly for the purposes of playing games with the kids on it). I’ve got plenty of experience running it in a VM, and my wife uses it for work, but I’m wondering what is the best way for keeping on top of the various privacy options?

I’ve seen a lot or PowerShell scripts for initial set up, often out of date and shared as gists, really what I’m looking for is some sort of dashboard that will let me know that I’ve forgotten to turn off Cortana (or rather a Windows update has turned it back on for me) and so on and so forth.