I've talked to a few people who've upgraded and it's been largely painless, and things seem to work fine, even stuff like pro tools that aren't officially supported yet. They report a bit snappier feel overall, and a clean gui, but nothing groundbreaking or deal breaking either.

Fwiw I'm going to pull the trigger on W11 on my new audio machine here at home, and a daily driver. The ones that aren't officially supported I'm going to hold off for now, since part of the reason MS isn't supporting them is possible performance issues.

I should note that part of the reason is because I have to do a fresh install anyway. I dunno if I'd bother if my system was all installed and running fine. I'm still traumatized from windows XP being so sensitive to change. Lol

Curious, what are your running for your system these days?

Well, I'm planning to do contractor videos with voice-overs in the next few years. I've scaled back and will be pretty much ITB. I'm going to start building something for audio/video running Samplitude and Vegas with 2 x 75" monitors.

I need 8 good AD. I haven't looked at converters for years. Any suggestions?

My current box is an Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 CPU @ 2.90 GHz desktop. 12.0 GB, 64 bit. Pretty basic.

The computer seems pretty fast but I've not started doing anything so I have know idea how much I can run on this. Exciting first steps again :)

What are you planning?

Cool, W11 sounds pretty positive.

Nice 2x 75" screens sounds sweet. I just treated myself to 3x 32" 4k screens. Nothing crazy just entry level Samsung. Its nice be excited about things!

Sounds like your software setup is similar to mine with samp/Vegas. Tho I'm contemplating reaper/davinci resolve if I end up unable to afford upgrades in the future.

Im a bit behind on AD myself. I was really digging the Antelope stuff last I looked into it. They finally got there dsp to be controlled thru the daw, no console app. Metric Halo has a wicked cool unit like the hln or something but I'm not sure if it's Mac only. RME is reliable but I'm not sure I care for it's sound. UAD is Thunderbolt and I am not sold on thunderbolt for windows. I don't think much has changed it's been pretty much incremental in the upper end as far as I know.

My plans are to protype the master / slaves workflow, along with remote recording/mixing and a decent server/backup array. I've got nearly all the hardware. Over here at this house it's all ramshackle cuz I'm remodelling and selling so it's very not pretty lol.  The goal is to define a workflow and then do an Atmos home theater/studio with a moderate but well appointed set of gear at the new home. Probably looking to do consulting and system integration and some mixing, but all casual and low pressure.

The computers are a pre built Ryzen 4700g with 32gb (master), slaves,- a pre built Intel i5-8400 with 16gb ram, 2x Ryzen 1700x I need to assemble. And a Ryzen 2500u quad core laptop for web design. I bought a threadripper 1950x years ago, but not sure if I'll build with it or sell it cuz it's a bit dated and mobos are expensive. I am may build a Ryzen 5900x master machine and use one of the slaves for graphic design instead of the laptop. But I think I should test things I'm have first. All this junk is still in boxes lol never used.

I have a 6700k pre built I never opened that I am going to use for a server, a qnap NAS and a WD my cloud Nas, so that should cover basic server and backups. 

The idea was dedicated vsti machines for drums synths and strings and a DSP machine for Buss effects. That way they can just stay as is for years, like a keyboard. Its absurd to have to expect a single computer to run all that stuff, then reinstall it all every upgrade cycle. I was inspired by those roomful of synths photos you see, so I want to mimic it in the box, with a huge template pre loaded, and just hit un-mute or whatever. Menu diving is a buzz kill for me. I'm looking at the slaves like keyboards, drum machines, and digital rack gear, just in the form of PCs.

Between that and the software it's a pretty well rounded set, but I might hate not having things all on one machine as far as routing and convenience.

I really want to transfer my father and my records and tapes but would need a good stereo converter and it's time consuming. So that's on the maybe list for here.

One lesson I learned was don't buy certain computer parts until your ready. Lol my stuff became obsolete just sitting in boxes over here. Its still gonna do what it did, but I'm already like wanting to upgrade them before using them lol. It all just took a while to get together.

I need some monitors tho, thinking Yamaha krk or low end focal. Gonna use my avid 11 interface for starter's.

Its crazy I feel like the first year of this setup I'd going to be chasing my old projects from my old drives and the studios (fingers crossed Tony has them) and setting up like websites and stuff. Probably 2 years if I archive all the records.

Nonetheless it's nice to feel like I'm arriving. I tried to just quit audio but I'm still obsessed. right now at least, I can live without pressure of steady income from it. Getting back to just fun and working on art impulse again.

You still using the opals for monitors? I think it's cool your getting into video, seems like a logical move and a new channel for creativity.

Traumatized lol!  

At my age, and all the time I’ve been spending upgrading RO, I don’t need more trauma either so baby steps I go with Windows upgrades. 

Fun read, thanks for sharing that. We’re definitely on a similar path. Good to know eh. 

Interesting reading your interest with all the cool digital stuff and doing things for fun right now. Sounds like you’re getting a good grasp on where you’re headed.

I’ve bought gear and it’s become dated too. I sold the bulk of my studio when prices were high and people still had a buzz for expensive gear. I knew I was going to take time off of audio so I sold a lot of stuff, mostly gear that was for the hybrid system. I wish I still had a few pieces that I sold but oh well.

I’m in the cabinet refinishing business, getting close to retirement and have all this knowledge so I want to record it soon. 

I love keyboards and drum machines / and I especially enjoy programming music. It’s such a blast to me. 40 years at it and counting.

Being said.l,  I’m very excited anticipating where Akai is going with the new MPC. The MPC X has given me new hope with how a drum machine/ controller can become the heart of your DAW. 

The MPC X only has a 4 channel AD usb interface but it works good enough and is about 3 years without a major build so I’m anticipating the next version of MPC will have an 8 or 16 channel ADC. If that happened and it was as good or better to what it has now, it would be a great system for what I’m planning. 

I unfortunately sold my Opals to pay for the MPC X.  I have older Tannoys that I’m ok with for now. 
 

Most/some of you probably are aware of this, but W11 does not support all cpu's. 

This post might be useful to some of you. And if not ... it doesn't hurt anyone ;-)

https://docs.micros…

Grtz,

Kjell

Hi gang,

I already read some horror stories about 11 for studio work. 

But they are mostly related to driver compatibility. I'm waiting to see if RME puts out a new driver before upgrading. 

My browsing laptop is already at 11 but my studio is safely staying on 10 for now ;)

Good stuff. Alot of people swear by Tannoy, I've never used any of them before. MPC is really cool, one day I'd like to get one.  There seem to be alot of people who sold off their gear in the last 5-10 years.  I sold just about everything as well.  With Dolby Atmos really putting money into getting incorporated into music I think even consoles will start to be less common.

Sounds like your setting up a pretty fun retirement!!

Re selling mixing and mastering gear...

I bought $150,000 in mixing/ mastering hardware to test and learn how it compared to digital. My finding were exactly this... ITB rules by a long shot. Mastering hardware "today" is a complete waste of money. Glad I sold it when I did.

Being said, I found some mastering gear (Dangerous Master) made switching between some tracking hardware easier and more fun.

Yes so fun! I've set up a Sonos Arc Atmos with double bass and it sounds awesome.

thanks for the info guys!

Very cool! I wonder how long it will be before mic and pre amp emulations surpass the hardware.

My personal philosophy has been and will remain, let others beta test, or is a LOT of cases these days, alpha test!. Whether it's OSX or Windows, I let it percolate at least a year after release, and check EVERYTHING is now 100% up to date :). Just my approach. I'm still on Windows 10 on my main PC with Studio One Pro, works great. And I'm on Big Sur on my MacBook Pro, also works fine.

Yeah I usually wait a while before upgrading the OS. This time I'm trying it sooner than later because I have to do a fresh install either way, and the thought of installing 3 daws, 2 video editors, and hundreds of pluggins, tweaking the OS, and troubleshooting twice, has me crawling into a corner in tears lol. If it were a professional situation I'd not think twice about waiting, but for casual I think I'll live dangerously. 

The only real thing that interests me on W11 is the ability to run android apps. Beyond that I really could care less about the OS as long as it stays out of the way.

Im on the fence about the non-qualifying machines since it could lead to performance issues. I'll probably just go w10 on those.

Jumping on the Windows 11 train sounds tempting, but I'm taking my time too. No need to rush, right? I'm curious about the new features and improvements, but I'd love to hear from others who've made the switch.

And speaking of tech stuff, have you heard about cheap Windows keys? It might be a smart move for anyone considering an upgrade.