Has a lack of soundcard drivers kept you from upgrading your OS?

[rp314]

I have a PC and an older PowerBook Pro and have a bunch of mostly M-Audio soundcards that are no longer supported which, besides my usual laziness about such things, has kept me from upgrading the OS on either.

As always, testimonials and general comments are welcome.

Thank you for precipitating in this poll!

[incubus]

I don't understand your question AT ALL!

But, if my drivers work, they work. Unless there is something that is fixed that DOESN'T work, I don't care.

By and large my stuff is humming and I don't see any need to mess with it.

But, in case it matters in the slightest, M-audio drivers are generally horrible these days. My profire 610 is one of the best sounding soundcards I've ever had, but if for ANY reason the host crashes, you absolutely have to restart or it will blue screen. Win7 and 10 (x64) and it doesn't matter what computer.

[RichieWitch]

Oh god, YES!!! This is huge problem for me, seriously.

I have a Mackie Onyx 1620i analog mixing board with a built-in Firewire interface that is the heart of my entire studio. That interface will not work with anything beyond Win7. I found an option to upgrade the Firewire card that would allow me to move to Win8, but Win10 remains completely out of reach.

So I am stuck between living with an interface that only supports an older OS, while all my music software slowly abandons support for it.

Where are the new USB 3.0 or Thurnderbolt "mixer-faces"?? Come on Mackie, Allen & Heath, Stagecraft!! You filled this market once with great choices. Where's the love?

[rp314]

That interface will not work with anything beyond Win7. I found an option to upgrade the Firewire card that would allow me to move to Win8, but Win10 remains completely out of reach.

Oops, I left out the "You can actually upgrade and get the damned thing to work but for some reason those involved want you to think otherwise" option.

I'm staying at Win 7 for now, which I think is the case for more than a few, given that it still works. Hardware is not like software--having to throw it out is not pleasant in a bunch of ways.

On the Mac side it's a little different because some software upgrades require one to be on the newer OS. But since my MB Pro is a 2010 Core2Duo model, soundcard compatibility with the new OS is probably not the biggest of the problems.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[VariKusBrainZ]

Biggest safe bet is RME

Had my Multiface for 15 years now and still has current drivers, never had a problem with it on any of the Windows OSs or various laptops and desktops I've used it with

[rp314]

I have been burned by focusrite with the first saffire (the dsp one), it never worked from snow leopard onwards, that's like 4 years! It only worked for a few months before they dropped drivers, and i wanted to update OS for new logic versions.

And I thought the worst example was M-Audio's Omnistudio USB which came out IIRC in early 2004, with an MSRP of almost $500, and when the issues with Vista and the Intel Macs came about, M-Audio decided to lump in with older devices as no longer supported.

I can't complain, really, because at the time I was still on a Powerbook G4 running on Tiger so a friend who'd gotten an Intel Mac basically just gave it to me. But I still haven't been able to part with it and can't get over the fact that these companies allow a perfectly good piece of hardware to become obsolete so quickly. And, in hindsight, they might have wanted to continue to support it (instead of spending so many resources on their FW stuff) since it is a USB device...

[rp314]

Biggest safe bet is RME

Had my Multiface for 15 years now and still has current drivers, never had a problem with it on any of the Windows OSs or various laptops and desktops I've used it with

Yeah, sometimes making a bigger investment is the way to go. When one thinks of getting support for your interface they're probably the first company that comes to mind.

[MFXxx]

Biggest safe bet is RME

Had my Multiface for 15 years now and still has current drivers, never had a problem with it on any of the Windows OSs or various laptops and desktops I've used it with

Replicates my situ'. Never had an issue on Windows even with day1 release.

[metalifuxx]

I continue to stand by the logic of "If it isn't broke, don't fix it".

I have an M-Audio MobilePre USB ver. 1, and they don't even have drivers for download on their site anymore. I have copies of the driver install backed up on various media and cloud storage. I mean, WTF. This thing is still rock solid stable for me on Win7 64bit, and I have had it since 2005 or so. Even if the micpre's/DI aren't the greatest, I still use it for mid latency mixing without any problems. I will continue to use it until it breaks or I pony up for a new interface.

IK's Stealth Pedal (circa 2009 or so) is a great DI for guitar/bass with ampsims etc., but the driver is very prone to crashing Live. And even when using the highest latency for mixing it is buggy and unstable, crashes sessions. I switch immediately to my MobilePre when I go to do any sort of mixing after recording audio. I have never been able to figure out the supposed midi controller pedal implementation setup it is supposed to do, and there is no documentation or help for that anywhere. Worst part is it does not integrate as a normal sound card in windows for audio playback outside of using it in a DAW for recording/playback purposes. I am not complaning too hard because I won free here through an IK promo contest and I am very grateful to Squids/Peter for that, but for anyone that is going to buy it, take note.

My friend tried to both a Focusrite Saffire usb interface and also the Steinberg UR22 on his AMD system Win7 64. The Focusrite just would not work with that configuration, and the Steinberg UR installed and ran audio, but was unusable due to constant audio crackling and sputtering even on the highest latency. I know, he made the made mistake of getting a friend to build him a computer with an AMD processor for audio (went ahead with it before consulting me his computer specs), but his old M-Audio 24/96 pci card is rock solid stable and works fine on that setup.

I've seen interview rig rund downs of some bands that do the multi track recording of their shows, and the interviewer asks what they are running to record with (all geeky and giddy hoping they are using the latest and greatest) , and then they say, oh nothing special, just ProTools 5 on an old mac. Because it just WORKS, stable without problems.

[incubus]

Biggest safe bet is RME

I have a babyface pro. It's divine so far.

Better drivers, sounds great, lower latency. It's ouch on the wallet but turned out to be a really good investment. Don't forget about totalmix as well

[fedexnman]

Still nursing my EchoAudiofire4 , WindowsXP-Windows10 , also works on Linux too ... My next computer build I will have RME PCIe to put in , I wish Thunderbolt would've taken off on the PC side but apparently Apple has it all tied up still ... Shame really maybe I'll buy a MacMini if they improve the specs on them ...

[justin3am]

But, in case it matters in the slightest, M-audio drivers are generally horrible these days. My profire 610 is one of the best sounding soundcards I've ever had, but if for ANY reason the host crashes, you absolutely have to restart or it will blue screen. Win7 and 10 (x64) and it doesn't matter what computer.

Geez, that issue was never fixed?
When inMusic bought M-Audio, they laid-off everyone from the engineering staff and didn't renew contacts with developers. No one who worked on those products works for M-Audio anymore.

AVID took control of a few product lines (FastTrack and one other, can't recall) and as far as I know drivers are still updated for those. But the Firewire/ProFire series are dead. A bummer really as I have a bunch of old M-Audio gear as well, but if I want to use anything that isn't class compliant, I have to stay at OSX Yosemite.

I generally stick with an OS unless there is a compelling reason to update. Even when there is a compelling reason, I wait until I know that all the software/hardware I use is compatible. I do have boot drives with the latest OSs, so I can test stuff but I don't use those for everyday work.

I've had great experiences with MOTU gear. Prompt driver updates and even old gear is included with recent updates (even my old MTP AV USB worked in OSX El Capitan).

[olepro]

After upgrading to Windows 10 my good old trusty Terratec EWS88 is causing troubles, because of too old drivers that's not Win10 compatible.

It really sucks, but i think i have to get a new soundcard

[incubus]

But, in case it matters in the slightest, M-audio drivers are generally horrible these days. My profire 610 is one of the best sounding soundcards I've ever had, but if for ANY reason the host crashes, you absolutely have to restart or it will blue screen. Win7 and 10 (x64) and it doesn't matter what computer.

Geez, that issue was never fixed?
When inMusic bought M-Audio, they laid-off everyone from the engineering staff and didn't renew contacts with developers. No one who worked on those products works for M-Audio anymore.

AVID took control of a few product lines (FastTrack and one other, can't recall) and as far as I know drivers are still updated for those. But the Firewire/ProFire series are dead. A bummer really as I have a bunch of old M-Audio gear as well, but if I want to use anything that isn't class compliant, I have to stay at OSX Yosemite.

I generally stick with an OS unless there is a compelling reason to update. Even when there is a compelling reason, I wait until I know that all the software/hardware I use is compatible. I do have boot drives with the latest OSs, so I can test stuff but I don't use those for everyday work.

I've had great experiences with MOTU gear. Prompt driver updates and even old gear is included with recent updates (even my old MTP AV USB worked in OSX El Capitan).

Yeah, a long strange history.