Poll: Who is using a 32-bit DAW anymore?

[reggie1979]

What ringing endorsement do you want? Seems to me you just want to be "on top" w/o actually giving anything of proof or consequence.

[BONES]

Except I have given evidence in support of my case. In fact I have repeated it several times - I have seen no advantage from moving to 64 bit but now all our songs take 4 or 5 times longer to load than they used to, which is a serious issue on stage in front of an audience. On top of that, we would have to spend countless hours rebuilding songs from our first 4 albums to cover for all the 32 bit plugins we used back then that never made it to 64 bits. Either that or we could play all our old songs together in a 32 bit host, then close that and open a 64 bit host to play the new songs.

Of course, if new synths all supported 32 bit, we wouldn't have a problem because we could still be doing everything in 32 bit and getting a lot more done in a lot less time.

[reggie1979]

Ok, but that doesn't dismiss the trend towards x64.

Please understand, I'm not saying x86 is unimportant (I think I demonstrated that) but you CANNOT dismiss x64 and it's necessity either

[BONES]

Of course it doesn't but I can certainly dismiss any necessity for 64 bit. There may be theoretical advantages but I am yet to hear anyone suggest they can do things now they couldn't do with a 32 bit host running 32 bit plugins.

I don't have any problem with the move to 64 bit - if people want to be fooled into thinking they need to spend money, who am I to stand in the way of their stupidity? My problem is with the abandonment of 32 bit when there are plenty of good reasons for people to stick with 32 bit and no good reason for developers to give it away.

[tooneba]

The reason for abandoning either 32bit or 64bit is money. Happens when they think it isn’t worth recoding for 64bit or maintaining both version. Not directly for users convenience. So if you are paying for DAWs/Plugings updates just to find out there is no 32bit version or bit bridge, it’s like saying “Just forget about forward compatibility we promised.” Not a few ppl are pissed off by this decision even for OS (apple’s), why wouldn’t for commercial softwares.

[BlackWinny]

BONES' reasons are perfectly pertinent reasons. And he doesn't dismiss the evolution to 64-bit. He just want to keep the ability to keep on playing his best old songs in front of his audience with the same old 32-bit equipment without having to rewrite these complex songs with a final result which will never be the same if there are many specific features used from these 32-bit instruments. It is perfectly a pertinent reason for him to be able to keep on using the 32-bit architecture. There may be other reasons to face him sometimes but nobody can't criticize him for that pertinent reason, even if we don't have to face the same problem ourselves.

And (I confess that it is not frequent but) I share his opinion that except for the use of complex samples which require a lot of memory, there are no real differences between 32-bit and 64-bit performances in the domain of music making and music playing. Except when using complex samples the practice of electro music with true oscillators and true synthesis techniques uses mainly a lot of CPU, not a lot of memory. And the use of bridges, it is obvious, adds use of additional memory and use of additional CPU allocated to the bridge. It may be not very sensible (and it may even be totally insensible subjectively) on very recent computers having ultra-fast CPU and a lot of RAM, but it is perfectly understandable that it is objectively sensible on computers a bit old (and not necessarily very old).

[BlackWinny]

In my equipment, almost everything is now 64-bit. For me, there is no problem to go full 64-bit. And it is true that the restriction to 64-bit development makes save money for the developer. But it is dishonest from the users to say that there is "no reason to still use 32-bit equipment", because it is a sentence made only thinking to oneself and never thinking to the situation of other people. There may be "no reason to still use 32-bit equipment" oneself but there can be pertinent reasons for somebody else to still use 32-bit equipment in parallel to the inexorable evolution to 64-bit.

To satisfy the developer as well as to satisfy all the users without exception, all we can reply with honesty is an advice, a suggestion as "Perhaps you could keep the old 32-bit versions which will always work for the old songs and compose the new songs in full 64-bit". This, yes, may be a honest reply which brings a good idea. And that's only a suggestion, not an order. But telling something insinuating (when not telling it rudely) that 32-bit is the prehistory is not only false but it is also dishonest as long as there is an audience for live performances of some bands using this 32-bit equipment for some of their old songs still begged by their audience and not re-writable with enough fidelity on a new full 64-bit equipment.

[Calenberger]

I'm already on 256bit and it sounds marvellous!

[Jace-BeOS]

Not needed here. I will only run a few abandoned 32-bit plug-ins until I’ve ported all of my projects to Logic X, which is all 64-bit. I’m nearing the finish line...

[AnX]

I don't have any problem with the move to 64 bit - if people want to be fooled into thinking they need to spend money, who am I to stand in the way of their stupidity?

didn't cost me a penny to move to 64bit.

why would it?

[Jace-BeOS]

To be fair, a few developers did charge for 64-bit upgrades. Korg, GForce, maybe others. Most didn’t. It was not a money grab.

[rasmusklump]

BONES' reasons are perfectly pertinent reasons.

The same Bones who called the 64bit users fools ??

His posts read as if he had absolutely no clue what he is talking about.

[jancivil]

What technical reason would there be for a project to load slower because the plugins are x64?
I don't think that is how it works. I certainly do not share that experience. Sounds like a first scan scenario.

I cannot be restricted to a 4GB limit, 3GB switch in Cubase notwithstanding (if that's even still a thing) for very much.
This is not a feature of my failed understanding or slow intellect, sorry.

[jancivil]

I am yet to hear anyone suggest they can do things now they couldn't do with a 32 bit host running 32 bit plugins.

Argument from ignorance much? Rather gobsmacking in 2019 to see this.

[chk071]

I am yet to hear anyone suggest they can do things now they couldn't do with a 32 bit host running 32 bit plugins

I can lean back and relax in the knowledge that i'm future proof, and will able to use anything developers release in the future. And in the knowledge that my plugins and hosts, if done right, use less CPU, and boot up quicker.

Apart from that, yeah, i really don't know much you could do with them which you couldn't do with 32-bit plugins. But then, what can your 32-bit plugins what your 16-bit plugins couldn't do? Or your DirectX plugins. Do you still use those?