Subject:Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Posted by: mobiledjs.com

Date:10/8/2007 10:39:46 AM

I have successfully installed both Acid 6.0d & 5.0c in Vista Ultimate with both running Media Manager, VST support, low latency, and stable.

I was worried that I would not be able to use Acid software once upgrading to Vista on a new laptop (mostly media manager). Installing XP professional was still an option, but I decided to give Vista a try. I have actually had very good success thus far with all software on Vista despite Microsoft/Sony's not "supporting" certain software elements. I would not recommend Vista for the average home user, due to the complexity of the administrator privileges/decisions. However, if you are a power user it will be well worth the upgrade. Nonetheless, i would still keep XP Professional around.

When Microsoft says they do not support MSDE, SQL Desktop Engine or SQL Server 2000 many have incorrectly inferred that this means it will not work, which is not true at all. The main reason for dropping support might be due to security issues (worms) and obviously the new SQL 2005 Express software. I would not let this scare you away from using Vista. It it locked down much more than XP (as long as you don't disable UAC - User Account Control as some have suggested).

I noticed the same problems with SQL Desktop Engine on XP and on Vista, which most likely stem from the same underlying issues. Vista also has XP compatibility mode so most programs will most likely run anyway, despite "no support". My advice is to do a fresh install of the software and set restore points as you load your software making sure each one works before moving on to the next. Vista actually sets restore points for you after (most) every software change/install so it's actually a lot easier to revert backwards. Eventually you will find the software installs correctly and runs flawlessly, including Media Manager. (Note that doing a system restore does not delete certain directories off your computer. So while the registry will be clean from a restore you may have still have to delete the media manager directories during a re-install attempt.)

I did receive the same messages like "strong password not set" and some other ones I dealt with on XP, so I just did a system restore. I think the reason for some of these initial errors was not having the .NET updates installed first (1.0, 1.1, 2.0, & 2.1 - all linked on sony's website). Make sure these are all up to date before installing the software. The same issues that existed on XP will on Vista, but the software can be properly installed. I don't think this has anything to do with Vista compatibility, just doing things in the proper steps like on XP. Make sure that you are patient and let the software install complete. Disable any other programs from running during the install.

Oddly enough I cannot install 6.0d without first installing 5.0c otherwise it says my software key is invalid. At first I thought this would cause problems, but I successfully got 5.0c installed first. Once this was stable I moved on to 6.0d and everything was flawless. I am using ASIO4ALL on my HD Realtek Audio and obtaining very good latency. Some software vendors are now releasing Vista supported drives (to support WaveRT), but don't underestimate the improved Vista audio.

One trick in Vista is running a program in Administrator. To do this you can right click and "run as administrator" or you can go to the properties and set a box. Additionally you can also run in XP Compbatibility Mode. You could also try doing this during the initial install process to see if it helps.

VST support is the only issue that stumped me until I read a post on this forum. On Vista you will notice this will not work right at first. The directory setting will be blank and none will appear. Basically you need to run the program as administrator first, set your VST directories and refresh. Once you have loaded your plug-ins they will continue to appear. After this you do not need to run as administrator.

Toshiba Satellite
X205-S9359
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300 2GHz, with Centrino Technology
2GB RAM, 2 X 160GB Hard Drives (SATA 150 5200rpm)
17-inch WSXGA+ TFT Display
HD DVD-Rom Drive
Windows Vista Ultimate

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: Patrick@Denman

Date:10/26/2007 3:45:06 PM

Really good summary. This echoes my own experience. I've been running Vista now for about 6 months, and only recently have I started working on a new ACID project (running ACID 6.0), and it's really working well for me! (I'm having a slight problem with MIDI but I think this is configuration...getting duplicate notes recorded.)

For my own part, I've turned my back on XP now...Vista is SOOO much more stable for me. Once I got past the issues surrounding which apps I need to run as Administrator, I'm absolutely delighted with Vista. And I'm someone who is always tweaking things - this was often my downfall with XP - I usually needed to do a restore or rebuild about every 10 months. I can honestly say that my Vista environment performs just as well now as it did soon after I installed it.

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: ScarKord

Date:10/28/2007 3:32:34 AM

Same here. I gave up worrying about waiting for AP7 and got AP6 working following the instructions on the Vista forum and it's been working absolutely fine. Very stable too.

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: Patrick@Denman

Date:12/13/2007 3:05:11 PM

FYI, just discovered a solution to the duplicate MIDI notes, and I'm posting it here just in case someone else encounters this. It's got nothing to do with ACID or Vista. It's because of my M-AUDIO Keystation Pro-88 keyboard having multiple overlapping zones defined...they get recorded as duplicate notes (i.e. every note on the piano roll is actually two notes, one on top of the other.) Fixing the zone configuration on the Keystation resolves the problem.

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: Ranger Bob

Date:12/13/2007 5:14:59 PM

Wow! I can’t thank you enough, mobiledjs.com I’ve been going nuts trying to get the VST effects to work; I keep forgetting about Vista wanting all the important options to be handled by the administrator. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep the Vista OS after using the XP for so long, but there are some noticeable advantages with the dual core. This VST thing has really been my biggest problem so far. THANKS!

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: pwppch

Date:12/13/2007 10:47:29 PM

Is the Keystation sending the same note on the same channel? (My guess is not .)

In this case you could also limit how ACID listens on a particular track by channel. This may be easier or harder, but is should work.

Peter

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: thirdnostril

Date:2/27/2008 1:08:23 PM

Can you just keep the computer on Administrator mode at all times? Would you pay a price in performance?

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: Kennymusicman

Date:2/27/2008 2:57:19 PM

No you can't - and that's half the point behind the way Vista works. Doing so is a MAJOR secruity risk, and it's why Windows was so vulnerable.
[You can disable UAC (User account control) if you really feel you must, but it's then opening the door to the bad stuff.]

Even logging on as admin (which is what 'everyone' does) you still have "restricted" access. If something really needs admin credentials, it will prompt you. WHich is good, because you find some things are trying to get access when they really shouldn't be..

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: thirdnostril

Date:2/28/2008 7:24:31 AM

OK, won't be doing that! But how exactly do you switch to Admin mode, or is it obvious?

Subject:RE: Vista Acid 6.0d & Acid 5.0c Stable

Reply by: Kennymusicman

Date:2/28/2008 8:16:19 AM

Your user account can be admin, par-se. But when you want to run a program as administrator (the full daddy!), then you simply right-click, and select "run as administrator"