Subject:SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Posted by: Phil Sayer

Date:2/25/2014 11:31:54 AM

My trusty old recording PC needs replacing soon.

I see some grim reports here of SF11 misbehaving under Win 8 and 8.1. What's the latest news, please? Is anyone running the two together successfully, or is it always problematic?

I'd prefer to go for Win 8.1 on a new PC, but I would install Win 7 if that looks like a better bet at this stage.

Thanks in advance for your views and experiences.

Phil

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:2/26/2014 11:56:44 PM

Variable results, one extreme being Mr VsnMxr who declared it 'unusable", farted, ,then left the room. Some others have to tick Run As Administrator". Others presumably have no problems at all. (I don't do 8-point-anything ...).

But I can't imagine that whatever minor glitches there are wouldn't be rapidly ironed out for the current version of Windows ! Or is it already too late for "rapidly" ?!!

geoff

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: VsnMxr

Date:2/27/2014 5:32:48 AM

Actually Geoff Wood, what I said was "Sound Forge Pro 11 INCOMPATIBLE with Windows 8.1," which I used as the subject line where I post:

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"I got an update to Windows 8.1 today and noticed if you right click the icon there is an option to check "Troubleshoot Compatibility." I ran that on Sound Forge Pro 11 and it tells me SF Pro 11 is incompatible!"

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Then, a few posts down, after others also stated they were having the problem that I was, I wrote:
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"I've sent in a support ticket to Sony tech support and so far they seem either to not understand what the problem is or have decided to simply ignore it - either way, I haven't received any response other than a link to an outdated "support" page that was a complete waste of time. It's been over two weeks now and I'm still waiting for a follow up and some help!"

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I've also written and replied to other posts, not that it's any of your business, hardly just "farted" and "left the room." (This really isn't a "room," you know? It's just a support forum that the majority of people come to in order to solve a problem, not chat away.)

I brought up those posts because I don't understand trolls who for some reason find it necessary to single out people on a message board and then lie about them to strangers on the internet.

You see, this problem has been going on for some time now, and before I submitted that thread, I had replied to many posts from people having the same problem. I thought maybe I had stumbled upon something potentially helpful, as we weren't getting any help from Sony - But I am not a computer expert and I was wrong, as was everyone else who offer a "try this" or "try that."

I know that because I went rounds with Sony Tech. I even directed them to this here very forum to check out the many posts from others who were experiencing the exact same problem I was!

They answered me, and in response to Phil Sayer (who started this thread), this is what they said:

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"Thank you for writing back. This is a known issue and development is aware of it. Our development team is working to resolve the issue and implement the fix in a future update. The only workaround for this issue is to run as administrator at this time.

If you still have a follow-up question on this particular incident, please feel free to update it. If you have a completely different question, please create a new incident."

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That was 12/04/13.

So, my answer is simply that the problem has not been fixed but at least Sony claims "this is a known issue," so hopefully sooner than later they will have this fixed. Besides the fact I have to run it as administrator every time, which makes it more cumbersome to export & import files, I like the program.

But I don't mind saying I don't like Sony taking its sweet time about doing anything about it!

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: VsnMxr

Date:2/27/2014 5:51:15 AM

Oh sorry, but the troll got me curious and I checked to see what else I had written, and I see I also wrote this in the exact same thread where the troll claims I farted and left "the room.":

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"The problem I and others are having is we are unable to open the program!

I click the icon on my desktop and am prompted to register it (although I've already registered it). Then I click "next" and the UAC window opens asking me to give permission to run the "Sony Application Registration Utility."

I click "yes" and nothing happens. Nada. Zilch. I've repeated the process over and over and the results remain the same. Program will not open.

Sony "tech" directed to a page that told me to right-click the icon and "run as administrator" which would then "prompt for registration again, allowing the information to be correctly entered into the registry....."fix[ing] the issue for all other users."

I did this but I was not prompted "for registration again" so under "Help" I clicked "Register Sound Forge Pro" and entered the information and clicked send. This did not fix the problem.

So I again right-clicked the icon and choose (again) "run as administrator" and went back to help and repeated that process, with the same result.

For some reason, the product is not being recognized as being registered by Sony. Why this is I do not know, but I know I have a program that did once work fine but now suddenly does not, a program I paid good money for that I would like to having running as it is supposed to be, without hassle."

_____

The problem did suddenly seemed fixed for about a month, where I had no problem opening the program as normal. I even wondered, did Sony roll up some update I didn't realize I got?

Then the problem started up again!

Since the problem seems related around registration of the product - my uneducated guess is that there is something wrong with the program that doesn't remember that you already registered it - and you can't reregister it because it won't let you, but I could well be wrong. Either way, I hope it's fixed soon.

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:2/27/2014 1:24:26 PM

Glad you got a response from SCS - thought that after your shouty intro you'd given up and left as no continuation of the other thread.

Yes, hope there is an update that fixes if for you soon.

But I do maintain that there must be hundreds of users out there with a similar setup who are not having this problem, so SF11 is not inherently "incompatible" (not shouting) with Win8.1, though clearly there is a conceded vulnerability.

geoff

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: VsnMxr

Date:2/27/2014 5:49:41 PM

"Shouty intro?" Who are you? The Emily Post of Sony Support forums?

Well, according to Microsoft, not me, SF11 is "incompatible" with windows 8.1. I thought, as I already explained, that pointing that out may be of some assistance, and putting one single word in all capital letters for most people is not considered "shouting."

I don't know what it is about the internet, but some people seem to have this need to latch on to anything to cause friction on message boards. But whatever, go ahead and police message boards if that's important to you.

Either way, there is a problem that is effecting the use of this program for many, and it also seems to be effecting people who use other Sony products as well, such as SF10 and Sony Vegas (see the threads "Unable to open Sound Forge, " "Sound Forge Pro 10," and "SF 10 - Windows 8.1 - not starting.")

Now, whether Sony plans on doing anything about it - who knows? It's been some 5 YEARS since Sony last updated Sony Acid Pro 7! Sony didn't seem to understand this problem was effecting others besides me until I told their tech support to look at this forum and see what people were saying - only then did it become a "known issue."

I would also encourage anyone reading this and who is having this issue to submit a support ticket to Sony. You won't get any help from them, but the more people who contact tech support directly will hopefully help get their attention.

ps: I hope I didn't offend your sensibilities by putting two words in this post in capital letters, but I don't do html code nor did I even know this forum supports html code, so by typing "not" as "NOT," for instance, I'm simply adding emphasis to the word, just like you did by adding bold font to the word "not" and italicized the word "inherently."

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:2/27/2014 7:40:38 PM

'Sticky" topic #4 . Excuse me for misinterpreting your caps as petulant shouting.

geoff

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: Larry Clifford

Date:2/28/2014 10:33:06 AM

I see that you are replacing Windows XP. I went from XP Pro with an old Creative sound card to 7 Pro 64-bit. I am happy about everything except one.

I lost the ability to record from IE and cassette tape and turntable. I have asked about his on the forum and received some suggestions, but not implemented them yet.

I prefer the mouse system as opposed to boxes. That is just my personal opinion. Sooner or later, Windows with boxes will be the only way to go. I am sure I will have to bite the bullet there also. I only hope Sony improves their software WITHOUT forcing everyone to go to V 12 and make them pay for the upgrade.

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: Phil Sayer

Date:3/10/2014 10:02:42 AM

I'm not encouraged to go for Win 8.1 for the studio computer, in that case, but I'm also about to replace our two office computers, which must do double duty as administrative machines (e-mail, web, etc.) and as audio editing - so they have to run SF, too.

*sigh*

The world of pro audio (especially here in the UK) seems oddly lethargic concerning 8.1 - there are certain pro sound cards, for example, that still have no drivers listed for it, although perhaps Win 7 drivers will be OK... but "perhaps" shouldn't really enter the vocabulary when discussing three-figure purchases, should it?

Also, I think I'll stick with 32-bit, since compatibility issues always seem worse with 64 bit anything, as far as I can see.

In fact, referring back to earlier responses, I wonder if 32 vs 64 bit versions has any bearing on the "user experience?"

So while I'm at it, what thoughts has anyone on external vs internal sound card?

Subject:RE: SF11 Pro and Windows 8.1 - what's the verdict?

Reply by: Phil Sayer

Date:6/13/2014 4:27:17 AM

Follow up... 8.1 seems happy with SF11 - the cheap version, at least. (Audio Studio, I think it's called)

Ancient but much loved internal sound card in old PC has been replaced with a Focusrite Saffire box, running it simply as a sound card, since I don't need the accompanying software - I can't remember the last time I recorded the London Symphony Orchestra, and all our mixing is done with errr - a mixer.

Meanwhile all editing and post is done in the office - SF11 Pro on Win 7. Also happy and compatible.

Thanks for all your input.

:-)