Windows Vista comes with a completely new audio driver model called WaveRT. These new drivers allow for low latency processing. Microsoft have also introduced some tricks to improve glitch free audio playback called MMCSS.
In the short term the introduction of the new driver model has a negative side effect: the audio part of Vista, together with third party drivers and programs like MultitrackStudio, is probably the least matured part of the 'Vista experience'. Older audio driver models like MME and DirectSound have been rewritten as a wrapper around the new WaveRT model, so even those may no longer be as reliable and predictable as they used to be. The Vista compatible ASIO drivers soundcard manufacturers are going to release will probably work pretty well soon because they're not affected that much by the changes.
MultitrackStudio has been moving towards Vista compatibility for quite some time already. The help file format was changed in the 4.1 version because the old WinHelp format has been dropped in Vista.
The 4.2 version included quite a lot of modifications in order to comply with the new User Account Control, among other things.
Today the VistaSound driverset has been released, which makes the new WaveRT drivers available for use by MultitrackStudio. It appears in the list in the Devices window, alongside the existing WinSound and AsioSnd driversets. It has been tested with a small number of audio devices only. You can send any feedback (good or bad) using the support email link in the Studio menu's Contact window.
So, how does Vista audio perform? Over here ASIO works just as good as it does with Windows XP, although the pretty new Vista looks can cause glitches at low latencies. Switching back to the classic theme solves this.
The VistaSound driverset doesn't work quite as good as ASIO at low latencies if CPU usage is high (this may improve in future versions). It does, however, have some nice properties. It automatically switches to a higher latency if there's no need for a low latency. So it works flawlessly as long as you're not recording using softsynths or Tape Type Monitoring. Furthermore it has been designed to keep any glitches out of the track you're recording. So even while you may hear more glitches when recording with Tape Type Monitoring then with ASIO, the recorded track may actually be better.
The big question of course is: should you upgrade to Vista? If you have a good sound card with an ASIO driver then there's not much to gain as far as recording music is concerned. On the other hand there seems to be little reason for getting nervous by the thought of having Vista on your next computer, provided your soundcard manufacturer has released a driver.
If you're using a cheap (probably on-board) soundcard you may be interested in the new drivers. With a little luck Vista will come with a driver for your card. A nice soundcard may be cheaper than a Vista upgrade though
It's recommended to visit the websites of the manufacturers of all the hard and software you want to use and make sure there's some sign of Vista-awareness. If there is you can at least hope that any problems which may occur will be solved within a couple of months.
Giel Bremmers
Thanks a million Giel for the new update. I've been peeking at what's new with vista for a while now. For people who own an older PC and are ready to update there system, software and hardware it obvious that Windows Vista has the new bells and whistles, but for guys like me where our XP PCs are just a few years old and have bundles of software video/sound cards etc... installed, it would dig deep in our pockets to update so soon. MTS is rock solid with XP and when I do update my PC in a couple years, I will still be a proud owner of a rock solid MTS but this time with Vista. Once again GIEL, thanks a million for the service you provide with ROCK SOLID MTS.
) the program if you did too much activity in a short space of time. But, and thank heavens. Creative have new Vista-friendly drivers for the Soundblaster Card, MOTU did the same for the interface, ASIO4ALL has regular updates and it seem MTS runs perfectly if you disable all the other sound devices (in this case: SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC). Having spent about 4 hours trying to crash the system with rapid movements, real-time editing, running lots of VST fx's and instruments, etc. whilst everything is running at high speed, it passes the test everytime.........