Comments on: A case for 64 bit Windows

By: Create Digital Music » The Most Out of Windows 7: Choosing and Optimizing Windows for Music

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:43:32 +0000

[...] http://www.noelborthwick.com/minidump/2009/12/a-case-for-64-bit-windows/ [...]

By: SONAR 8.5 / Intel Core I7 / Windows 7 X64 – a heavenly trilogy for DAW users — : NOEL BORTHWICK WEBSITE : Minidump

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:47:50 +0000

[...] For the operating system Windows 7 X64 was a no brainer choice. During the SONAR 8.5 cycle we tested SONAR with beta and RC versions of Windows 7 and addressed all known compatibility issues. We also found that the kernel enhancements in Win7 to be complimentary to a lot of the optimizations we did in SONAR itself. I chose the Professional SKU because I wanted some of the extra’s like the XP compatibility mode and remote desktop host. More Windows 7 resources and some articles I contributed to can be found here and in this Create Digital Music article. Installing the 64 bit version was also an easy choice since I wanted 6GB of RAM. There are also other benefits to a 64 bit OS even if you are primarily running 32 bit applications as outlined in this blog post. [...]

By: Noel

Noel — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:51:07 +0000

Hi Frans,

Yes, using a double precisicion (64 bit) audio stream on a 64 bit capable reverb will generate audibly smoother tails. Thats a common benefit.

Some clarifications: Its important to understand the distinction between 64 bit math VS 64 bit addressing.
Any 32 or 62 bit process on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and are capable of doing 64-bit math, but only a 64 bit operating system can do 64-bit addressing, as shown in the table below.

————————————— 64-bit-math ——– 64-bit-addressing ——— FPU benefits

X64, 64bit process ………………… x ………………………… x …………………………….. x
X64, 32bit process ………………… x
X86, 32bit process ………………… x

On a X64 OS and running a native 64 bit application you get the maximum performance benefit when doing 64 bit math due to the extra 64 bit FPU registers. Note however that there is no SONIC benefit by using a 64 bit application. i.e. assuming your computer has the horse power to process all the 64 bit audio streams it should sound bit identical to a 32 bit OS/App doing the same. You can verify this for yourself by rendering audio to a wave from both platforms and then doing a phase inversion test on the results from both.

By: Frans van den Berge

Frans van den Berge — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:39:01 +0000

My ears told me that when I use 64bit on a REVERB (and the reverb supports this….) (Sonar 7,8,8.5 does native 64bit (even on 32bit (the audio pipeline uses double accurracy (if selected) (This is available in Sonar 64bit and Sonar 32bit) it sounds more reall. I assume this is because reverbs are numbers crunched with your 24bit audio data wich can lead to long numbers. The longer those numbers the more accurate the “reverbtail”. And because a native 64bit computer probably needs “less resources” (I mean in a 32bit you call it ; “double precision” In a 64bit it’s just …. native resolution?) it stays a snappy OS even when playing back an intensive project….

Anyway, a 64bit platform wants much more RAM and the coming combination of 4/8/16GB ram in a mainstream DAW together with Solid State Disks will lead to snappier OS’es and the artist will have the ability to monitor from within the DAW because of fast real time processing so the listener/performer does not notice latencies. So prices drop and the customer will smile.

With the new Lexicon PCM VST plugin I wonder if people will notice “better tails” on a 64bit system compared to a 32bit system…. Let’s wait and see.

Sonar 7 (and soon 8.5) on my X2 with Vista64 feels snappier then when I was using WINXPPRO.

By: John

John — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:26:09 +0000

Great Blog Noel. Is about time you made a statement about this. We few that have been saying that Sonar runs better on a 64 bit OS have had to listen to those that insist that the only advantage is memory size. Those of us that have taken the 64 bit route have found that that is just a very nice advantage but not the only one.

By: best daw for much/large vst plugins? - Ultimate Metal Forum

best daw for much/large vst plugins? - Ultimate Metal Forum — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:25:49 +0000

[...] bit about the details and advantages of various configurations. Check out the following articles: A case for 64-bit Windows – in it Noel talks about the increased registers of 64-bit processors and the ability of 64-bit OS [...]