Windows 10 для музыкантов скачать

February 18th, 2021

Windows 10 tweaks, optimizations, and build tips for pro audio workstations / DAWs – Part 1 of 3

Permalink for the start of this guide: https://aka.ms/Win10AudioTweakGuide . Please use this link when sharing.

This is a long guide. It started out as a simple list of recommended tweaks, but weeks later, it evolved into this multi-part series. I hope you find it useful, despite its book-sized text. 🙂

This is Part 1 of 3. Once available, you will find the other posts here:

• Part 1: Introduction and PC picking/building
• Part 2: What to tweak proactively, and what to consider doing
• Part 3: What not to do when tweaking your digital audio workstation

There are many Windows tweak guides out on the net. Some are good, some are quite bad, some are simply outdated, and some suggest things that may ultimately make for a worse-performing workstation. I’ve avoided releasing a guide like this, because many folks follow tweak guides blindly, and end up with unstable workstations. Part of the reason for this is that very few tweaks will reliably increase performance across all types of PCs, DAWs, and audio interfaces.

But I felt it’s time to release the things I personally find valuable for a Windows music workstation, in the form of an unofficial and potentially unsupported tweak guide. This is part 1, which deals with decisions made before tweaking even starts. This is important, because so much of the train is set in motion here, at the beginning, when you pick your PC or components.

This tweak/tip guide will be full of caveats. Why? Because tweak guides should be full of caveats, of course. There are always implications and side effects to any choices you make when customizing a system.

My general approach for audio is to start with the things I know will be important to do, and then test my performance. If it’s within the range I want, I’m good. But I test with my ears, not by using tools. I recommend folks not get hung up with test results from DPC latency checkers or others unless there’s an actual audible audio glitch.

It’s important to note again that this is an unofficial guide. The tweaks and tips here are not necessarily supported by or recommended by Microsoft, the Windows team, or the companies involved in building the hardware and software you are using. I’ve put this out based on my own experience and research. As with any list of “tweaks”, use these at your own risk and expense.

That said, I’ve tried to provide enough information here for you to make informed decisions, rather than blindly following a list of changes. For that reason, the guide here is both longer, and requires more of your active decision making vs. a straight list of tweaks.

Also, some of these tweaks and suggestions will have different implications when on a desktop vs a gaming laptop vs a “thin and light” laptop or tablet. I note those when that’s the case. Personally, I use a desktop PC for my music creation because that affords me the best performance and expansion options all with the best possible thermal management.

I also keep my PC on the other side of a physical wall (cables pass through the wall, which is actually a decoupled double-wall) so I don’t have to consider any tradeoffs with cooling vs noise. That said, it’s still pretty quiet due to the large fans. Not everyone can do this, but if you can, it’s really a great setup with the best of all worlds.

I’m making the assumption here that the PC you are tweaking is being used for primarily or exclusively DAW use. My own PC is the one I use for everything (video editing and rendering, gaming, software development, 3d CAD/CAM, music creation, general PC use), so I’ve personally made different choices in some cases. That said, my audio latency and performance are quite good, despite having made minimal tweaks.

Folks often ask about specs for my own PC, so here are my PC specs at the time of this writing. Most of my PC is a few years old now. I tend to update components every 3-5 years, on a rolling basis. I don’t regularly reinstall Windows or do any maintenance.

Component	What I use
Processor	Intel i9 9900K – 8 cores, 16 threads
Memory	64GB XMP 3200 DDR4 RAM
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
Video	nVidia 2080 RTX Super (for video rendering, 3d design, and gaming). Driving one 4k 40″ screen and one smaller touch screen
OS and apps drive	Intel PCIe 1.2TB NVMe drive in a PCIe slot. (I’ve had this drive across a few PC upgrades, but it is very fast and reliable. I intend to upgrade it once I move to a PCIe 4.0 system in the future)
Data drive	old spinning rust 3TB drive. I intend to replace this soon as it’s starting to get on in years.
Audio interface	MOTU PCIe 424 with 4x 24 i/o rack units (96 inputs, 96 outputs) running at 96k/24 bit (these drivers haven’t been updated in a very long time, so they may stop working at some point in the future). I run with a 256 sample buffer which gives me around 5ms round trip. I can go lower (and have, as a test), but settled on this to allow me the best mix of performance and flexibility with some rather hungry plugins.
MIDI interfaces	5x MOTU MIDI 128, 2x iConnectivity mio XL, many USB->device direct connections
Backup	Both OneDrive and external USB drives

That setup was the right choice for my build at the time, and as of this writing, I am still using it. I’m not making any statement about it being the best system, lowest latency, or most suitable for you. I use a mix of hardware and software synthesizers, and primarily software effects (although I do have some hardware effects). As mentioned above, I also do non-DAW work on this PC (video editing, 3d modeling, software development, writing this blog post, graphics work, games, and more).

Here’s a photo of the basement wall behind me (approximately a third of my setup, and most of my modular gear — keyboards and other synths are on other side of the room)

Almost all of that is attached to the PC either directly (USB), or through a USB MIDI interface (MOTU and iConnectivity). All of it is connected to my PC audio inputs.

Please note that I can neither recommend a system for you, nor comment on suitability of individual components you’ve picked. I cannot otherwise help you choose software/parts/components/PCs/etc. There are lots of helpful folks on forums who can help you there, and who can give you up-to-date advice.

Some (many) of the DAW software companies have their own tweak lists. They are a best attempt at covering the ecosystem of devices that run their products. I don’t recommend following any of them blindly, especially since some of them are really Windows Vista/7 information re-labeled as Windows 10, but do take a look at any additional information provided by your DAW or interface developer. They tend to know what works best with their own software, but aren’t always on top of keeping up with the latest releases of Windows or hardware.

I also work with a number of good DAW PC OEMs (companies that build DAW PCs). They tend to do even more for their systems. If you buy a custom DAW PC from a DAW OEM, and they do something different from what I indicate here, I would trust them to know what is the most stable thing for their system. They know the subset of hardware they target, and they know what they need to be able to support over time. They also know which subset of software they support, and how to get the most from it.

I want to point out one thing many folks don’t realize, and the proliferation of tweak guides (including this one) doesn’t help: you can get perfectly fine audio performance from most quality PCs without doing any of this. You don’t have to tweak the PC in most cases. Of course, the PC ecosystem is huge with many different PCs, DAWs, and devices out there, so your mileage may vary. But don’t go into a PC purchase assuming that, to be usable for any audio, you’ll have to do a ton of customizations.

Ok. Enough with the disclaimers. Before getting into the tweaks, let’s start with some general guidance.

Agree, disagree, or otherwise have an opinion on anything here? Please drop me a note in the comments.

Acceptable audio latency

Unless you are trying to get audio latency down to the absolute minimum you can, because that’s your hobby (much like overclocking PCs, or performance tuning cars), it’s usually not worth doing the additional hard work and stability troubleshooting to knock off another ms or so from your round-trip latency; the additional tweaks have diminishing returns and increased risk of instability in many cases. The majority of your performance is going to come from picking a good audio interface with good ASIO drivers.

I’m not talking about folks building custom systems for orchestral arrangement with 500+ tracks. Those folks will have their own information to go by, and rather unique needs which may push them further than most folks need to go (including restricting to known hardware that may be several generations old). But rather I’m targeting the vast majority of musicians out there who want to ensure they get the most reasonable and stable performance from their PC.

Remember, sound travels approximately one foot per millisecond. So the typical stage monitor, for a guitar player, is around 5-12 milliseconds of latency away from them (if not using in-ear). For those of us with studio monitors, they are usually 2-5ms away. Headphones have less latency, but only if wired. Wireless and Bluetooth protocols add their own latency in communications to the headphones.

Tip: Unless you prefer tweaking over making music, don’t get hung up on the last millisecond or three.

How to pick a PC

If you haven’t already picked the PC you plan to use for audio production, you have some decisions to make. The decisions you make here will completely influence your options when it comes to actual tweaking.

Consider a desktop instead of a laptop

If this is a dedicated DAW PC, and you don’t currently gig or otherwise take your performance on the road, consider a desktop rather than a laptop. Desktops have more expansion options, and most importantly, much better thermal management which include larger (quieter) fans. I know many musicians who hate the loud fan on their laptops once they kick into heavy production. Larger fans can spin more slowly while moving the same amount of air as the much smaller fans in a laptop. Slower typically means quieter. High-quality name-brand fans here also make a difference in airflow and bearing noise.

Additionally, laptops and tablets are very prone to throttling the CPU to reduce heat. The last thing you need while recording is the CPU to slow down. This happens a lot with any consumer laptop that is optimized for size and weight rather than heat dissipation. Note that you can mitigate this a bit with dedicated active cooling pads for your laptop should you need to, but those little fans still tend to be quite loud.

My son had a gaming laptop (he now has a desktop). Whenever he spun up a more intense game, the fan went into full jet engine mode. The CPU didn’t throttle, but that’s because this was a fat laptop, with more cooling. But boy was it loud. I’d never use it for DAW work. I ended up building him a gaming PC for his birthday, spurred on by the failure of one of the fans in the laptop (I’ve replaced those fans, but it’s really a backup/friend PC now.)

And note that this isn’t just a Windows PC thing, it happens across the board with laptops of all sorts. But in the PC world, we have a decent choice to build or buy a desktop as an alternative. I have friends who use actively-cooled laptops that run other operating systems, and they are no different when it comes to noise levels or heat.

Desktops also tend to give you more options for USB connections, as well as the ability to use wired networking rather than wireless. These are both extremely important for systems that will use many external devices.

There are many professional musicians who have completely different gigging vs home studio rigs. They often have desktops in the studio, and laptops for gigs/road. If you can swing this type of setup, you get the best of both worlds. You can use tools like OneDrive to automatically synchronize your data files between them.

Finally, you can upgrade a desktop PC over time vs having to throw it away and replace it. For my own build, I’ve used the same case across a number of builds. I’ve also brought memory (which was over-specc’d), drives, and the audio interface over from past builds. I’ve replaced the motherboard and CPU cooling for each build, and the video card in-between builds. Not only does this reduce overall cost, but it’s generally better on the environment to reuse rather than throw away or even recycle. Also, because I own a retail license to Windows 10 Pro (rather than an OEM version), I’ve been able to move that from build to build over the years.

Tip: If you don’t need to take this PC on the road, or otherwise need it to be portable, a desktop is almost always the better choice. You could always get a separate laptop for road use if you require one in the future. Because the laptop would not be a desktop replacement, it doesn’t necessarily have to have the same high specs you’d require if it were your main studio PC.

Build or Buy

Building your own PC is a hobby in itself. It’s easy enough to build a working PC to handle gaming, web, and more, but not always simple to build an optimally performing PC for audio. In general, you will not save money when building your own PC. Instead, you get to pick exactly what you install into it, rather than choose a pre-configured system, that was not designed with audio in mind.

You can also buy a new audio-focused DAW PC, built by companies that specialize in this. This gives you someone to turn to if something doesn’t work, and also gets you up and running much faster. In the case of PCs built by custom DAW OEMs, you are also guaranteed to have a musician-quality PC ready to run. There are many PC DAW builders out there, but here are two shows I’ve done with current and former DAW Builders:

Computer Music Week

DAWbench Radio Show

Tip: If building a PC is not part of your hobby or interests, strongly consider a custom/dedicated DAW PC builder.

Ok. Let’s get into some decisions around building your own PC.

Custom PC Build tips

Let’s say you’re going to build your own PC. Remember, you’re not likely to save money here, but rather you get to make every decision that goes into the build.

What should you consider?

Start with good components

By “good” I don’t necessarily mean “top of the line”. Plenty of folks make great music on i5 and similar processors, integrated graphics, and 8-16GB memory. In fact, sometimes those i5s do better than i7s in thin laptops due to less thermal throttling. Instead, I mean to purchase quality, name-brand components that have a good reputation in the community. That includes everything from the power supply to the case fans to the memory.

When it comes to memory, I recommend new builders use the memory compatibility list the motherboard manufacturer releases. Most memory will just work, but the compatibility list will remove all doubt and help ensure you are able to get memory that performs to spec in your setup. How much memory you need will depend upon your use, but I personally recommend 32GB if you can, especially if you have integrated graphics and you work with sample libraries. Most everything will work well enough on 16GB, of course. 8GB can be stretching it and will be limiting, but folks still use it with the limitations in mind. I have 64GB in my PC not because I use that much with a DAW, but because some of the other work I do on this PC really benefits from the additional memory.

Is it worth getting memory that is faster than the minimum requirement for your CPU and motherboard? In many cases, the answer is “yes”. There’s a price/performance trade-off, but if you go a couple steps higher, and the memory has an XMP setting (a profile for describing the memory’s preferred settings) that you can enable with your motherboard, it’s worth doing. Audio, video, and graphics work all tend to be memory-intensive, so it’s usually worth boosting just a little there when you can. Keep in mind that rated speed is not the only consideration, as various latency values also play a part. You can go nuts researching this on overclocking and gaming forums.

Tip: Budget components often have budget performance over time.

Minimize what you put in the box

Do you really need a discrete graphics card? Is your DAW PC the right location for a video capture card? The more things you add to your PC, the more work you’ll have troubleshooting any potential additional latency or instability. I’m not saying to completely avoid these things (in fact, I have both a video capture card and a discrete video card in my build), but just to be aware that you will potentially add issues with these devices. What issues you run into highly depends upon the quality of the devices and drivers, how your motherboard is set up, and how much experience you have building PCs.

That said, sometimes, a discrete graphics card will actually help your performance. But this was in specific cases reported on forums, with specific graphics-hungry plugins.

Tip: Keep it simple. The more you put in, the more complex any troubleshooting will be.

Know how your motherboard works

If possible, before purchasing your motherboard, or certainly afterwards, read the manual. The manual typically includes information such as which PCIe slots share resources with each other, or with specific M.2 slots or Thunderbolt ports. In many motherboards, you’ll also find that certain SATA ports share resources with PCIe slots or other on-board devices. This information, factored into your build decisions, can make the difference between a great DAW PC and an unusable one. Knowing this in advance will help prevent issues where you may, for example, max out the M.2 slots with drives, only to find that there are no PCIe lanes left for that audio interface after you added that video card.

Another thing you’ll learn from the manual is which USB ports are CPU/chipset vs. being run from an on-board hub. This seldom makes a real performance difference, but it can help you in prioritizing connections and partitioning the tree of USB devices to maximize bandwidth and minimize interruptions. For example, I would try not to put a USB Audio interface on the same branch of the tree as mouse, touch, webcam, and keyboard. I would also try to minimize the devices (like on-board hubs) in between the CPU and the audio interface.

Knowing this information will help you plan your build in a way that minimizes potential conflicts and maximizes performance where it’s needed.

Tip: Read the motherboard manual. 🙂

Start with a current set of firmware

Your laptop, desktop, or motherboard manufacturer will almost certainly have BIOS updates available. Read the notes and check online forums for problems. If they look reasonable, update to the latest before you even install the OS. Staying with an old BIOS will often mean you lose compatibility with later processors and memory. Many motherboards in the past have required BIOS updates to work with Thunderbolt 3 as well.

When looking for BIOS problems, keep in mind that people on the internet generally don’t start threads to tell you that the BIOS update works as expected. Instead, like anything else you look up, you’ll typically find problem reports disproportionately represented in discussions. What you’re looking for are audio-specific reports, or trends of obvious big problems. A single problem report is not likely to be a trend. Similarly, a report about dropped FPS in a game is not likely to be relevant to music creation.

The same goes for updates to your audio interface firmware.

Tip: Try to update your BIOS firmware before you install Windows

Understand the difference between Windows 10 editions

I’m often asked which edition of Windows 10 I recommend for musicians. In general, I recommend Pro, because it has more knobs you can turn to control aspects of the system, especially anything that uses Group Policy, or has to do with updates. But outside of that, most folks with a basic DAW can do fine with the Home edition, as long as they understand the limitations.

So, when in doubt, get the Pro edition. But if your PC came with Home edition installed, you don’t necessarily have to upgrade to Pro.

Note that some PCs come with what is known as “S Mode” (formerly Windows 10 S). This is fine for the majority of consumers out there, but not for musicians at the time of this writing. You can switch the PC out of S mode, so you can install the DAW software and other tools you need to produce music.

Tip: Windows 10 Home is fine, but Windows 10 Pro will give you more options for control over the PC. You can upgrade at any time, but it’s easiest to start with the one you want to keep.

Talk to others

There’s a huge community of PC builders out there. Ideally, you want to participate in a segment which specializes in DAW PCs. You can find forums and threads in places like Gearslutz, KVR, and more. If you just do a web search, you’ll get an unbalanced view because most people post their problems, not their successes.

I can’t help you with PC or component recommendations, but I do recommend checking out the various music forum DAW Build PC threads. Technology changes every year, so these tend to be quite active.

Tip: There’s a great community of audio PC builders. Tap into it.

Don’t rely on latency-reporting apps to decide if your PC is usable for audio

I sometimes get reports from folks who have perfectly usable systems, and are making music with them, but tried out a latency monitoring application and saw poor results. These types of apps are really only useful once you’ve already run across glitching or other issues. Instead of relying on these reports, trust your ears. Only if you hear a problem should you turn to these apps to get some indication of what may be the cause.

Tip: Use your senses, not a benchmarking app.

Bonus: Consider installing Power Toys

Musicians often want to remap keys and have greater control over managing windows on their desktop. The open source Microsoft PowerToys makes those, and more, very easy to do. You can download and install them for free. You can even contribute your ideas (or code!) to help make the product even better.

Microsoft PowerToys Documentation Microsoft PowerToys Github Repo

PowerToys is delivered out of the box because it makes it easier for us to iterate out of cycle with Windows, and also makes community contributions possible.

Tip: The PowerToys Fancy Zones is especially nice for window management.

Bonus 2: Consider Microsoft Edge (Chromium)

Oh, and one of the first things many people do, usually by old habit when setting up a new PC, is install Google Chrome. Chrome is a good browser, but keep in mind that the current version of Microsoft Edge is based on the open source Chromium project (Microsoft is one of the biggest contributors to that project) so is compatible with all the same sites and markup that Chrome is. It also supports Web Audio and Web MIDI, and I’ve had zero issues using it on sites that recommend Chrome. You can (if you want) sync favorites and more between Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. It even has some pretty nice privacy tweaks, and easy switching between home and work profiles.

I beg forgiveness for the marketing-like blurb, but please do check it out.

This video is almost a year old at this point, but is still useful. Also, for once, it seems like I can actually recommend that you read the comments. 🙂

Tip: The new Microsoft Edge Browser, based on Chromium, is not the same as the old one. Check it out.

What’s coming

In the remaining two parts of this series, I’ll talk about what we would normally think of as tweaks, which ones to apply, which ones to question, and which ones to stay away from. I’ll also recommend steps to take when things don’t go as planned.

If you have your own PC building tips (specific to DAWs), or disagree with any advice here, please do mention it in the comments below.

The DAW PC tweak series

This is Part 1 of 3. Once available, you will find the other posts here:

• Part 1: Introduction and PC picking/building
• Part 2: What to tweak proactively, and what to consider doing
• Part 3: What not to do when tweaking your digital audio workstation

Permalink for the start of this guide: https://aka.ms/Win10AudioTweakGuide . Please use this link when sharing.

How will Windows 10 for Pro Audio stack up? PCAudioLabs is providing answers.

PCAudiolabs has always been ahead of the curve, and the competition, when it comes to Windows and systems which are compatible with Windows for pro audio. As PCAudioLabs was the first pro audio computer builder to offer Windows 8, we plan to be the first to support Windows 10, as well.

We are thrilled to say that PCAudioLabs/OBEDIA were featured in the Summer NAMM A3E Future of Audio Keynote on Windows 10, presented by Pete Brown of Microsoft.

Watch the video here:

PCAudioLabs has provided deep testing in Windows 10 for Pro Audio, and our findings have shown that Windows 10 is going to be quite beneficial for Pro Audio and Audio Production.  As such, we present to you some of our findings.

GOALS

The goal of these tests are to determine if the Windows WDM audio engine has reduced latency in each iteration of Windows when used in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The ancillary point of these tests is to test the usability and experience of Windows 10 for pro audio usage, and the OS’s efficiency of processor and RAM operation.

MC 7X SE TEST PRO AUDIO COMPUTER BY PCAUDIOLABS BUILT FOR JUSTIN LASSEN

PCAL was approached by recording Artist and Intel Music professional Justin Lassen to build a custom computer showcasing the Intel 4790k “Devil’s Canyon” processor. The system will specifically feature Windows 10.  The MC 7X SE incorporates Intel Water cooling for a stable 4gHz operating build for pro audio production.  The system will be used in presentations, and so a windowed custom case was utilized to allow viewers to see the computer components.

The system was configured by PCAL for pro audio production, as per PCAL specifications, which take into account some proprietary tweaks and optimizations for Windows for pro audio production, as well as an exhaustive test process for all hardware, to ensure a smooth user experience.

PRO AUDIO TESTS PERFORMED

The tests performed were utilized using the WDM audio engine in Windows and a PreSonus Audiobox 44VSL, running Cakewalk SONAR Platinum.  SONAR was used because it is very friendly to the WDM standard, and is a well-known and very efficient DAW. The latest version of Windows 10 preview was used for test purposes.

Windows 7 vs. Windows 8 vs. Windows 10 was tested.  The goal was to discern if Windows 10 outperforms its predecessors.

A 48 track session with individual streaming audio regions was built for the test for playback. All tests were performed at 44.1khz/16bit (CD Quality).

In Windows 7, the lowest latency numbers achieved were at a buffer size of 220 samples for a latency of 5ms.

In Windows 8, the lowest latency numbers achieved were at a buffer size of 179 samples for a latency of 4ms.

In Windows 10, the lowest latency numbers were at a buffer of 132 samples for a latency of 3ms.

We can see that the WDM latency has come down with each iteration of Windows.

PRO AUDIO PASSMARK TESTS AND WINDOWS 10 PRO AUDIO BENCHMARKS

Passmark Performance Test was used to test each Windows iteration, resulting in numbers which showed a boost in performance moving up the Windows tiers, especially on CPU and Memory marks.

CPU SCORES FOR PRO AUDIO WITH WINDOWS 10:

We see a boost going from Windows 7 to 10 in CPU benchmarks.

RAM SCORES  AND BENCHMARKS FOR PRO AUDIO WITH WINDOWS 10:

Memory benchmarks between Windows 8/10 are very close to each other, however, Windows 7 has a decided shortfall compared to the two newer OSes.

DISK SCORES AND BENCHMARKS FOR PRO AUDIO WITH WINDOWS 10:

Windows 10 soars in its disk performance, especially being that it has been installed on an SSD.

DAW COMPATIBILITY

We have used many  DAWs to test for general usability, and were found to work very well with Windows 10.  They are:

• Cakewalk SONAR Platinum
• Avid Pro Tools 12
• PreSonus Studio One 3
• Steinberg Cubase 8
• Ableton Live 9
• Cuckos REAPER
• Acoustica Mixcraft

These DAWs were found to open/work in standard operation without issue on Windows 10.  Further testing for stress testing/DAWbench testing will be performed.

AUDIO INTERFACE

The PreSonus Audiobox 44VSL was utilized, using the latest drivers available. The interface worked flawlessly in all cases.

Conclusion

Windows 10 is proving to be a solid contender for the next best OS for digital creativity.  With reduced latency on the WDM audio engine, combined with impressive benchmarks and broad compatibility even in technical preview, the OS looks to be one of the best yet.  PCAudioLabs plans to support Windows 10 on all our pro audio computer systems.

Get New Posts Delivered Right to Your Inbox

Рад снова встретить вас на моем маленьком сайте!

Здесь мы рассмотрим и сравним лучшие музыкальные проигрыватели для Windows на основе их многочисленных функций и услуг, чтобы выбрать лучший музыкальный проигрыватель для Windows 10/11.

Различные инструменты играют важную роль в нашей повседневной жизни и делают нашу работу легкой и продуктивной.

Тем не менее, проблема возникает при выборе лучшего из них в соответствии с вашими требованиями, поскольку на рынке доступно множество инструментов.

В большинстве случаев мы лучше понимаем наши требования и можем выбрать соответствующий инструмент, который наилучшим образом соответствует нашим потребностям.

Тем не менее, бывают ситуации, когда мы не знаем о многочисленных инструментах с расширенными функциями, доступных на рынке, которые могут сделать нашу задачу намного более управляемой.

Итак, в этой статье мы обсудим лучший музыкальный плеер для Windows 10/11, который регулярно используют почти все.

Мы также обсудим некоторые проигрыватели инструментальной музыки, которые лучше всего соответствуют вашим требованиям.

Итак, начнем.

Что такое музыкальный проигрыватель?

Музыкальные проигрыватели — это файлы, которые перехватывают код и инструкции, записанные в конкретном файле, и затем воспроизводят их на проигрывателе как аудио.

Аудиофайлы содержат определенные частоты и символы данных, которые передают информацию в децибелах.

Эти музыкальные проигрыватели действуют как компилятор для таких файлов и отправляют аудиоформат.

На рынке есть различные музыкальные плееры.

Вы можете различать их по множеству функций и услуг и выбирать лучший музыкальный проигрыватель для Windows 10/11.

Список лучших музыкальных проигрывателей для Windows 10/11

Подробные обзоры:

1. Music Bee

Music Bee предоставила значительно более практичное приложение, помогающее пользователям наиболее эффективно запускать аудиофайлы.

Этот инструмент также оснащен многими важными функциями, которые значительно облегчают пользователям работу в соответствии с их требованиями.

Пользователи могут устанавливать темы по своему желанию и работать с фоном и статьями.

Пользователи, у которых есть несколько устройств, широко используют этот инструмент, так как он имеет простую функцию синхронизации, которая делает работу с несколькими устройствами более удобной.

Чтобы сделать воспроизведение аудиофайлов более эффективным, этот инструмент оснащен рядом визуализаций, которые делают проигрыватель интересным.

Он также имеет театральный режим, чтобы испытать полную театральную атмосферу во время прослушивания песен.

Кроме того, это приложение, основанное на пожертвованиях, поэтому пользователи могут сообщать об ошибках в программном обеспечении разработчикам, а следующая версия будет включать исправления того же самого.

Функции:

• Этот инструмент помогает пользователям выполнять точную настройку с помощью звуковых заметок и тонкую настройку с полосой частот 10–15 с улучшенными эффектами DSP (цифровая обработка сигналов) для совместного использования дискретных сигналов;
• Оснащен высококачественными, надежными и эффективными аудиокартами, которые обеспечивают поддержку ASIO для работы с несколькими устройствами;
• Предоставляет пользователям возможность воспроизведения без прерываний, чтобы наслаждаться аудиофайлами, не нарушая ритма;
• Увеличивает объемный стереозвук, позволяя пользователям вводить 3D-звуковые эффекты с помощью аудиофайла, что является жизненно важным инструментом редактирования;
• Понимаю, с какими трудностями сталкиваются пользователи при последовательном увеличении громкости, поэтому в нем используются логарифмические метки увеличения громкости, что упрощает управление громкостью звука;
• Предусматривает плагины WinAmp, которые предоставляют пользователям интерактивный интерфейс для эффективной работы с WinAmp и Music Bee.

Плюсы:

• Плагины WinAmp;
• Воспроизведение без пауз.

Минусы:

• Некоторым пользователям пользовательский интерфейс не показался интерактивным.

Вердикт: это очень эффективный инструмент с рядом функций, упрощающих прослушивание аудиофайлов и эффектов визуализатора.

В целом, это отличный выбор в качестве музыкального проигрывателя.

Цена: пожертвования.

2. Media Monkey

Лучше всего подходит для наиболее эффективной организации аудиофайлов.

Media Monkey — один из самых популярных музыкальных проигрывателей для Windows 10/11, который поможет вам получить контроль над вашими аудиофайлами и упорядочить их наиболее эффективным способом, из которого их можно будет легко найти.

Его многочисленные другие функции позволяют пользователям слушать эти аудиофайлы в высоком качестве, наряду с функцией Auto Dj, которая усиливает и ремикширует песню.

Эта функция Auto Dj этого инструмента воспроизводит песню на основе определенного алгоритма, который понимает настроение пользователя на основе выбранных песен, а затем воспроизводит песни с таким же настроением.

Он имеет функцию высокоскоростного кодирования, что делает его эффективным для запуска аудиофайлов в системе.

Функции:

• Обеспечивает высокопроизводительную среду для пользователей, позволяя им транслировать музыку наилучшим образом;
• Управляет их аудиофайлами и эффективно синхронизирует устройства;
• Этот инструмент известен своей организацией файлов и алгоритмами поиска, что упрощает пользователям поиск необходимого файла в списке;
• Алгоритм проверки дубликатов может легко найти дубликаты файлов, а затем удалить их из системы;
• Наслаждайтесь высококачественными радиопрограммами, а также посещайте подкасты и получайте уведомления об этом;
• Транслируйте файлы на другое устройство, подключенное через Bluetooth или другой проводной/беспроводной носитель;
• Создавайте плейлисты и не ищите свои любимые песни.

Плюсы:

• Высококачественный звук;
• Радио и подкасты.

Минусы:

• Основное внимание уделяется организации и управлению.

Вердикт: это хороший инструмент, потому что он значительно упростил пользователям эффективную организацию своих аудиофайлов, а его функция Auto DJ поднимает настроение.

В целом это удобный инструмент.

Цены:

• Свободно;
• Версия Gold: 24,95 доллара за пять обновлений;
• Версия Пожизненный Gold: $49,95.

3. Foobar2000

Лучше всего подходит для пользователей, которые используют аудиофайлы в различных форматах.

Foobar доступен в Microsoft Store, и пользователи могут легко загрузить и установить его в своей системе.

Он совместим с различными форматами, что делает его одним из лучших вариантов для пользователей.

Он имеет множество функций, которые позволяют пользователям уменьшить задержку для эффективного улучшения файловых процессов.

Есть несколько уникальных функций, например, пользователи могут настраивать комбинации клавиш для быстрого использования.

Пользователи могут создавать такие ярлыки.

Он имеет архитектуру с открытыми компонентами, которая напоминает приложение с открытым исходным кодом, чтобы разработчики могли персонализировать его в соответствии со своими требованиями.

Функции:

• Поддерживает обширный список музыкальных проигрывателей, что позволяет значительной части пользователей перейти на этот инструмент;
• Он имеет самое быстрое воспроизведение без пауз, что позволяет пользователям продолжать наслаждаться невероятной атмосферой музыки;
• Этот инструмент настраивается, и пользователи могут изменять макет и персонализировать инструмент в соответствии со своими требованиями;
• Он имеет расширенные возможности тегирования, которые еще больше улучшают управление и использование аудиофайлов;
• Обеспечивает полную поддержку Replay Gain, что делает его отличным выбором для различных пользователей;
• Пользователи могут конвертировать различные форматы, что позволяет им работать с различными форматами.

Плюсы:

• Персонализация;
• Совместимость с многочисленными форматами.

Минусы:

• Он не оснащен интерактивным интерфейсом.

Вердикт: это инструмент с открытым исходным кодом и имеет различные функции, которые должны эффективно работать в приложении.

Он также совместим с рядом форматов для работы с более обширной пользовательской базой.

Цены: пожертвования.

4. VLC

Лучше всего подходит для Windows и для воспроизведения аудиофайлов.

VLC Media player — это приложение с открытым исходным кодом, которое выделяется среди лучших приложений с открытым исходным кодом, предоставляющих пользователям наиболее эффективные услуги в любой отрасли.

Этот инструмент имеет интерактивный пользовательский интерфейс, и пользователи могут легко перемещаться по его различным функциям, поскольку его легко загрузить и получить к нему доступ.

Он наиболее подходит как для аудио-, так и для видеофайлов, поскольку позволяет пользователям добавлять визуальные эффекты в аудиофайлы и добавлять субтитры и аудиофайлы в видеофайлы.

Так что для новичка это отличный инструмент, так как его можно эффективно использовать.

Функции:

• Совместим со всеми устройствами, поэтому используется в огромном списке систем;
• Он не представляет никакой угрозы для системы, поэтому не содержит никаких шпионских программ или трекеров;
• Имеет простой пользовательский интерфейс для навигации по функциям всего за несколько кликов;
• Добавьте файлы субтитров к видео и убедитесь, что звук и субтитры синхронизируются с видео;
• Параметр персонализации, который позволяет пользователям изменять темы и настраивать проигрыватель VLC Media в соответствии со своими требованиями;
• Пользователи могут легко загружать расширения и синхронизировать их со своим музыкальным проигрывателем, что делает его более доступным для доступа к многочисленным функциям;
• Практичная функция воспроизведения для воспроизведения видео с большей или меньшей скоростью.

Вердикт: этот инструмент имеет различные функции, так как пользователи могут легко воспроизводить свои аудио- и видеофайлы в этом приложении.

Пользователи также могут добавлять к своим файлам субтитры и визуализаторы.

Этот инструмент может оказаться очень полезным для доступа к аудио- и видеофайлам.

Цены: пожертвования.

5. AIMP

Лучше всего подходит для пользователей, которые хотят использовать более персонализированный музыкальный проигрыватель.

AIMP — это удобный музыкальный проигрыватель для Windows 10/11, оснащенный рядом функций, упрощающих пользователям прослушивание любимых аудиофайлов.

Среди особенностей — возможность мгновенного обмена несколькими файлами.

Этот инструмент также имеет функцию управления списками воспроизведения, что упрощает создание списков воспроизведения и управление ими в соответствии с вашими требованиями.

Это также позволяет пользователям интегрировать различные плагины в приложение, чтобы сделать его более удобным для пользователя, и одновременно поддерживает несколько других процессов.

Используемый кодировщик имеет высокое качество, что делает реализацию звука плавным процессом.

Функции:

• Предоставляет пользователям функции для простой интеграции API, облегчая им работу на различных устройствах;
• Совместим с системой Android с Android 5.0, установленной в качестве наименее поддерживаемой версии системы;
• Повышенная производительность и работа с передовыми алгоритмами и управлением;
• Поскольку пользователи сталкиваются с такими проблемами, как отключение экрана при использовании музыкальных проигрывателей, поэтому этот инструмент поставляется с включенным экраном, который не позволяет экранам гаснуть;
• Имеет обновленные виджеты, которые делают экран очень интерактивным и удивительным;
• В их список добавлены различные темы и скины, чтобы персонализировать инструмент в соответствии с требованиями;
• Имеет функцию, которая позволяет окну настраивать свои цвета относительно визуализаторов;
• Этот инструмент имеет встроенное радио для уменьшения размера буфера.

Вердикт: это удобный инструмент с различными функциями и сервисами для эффективной работы.

Он имеет множество функций и совместимый пользовательский интерфейс, но для начинающих его немного сложно использовать.

Цены: бесплатно.

6. Dopamine

Лучше всего, если вы хотите упорядочить свои аудиофайлы эффективным и привлекательным образом.

Dopamine — это не только название гормона, который вызывает ощущение чуда по вашим венам, но и музыкальный проигрыватель, который может изменить ваш предыдущий опыт с музыкальными проигрывателями.

Этот инструмент загружен функциями, которые могут революционизировать то, как люди смотрят на этот плеер.

Он ориентирован в основном на персонализацию, поэтому пользователи могут изменить тему и внешний вид инструмента для максимального удобства пользователей.

Он совместим с различными форматами аудиофайлов.

Функции:

• Имеет расширенный игровой экран с выгравированным на нем рядом кнопок и функций, что упрощает работу пользователей;
• Предоставляет различные функции на панели задач, чтобы пользователи могли получить доступ к многочисленным функциям без длительного поиска;
• Имеет функцию микроплеера для просмотра видео в мини-окне, которое появляется при одновременном выполнении другой работы;
• Интерактивный пользовательский интерфейс, облегчающий навигацию по различным необходимым функциям;
• Поддерживает различные языки в соответствии с требованиями пользователей, поэтому пользователи могут легко его использовать;
• Создавайте коллекции, такие как определенный раздел, где вы можете сохранять свои аудиофайлы на основе ваших критериев.

Вердикт: это полезный инструмент с рядом функций, которые облегчают работу пользователей, но некоторые разделы остаются нераскрытыми в качестве аудиоплеера, который можно улучшить и лучше управлять им.

Цены: пожертвования.

7. Windows Media Player

Лучше всего для пользователей Windows.

Windows Media Player — это встроенный системный инструмент, содержащий различные функции, такие как панель управления, организация аудиофайлов и многое другое, что делает его сравнительно простым в использовании.

Наряду с этими функциями, этот инструмент также имеет категоризированный каталог файлов для простого воспроизведения необходимого аудио.

Простой пользовательский интерфейс этого приложения упрощает навигацию по различным функциям.

Функции:

• Различные оптимизированные режимы воспроизведения улучшают общее качество звука;
• Обеспечивает привлекательную визуализацию, делая интерактивным прослушивание аудиофайлов;
• Совместим со всеми известными версиями Windows;
• Добавьте «Воспроизведение DVD», лучшая функция;
• Простая для понимания палитра управления;
• Организуйте и управляйте всеми своими аудиофайлами;
• Воспроизведение флип-видео и незащищенных песен.

Вердикт: этот инструмент удобен, и пользователи не сообщали о проблемах с его использованием.

Поэтому это отличный выбор для пользователей Windows.

Цены: бесплатно.

8. VOX Universal

Лучше всего для обеспечения лучшего качества радио и подкастов и использования его в качестве эквалайзера.

VOX universal — это инструмент, ориентированный на предоставление своим пользователям высококачественной музыки, и в то же время он имеет различные встроенные функции, облегчающие эту задачу.

Этот инструмент имеет встроенные эквалайзеры для настройки песни в соответствии с требованиями и интегрирован с более чем 30 000 радиостанций для прослушивания аудиофайлов.

Этот инструмент позволяет пользователям улучшать качество стереозвука и даже импортировать различные коллекции из других приложений.

Функции:

• Это музыкальный проигрыватель с высоким разрешением, чтобы наслаждаться высококачественной музыкой;
• Пользователи могут добавлять iTunes и личную музыку в коллекции и слушать их без каких-либо проблем;
• Совместимость и интеграция с более чем 30 000 радиостанций для прослушивания всех хитов;
• Неограниченное облачное пространство для загрузки файлов в хранилище, откуда вы можете легко получить к ним доступ;
• Совместимость с синхронизацией Spotify и SoundCloud, так что вы можете импортировать из них свои любимые коллекции;
• Предоставляет функцию эквалайзера, упрощающую настройку различных аудиокомпонентов файла.

Вердикт: этот инструмент — отличный выбор для высококачественной музыки, поскольку он предоставляет различные встроенные функции, облегчающие пользователям улучшение качества звука.

Цены:

• Свободно;
• Премиум $4,99/мес. (высокое качество звука, частота дискретизации синхронизации, поддержка Sonos и поддержка DLNA);

9. Clementine

Лучше всего подходит для пользователей, которые слушают песни с разных платформ.

Clementine — это удобный инструмент с различными функциями, облегчающими пользователям доступ к его услугам.

Этот инструмент может синхронизироваться и интегрироваться с другими платформами, предоставляя пользователям полный контроль над своими плейлистами.

Clementine даже позволяет вам создавать интеллектуальные списки воспроизведения и создавать их на основе вашего настроения или ряда других критериев.

Этот инструмент также предоставляет пользователям удаленное управление приложением с помощью командной строки и диспетчера очередей, который устанавливает очередь песен и обеспечивает непрерывное воспроизведение.

Функции:

• Ищите песни с их расширенным алгоритмом поиска и индексации;
• Предоставляет радиоуслуги и синхронизируется с множеством других платформ, таких как Spotify, Groove и т. д.;
• Поиск песен, загруженных на Диск, Dropbox и т. д.;
• Создавайте интеллектуальные плейлисты, к которым легко получить доступ и с которыми легко работать;
• Отредактируйте теги в аудиофайле;
• Отображает текст во время воспроизведения звука и отображает изображение на визуальном элементе.

Вердикт: это удобный инструмент с функциями, которые упростят вам подключение к различным платформам и поиск песен.

Цены: бесплатно.

Другие известные инструменты

10. XMPlay

XMPlay — удобный инструмент, поскольку он содержит некоторые важные функции, такие как ограничение задержки живого потока HLS с двойным размером скина.

Этот инструмент также усовершенствовал свои функции и значительно упростил доступ к ним, например, к улучшенному воспроизведению без пауз, что позволяет пользователям работать эффективно.

Цены: бесплатно.

11. Freemake Music Box

Freemake Music Box полностью оправдывает свое название, потому что предоставляет бесплатные услуги и поддерживает максимальное количество форматов, а также этот инструмент позволяет легко слушать песни онлайн.

Он также классифицирует треки по типам, таким как рок, металл, поп и многие другие.

Цены: бесплатно.

12. Spotify

Spotify — это известная платформа потоковой передачи музыки, которая содержит все последние хиты песен и категории для их фильтрации.

Этот инструмент также создает профили создателей, и пользователи могут напрямую искать создателя, а затем находить различные шедевры, созданные им.

Интерактивный пользовательский интерфейс и быстрые функции инструмента сделали его очень полезным.

Цены:

• Один месяц $9.99/мес.;
• 1 месяц дуэт $12,99/мес.;
• Семейный счет на один месяц $15,99/мес. (6 платежей);
• Студенческий аккаунт на один месяц $4.99/мес.

13. Roon

Roon — удивительный музыкальный проигрыватель, зарекомендовавший себя среди пользователей, поскольку он предоставляет информацию, выходящую за рамки музыкальных нот.

Это приложение предоставляет информацию об аудиофайле, например, о создателе, времени его выпуска, текстах песен и многом другом.

Этот инструмент посвящен обсуждению истории создателя и других творений.

Цены:

• 9,99 долларов США в месяц при ежегодной оплате;
• 12,99 долларов США в месяц при оплате ежемесячно;

14. Audirvana

Audirvana — это нирвана с музыкой.

Удивительные функции и эффекты перенесут вас в совершенно другой мир, где вы сможете эффективно работать и быстро расслабляться.

Этот инструмент имеет множество функций, таких как менеджер библиотеки HD, который наилучшим образом управляет вашими аудиофайлами и интегрирует потоковое содержимое, чтобы вы могли наслаждаться онлайн-музыкой.

Цены:

• Бесплатная пробная версия;
• Студия Классик;
• Ежемесячно: $6,99/мес.;
• Ежегодно: $69,99.

15. iTunes for Windows

iTunes — это известный музыкальный проигрыватель от Apple Inc., который позволяет пользователям получать доступ ко всем последним песням и потоковым платформам.

iTunes также предоставляет свои услуги для пользователей Windows.

Эти услуги включают в себя доступ к огромной базе данных аудиофайлов и возможность загрузки этих аудиофайлов и прослушивания их при подключении к сети.

Цены:

• Свободно;
• Студент: $4,99/мес.;
• Индивидуальный: $9,99/мес.;
• Семья: $14,99/мес.

16. Groove Music

Groove Music — это служба, предоставляемая Windows, которая позволяет пользователям слушать последние песни и аудиофайлы, и вы можете легко загрузить этот проигрыватель из Магазина Microsoft.

Groove Music получила отличное признание пользователей и продолжает оставаться идеальным выбором для пользователей.

Цены: бесплатно.

Вывод

Хотя музыкальные плееры кажутся небольшой частью нашей жизни, они играют значительную роль в нашей повседневной жизни.

Даже простое падение или разрыв во время прослушивания музыки может быть очень раздражающим.

Поэтому очень важно выбрать лучший музыкальный проигрыватель в соответствии с вашими требованиями.

В этой статье о лучшем музыкальном проигрывателе для Windows 10/11 мы обсудили различные музыкальные проигрыватели, и MusicBee и Media Monkey считаются лучшими музыкальными проигрывателями с наиболее эффективными услугами.

Процесс исследования:

• Время, затраченное на исследование и написание этой статьи: мы потратили 35 часов, чтобы вы могли получить сводную и полезную информацию о лучшем музыкальном проигрывателе для Windows 10/11;
• Всего инструментов, изученных в интернете: 29;
• Лучшие инструменты, включенные в шорт-лист для обзора: 16.

Часто задаваемые вопросы о музыкальном проигрывателе Windows

1. Какой музыкальный проигрыватель поставляется с Windows?

В Windows есть встроенный музыкальный проигрыватель Windows, известный как Windows Media Player.

2. Какой офлайн музыкальный проигрыватель лучше всего подходит для ПК?

Music Bee и Media Monkey являются одними из лучших автономных музыкальных плееров для ПК, поскольку они предоставляют различные функции, благодаря которым они занимают первые места в списке.

3. Какой музыкальный проигрыватель лучший?

Music bee — лучший музыкальный проигрыватель, и пользователи отлично отзываются об этом проигрывателе.

4. Есть ли в Windows 10/11 музыкальный проигрыватель?

Да, в Windows 10/11 есть встроенный музыкальный проигрыватель, известный как Windows Media Player, но пользователи также могут загружать в свою систему различные другие музыкальные проигрыватели.

5. Какой аудиоплеер лучше всего подходит для ПК?

Music Bee, Media Monkey и VLC — лучшие аудиоплееры для ПК.

А каким аудио проигрователем пользетесь вы?

Свои ответы или вопросы пишите в разделе комментариев ниже.

Подписаться на обновления блога!

Microsoft’s latest OS offers potential benefits for musicians and recording engineers — but is now the right time to move to Windows 10?

Since Windows 8 was launched, there’s been a noticeable change in the way Microsoft present themselves. The burgeoning market for mobile devices, with its diversity of operating systems, has seen Microsoft’s hegemony challenged in recent years. Windows 10 appears to be the result of a massive conversation in which consistency across devices has been demanded, and in which participants have made clear that they want this OS to be serious, businesslike, sleek and powerful — yet also fun and easy to use. The nature of those requests comes as no surprise: in creative industries our focus is often on running a single (albeit demanding) bit of software very well, but the rest of the world wants Windows to do everything.

It’s almost as if they’ve thrown open the gates to the chocolate factory and CEO Satya Nadella, the current Willy Wonka, has invited everyone to talk to the Oompa Loompas like they’re real people. It’s now possible to have conversations with Microsoft employees, the very people who are developing the tools we require to use our computers efficiently and effectively. What’s more, they seem to want to talk less about Taking Over The World and more about how they can provide a stable platform that lets people do their thing. They’re genuinely excited about you doing your thing, and they’re excited about you getting excited about it — possibly because it means you won’t notice them taking over the world when the time comes, but for the first time in years, I get the impression that they’re genuinely listening. And so far, Microsoft’s response to this conversation has been encouraging: whether you’re a member of the Start Menu-resurrection cult or a touchscreen-fingering bohemian, there’s something for everyone in Windows 10.

Upgrade Or Fresh Start?

Windows 10 is available to buy for $129.99 as a fresh installation, but a free upgrade is available to anyone who’s running a genuine copy of Windows 7 or above. The upgrade process is very easy: you either wait for Microsoft to tell you, via a little Windows icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, that your upgrade is ready, or you initiate the download yourself by visiting Microsoft’s web site (www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10). The staggered automatic roll-out is designed to ensure the smoothest upgrade possible for your system; they prioritise systems that have the highest chance of success in upgrading smoothly. So, while you can choose to upgrade manually before being prompted to do so, there’s a higher possibility of a bumpier ride. In either case, the upgrade will replace your current system, but your files and folders will remain intact, all your software will still be installed and everything should work fine.You have the option of creating an installer on a USB pen drive or other media, an approach which can sometimes result in a slightly ‘cleaner’ OS install — but you may need to run the updater before your fresh installation, in order to generate your licence!

Alternatively (and this is often a healthy way of maintaining a clean system), you can download Windows 10 and create your own installation media on a DVD or USB thumb drive in order to do a nice fresh installation from scratch. In this scenario, the media creation tool will tell you that you either need a Windows 10 Product Key or that you must buy a licence at the point of activation. If you want to do a fresh installation of Windows 10 for free, you’ll have to run the upgrade beforehand: the upgrade process takes your Windows 7 or 8 activation and binds it to Windows 10 and the current computer hardware, so when you then perform a fresh installation, Microsoft already know your hardware and your Windows 10 activation — sorted. In fact, via the upgrade route there is no Product Key.

Unfortunately, this means you’ll have no opportunity to move your free Windows 10 OS to any other machine (that’s not unique to Windows 10; it’s always been true of any Windows upgrade licence). Another consequence is that your Windows 7/8 licence is surrendered and replaced by the Windows 10 licence. The Microsoft license agreement states that “the upgrade replaces the original software that you are upgrading. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have upgraded and you may not continue to use it or transfer it in any way. This agreement governs your rights to use the upgrade software and replaces the agreement for the software from which you upgraded.”

In other words, you’re not permitted to run your previous version of Windows alongside the new OS. Obviously, this is not great news for people wishing to dual-boot, or to dip their toes in the Windows 10 water before committing. However, Microsoft allow you to return to your original OS at a later date, and so the realities of how these licences will be enforced is a slightly grey area. Also, it’s worth noting that dual-booting has always required two licences (even if, in practice, most people ignore that requirement and don’t fear the imminent arrival of the licensing police).

The easiest way to create a dual-boot system with Windows 10 is to first create one with two copies of Windows 7/8, and then upgrade one of those to Windows 10. So you could see a dual-booting machine as being one where you are constantly upgrading and downgrading your software. If you want to make things easier for yourself, of course, you always have the option of purchasing a retail copy of Windows 10 with a Product Key.

If upgrading, it’s also worth bearing in mind that, with Windows 8.1, Microsoft have clarified that the OEM versions of the OS are not intended for use by individuals, personal system builders or virtual machines, but can only be used by system builders who are selling the system to end users and are willing to provide the Windows support themselves. Here’s what they said: “An OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) licence is tied to a particular computer system via the motherboard. It’s non-transferable so if the motherboard dies then so does the licence. You can upgrade the computer to a point and you may need to go through a manual activation process after hardware changes. The OEM version includes no Microsoft support — that has to be supplied by the system builder. The Retail version licenses the user to run the OS and so that licence can travel from computer to computer provided that only one copy is activated at a time. The retail version will usually contain both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the OS, comes in a nice box, includes Microsoft support and is more expensive than the OEM version.” (Source: Microsoft Licensing FAQ.)

Automatic For The People?

For the first time in a Windows OS, updates are no longer optional. In the standard version of Windows 10, updates are downloaded and installed automatically; in the Pro version, updates can be deferred but ultimately have to be installed. It’s only in the Enterprise version that updates become optional. Initially, this seems a bit bonkers — disabling automatic updates is a traditional OS tweak, as it prevents your system being harmed by a faulty update or having your carefully installed drivers messed with. However, Windows 10 approaches these things differently. Rather than having occasional updates, service packs or ‘Patch Tuesdays’, as in the past, Microsoft will be continually revising and updating the software. Through the use of telemetry, Microsoft know a lot more about your system, and potentially have instant feedback on issues from millions of users, and so their potential ability to react to things is far greater than it has been previously.

One of the biggest causes of system instability is old drivers or unpatched software: the first question a tech-support engineer will ask a customer is whether he or she has downloaded the latest drivers, because when people complain about their systems crashing or running slowly, it’s often because they haven’t updated their systems. Microsoft want to cut through all this by keeping every copy of Windows 10 up-to-date, secure, stable and working. It’s perfectly sound reasoning but, of course, we’re all traditionally sceptical of such an approach, and it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will get this right in practice.

If you don’t trust them to do so, there are a couple of workarounds. Firstly, for all versions of the OS, there’s a tool from Microsoft that allows you to prevent some (not all) updates from being installed. The idea is that if something is installed that upsets your system (graphics drivers are a common culprit) you can uninstall it, run the Troubleshooter tool and prevent that update from being installed again. (More details here)

The other option is available if you’re running Pro or Enterprise versions of Windows 10, and is accessible via the Group Policy editor. Type ‘gpedit.msc’ into the Run box and navigate to Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Updates and select Configure Automatic Updates and Edit Policy Settings. Click on Enabled and then, from the drop-down menu, you can select ‘Notify for download and notify for install’. This will prevent Windows from downloading any updates unless told to do so.

Microsoft knowing more about your system is, for some, a cause for concern. Everyone reads the Privacy Policy and Service Agreement files when upgrading to Windows 10, right? Well, hidden in there (or written in plain sight depending on your paranoia level!) are some statements about the sort of information they will gather from your system. Taking an extreme view, it appears that Microsoft have every right to access anything you read, type or do and use it for nefarious ends. A more conservative reading reveals that it’s mostly a collection of permissions to allow parts of the OS to function. If, for example, you want online spell-checking for web forms and Cortana (the inbuilt personal assistant/search tool) then you have to give Microsoft permission to read the words you type. Cortana is designed to make personalised recommendations and so needs to use your data, for instance your email, calendar and browser history, to anticipate your needs. Cortana is completely opt-in (ie. you’re not forced to use it), customisable and will do nothing without your agreement. Similarly, if you want to tag photos with your location you need to give Microsoft permission to know your location; if you want to carry your Microsoft account across multiple devices you need to give Microsoft permission to access your browser history, favourites, network names and Wi-Fi passwords, and so on. Microsoft also collect telemetry data on what’s installed, your hardware setup, network settings and so forth (as it has done since Windows 7 via the Customer Experience Improvement Program), and this could be vital in keeping the automatic updates free from trouble. Most of these things can be turned off in the Windows 10 Privacy Settings if you really want.

Many musicians prefer to keep their systems off the Internet most of the time, and set up for the single task of being a DAW. In that scenario, all the bells and whistles offered by Windows 10 connectivity are of little value, and the best way to reduce the intrusion of Microsoft is to create a ‘local account’. This has no connection to your Microsoft account, and it won’t sync with anything or be tracked to a particular user. If you’re not connected to the Internet then automatic updates and the collecting of data will not be an issue. So it’s completely possible to use Windows 10 isolated from all of the things you may fear. However, if being a DAW is just one of several jobs your computer is used for, then maintaining an up-to-date, fully connected, secure and integrated system is probably going to give you the best user experience.

A problem that’s pertinent to computer audio was discovered only a couple of weeks after Windows 10 launched, and could be seen as an example of Microsoft’s ability to quickly and quietly solve issues behind the scenes. It was reported by pro-audio manufacturer Sound Devices that Windows 10 would corrupt WAV files on any FAT32-formatted SD card when connected via an external USB reader — these corrupt files could not then be read by anything. Further investigation revealed that file headers were being corrupted, and that the WAVs could be recovered using a hex editor (a very messy solution!). It turned out that the problem was specific to Sound Devices recorders and was caused by the company wrongly making use of a Microsoft ‘reserved bit’ which had been unused by previous versions of Windows, but, in Windows 10, is used to tell Windows whether the file is encrypted or not. Microsoft acted immediately to identify the issue, demonstrate the cause and provide a fix, so that customers’ data is not in danger of being messed up by a third party’s mistake. Have we moved from an environment of workarounds and hopes for a fix in the next Service Pack to issues being resolved in a matter of days? That could be a really good thing, but if we all stop Windows updating and reporting data then it’s not really going to work in our favour!

What’s perhaps a little disconcerting is that Microsoft seem to assume that we’re all OK with the things they’ve decided to do to improve our user experience. There are reports that Microsoft have downloaded the Windows 10 installer files onto systems that haven’t opted in or accepted the offer of a free upgrade. They are using internal and Internet networks to deliver the installation files via a shared download, similar to peer-to-peer downloads, to improve the speed of delivery. These things may well improve the user experience but also seem rather rude and presumptuous. They have also increased telemetry on Windows 7 and 8 via a few innocuous updates in order to gather information on how well the Windows 10 upgrade would go — though this is only for customers who have already opted into the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). Again, most of these things can be disabled in Windows 10, and the updates to avoid (if you wish to avoid them) in Windows 7 and 8 are as follows: KB3068708, KB3022345, KB3075249 and KB3080149. To check whether you’ve opted in or out of the CEIP in Windows 7/8 go to Action Center / Change Action Center Settings and click the link to Customer Experience Improvement Programme Settings.In the Windows 10 Action Center you can select ‘Quiet Hours’ to disable various notifications, including the ones that typically trigger unwanted system sounds.

Universal Windows Apps

One of the big advantages of Windows 10 is its ability to run across lots of different types of device. From desktops to phones, laptops to Xbox, and Surface to Hololens, everything can run Windows 10 with the same Windows Store. Developers can compile one application and have it run on whichever devices they choose. In more practical terms, this means that if you buy a music-oriented Universal Windows app, it can be available on whatever device you’re using. This has great implications for mobility and getting hold of the software you need wherever you are.

Unfortunately, there are currently very few Universal apps of interest to the musician, but Microsoft are working to change this. One of the key areas they’ve been looking at is the quality of and access to MIDI and audio systems within Windows. Microsoft’s Pete Brown gave a keynote speech at the Summer NAMM show back in July, in which he laid out all the work the company have been doing on the audio side of Windows. This included a new multi-client MIDI API which will run on every device and allow multiple applications (both Universal and conventional desktop-only ones) to access it simultaneously. It’s designed to be open to further development into other mechanisms for MIDI transport, such as via Bluetooth or over networks.

The ‘audio stack’ has also benefited from some major development, probably the best result of which is the reduced buffer size: straight off the bat, Windows 10 can boast a 15ms reduction in latency when using WDM or WASAPI drivers. Microsoft are also enabling developers to opt into a smaller range of buffers, depending on the audio hardware they are running. This means that music software using standard Windows drivers could, conceivably, get native latency levels low enough for music performance. I’ve been frustrated in the past when comparing the low latency in iPad and iPhone apps to the lag on my Windows phone and Surface, and this is presumably one reason why there are so few good music apps for Windows devices. Windows 10 goes a long way to resolving this disparity, and should make developing Windows music apps a more attractive proposition.

Another innovation is Audio Core Isolation, which directly tackles the biggest and most annoying cause of audio glitching: DPC latency. In a nutshell, DPC latency is the time a device takes to interrupt the processor and get its business done. Some devices — commonly Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and network adaptors — can take too long to interrupt the processor or hold onto the processor longer than they have to, one result of which is a stream of audio not getting the full attention of the CPU and, consequently, glitches. In Windows 10, Microsoft have created the ability to put all the audio processes onto a single core of the CPU and move those other devices to other cores, thus giving audio tasks the undivided attention of a core. This should totally remove DPC latency issues for WASAPI/WDM, and it may expand in the future to more cores and other audio APIs. It’s worth mentioning that I’ve yet to see this in action and it’s something that software developers and hardware drivers have to opt into, so it’s an improvement that may take time to make itself felt in practice — but its potential for real-time audio performance improvements is awesome. Microsoft have put a lot of work into opening up the audio engine to make it easy for developers to create modern apps that can get creative with sound, samples and synthesis. It’s heartening to see that outside the world of professional DAW software, Windows could become a music-friendly creative playground.

Of course, most serious audio-PC users already use software and hardware with ASIO audio drivers, which means much of the above may initially seem uninteresting. However, many musicians have found creative opportunities with the iPad and iPhone in the ability to make music on the go, outside the regular desktop/ASIO/VST ecosystem. The trouble has always been how to integrate something running on iOS with a Windows or OS X system. With Windows 10 and the Universal App concept, you’ll be able to use the same software on your desktop as on a Windows tablet, laptop or phone, and with a similar level of latency, regardless of whether you packed your audio interface or not. So perhaps you’ll write a tune on your phone while on the bus on the way home from work, and you’ll get home and be able to open it right up on your more powerful desktop machine — that would be rather cool, wouldn’t it?

While there aren’t yet many apps, there are a few promising examples. Stagelight from Open Labs is a good one: it’s a piece of desktop DAW software that’s also designed for tablet use. The work Microsoft have done on the audio engine, and that 15ms lower latency, mean that the virtual synths within Stagelight, when accessed on a touchscreen through the onboard sound in Windows 10, have suddenly become a lot more playable.

Compatibility

As with any OS upgrade, there’s the small matter of compatibility to consider. Because, in the grand scheme of things, it’s still fairly early days for Windows 10, you really must check the compatibility of any mission-critical software and hardware (your DAW and any other audio software such as scoring programs, and your audio interface, control surface, any DSP cards and so on) before upgrading. Some manufacturers will have tested their software or hardware thoroughly, and will perhaps even have released updated drivers. A few will have encountered problems and be working to address them (Steinberg, for instance, encountered an issue with the Quicktime player used for video playback in Cubase Pro 8). Yet others, particularly smaller developers, will not have had time to robustly test things, and you may have to take a punt. And then there’s all the discontinued stuff that’s no longer supported, and which certainly won’t be updated any time soon.

If there’s no official manufacturer compatibility statement, it’s well worth spending a bit of time searching for user reports of compatibility or incompatibility. You have to take these reports with a pinch of salt, but it’s usually possible to get a reasonable indication of your chances of success. It’s worth noting that Windows in general has long been pretty good at legacy support, and it’s somewhat reassuring on a quick trawl of the usual forums to find that some people have had success even getting long-withdrawn 32-bit hardware such as Focusrite’s Liquid Mix and TC Electronic’s Powercore DSP devices to work in Windows 10’s 64-bit environment.

To Tweak Or Not To Tweak?

Tweaking Windows to optimise it for music-production use has in the past been essential, but is usually much less so now. Windows 10 is already a stable, performance-orientated platform and requires less tinkering than previous versions. There are still a handful of tweaks that can be considered good practice for getting the best out of an audio-focused computer, but most are really only required to prevent unexpected interruptions, or if you find things are not working properly. Running DAWBench and a Pro Tools D-Verb test on a newly installed audio PC from Molten Music Technology showed that, tweaked or untweaked, there was not a plug-in’s worth of difference in performance — in other words, the performance in Windows 10 is excellent either way.

Nonetheless, should you encounter problems, it’s worth adhering to the following advice:

Turn off background tasks: This is the golden rule for running a stable DAW: don’t run unnecessary stuff in the background. Many applications like to keep a part of themselves running at all times, just in case they might be needed quickly. Common culprits are Bluetooth, wi-fi and networking software, Quicktime, Adobe updaters and graphics card utilities. Although most services, when running, have no impact on the CPU, when they are activated via a call or notification they can cause unexpected glitches. Most can be disabled in the Task Manager (available in the admin menu if you right-click on the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen). You’ll need to click on More Details and then the Start-up tab, and disable anything you find there. The other place to check is the icons next to the clock; they may have options that allow you to turn them off. This can also include anti-virus, firewall and security software, though, and it’s only wise to turn these off when not on the Internet. There may also be some things that you need to leave on, such as control panels or your audio interface’s mixer software — a pinch of common sense is always helpful!

Power profile: Set the power profile to High Performance. Also available from the Admin menu as Power Options, this tweak has long prevented CPUs from clocking down or entering power-saving modes. Be aware that the effectiveness of this tweak depends on the hardware inside the computer, as most mobile processors are hard-wired so as to save power whether this option is selected or not. Note that on the Microsoft Surface and other tablets the High Performance option doesn’t actually appear, and with good reason: these devices are designed to run best on ‘balanced power’. Enabling High Performance would run other systems inside at constant high levels, increasing the heat and so triggering the throttling of the CPU sooner than when running with balanced power.

Processor scheduling: Switch the Processor Scheduling setting to Background Services. Windows can prioritise programs and applications or the background services running the hardware. The idea behind switching to Background Services is that this can improve the performance of some audio-interface drivers. So if you are plagued by glitches, pops and dropouts then this could be a solution.

Disable system sounds: There’s nothing worse than the ‘bing bong’ sound of a notification thundering through your monitors in the middle of a mix and. With some audio interfaces, system sounds can even interrupt the audio. Type ‘sound’ into the search bar and select the Control Panel option to bring up the Sound Properties window. Click on the Sounds tab and select ‘no sounds’ from the drop-down menu.

Disable notifications: Along with the sounds you can disable the notifications that often cause them. Open the Action Center to find a tile called Quiet Hours. Enable this and your computer will no longer notify you of anything. If you right-click the tile and select Settings, you can manage all the notifications and background apps that are enabled in the system, and even disable the Action Center entirely.

Marks Out Of 10?

So should you upgrade to Windows 10 now? It’s certainly an attractive proposition, and the ubiquity across different devices holds great promise, even if some of the benefits will only be realised as more Universal apps for music makers are developed, or will only apply to those using applications or hardware that don’t already have ASIO drivers. Despite the noises emanating from those concerned about privacy and civil liberties, I don’t think there’s anything more sinister going on with Windows 10’s data collection than with any other software system these days, and Microsoft’s approach offers plenty of tangible benefits to its users. The rapid response to the Sound Devices issue and the ‘new openness’ of Microsoft more generally also offers encouragement.

There will inevitably be a few compatibility issues in the early days, but the indications are that these are relatively few — and if you’re in any doubt (and your current system already does what you need it to), remember that the free upgrade is available for a full year, during which time most manufacturers will have had time to address any surprises that Windows 10 threw at them.

Really, then, for most users, it seems to me to be more a question of when to upgrade than if, and of whether or not to run a dual OS installation for a while, whether simply to get your bearings or to be completely sure that you don’t have any unplanned downtime. Just remember to back up your system before upgrading, that you have until next July to accept the free upgrade — and that you can always downgrade again if you don’t like it!