What are the main issues when using 64 bit Win 7 for music production ?
Can I just install all my favourite 32 bit plugins & expect them to work ?
If not, is this plugin or host dependent ? So far I’ve installed Reason 6.02, Reaper x64, Renoise x64, FLS 10 & Orion 8.5, but am unclear as to advantages/disadvantages of 64 vs 32 bit host/plugins …
I’ve also installed ASIO4ALL, which seems to work OK - although I usually get sound from headphones, often there is silence from laptop speakers.
Naturally, 32-bit plugins won’t ever work on any 64-bit host simply because the architecture of both host and plugin are completely different and require different communication shapes. Plugins can be bridged however.
Wether 32-bit plugins will work on a 64-bit host depends on if the host supports bridging facility. If it doesn’t you can always try jBridge.
Renoise has its own plugin bridge for both 64-bit and 32-bit (depending on which version of Renoise you use: 32-bit Renoise means 64-bit plugins are bridged, 64-bit Renoise means 32-bit plugins are bridged.)
Using bridged plugins has some disadvantages like:they are no longer able to see eachother if you load multiple instances and if this is a requirement for them to work, you would need the Renoise version in which they can be loaded natively into the environment. Also some routing features may no longer work when plugins are bridged.