About your OS family

Ross, indeed Linux is poor for music but I can live with it if my aim is just to play Pianoteq and to do some basic audio treatment.
In my case, I went from Windows to Linux because I had dropouts on windows. It was a major problem that I couldn't fix... With the same pc and the same soundcard, no dropouts with my current Tango Studio distrib.
I am thinking to go back to Windows for all the VST...
But, are you 100% stable without dropouts on Windows?

Win XP and Win7/64. Both are just fine, obviously the Win XP setup has (a bit) more latency because it's an older machine but it's still very stable & usable.

If Pianoteq is the only sound application you need to run, Linux is very nice.  Just choose the direct ALSA hardware option and voila -- no need to deal with drivers + ASIO.  I even have a 4GB USB flash drive which boots up Linux + Pianoteq so I can carry this around, plug into any X86 machine and have my piano configs up within 30 seconds.

But if you do stuff beyond just playing/recording, there's certainly more commercial audio programs available on Windows.  And if that means you need a faster computer to deal with all that comes with Windows, you do what's you gotta do.

Sadly, I also abandoned Linux, for Mac in my case, because using audio on Linux felt like death by a thousand cuts -- a lot of little problems, and the software that existed either felt flawed, or, to know it well, it seemed to be better to learn standard commercial software first.  And I was short of time.

Linux all the way for me. Mac's are too expensive (but nice machines) and windows is just beyond my patience.

I've been using Linux slackware since the mid 90's, and still use it for my server/router/gateway/accesspoint machine, but now use ubuntu studio on my desktop and my laptop, quite happy with it.

Yeah, the lack of good VST's is kind of a bummer for linux users, but when you know how to use a powerful sequencer like Renoise, even a bunch of crappy samples can make some good music. Pianoteq is pretty much the only vst/dssi/au/ladspa/etc. plugin that i (seriously) use.

I was quite familiar with Unix (and Silicon Graphics Irix) systems back in the 1990s, so I dabbled with Linux for a few years on my PC, but I just couldn't be arsed with the beta-ware open source software it meant, and the alpha-ware (or vapour-ware) drivers.... in the end I just gave up.
Since Windows XP, Windows have been a great stable platform for audio (capable of low latency and full of killer applications). Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 have been even better (a few GUI niggles aside in 8, which they soon sorted in 8.1)

W7 is far better than XP ever was, though.

I use a Laptop with Ubuntu Studio exclusively for Pianoteq.

Could this use be a licence terms violation?

I've been following Pianoteq since V2.x using Windows (XP, 7 and now 8) and never experienced any problems with the native client (I only use it for live playing). Shure, Windows are degenerative OSs and they need a lot of maintenance care (cleaning temporary files, defragmenting disks, fixing registry issues, etc.), but I have to say that it has been a joy to use Pianoteq.

The  interface reigns supreme to everything else that I know of, and I believe that the experience using the native client in Linux, Windows or MacOS  should be the same (again kudos for Modartt!!).
Due to my interest in open source OSs, I intend to try it under BSD... perhaps this summer I'll have a go!

For those complaining about vst implementation on Linux, apparently, there are good news:
http://breakfastquay.com/dssi-vst/
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic...p;t=414077
https://github.com/abique/vst-bridge
http://www.linux-vst.com/
Cheers!

That depends on what and how often do you install applications on your PC. I have experienced some gruesome issues with Windows XP registry that required to recover it from backups.

Linux, depending on the chosen file system and configuration, is not affected by disk fragmentation.

Man, if you have a 10 year Windows rig and never performed any maintenance...

In Linux, with regular ext4, you need to defrag only if you have >=85-90% of used disk space and by then you should buy a new disk.... unfortunately, not the same for windows.

I should mention that my experience with windows 8 has been stellar, but then again, I have a good rig (i7-3635QM, 12GB RAM, 1TB SSD)

I got to tell you, installing the SSD was truly the best upgrade that I have ever made. The difference in performance is stunning! (specially if you also use sampled libraries)

Regarding the ext4, in my experience, I only noticed some degradation when I had my disk 92% full.

Is this true also for the use of Pianoteq?

Hello,
Thank you,

That's what a thought.

I have a quadcore i5 and Pianoteq runs just fine!

The same for me,
I run Pianoteq on a 2-core I5 2,53Ghz with 4Gb of RAM, at 48Khz and 64 samples on the buffer, max polyphony to 128 without any dropout. The performance index is between 35-42.
My OS is Tango Studio.

Here the test result....
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. At least one detected problem appears to be network related. In case you are using a WLAN adapter, try disabling it to get better results. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  0:05:00  (h:mm:ss) on all processors.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        ANTONIO
OS version:                                           Windows 8 , 6.2, build: 9200 (x64)
Hardware:                                             OEMC
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4300U CPU @ 1.90GHz
Logical processors:                                   4
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  4001 MB total
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   2494,0 MHz
Measured CPU speed:                                   91,0 MHz (approx.)

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   4916,317906
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   21,581025

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       849,014232
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       3,179462
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              61,888532
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       storport.sys - Microsoft Storage Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0,007253
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   storport.sys - Microsoft Storage Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0,012477

ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   20895
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              2926,293103
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       ACPI.sys - Driver ACPI per NT, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0,043396
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         Wdf01000.sys - Runtime framework driver modalità kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0,165369

DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   203949
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs):                106
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              1
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              2
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count:                 avastsvc.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults                       581
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          367
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs):          6174,004010
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%):              0,029233
Number of processes hit:                              12
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1,510462
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs):                61,888532
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,016703
CPU 0 ISR count:                                      2121
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs):                1512,810746
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,613882
CPU 0 DPC count:                                      120542
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       2,280258
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs):                49,528869
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,113324
CPU 1 ISR count:                                      15977
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs):                2926,293103
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,773841
CPU 1 DPC count:                                      43094
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1,369872
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs):                50,781877
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,007182
CPU 2 ISR count:                                      1102
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs):                550,746993
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,365866
CPU 2 DPC count:                                      22966
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       0,882676
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs):                49,091820
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,012538
CPU 3 ISR count:                                      1695
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs):                2869,675221
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,231156
CPU 3 DPC count:                                      17456
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ok, thank you for the info..  Windows 8.1 Pro is new for me... until now I was on a old Vista OS..
A question.. If possibile to set different "Power Option".. based on the running program?

Ciao
keyrunner

Maybe you can try to create different sessions with a different power option for each one