There aren’t many positive ways to spin this: if you’re a user of Digidesign and M-Audio products and looking to use current operating systems, very often you’re out of luck. In some cases, this isn’t so surprising — given issues with Leopard, I actually suggest running Mac OS X Tiger if you can until some issues are resolved. And while I have one machine here running Vista happily, suffice to say Windows XP remains the choice for many, as drivers from a variety of vendors mature.

Still, I think it’s bad to see drivers missing altogether this late in the game — especially in the case of Windows XP SP3, a minor update to a six year-old OS. Maybe some of this isn’t M-Audio’s fault — maybe OS driver development needs to be easier. But either way, when a major music hardware vendor is this far out of sync with the software shipping on new machines, it’s a problem. And while their loss may be good for their competitors in audio hardware, it’s not terribly good for the music tech industry in general.

(Okay, Digidesign/M-Audio — before you start throwing things at me, I’m not saying this to be mean or to single you out, I’m saying this because I hear this all the time from your customers. I think if there are problems on the Apple/Microsoft side, then that’s worth examining, too. But I do think this is a situation that could stand some improvement.)

My friend Ilia, aka Tonearm, has released his set of Windows XP-compatible shortcuts for Ableton Live. (Got to play out with Ilia last month and hope to do it again.) Ableton, if you’re listening, here’s another argument for more customization of the program.

Even if you’re not on XP, it’s worth having a look and even downloading the ZIP and readme for some inspiration as far as what could be possible with Live shortcuts.

Install the executable for Windows, and you get:

Wavosaur is a free audio editor for Windows that just hit version 1.0. It’s really good stuff: not only is it free, but the whole app is tiny (488kb), it’s designed to fit on a portable USB key, it hosts VSTs, and it’s an elegant waveform editor reminiscent of early versions of SoundForge. Even if you’ve got a wave editor of choice, might be worth sticking this on your USB key when you’re on the go — especially since it supports Windows 98, XP, and Vista. And it doesn’t have an installer or touch the Registry.

I just gave it a spin on my Vista install, and really enjoy it — clean interface, lots of features.

Basic features:

• Multiple file editing
• All the editing and processing you need (convert channels, normalize, cut and paste, trim, fade in / out, the usual)
• Pitch shift, vocal removal (karaoke, whoo!), loop points and markers
• ASIO, VST support
• Support for MP3, Akai, Amiga, and many other file formats
• Analysis features (2D, 3D)

Hmmm, look out — some more popular wave editors might get a run for their money. Thanks to Art from Russia for the tip!

Wavosaur Site

That didn’t take long. Just days after the games’ release, someone is already using controllers for the Harmonix game Rock Band with their computer software. Cyrus Thomas-Walker writes us:

Looks like someone thought outside the box with their Rock Band drum set. Hacking the little kit could prove to be a cheap way to set up a little midi drum studio if someone happens to already own the game and interested in hooking the hardware up to some software.

Xbox 360 Rock Band drums on Windows [dxprog blog]

dxprog has also posted custom software developed in .NET/XNA for Windows. Also for Windows: MidiJoys, joystick-to-MIDI conversion software, apparently works, as well.

What about Mac? It seems the PS3 controller works out of the box with the Mac — presumably standards-compliant hardware (which would also mean you could have luck with Linux). No confirmed reports, though.

The controller itself is pretty simple: think single piezo triggers in each pad, though having the mount and the pedal is awfully convenient and, compared to other controllers, affordable.

In case you’re wondering why you’d want to do this in the first place, it comes down to either a) you’ve got the hardware and want it to do double duty as a performance kit, or b) you’re interested in playing indie games on your PC, not just the official Rock Band game. Or, c) you want Rock Band and now you have additional rationalization. The PlayStation 2 game is on its way out; I’d guess those controllers would be even easier to work with on Mac and PC — and you can get your Rock Band on for a lower price.

If anyone can make this work on the Mac, it’s the readers of this site. So if anyone’s got it down, let us know!

Updated:
We’ve got our answer: PS3 + Mac = success. Xbox 360 + Mac = could work, though not fully tested yet:

How to Use Rock Band Controllers (And More) with GarageBand, Mac

The UMPC may not have caught on with the masses, but the idea is terrific: a full-featured Windows PC in a space only slightly larger than a smart phone. Loyal followers continue to love their UMPCs, especially when they’re as tiny as the Raon Digital Everun. And as we predicted when Intel first announced the UMPC, this is a workable little music machine. After all, just a few years ago computer musicians would have described these specs as “high-end”, and there’s USB for input.

To prove the point, Steve Paine, from UMPCPortal.com writes in with video evidence: a clip from him running a vintage version of Fruity Loops from the late 90s, plus another featuring an M-Audio Ozone keyboard plugged into an Everun hosting a synth and sequencer in the not-very-old Cakewalk SONAR 4.

First up, a little Fruity (now FL Studio):

And thanks to Sophocha from the UMPCPortal forums for this SONAR clip:

Most musicians will be waiting some time before running Vista, so if you can’t upgrade to a new OS, upgrade the OS you’ve got. Our friend Brad, aka Internet indie singer-songwriter star Brad Sucks, is getting into laptop performance and wants some tips for tuning Windows XP. He writes:

I’d be interested in asking your readers how they set up their laptops for live performance OS-wise. I’ve been giving some thought to doing a dual boot WinXP install. So I can have one install as my desktop, mail, etc. And another one with say XPlite or nLite with Live set up, audio drivers and everything ready to go for rock steady live performance. Wondering if anyone has experience with doing this, if it’s worthwhile, what their favorite tools are, etc.”

Both of those items sound like great advice to me. Setting up multiple accounts works well on both Windows and Mac OS X, in fact, though generally it’s been XP where I’ve most wished I had done this. (Thank you, annoying pop-up balloons and rampaging Logitech webcam drivers.) I also like the idea of using nLite for a custom OS install in emergencies, though nLite is also good at cleaning out settings and tweaking Windows to your liking.

But, Windows mavens, any further tips? (And I imagine a lot of this — like the multi-install — would work just as well on Vista.)