It’s Windows 10 roll-out day and the question has already been asked by countless users running our DJ software and karaoke software on Windows systems: Is Windows 10 supported and should I install it to my DJ computer?
The answer to the first part of the question is yes, all of our DJ software and karaoke software titles are already playing very nicely with Windows 10. The answer to the second half of the question is slightly more involved, but the no frills response is “no“…
Why You Shouldn’t Install Windows 10 On Your DJ Computers, Yet
Live performance programs such as our DJ mixing software and karaoke solutions are a different breed.
They aren’t office applications where if they fail or hangup due to some underlying background process you can just restart and continue your work, without much lost other than time. You can’t however experience a crash or hangup with packed dance floor, it’s every DJs worst nightmare.
New OS’s will have bugs, and they aren’t yet optimized for all hardware (and the drivers, for said hardware).
When Windows 8 launched PCDJ software supported it from day one, although the recommendation was for users hold off with installing the OS if they had the choice (some don’t of course, if they purchase a new machine they were force-fed Windows 8). It wasn’t until a few updates of Windows 8 later that the OS performed well enough as a whole, and when Windows 8.1 launched, albeit debatable, the OS was comparatively as stable as Windows 7 for live performance software. NOTE: I personally use Windows 8.1 on a computer setup for video mixing with great results.
With literally many thousands of computer hardware specification combinations out there , there is simply no way Windows 10 has been thoroughly tested with all of them – which will result in poor performance for some DJs, even if the machine itself meets all the recommended requirements.
DJ controller users shouldn’t even consider an upgrade to Windows 10 until they know the DJ equipment manufacturer has properly tested drivers for Windows 10 – otherwise a myriad of issues can occur.
Most DJ controllers for Windows included high-performance professional ASIO drivers – and without updated drivers support can be finicky at best. Yes, I’m sure with many of the existing controllers on the market the Windows 8/8.1 drivers would be the recommended installation and should likely work well, but do you want to take a risk on “should work well“?
With all this said, so far we’ve had excellent results testing all PCDJ products on Windows 10, which actually seems snappier in some respects. If you have to upgrade to Windows 10 or purchase a new machine with it pre-loaded, PCDJ should run perfectly fine providing you optimize the machine for live performance.
Personally, on my main gig machine I will wait until the first service pack (service pack 1) update of Windows 10 before upgrading. At that point the OS will be tried and true, with enough other DJs and live performance artists using it and providing feedback to know it’s road-ready – or not.
Already using Windows 10 on your DJ computer? Feel free to provide user feedback in the comments section below!
