Many media professionals have long favored Apple Macs for their creative endeavors, drawn by the robust software ecosystem and Apple’s dedication to enhancing the user experience for creatives. However, Microsoft is making strides to capture the attention of music industry professionals with a series of significant updates to Windows.
Enhancements for Musicians
At the recent Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit, Microsoft unveiled a range of enhancements aimed at enriching the experience for musicians and audio professionals. A key highlight is the introduction of MIDI 2.0 support, which will maintain backward compatibility with existing MIDI 1.0 APIs and devices. Additionally, a collaboration with Qualcomm and Yamaha has led to the development of a new USB Audio Class 2 Driver for Windows.
While these advancements are initially targeted at Windows on Arm PCs, plans are in place to extend these features to Intel and AMD x86-64 devices in the near future. Below is a detailed overview of the upcoming announcements:
- Musician Software coming to Arm64
- Steinberg Cubase and Nuendo will be available in preview this week.
- Cockos Reaper is currently in preview.
- Reason Studios Reason is set for a preview release in early 2025.
- Audio Hardware coming to Arm64
- A vendor-specific USB Audio/ASIO driver preview from Focusrite is expected in early 2025.
- Steinberg/Yamaha will also provide a vendor-specific USB Audio/ASIO driver preview in 2025.
- In-Box Support coming to Arm64
- ASIO and low-latency USB Audio Class 2 driver previews are anticipated by mid-2025, with in-box support in Windows upon completion.
- MIDI 2.0 (Windows MIDI Services) previews will be available in Windows Insider builds this November, with retail availability expected early next year.
In a statement regarding these music-centric enhancements, Pete Brown, Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft, expressed enthusiasm about the developments:
“With the new MIDI stack and in-box ASIO, these three killer DAW apps, and two families of audio interfaces with optimized drivers for Arm64, we’re set up to help make the experience of creating music amazing on Windows. I am beyond excited for so many of these efforts to come together at this point in time.”
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These updates underscore Microsoft’s commitment to the music industry and its ambition to compete with Apple in the creative sector. With ongoing enhancements, Windows is poised to evolve into a more powerful and versatile platform for musicians and audio professionals alike.
