32bit Drivers on 64bit OS

I have a question that might be stupid but I don't know the answer to. I want to utilize 4gigs of ram on my machine but am worried about 64bit because i know that my audio equipment does not have 64bit drivers. Is it possible to work 64bit Vista with 32bit drivers for like my audio interface and my midi keyboard? like making it run under a different mode or something?

 

Nope, regular software can run just fine even though it's 32-bit, but drivers have to be 64-bit to work.
Perhaps you should contact the manufacturer to remind them that 64-bit drivers would be a damn good idea.

 

haha. I'm sure they are quite aware of it. It's so stupid that manufacturers don't make 64 bit drivers when its obviously necessary.

 

Exactly what device are you talking about here?

 

I'm talking about an M-Audio Axiom 49 Keyboard and Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1 (which might soon be replaced by a MOTU 8Pre which does support 64bit). Neither of these products has 64bit drivers.

 

Ok. I couldn't find anything either.

 

thanks anyways. do you do audio production?

 

wait... do I even need drivers if I plug something in through midi cables? if my keyboard were the only thing with out 64bit capable drivers does a midi connection need a driver?

 

Well, they're obviously not aware that you need 64-bit drivers. They're not going to bother making them if none of their customers ask for it.

No clue. Do you need to install drivers to use it under 32-bit Windows?

Of course, you could install 64-bit Windows and dualboot. That'd allow you to test to see if it works, without deleting your existing Windows installation.

 

I will see about this dualbooting. Would I then need two installs of vista? thats a lot of space. but I guess its just for testing purposes anyways. unless I dualbooted for different purposes.

 

It's worth a try, since MIDI is standard you probably don't need drivers.

 

very good news! thanks everyone.