Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Don't install El Capitan yet (Update: but they're working on it...)

Nick Batzdorf

Nick Batzdorf

Moderator
Moderator
https://www.macnn.com/articles/15/10/05/teething.problems.abound.like.any.new.major.os.release.130699/

Music mavens might have migration issues

While we're not flooded with problems, Core Audio has changed a lot, and so has the kernel. So, devices like the M-Audio (now Avid) Fast Track C600 recording interface, and Avid Mbox 3 audio interface no longer function. Other older, but not strictly "legacy" audio interface external devices have stopped working under El Capitan with provided drivers -- some companies note that their devices are full Core Audio devices, and the solution is to totally remove the company-provided software!

Logic Pro X is seeing random audio cuts, as well as distortion under El Capitan for some users. Native Instruments is recommending that customers wait on the update, because of incompatibility issues with Komplete, Maschine, and Traktor. Developers of Cubase and Nuendo Steinberg are advising users to wait to upgrade. Finale 2014 won't be updated to support El Capitan until the middle of November. Apogee's Ensemble won't be updated for El Capitan at all, because the FireWire Core Audio driver has been depreciated. Many third-party plugins no longer function (such as iZotope's AU plugins), or have complex workarounds.

So, if you rely on OS X for audio production, you're best off to wait. In some music production cases, maybe never upgrading at all -- at least until you swap out your old Firewire-based stuff for Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 -- is the best choice.
Click to read more...
 
Yo no soy marinero,
Yo no soy marinero,
Soy capitán.
Soy capitán,
Soy capitán.
Bamba, bamba,
bamba, bamba,
bamba, bamba,
 
You're not supposed to like it.....
You're supposed to buy it.

Frank Nitti the Enforcer
 
So I read the whole article.
Went to the link in it called https://www.macnn.com/articles/15/10/02/youre.busy.it.takes.time.but.youll.be.glad.130674/ ("five reasons to jump to El Capitan")
Amazing!
Such miniscule "reasons"!

No Apple fan here- but because I like Logic I'm still on a mac.
What a bad joke!

I didn't think it was possible for me to think less of them than I do-
but they work sooo hard to f**k with me.

Incredible
It seems like they don't want their computers to be pro machines.
They should merge w/ Walmart.
So what's a better name?
Wapple? or AppleMart?
 
Last edited:
Apple are a brilliant company, the simple reality for us is that their focus is now lifestyle tech for the population at large, rather than robust tools for creative professionals.
 
dtonthept said:
their focus is now lifestyle tech for the population at large
Click to expand...
You mean like at Walmart?
Brilliant?
I guess so, but not for you and not for me. (as musicians)
I suppose the business model of premature obsolescence is good for them,
but not for the user who is supposed to throw everything out every 3 years
because there's some "new" non-pro Os or some-such.

iTunes Sucks, think about it.
Terrible for the music industry. (In this case, that's you & me)
Apple Sucks, but don't think about it,
Just keep buying their gadgets.
:whistling:
 
...and yet my DAW computer is now 7 years old, a Mac Pro still running a system and a Cubase rev from 2011, and I am getting plenty of work done. It's upgraded with three internal SSD's, I have 18 gig of RAM but could go up to 64 I believe. I bought a MINI to accompany it that was an i7 4 core for less than a grand, added SSDs and maxed RAM for fairly cheap, VEP makes it all work. I'm probably going to run this system into the ground and upgrade when it dies.
 
Mine's from 2009.
But I've also had them crap out early.
Motherboard failure, Disk failure, some kind of Audio card failure.
Not to mention the nice undoings of things hardware and soft.

I only trust them to continue on the course they're on.
Planned obsolescence, downgrading the pro aspect of their stuff.
Continuing in the gadget biz.
That's why I don't feel at all confident about the so-called "cloud".
That will surely turn out poorly for a lot of people.

I'm not looking forward to moving over to Windows,
but this is certainly the last WappleMart™ product I buy.
 
I've had Macs since 1989. The only major hardware issue I've ever had was a power supply in a Mac Plus. Over 9 or 10 computers, no motherboard failure, no audio card failure (?), really, no component failure at all. Disks fail, that's inevitable, and it won't change regardless of operating system. I've never been all that disturbed by "nice undoings of things hardware and soft" because I don't jump quickly from one gadget or system to another since the priorities for me are stability and pumping out work, and really-ADB had to go away as USB was the inevitable winner. If the same things is happening in Firewire, well, it is. It probably won't be necessary to go to El Capitan for a good while, and if necessary, there are Firewire to T-bolt converters.

All that said, it's pretty painfully obvious that they're not very interested in the creative professional anymore. We helped build them, but eventually became a niche player in the Apple universe.
 
To be clear, I'm not one of those people who thinks all they care about is iPhones. I've been working on Macs all day long for the past 30 years - the past seven on the same Mac - so that's not at all my point. My only reason for posting this is to warn people that El Capitan breaks a lot of the programs and hardware we use.

iOS 9 isn't a great idea either, by the way. Like El Capitan, it wants to be the clock master, and as far as I know every audio interface that runs on iOS uses the Apple Core Audio driver, not manufacturer-supplied ones.
 
Does this mean throw away my apogee duett ? Or as nyc composer suggested does the thunderbolt- firewire solve the issue? If the changes are in apple's core audio maybe that might not even work.

I received an email from apogee that indeed ensemble en duett firewire were discontinued in support for el capitan.
I will send them the question whether a tb-fw option works?
Let you all know for those interested
 
Doesn't Microsoft brake a lot of things when the do a major software update? I have been working on Macs for years and only our 'house' mac was going to get the update for this very reason.
I use Focusrite Safire Pro 40 which is firewire and they report it compatible with El Capitan so no it doesn't break FW interfaces in general but Apogee needs to update their software.
Chris
 
NYC Composer said:
I've had Macs since 1989. The only major hardware issue I've ever had was a power supply in a Mac Plus. Over 9 or 10 computers, no motherboard failure, no audio card failure (?), really, no component failure at all...

All that said, it's pretty painfully obvious that they're not very interested in the creative professional anymore...
Click to expand...
Well then maybe through the luck of the draw I've had more than my share of hardware issues.
Also recently had a power supply failure to add to my list.
The "audio card thing" was something weird on my wife's mac book.
It just stopped playing any sounds internally. The only option was to buy some peripheral gadget.

But yes- painfully obvious they're not in the pro market anymore-
The problem is people have made system wide commitments to their platform-
And their business model is to keep making things obsolete.

We all know this- I'll hopefully stop ranting now.
Not really anything we can do about a monopolist corporation anyway.

It just pisses me off (a lot)
k
 
@KEnK -- love Apple products, but strategically, their immense market value has zero to do with pro audio and everything to do with consumer / iPhone / i-whatever. Luckily, they have $200 billion in cash so they can afford to indulge themselves. Just hope they keep doing that (indulging).

Their products are intensely good, though, for how they are positioned. We have, collectively, six Apple laptops, six iPhones of various vintage, and three desktops. Not to mention iTunes purchases, router. No iWatch so far.

I was in NYC last week and bought a new laptop at the Apple store. It was totally jam-packed. Could hardly move around and they had security all over doing crowd control.

Upgraded just the laptop to the new OS overnight and it works fine for what it is. Won't be doing that with the DAW computer any time soon.
 
But yes- painfully obvious they're not in the pro market anymore
Click to expand...

People have been saying that for 20 years.

The latest Logic X update shows they're still serious about improving it. And while lots of things are broken, there are advances to the AU spec coming.

So I don't think that's it. To me this smells like a right hand/left hand issue at Apple.
 
I just got some cloak and dagger inside info that Apple is serious about solving some of these issues. They're working on it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom