My gradual non-Apple Silicon plugins purge

[Rick Cornish]

Well, certain vendors (like Arturia) don't provide catch-all installation options, so it can take half a day to install a few dozen VI's and as many effects plug-ins, just from that vendor alone!

Yes—arghh! Why can’t every developer write a “Customize” menu into their installer?

I do a bit of video editing and sometimes (for simple projects) use the free version of Avid Media Composer, which will not boot if there are any non-Avid AAX plugins on the system. I put an alias to that folder in my sidebar, which I check after every installation. PITA!


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[HCMarkus]

Well, certain vendors (like Arturia) don't provide catch-all installation options, so it can take half a day to install a few dozen VI's and as many effects plug-ins, just from that vendor alone!

Yes—arghh! Why can’t every developer write a “Customize” menu into their installer?

I do a bit of video editing and sometimes (for simple projects) use the free version of Avid Media Composer, which will not boot if there are any non-Avid AAX plugins on the system. I put an alias to that folder in my sidebar, which I check after every installation. PITA!

I agree with the frustration expressed here... it would indeed be good to have the ability to customize every plugin install. That said, with the exception of the specific use case Rick sets forth here, I'm not sure it is worth the worry. The different plugin formats take up fairly nominal space on a computer and, if one is concerned, everything in undesired format can be deleted en masse after the new Mac is set up, and periodically thereafter.

I must say, Rick's approach is a good one, given our current reality... folder alias in a handy spot thus allowing a quick check/fix after a plugin is installed.

I set up my (then) new Apple Silicon Mac while simultaneously working on another Mac; I was thus able to make productive use of time I would have spent waiting for downloads and installations to finish.

[mhschmieder]

Nope, the plugins take up a HUGE amount of space (see my other post a couple of months back that listed the size), due to each plug-in including a full copy of Qt (or maybe even JUCE in the case of those plugs, but I developed some JUCE during COVID and most developers just include what is needed vs. the whole shebang). ProTools plugin formats in particular.

At any rate, I did a mixture of manual work and limited use of Migration Assistant for stuff like Mail, and am mostly done, and up and running, as I am putting off the plug-in installations for now. DP is authorized and running, faster by far than before. And everything is very snappy, including Mail. No more 90 minute waits after each reboot for a fully functional computer!

[mhschmieder]

Literally the only annoying thing so far is that Time Machine kept failing, until I discovered that it was set to "wait for days" for iCloud to sync, whatever that is. I turned off iCloud for every app and then disabled iCloud syncing. Now Time Machine is happily making its first Sequoia-on-Silicon backups.

I'll wait until this virginTM backup is done before updating any plugins or virtual instruments.

I definitely have some connectivity challenges, and need to find the online manual for the ASUS monitor as it appears its three USB slots aren't seen by the Mac Studio. maybe they're just for power charging. It didn't come with a manual, so I'll hope for a PDF at their website. I also can't read the labels as it's all black-on-black in tiny type and in recessed areas.

I can always order new connectors later, as I rigged it for now such that I simply can have TM, my non-SSD library drive (mostly older Kontakt libraries that aren't very resource intense), my media drive, and the printer. It's rare I use more than one of those at once, and this forces me to unplug ™ when doing project work, which I keep forgetting to do anyway.

Even Rosetta Mode is wicked fast compared to my 2017 iMac. But I didn't enable it at first, as I wanted to develop more of an awareness of what stuff was built as Universal Binary, for the products that didn't have Silicon-specific installers, and what stuff is still built only for Intel and must run in Rosetta.

[mhschmieder]

Oops, I just encountered another annoyance when I tried to switch to my RME Babyface Pro FS from the internal speakers:

Now we must reboot the computer in Recovery Mode to install RME drivers! What a productivity-killer, as I always multi-task. Now I have to kill every app. But it's because RME makes their own custom drivers, and Apple now blocks kernel extensions.

Their instructions don't work though, and it took a while to figure out why, as there is a Catch-22 with AppleSilicon so it isn't possible to update RME interfaces and drivers without using Apple Intel or Windows to do the firmware update first.

The firmware update depends on the driver update which depends on the firmware update, but the firmware update requires driver extensions, which Apple no longer supports (they now use system extensions).

As an extra bit of fun, Recovery Mode doesn't give me the supposed Options for Security that the driver update requires to be overridden in that mode before it can run. You can do the usual stuff like reinstall macOS, disc recovery, etc.

Hopefully this little two-step will work itself out one piece at a time once I attach the Babyface and my Master drive (where I store my Downloads) to the old computer to update the Babyface Pro FS firmware.

If this issue has not previously been discussed, I'll break it out to a new topic, but right now I'm under the gun as I have a gazillion new songs to practice tonight for tomorrow thanks to bandleader procrastination, and didn't expect this hiccup.

UPDATE: I am so screwed. Fireface USB Settings won't open on my old computer anymore either, so the Babyface Pro FS must've gotten corrupted by the attempt to update its firmware from the new Mac Studio.

The problem is that I summarized the on-line explainer on paper, knowing I wouldn't have access to the README file while in Recovery Mode reboot, but it turns out that the two README files have different instructions than their website!

That's when I found out about the Catch-22. I probably have a permanently bricked Babyface at this point, but I have too many cannot-wait things to deal with tonight, so I'll use the old computer for audio for now (vs. bad computer sound).

FINAL UPDATE: Everything is working now. It took a few tries but after using Time Machine on the old computer, I was able to get my Babyface talking again, did the firmware flash update from that computer, then the driver update ran smoothly on the new computer.

I guess I'm going to have to hope there are no more firmware updates for the Babyface, as I plan to sell the 2017 iMac soon. Maybe I can haul stuff to work if necessary, to do an update of the firmware from Windows 11 if need be.

[mikehalloran]

I definitely have some connectivity ch ... c Studio.

I am guessing that, when you figure out the correct uplink port, that will take care of itself. If it's a TB4/3 over USB-C monitor, you'll need to use a USB 4 cable — same functionality and much less expensive than a TB4/3 cable.

Now we must reboot the computer in Recovery Mode to install RME drivers! What a productivity-killer, as I always multi-task. Now I have to kill every app. But it's because RME makes their own custom drivers, and Apple now blocks kernel extensions.

Only once. You select Reduced Security and leave it that way or you will be doing that for every driver install as long as you own that Mac.
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-hel ... 8f7291/mac

To enable Reduced Security on a Mac with Apple silicon, you need to boot into Recovery Mode, open Startup Security Utility, select "Reduced Security," and then choose whether to allow user or remote management of kernel extensions. This setting allows any version of signed operating system software ever trusted by Apple to run, including legacy kernel extensions.

The other thing to do is to go to Settings/Privacy and Security/Security/Allow apps from Anywhere. This will save a lot of grief and frustration. No more Terminal Command for this in Sequoia so you can change it back easily. MOTU drivers need permission after the fact if this is set to another setting.

[mhschmieder]

Yep, that all worked, so thanks for the help, as it didn't occur to me to look for a usable menu when there's a blocking dialog on the screen during Recovery Mode, but sure enough, I was able to navigate to the menu with the mouse and get into the correct settings to allow kernel changes.

I also found the user manual for the monitor, so if anyone is thinking of buying this excellent ASUS 27" 5K monitor and wants to study the connectivity options in advance, here's the link:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/LCD% ... el=PA27JCV

It took a bit of study and experimentation but I ultimately realized that the USB-C cable must be connected to the computer for the USB-A ports to work. I'm new to HDMI as I had an iMac for so long, and didn't realize it doesn't act as a two-way stream of all data types going between the computer and the monitor.

Now I can put my OWC TB4 hub up for sale, and the 2017 iMac as well.

I used the unlabeled USB-C cable supplied with the ASUS monitor vs. the expensive TB4 cable that I bought from OWC, figuring the former cable guarantees compatibility. I couldn't quite tell whether TB4-marked cables would be OK.