KVR Audio

Ustun · Post by **Ustun** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:33 am

Hello all.

I'm about to clean install an OS version to my mac. I'm on El Capitan for years right now, never thought about upgrading to Sierra since all of my software were working fluently. Now, because of a reason that is another story, I'm going to format it and got curious about the new OSs. What would I get if I upgrade to Sierra or High Sierra related to music production. I don't use my computer for anything else. If all I get is new features like Siri and GUI changes, I'll probably stay on El Capitan.

Thanks!

Üstün

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:49 am

A word of warning: some older plugins which may not have been updated (to run on the latest Sierra but run well on Yosemite or El Capitan) will not work on Sierra. It's what keeps me from upgrading. I absolutely hate how Apple breaks compatibility so soon with each OS update. I will need to keep a special laptop with Yosemite on it in order to run some programs.

Ustun · Post by **Ustun** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 1:16 pm

Apple should be developing two different versions of OS for every release you know, one for everyday usage with fancy stuff and one for production-design computers with appropriate tools. Who needs Siri while doing professional work? I really still dont't get what this Siri madness is all about

himalaya wrote:A word of warning: some older plugins which may not have been updated (to run on the latest Sierra but run well on Yosemite or El Capitan) will not work on Sierra. It's what keeps me from upgrading. I absolutely hate how Apple breaks compatibility so soon with each OS update. I will need to keep a special laptop with Yosemite on it in order to run some programs.

All of the software that I use is working on Sierra right now. Should I stay or should I go?

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 1:41 pm

I really don't know what Sierra offers, but if your system is running well, and all apps are supported, and you don't find yourself in a situation where an app will only run on Sierra, then why want to update?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 1:50 pm

Ustun wrote:Apple should be developing two different versions of OS for every release you know, one for everyday usage with fancy stuff and one for production-design computers with appropriate tools. Who needs Siri while doing professional work? I really still dont't get what this Siri madness is all about

Aint gonna happen; Apple's entire business model is 'upgrade to the new shiny'.

Ustun · Post by **Ustun** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 1:55 pm

himalaya wrote:I really don't know what Sierra offers, but if your system is running well, and all apps are supported, and you don't find yourself in a situation where an app will only run on Sierra, then why want to update?

Well, actually this is my question

I don't see any reason either actually, just wanted to be sure that I'm not missing a thing about it.

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:10 pm

Broken compatibility - that's the main reason to stay behind a version.
I come from PC-land and it used to be a huge topic, with people staying on a well tweaked Win version for many, many years ( I stayed on WinXP until I switched to Mac, by which time Windows was on Win8, I believe).

If I recall, there were big compatibility issues with audio apps and Sierra. Google it. Here's Sweetwater article from July:

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ar ... formation/

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:13 pm

...and like I said, I have an essential audio program which is no longer supported (the dev is no more) and will not run on Sierra, but it will on El Cap and Yosemite. So, right now, I am locked to the older OS versions and soon will need a dedicated laptop with older Mac OS just to run this one program (thank you so much Apple! Grrr....).

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:35 pm

himalaya wrote:...and like I said, I have an essential audio program which is no longer supported (the dev is no more) and will not run on Sierra, but it will on El Cap and Yosemite. So, right now, I am locked to the older OS versions and soon will need a dedicated laptop with older Mac OS just to run this one program (thank you so much Apple! Grrr....).

You don't need a new laptop - just an external HD that you can clone (use Carbon Copy Cloner). You can then boot from it, and run your system as it is right now. Afterwards, you can update your internal HD to whatever system you want, and be safe.

I've been doing this for years.

But I agree with others. Updating to the current Mac OS X doesn't make sense. Do it ONLY IF AND WHEN you have some application that absolutely requires the version you don't have currently installed.

And NEVER update an OS on day one. It would mean asking for trouble, usually.

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:57 pm

I haven't ran into any issues with Sierra here but I waited until 10.12.4 before moving. By that stage they had ironed out all the bugs that affected me. Before this I ran Yosemite for a while and Snow Leopard before that.

High Sierra breaks compatibility with older ProKit apps like Logic 9, Mainstage 2 and (likely, though I don't have it) FCP. Even earlier versions of Logic X and FCP X are unsupported. Also the standalone Korg Legacy apps failed to launch last time I tried. The plugins worked fine.

The word is that next year's release may drop support for 32-bit apps as iOS 11 has done on the mobile front.

Dual-booting is an option if you're curious. I still have my old Snow Leopard system on a disk so I can boot into it if I ever need to. If you have a fast USB 3 disk, install Sierra or High Sierra to that and (optionally) migrate over your data from your existing install. That way you can run the new system with all your apps and plugins and see how it feels. And at any time you can just boot back into your regular, stable system.

But as was suggested earlier, if you're not missing anything and no apps are nagging you to upgrade then stay where you are.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:07 pm

I recently upgraded to Sierra after holding back, as the rule is to always stay one OS behind, yet with the next OS around the corner one has to upgrade because Sierra won't be around anymore as soon as High Sierra has been released. Fortunately all my plugins work, all drivers for audio interfaces and hardware controllers work so I have no issues to report at all.

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:11 pm

I generally wait 9-12 months before updating full Mac OSX version, this approach has served me well.

That said IME, memory management greatly improved in El Capitan over Yosemite, and the multi-tab Finder windows a few OS back were a game-changer.

medienhexer · Post by **medienhexer** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:32 pm

I agree in general with everybody about waiting. In my SPECIFIC setup (Logic X, Live 9, RME Fireface), I‘ve had so few issues in the past years that I dared to upgrade to both Sierra and High Sierra on day one. And it worked out okay in both cases.

I must add, though, that I have a broad selection of overlapping plug-ins. So none of them will break my workflow if the vendor needs another few weeks to provide compatibility.

I can manage with the included stuff for a while and neither Logic nor Live have given me issues since I bought them.

As far as reasons for an upgrade: Apple have finally introduced a new file system. And at least for me, it has shown performance benefits.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Wed Sep 27, 2017 10:11 am

There's nothing better than trying it out yourself on an external hard drive. You can dual boot so easily on a Mac that it really pays to do so for testing purposes.

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Wed Sep 27, 2017 10:18 am

Re: KLC, Korg are after releasing a High Sierra compatibility update.

What does Sierra or High Sierra offer related to music production