Moving to a Mac, what should I know?

[keyman_sam]

Making the move to a Mac and I have a few questions. Should I format my Mac ssd a particular way? I need to be able to plug in windows drives and transfer files. And Cubase projects.

What about plugins? AUs only from now on?

Periodic backup software? I use macrium reflect which has been a god send. Need something like that that can talk to my WD NAS.

[jancivil]

Cubase uses VST. I backup to an external drive using Time Machine; once you have done, it's rather fast to make new ones, as it only deals with new files now. The drive in the computer is formatted properly. I would use a cloud type thing for the Cubase projects. If you have massive files, I don't know.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Install all your plugins in AU and VST where it allows. This will give you more flexibility in terms of DAW usage, especially if you end up adding Logic, Garageband or Mainstage to your life.

Once you've installed everything, and tested it to be working fine, I'd recommend cloning the drive. SuperDuper is a free tool that has been giving me faultless, bootable clones for years.

As for periodic backups? I don't trust my creative endeavours to automated backup. I do it all manually, over a few drives (incl. one copy, off-site), and have a dedicated partition w/ full os which I periodically (manually) send to BackBlaze

It would also be worth checking out some 'I'm-a-noob' OSX tutorials. There are so many tricks and conveniences that you probably would not think to look for, coming from a different os.

[lnikj]

Welcome aboard.

You can let your Mac take care of its own drive but to write to external NTFS drives you need this: https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/.

Regarding plugins, you only need to use AUs only in Logic and Numerology (if you are getting it); you can use VSTs the rest of the time if you want to. AU only plugins that make Windows users jealous include Numerology, the PulsarModular P900 and Metasynth (standalone).

The backup software that I use (depending on what type of backup) is OS X's own Time Machine (a type of incremental), SuperDuper (bootable clone) and Chronosync (syncing).

One other thing - it's generally a bad idea to upgrade to the latest version of OS X (they come about every autumn) until they are several revisions in. Your mac will generally work the fastest with the version of the OS it ships with; each upgrade will usually slow it down a little.

Some key applications (IMHO): Alfred (application launcher and general utility), 1Password (password management), Audio Hijack (recording app audio), Soundflower (routing audio), Midi Monitor (like the name says), Osculator (if you use OSC a lot) and Studiomux (routing audio and midi betweeen IOS and OS X).

[Acknowledgement]

Cubase performs much poorer on OS X compared to Windows (I use both). Consider Logic as well. Good luck.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Regarding plugins, you only need to use AUs only in Logic and Numerology (if you are getting it); you can use VSTs the rest of the time if you want to. AU only plugins that make Windows users jealous include Numerology, the PulsarModular P900 and Metasynth (standalone).

Yes, but it's worth installing both formats from the start. That way, if you end up with one of Apple's products (Likely, at some point), then you don't have to reinstall all the plugins, from scratch

Audio Hijack (recording app audio), and Studiomux (routing audio and midi betweeen IOS and OS X).

Audio Hijack also allows system-wide audio processing, with added plugins, even if you aren't recording. I find this extremely useful, as it means that I can not only equalise my whole system audio to try to get my speakers to sound acceptable in my horrible-sounding space, but that I can also use any system audio with my headphones via Sonarworks Reference.

as for StudioMux: Is it not redundant now that ios and osx can communicate natively?

[lnikj]

Audio Hijack (recording app audio), and Studiomux (routing audio and midi betweeen IOS and OS X).

Audio Hijack also allows system-wide audio processing, with added plugins, even if you aren't recording. I find this extremely useful, as it means that I can not only equalise my whole system audio to try to get my speakers to sound acceptable in my horrible-sounding space, but that I can also use any system audio with my headphones via Sonarworks Reference.

as for StudioMux: Is it not redundant now that ios and osx can communicate natively?

Good tip re. Audio Hijack.

Re Studiomux, it's been a while since I hooked the iPad to the computer up but my recollection was that while midi was fine without it, audio was problematic (or I had problems anyway!).

[sprnva]

Apple's Time Machine works great for backups. Any good NAS will support it at this stage.

If you're getting a new Mac you won't really have a choice about disk format as High Sierra and Mojave will both format your internal drive as APFS.

For sharing files with a Windows machine I'd go for network file sharing if possible as you avoid any hassle with using third party filesystem tools. I've never fully trusted them. Your Mac will be able to read NTFS disks but won't be able to write to them. Windows and macOS can both write to exFAT so if you plan to use a usb drive to transfer files between the two that's an option.

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

From time to time Mac development speed exceeds some plugin and Daw development and creates some hiccups. Mac development quickly exceeds its own hardware limitations so new hardware is required.

[keyman_sam]

Cubase performs much poorer on OS X compared to Windows (I use both). Consider Logic as well. Good luck.

I’ve heard this often. Which version? What about 9.5?

[jancivil]

Cubase [9.5] and Nuendo [8.1-8.3] perform incredibly well on my new MBP. At one time it did perform so poorly than I bought Logic and Digital Performer. Then VE Pro was released, so I wasn't using instruments generally plugged into Cubase.
I'm still not, so there's that.

For sharing files with a Windows machine I'd go for network file sharing
I was going to say that, I would rather deal with that than fug around with file systems, it's like too many moving parts.

[Acknowledgement]

Cubase performs much poorer on OS X compared to Windows (I use both). Consider Logic as well. Good luck.

I’ve heard this often. Which version? What about 9.5?

Every version I've used really - currently on Cubase Pro 10.

[fmr]

Apple's Time Machine works great for backups. Any good NAS will support it at this stage.

Apple Time Machine is good to eat disk space. Personally, I never used it. My backup manager is Carbon Copy Cloner (it was already, way before Apple came with their own sht).

For sharing files with a Windows machine I'd go for network file sharing if possible as you avoid any hassle with using third party filesystem tools. I've never fully trusted them. Your Mac will be able to read NTFS disks but won't be able to write to them. Windows and macOS can both write to exFAT so if you plan to use a usb drive to transfer files between the two that's an option.

Nonsense. Network file sharing is much slower than using an external portable hard-drive. And there's no need to use exFAT.

With Paragon NTFS, you can read and write NTFS drives. I've been using it for years, and it always served me well. You will not need to "deal" with anything. All hard-drives, AFAIK, are already sold formatted in NTFS. You just plug them to your Mac, and they will be immediately ecognized. Then, as long as you have Paragon NTFS installed, you use them as you use any other hard-drive in your system. Completely transparent.

Don't ever trust Apple for whatever sharing (actually, don't ever trust Apple - period), always use third party software: https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

As others already said: Don't EVER install the latest OS version, unless you bought a computer that comes with it already. Always keep one version behind. It's the safest path (remember to always apply the "never trust Apple" rule, and you'll be safe).

[Tj Shredder]

I am a big fan of Apples time machine, it doesn‘t eat space as it is incremental like super duper or carbon copy cloner. But I would not put it on a NAS. If you really need to go back, its slooow. Get a dedicated hard drive twice as big as your internal, set it up and forget it. It will do its magic alone...
I also would instal AU and VST together...

[jancivil]

A lot of things are still lagging behind High Sierra. I didn't have a choice with the new computer. I never adopt new anything and just wait it out.

I haven't used Windows for 13 yrs, so I don't even remember about file systems, past FAT32 or whatever. I did transfer about everything then but I'm brain damaged or something, I don't recall. I bought an external drive, I don't even remember if I cared about Mac vs Windows. It was recognized so at least I didn't f**k that up.

I don't trust any software or anybody! And don't listen to me either, for the sake of fug. But I don't know why I'm seeing Time Machine eats space, it's 1:1 to what you copy and then it appears to only copies things which are new, because it doesn't grow significantly like it's doing more.