macOS 11 Big Sur kills a lot of plugins

[dumiku]

Big Sur is a deal-breaker when it comes to Music Production especially if you use some legacy or free plugin that won't receive any update in the future.
Most of my plugins were working as of beta 2 since it's the version number was still 10.16 except for those that were already crashing on Catalina like 808 Bass Module III, but after installing beta 4 about half of the plugins stop working, reinstalling does not fix it so I guess it a compatibility issue.

I probably gonna have to restore and install Big Sur on a second partition and keep Catalina purely for Music Production.

 

[casperes1996]

Software checking if it's on a Mac by checking if the version number is 10.x is just a bad approach. And I say that as someone who's done that in my own code..

Though for some plugins you might be able to fix this if they rely on plists or something like that to check version compatibility. Or even if it's a hardcoded string in the executable, as long as it's a static string that's only used in very specific ways it could be patched without having the source

 

[dumiku]

Software checking if it's on a Mac by checking if the version number is 10.x is just a bad approach. And I say that as someone who's done that in my own code..

Though for some plugins you might be able to fix this if they rely on plists or something like that to check version compatibility. Or even if it's a hardcoded string in the executable, as long as it's a static string that's only used in very specific ways it could be patched without having the source

Exactly, I have seen a similar approach to make an App work under Big Sur but with some limitations due to SSV.
But since plugins have nothing to do with SSV, I will look into it and see if I can get some to work that's if they rely on the method you've mentioned

 

[dumiku]

Most of the plugins are now working again in the latest beta, I said most because I had to move some of them to save space, I will reinstall them and post an update.

 

[dspdoc]

Terrified to even try Big Sur when it is officially release. I have far too many plug-ins.

 

[tim_mop]

Yeah I'm not even going to consider Big Sur. No point risking my work system stability for some fun new features.

It was a year or so before everything was compatible with Catalina!

 

[dumiku]

Terrified to even try Big Sur when it is officially release. I have far too many plug-ins.

You can clone your working machine and install the upgrade on top of Catalina to see if all your plugins are all
working.

Yeah I'm not even going to consider Big Sur. No point risking my work system stability for some fun new features.

It was a year or so before everything was compatible with Catalina!

That's the point of beta to see ahead if the upgrade doesn't break anything.

I personally usually upgrade as soon as the official release is out after I made sure everything is working with the beta, apart from 2 apps that are not working (I have confidence that the developers will release an update, they always wait until the public release), everything work.

 

[tim_mop]

You can clone your working machine and install the upgrade on top of Catalina to see if all your plugins are all
working.



That's the point of beta to see ahead if the upgrade doesn't break anything.

I personally usually upgrade as soon as the official release is out after I made sure everything is working with the beta, apart from 2 apps that are not working (I have confidence that the developers will release an update, they always wait until the public release), everything work.

Sure, the beta checks the system works, but in practice plugin manufacturers never seem to have time to get their software ready for it. It normally takes Avid AGES, but most plugin manufacturers seem to provide updates 6 months late.

 

[dumiku]

Sure, the beta checks the system works, but in practice plugin manufacturers never seem to have time to get their software ready for it. It normally takes Avid AGES, but most plugin manufacturers seem to provide updates 6 months late.

I guess it is a lot of work to get them working or they implement don't care about customers, I mean they know the way macOS upgrades/updates work they should have a team to keep track of the changes that break they plugin and work on a fix quickly.

For instance, I have this plugin Bass Module, I think II or III that crashes on Catalina and the solution that the developers came with is a brand new version and not a fixed meaning you either stop using the plugin or downgrade, not a viable solution if you have only one machine or need some of the features that the new OS provides on daily basis.

At the end of the day having 2 machines, one for work and one for testing/general purpose is the safest route.

 

[casperes1996]

At the end of the day having 2 machines, one for work and one for testing/general purpose is the safest route.

You don't necessarily need two machines for that; Get an external SSD for the test system or create two APFS volumes on the internal drive and you can boot whatever version of macOS you want on a single machine

 

[dumiku]

You don't necessarily need two machines for that; Get an external SSD for the test system or create two APFS volumes on the internal drive and you can boot whatever version of macOS you want on a single machine

You right, I subconsciously assume that it might be a 128GB Macbook as I do, nonetheless, an external SSD is the solution for that storage size.

 

[Lucifer666]

Good luck with the M1

Its going to be rough going for a while

 

[dumiku]

Good luck with the M1

Its going to be rough going for a while

Probably not gonna upgrade to it, I would rather upgrade to an intel Macbook Pro, I don't think an M1 mac should be a viable option for work especially for Music prod at least for me because early support of plugins will take quite some time.

I will take the time to learn about it though.

By the I way I thought you're talking about Korg M1 until I visited the front page and saw the updates. I did not watch the Apple event so hopefully, M1 refers to the new macs?

 

[tim_mop]

Good luck with the M1

Its going to be rough going for a while

Yep, I'd imagine it's going to be a nightmare - any gains in performance will initially likely be offset by plugin death/workarounds.

I've got a 2019 16" at the mo so thankfully shouldn't need to upgrade for a couple years (I was 'spared' this upgrade cycle too by my 2016 MBP dying 3 times!). Just gotta stop buying Acustica plugins....

 

[satcomer]

If runs like last time it took about 2 years for plug-ins 2 years after first going Intel back in the day! So hang on Intel systems for now and wait two years for plug-ins to catch up!

 

[dumiku]

If runs like last time it took about 2 years for plug-ins 2 years after first going Intel back in the day! So hang on Intel systems for now and wait two years for plug-ins to catch up!

For those in a harry, if they have 1K to spare they can try the new MacBook air, just read that it outperformed the 2019 16" MacBook pro in a Geekbench test while keeping your Intel Mac for work if an upgrade is a must well there is only one choice for now without too many downsides

 

[davec1x]

? I think it's communities like us but I do in the beta testing for Apple but then she give us some help as well they see one signing out

 

[davec1x]

PS I'm using the scribe with dictation so bear with me I've seen one

 

[R3k]

Installed Big Sur and loaded a huge session with both Logic 10.5.1 and 10.6

All loaded correctly. 3rd Party Pluggins- Fabfilter (All), East West Play, Altiverb 7, Native Instruments Complete, U-He (all), Valhalla (All).

However I couldn't test much as the session is using a QuickTime video and in Big Sur the video takes over the whole screen in the foreground and im unable to get it off. Resizing, moving, all that just doesnt work. All I can do is remove the movie or quit logic.

Will test more tomorrow and update if I have any more info. If its not workable I'll restore Catalina from an image.

 

[imdog]

Any word on the following's compatibility with Big Sur & M1 Chips?

Software
- Native Instruments Kontakt
- Spitfire Audio LABS
- Antares Plugins
- Izotope Plugins
Hardware
- Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88 + S61
- Roli Blocks M
- Teenage Engineering OP-1

 

[satcomer]

Yeah I'm not even going to consider Big Sur. No point risking my work system stability for some fun new features.

It was a year or so before everything was compatible with Catalina!

That’s a kicker because if you use a Mac to make audio money Don’t ever use beta software!

 

[tim_mop]

That’s a kicker because if you use a Mac to make audio money Don’t ever use beta software!

Absolutely! No beta software for anything relied upon, no weird tweaking, just let the system be as stable as possible.

I tend to keep all versions of Logic before updating too so I can roll back if there's an issue.

 

[austenyo]

I have taken the plunge! Installed Big Sur on my 16" MBP 2.4-2TB-5600m

I use ableton live 10. So far I have tested some of the Abbey Road Drum collection in Kontakt 6 - they are working wonderfully - no crashes yet as some have reported.

Additionally, I just installed the latest Arturia V 8 collection - Of the ones I have tested, they are working.

Very pleased with Big Sur. Anticipated more negative stuff to happen - nothing major so far. Just a bit peeved I can't change the default Icons for system apps/folders...

 

[dumiku]

Any word on the following's compatibility with Big Sur & M1 Chips?

Software
- Native Instruments Kontakt
- Spitfire Audio LABS
- Antares Plugins
- Izotope Plugins
Hardware
- Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88 + S61
- Roli Blocks M
- Teenage Engineering OP-1

Izotope plugins work fine for me, I am away from my Mac so I can test the others but after installing the RC 2 90% of plugins wer just fine, I have not updated to logic to v10.6 I might do additional tests when I am back

For M1 I think they will be a lot compatibility issues not hundred percent sure but it best that someone with an M1 Mac shares his experience

 

[Phil B]

Probably not gonna upgrade to it, I would rather upgrade to an intel Macbook Pro, I don't think an M1 mac should be a viable option for work especially for Music prod at least for me because early support of plugins will take quite some time.

I will take the time to learn about it though.

By the I way I thought you're talking about Korg M1 until I visited the front page and saw the updates. I did not watch the Apple event so hopefully, M1 refers to the new macs?

Nothing against the good old M1 (Korg). Miss my old baby, I gave it a friend when moving down to Spain hehehehe