Project: macOS Catalina ~ New World of Digital Music Production
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:26 am
CONFESSION AND APOLOGY ~ BEGIN
Thanks to Michael Myers and Chef John, the latter of whom has the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the known universe--a recipe he obtained from Alton Brown and then modified--I am rescued and redeemed from what I hope is a rare instance of being deceived and tricked by a group of fake news promoters and blatant gossipers I now call "The Chicken Little Brigade" . . .
Specifically, without taking the time to do experiments, I believed and was deluded by a bunch of nonsense, hence the original title of this topic including the phrase "Boldly Stupid" . . .
In the terminology and thinking espoused by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, I was tricked momentarily into believing that the bourgeoisie, intelligentsia, and aristocracy had abandoned me and relegated me to the groups of folks called the "proletariat" and the "bureaucracy" . . .
Therefore, as you read the first few of my posts to this topic, I confess (a) that I was vastly deluded and (b) that I apologize for my temporary lunacy, because once a few of the third-party VSTi virtual instrument and VST effects plug-in folks finish their macOS Catalina (10.15.1) compatibility efforts, I expect everything to be quite excellent . . .
Perhaps most distressing to me at a personal level is my doubting the skills of the PreSonus folks; because after doing a quite simple experiment (see below), I verified that Studio One Professional and NOTION do ReWire in macOS Catalina, hence everything once again is golden here in the sound isolation studio--even though technically at this moment I am house-sitting for my sister and doing experiments on her 2012 MacBook Pro and 2019 MacBook Pro (which has the new Apple T2 Security Chip)--something which for the record I told her I was going to do and, of course, includes doing backups, so that the experiments are non-intrusive . . .
It's nearly always best to go ahead and move forward in the Mac universe; and since I do the technical support, it's part of my job, so to speak . . .
At present, I see no reason to revert to macOS Mojave; but I have bootable clones on a LaCie d2 external hard drive and can revert, if doing so is necessary . . .
For the 2019 MacBook Pro, I have a LaCie 6TB d2 Thunderbolt 3 external hard drive arriving tomorrow (Friday November 15, 2019), which I will use to clone the 2019 MacBook Pro SSD storage unit using SuperDuper! (Shirt Pocket), thereby making it possible to revert the state-of-the-art 2019 MacBook Pro to macOS Mojave, should it be necessary . . .
[NOTE: SuperDuper! (Shirt Pocket) does macOS Mojave and is in beta testing for macOS Catalina; so while I can't clone macOS Catalina SSD storage units at present, I can clone macOS Mojave SSD storage units, which is all I need to do to be able to revert to macOS Mojave, should it be necessary . . . ]
And since I have enjoyed nearly all my current batch of chocolate chip cookies, I plan to bake a new batch later today--noting that instead of using semi-sweet chocolate chips, I use an equal mix of Hershey's Milk Chocolate and Special Dark Chocolate chips . . .
[NOTE: I use grass-fed whole milk, because (a) technically there is no such thing as "almond milk" and (b) the world is not going to end in 12 years due to dairy cow flatulence . . . ]
CONFESSION AND APOLOGY ~ END
After doing a brief but diligently focused landscape survey of macOS Catalina and its impacts on digital music production, it appears that Apple has hosed what now must be called "old school" digital music production . . .
THOUGHTS
macOS Catalina has increased security "features" that either (a) conflict with current digital music production technologies and practices or (b) prohibits them entirely . . .
These are my initial thoughts after doing a few hours of research, which includes examining macOS Catalina compatibility statements from several companies that produce Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and AU and VST virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, as well as a few websites that have information relevant to the specific details . . .
One might suggest that compartmentalizing everything for security purposes is one of the major internal goals of macOS Catalina, and while this might be good from one perspective, it appears to be disastrous from the perspective of what I now am calling "old school" digital music production, which for reference is truly wonderful but requires a bit of work to make sense of how everything communicates and interconnects . . .
This also provides an explanation for Jonathan Ive deciding to leave Apple . . .
Based on the fact that the Propellerheads (now called "Reason Studios") have abandoned ReWire beginning with Reason 11, I think this signals the end of ReWire for Apple computers running macOS Catalina and successors, which initially is very disturbing here in the sound isolation studio . . .
From what I have determined so far, if you are doing what one might call "elaborate" digital music production, then your system--which over the years you have perfected--will be completely and totally hosed by macOS Catalina . . .
As with everything, this is good and bad . . .
It's "good", because I am finishing my book on what now is "old school" digital music production, which if I get a new iMac Pro running macOS Catalina then makes it possible to write a second version of the book for folks who are doing "new school" digital music production on a Mac running macOS Catalina . . .
It's "bad", because it looks to break everything you have learned through years of diligent researching and experimenting and requires a new way of conceptualizing and doing digital music production--at least until I make sense of it; write a new book; and explain the "new" rules . . .
More specifically, macOS Catalina now enforces (a) notarization and (b) for the most part something called "hardening" . . .
For reference, Studio One and NOTION (current versions) have been notarized by Apple, which basically maps to being reviewed, examined, and verified by Apple . . .
Hardening is different, and it's not so much a matter of the primary applications (DAW, Music Notation, and so forth) as it is AU and VST virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, as well as ReWire, which probably will not be allowed in macOS Catalina . . .
If you run a DAW and other applications like NOTION and Reason 11 with the Hardened Runtime "feature" enabled, then there are certain security restrictions which are enforced ruthlessly, and this appears to be the primary problem with doing ReWire in macOS Catalina as well to a lesser degree with macOS Mojave, among other things . . .
This is the detailed information on the matter provided by PreSonus:
Studio One 4 on Mojave and Catalina - Notarization, Hardened Runtime, and how it affects 3rd-party plug-ins (PreSonus)
Why am I just now realizing this?
The primary reason is that at present I am doing everything on a 2.8-GHz (8-core) Mac Pro (Early 2008) that runs no macOS higher than El Capitan, hence until I started pondering the idea of getting a new iMac Pro, I had no reason to wade into anything newer . . .
But now that it looks to be possible financially to get a new iMac Pro, I have to make at least a little bit of sense of what at present I consider to be the end of "old school" digital music production . . .
On the other side of the equation, by doing some smart shopping toward the goal of acquiring what I now am calling "Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive" Macs, who cares . . .
Not me!
Instead of being a matter of "out with the old and in with the new", I can do both . . .
WHY IS APPLE DOING THIS?
One word: "Millennials"
Or the folks who to various degrees at most are able to do one thing at a time, usually for no longer than a few seconds . . .
"Old School" digital music production requires doing a lot of typically complex things simultaneously and being able to understand what is being done intimately . . .
Explained another way, it appears that the folks at Apple have had an epiphany which motivates them to "dumb-down" or perhaps to "smart-up" their products and operating systems so that slow people with near-zero attention spans will not be afraid to use them . . .
This is an example of "Old School" music production which can be done by one person in the digital music production universe with a bit of work--one instrument or voice at a time in layers, using a combination or real instruments and voices, virtual instruments, virtual voices, virtual effects, music notation, MIDI, and ReWire:
This is the way digital music production occurs in the "New School" of macOS Catalina digital music production:
FUTURE THOUGHTS
This certainly puts combining Studio One and NOTION into a single application back on the table, especially if macOS Catalina prohibits realtime, synchronized intercommunication between Studio One and NOTION . . .
For practical purposes, this is what Reason Studios has done with Reason 11, albeit minus music notation. . . .
If Studio One and NOTION are combined--without losing any of the capabilities of NOTION--then ReWire is not needed . . .
Computers are faster and more powerful now than they were 10 years ago, so this not only (a) is possible but also (b) probably can be done intelligently in a way which is not so difficult . . .
We know that it can be done today with ReWire doing the application intercommunication, so it's more of a packaging activity than anything else; and with larger displays becoming ubiquitous there is sufficient visual space to do everything--remembering that the NOTION component only needs to do the music notation and MIDI generation, since in this scenario all the virtual instruments and effects plug-ins will be hosted in the Studio One part of the combined application . . .
There either (a) are solutions for third-party virtual instruments and effects plug-ins or (b) there soon will be . . .
What I know for certain is that smart folks will find a logical way to wander through all this "New School" nonsense, but until this happens I think it makes sense to have either two separate digital music production systems (a) old Mac and new Mac or (b) a dual-boot newer Mac, since without ReWire in the "New School" it probably will be necessary to keep professional level music notation separate from sound generation . . .
It's possible that the networking abilities of Studio One and NOTION--running separately and not in a ReWire session--will make this easier, although probably not so easy as doing everything in a ReWire session where Studio One is the ReWire host controller; NOTION is the ReWire slave; and the music notation in NOTION is on ReWire MIDI staves or External MIDI staves (for Reason 10 acting as a ReWire slave), and so forth . . .
Overall, it will be interesting--sooner or later--which means that I need to get a new iMac, although perhaps not an iMac Pro, since at present it appears likely that doing this requires a new external digital audio and MIDI interface and some music software upgrades of one type or another . . .
If I were not focused on writing books about digital music production, then I would be globally not happy about this nonsense, but the more everyone is confused, the greater their desires for technical books, which is fabulous . . .
Fabulous!
Thanks to Michael Myers and Chef John, the latter of whom has the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the known universe--a recipe he obtained from Alton Brown and then modified--I am rescued and redeemed from what I hope is a rare instance of being deceived and tricked by a group of fake news promoters and blatant gossipers I now call "The Chicken Little Brigade" . . .
Specifically, without taking the time to do experiments, I believed and was deluded by a bunch of nonsense, hence the original title of this topic including the phrase "Boldly Stupid" . . .
In the terminology and thinking espoused by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, I was tricked momentarily into believing that the bourgeoisie, intelligentsia, and aristocracy had abandoned me and relegated me to the groups of folks called the "proletariat" and the "bureaucracy" . . .
Therefore, as you read the first few of my posts to this topic, I confess (a) that I was vastly deluded and (b) that I apologize for my temporary lunacy, because once a few of the third-party VSTi virtual instrument and VST effects plug-in folks finish their macOS Catalina (10.15.1) compatibility efforts, I expect everything to be quite excellent . . .
Perhaps most distressing to me at a personal level is my doubting the skills of the PreSonus folks; because after doing a quite simple experiment (see below), I verified that Studio One Professional and NOTION do ReWire in macOS Catalina, hence everything once again is golden here in the sound isolation studio--even though technically at this moment I am house-sitting for my sister and doing experiments on her 2012 MacBook Pro and 2019 MacBook Pro (which has the new Apple T2 Security Chip)--something which for the record I told her I was going to do and, of course, includes doing backups, so that the experiments are non-intrusive . . .
It's nearly always best to go ahead and move forward in the Mac universe; and since I do the technical support, it's part of my job, so to speak . . .
At present, I see no reason to revert to macOS Mojave; but I have bootable clones on a LaCie d2 external hard drive and can revert, if doing so is necessary . . .
For the 2019 MacBook Pro, I have a LaCie 6TB d2 Thunderbolt 3 external hard drive arriving tomorrow (Friday November 15, 2019), which I will use to clone the 2019 MacBook Pro SSD storage unit using SuperDuper! (Shirt Pocket), thereby making it possible to revert the state-of-the-art 2019 MacBook Pro to macOS Mojave, should it be necessary . . .
[NOTE: SuperDuper! (Shirt Pocket) does macOS Mojave and is in beta testing for macOS Catalina; so while I can't clone macOS Catalina SSD storage units at present, I can clone macOS Mojave SSD storage units, which is all I need to do to be able to revert to macOS Mojave, should it be necessary . . . ]
And since I have enjoyed nearly all my current batch of chocolate chip cookies, I plan to bake a new batch later today--noting that instead of using semi-sweet chocolate chips, I use an equal mix of Hershey's Milk Chocolate and Special Dark Chocolate chips . . .
[NOTE: I use grass-fed whole milk, because (a) technically there is no such thing as "almond milk" and (b) the world is not going to end in 12 years due to dairy cow flatulence . . . ]
CONFESSION AND APOLOGY ~ END
After doing a brief but diligently focused landscape survey of macOS Catalina and its impacts on digital music production, it appears that Apple has hosed what now must be called "old school" digital music production . . .
THOUGHTS
macOS Catalina has increased security "features" that either (a) conflict with current digital music production technologies and practices or (b) prohibits them entirely . . .
These are my initial thoughts after doing a few hours of research, which includes examining macOS Catalina compatibility statements from several companies that produce Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and AU and VST virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, as well as a few websites that have information relevant to the specific details . . .
One might suggest that compartmentalizing everything for security purposes is one of the major internal goals of macOS Catalina, and while this might be good from one perspective, it appears to be disastrous from the perspective of what I now am calling "old school" digital music production, which for reference is truly wonderful but requires a bit of work to make sense of how everything communicates and interconnects . . .
This also provides an explanation for Jonathan Ive deciding to leave Apple . . .
Based on the fact that the Propellerheads (now called "Reason Studios") have abandoned ReWire beginning with Reason 11, I think this signals the end of ReWire for Apple computers running macOS Catalina and successors, which initially is very disturbing here in the sound isolation studio . . .
From what I have determined so far, if you are doing what one might call "elaborate" digital music production, then your system--which over the years you have perfected--will be completely and totally hosed by macOS Catalina . . .
As with everything, this is good and bad . . .
It's "good", because I am finishing my book on what now is "old school" digital music production, which if I get a new iMac Pro running macOS Catalina then makes it possible to write a second version of the book for folks who are doing "new school" digital music production on a Mac running macOS Catalina . . .
It's "bad", because it looks to break everything you have learned through years of diligent researching and experimenting and requires a new way of conceptualizing and doing digital music production--at least until I make sense of it; write a new book; and explain the "new" rules . . .
More specifically, macOS Catalina now enforces (a) notarization and (b) for the most part something called "hardening" . . .
For reference, Studio One and NOTION (current versions) have been notarized by Apple, which basically maps to being reviewed, examined, and verified by Apple . . .
Hardening is different, and it's not so much a matter of the primary applications (DAW, Music Notation, and so forth) as it is AU and VST virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, as well as ReWire, which probably will not be allowed in macOS Catalina . . .
If you run a DAW and other applications like NOTION and Reason 11 with the Hardened Runtime "feature" enabled, then there are certain security restrictions which are enforced ruthlessly, and this appears to be the primary problem with doing ReWire in macOS Catalina as well to a lesser degree with macOS Mojave, among other things . . .
This is the detailed information on the matter provided by PreSonus:
Studio One 4 on Mojave and Catalina - Notarization, Hardened Runtime, and how it affects 3rd-party plug-ins (PreSonus)
Why am I just now realizing this?
The primary reason is that at present I am doing everything on a 2.8-GHz (8-core) Mac Pro (Early 2008) that runs no macOS higher than El Capitan, hence until I started pondering the idea of getting a new iMac Pro, I had no reason to wade into anything newer . . .
But now that it looks to be possible financially to get a new iMac Pro, I have to make at least a little bit of sense of what at present I consider to be the end of "old school" digital music production . . .
On the other side of the equation, by doing some smart shopping toward the goal of acquiring what I now am calling "Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive" Macs, who cares . . .
Not me!
Instead of being a matter of "out with the old and in with the new", I can do both . . .
WHY IS APPLE DOING THIS?
One word: "Millennials"
Or the folks who to various degrees at most are able to do one thing at a time, usually for no longer than a few seconds . . .
"Old School" digital music production requires doing a lot of typically complex things simultaneously and being able to understand what is being done intimately . . .
Explained another way, it appears that the folks at Apple have had an epiphany which motivates them to "dumb-down" or perhaps to "smart-up" their products and operating systems so that slow people with near-zero attention spans will not be afraid to use them . . .
This is an example of "Old School" music production which can be done by one person in the digital music production universe with a bit of work--one instrument or voice at a time in layers, using a combination or real instruments and voices, virtual instruments, virtual voices, virtual effects, music notation, MIDI, and ReWire:
This is the way digital music production occurs in the "New School" of macOS Catalina digital music production:
FUTURE THOUGHTS
This certainly puts combining Studio One and NOTION into a single application back on the table, especially if macOS Catalina prohibits realtime, synchronized intercommunication between Studio One and NOTION . . .
For practical purposes, this is what Reason Studios has done with Reason 11, albeit minus music notation. . . .
If Studio One and NOTION are combined--without losing any of the capabilities of NOTION--then ReWire is not needed . . .
Computers are faster and more powerful now than they were 10 years ago, so this not only (a) is possible but also (b) probably can be done intelligently in a way which is not so difficult . . .
We know that it can be done today with ReWire doing the application intercommunication, so it's more of a packaging activity than anything else; and with larger displays becoming ubiquitous there is sufficient visual space to do everything--remembering that the NOTION component only needs to do the music notation and MIDI generation, since in this scenario all the virtual instruments and effects plug-ins will be hosted in the Studio One part of the combined application . . .
There either (a) are solutions for third-party virtual instruments and effects plug-ins or (b) there soon will be . . .
What I know for certain is that smart folks will find a logical way to wander through all this "New School" nonsense, but until this happens I think it makes sense to have either two separate digital music production systems (a) old Mac and new Mac or (b) a dual-boot newer Mac, since without ReWire in the "New School" it probably will be necessary to keep professional level music notation separate from sound generation . . .
It's possible that the networking abilities of Studio One and NOTION--running separately and not in a ReWire session--will make this easier, although probably not so easy as doing everything in a ReWire session where Studio One is the ReWire host controller; NOTION is the ReWire slave; and the music notation in NOTION is on ReWire MIDI staves or External MIDI staves (for Reason 10 acting as a ReWire slave), and so forth . . .
Overall, it will be interesting--sooner or later--which means that I need to get a new iMac, although perhaps not an iMac Pro, since at present it appears likely that doing this requires a new external digital audio and MIDI interface and some music software upgrades of one type or another . . .
If I were not focused on writing books about digital music production, then I would be globally not happy about this nonsense, but the more everyone is confused, the greater their desires for technical books, which is fabulous . . .
Fabulous!