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macOS and iOS warnings, late 2019 / early 2020 PLEASE READ!


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Hi all,

 

Important warnings and advice re: upcoming Apple OS changes. You will be able to avoid having your machine automatically upgraded and potentially rendered unstable, but you have to take a few precautions first!

 

iOS:

 

September 19 will be the release of iOS 13.0, and September 30 will be the followup release of iOS 13.1 and of the new iPadOS (it's unclear if that will be 13.0 or 13.1). While many beta testers are reporting very good results so far, there will almost certainly be breakage of various apps.

 

Back up your data in iTunes or on iCloud (do an encrypted full backup!), and be VERY VERY CAREFUL about upgrading. iOS makes it effectively impossible to walk back an OS installation to a previous version; you MIGHT be able to talk someone into it at an Apple Store, but I've never been able to. You upgrade, something dies, you're humped until it gets patched.

 

If you use iOS apps to get music done, I strongly suggest that you hunker down and stop updating iOS immediately. There won't be a new version of iOS 12 after the current one, 12.4.1, which has been problematic for a few apps for a few people but is largely stable and reliable on current hardware.

 

If you insist on trying the new iOS, do it on a machine that won't hurt you if it's temporarily rendered not-very-usable. The streets of Hades run red with the blood of people who think they're magically entitled to having brand-new OSes work instantly and completely with no growing pains.

 

And for heaven's sake, turn off automatic software updates in Settings! If you haven't yet, do it NOW! Letting the computer update itself automatically is a really unwise idea in general.

 

macOS:

 

Sometime in October, at a date yet to be announced, macOS 10.15 Catalina will drop. Many music app firms are warning people that this OS upgrade WILL BREAK SHIT. It is highly advisable that you listen to them.

 

I strongly suggest that you

 

1. update to the latest version of 10.14 Mojave, which is quite stable for nearly all music users - this is 10.14.6 plus the Supplemental Update

 

2. download the Install macOS Mojave app from the Mac App Store and keep a copy of it safe somewhere (it will be for 10.14.0 but Apple will let you upgrade to the latest 10.14 without forcing you to 10.15, unlike iOS). Note that if you have not done this before Catalina drops, it will be very hard to impossible to do it afterward.

 

3. do a full bootable clone backup of your hard drives using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! and put it somewhere safe

 

4. Get used to carefully rejecting macOS's constant bleatings for you to update your software. You'll never be forced to do it, and you won't be asked more than once per day or sleep/wake session, but be careful: one casual misclick can start the process, and you might not be able to stop it without forcing a crash (hold down the power button).

 

5. Wait for the makers of all your critical hardware and software to officially sound the all-clear, and preferably wait for 10.15.2 or so, before you try Catalina.

 

Unlike iOS, macOS will let you walk back an install. Save any critical data on the main drive, boot from that bootable clone drive you made (and if you didn't make one when I told you to, you deserve to suffer), wipe your main drive and reformat it using Disk Utility, and then run SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner and clone your backup drive to your main drive.

 

And again, for heaven's sake, turn off automatic software updates in System Preferences > Software Update! If you haven't yet, do it NOW! Letting the computer update itself automatically is a really unwise idea in general.

 

If you're running a 2011 or earlier vintage Mac, you likely can't update to Catalina anyway; stay on Sierra or High Sierra. If you're running a 2012 to 2014 vintage Mac, as many of us do, I strongly suggest you wait to upgrade to Catalina for at least eight months, while watching Mac news sites and forums for information on how well it works on hardware that old.

 

I personally plan to stick to Mojave forever on my machines of that vintage. Catalina is largely optimized for Macs of relatively recent vintage, 2017 and later, and to say those machines have been "less than inspiring" would be very diplomatic indeed. No hardware access to SSD data without going through the encryption chip; no user-accessible or upgradeable memory or storage... that's a conversation for another thread, but my point is, Catalina will offer some fun bells and whistles, but nothing that a music user will definitely need, and it has the potential to really bury your machine.

 

If Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave is working for you, there is very little reason to upgrade for now, and depending on the age of your Mac, there may never be.

 

Let other people get cut on the bleeding edge; don't be a victim!

 

mike

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Great advice Mike, I"ve read the same over on Audiobus. 12.4 caused no issues but then again I only have Galileo 2, Synth One, Viking and FM Player 2 loaded. I"m waiting to see what happens with 13 before buying AU, and a few others.
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The same advice is valid for Windows users. I haven't found a compelling need for Windows 10 yet so I haven't fought that battle, but I have all of the update options in Windows 7 turned off (no need to worry about updates on the XP machines since there aren't any more). Every month or so, I'll run the "check for updates, tell me what they are, but don't do anything else" and look for things that might actually make the system run better. Since I have only one computer that's regularly connected to the Internet, I don't worry about all of the security updates, and that's what most of them seem to be.

 

 

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I always have a complete image backup on PC or Mac, even for monthly updates. NOTHING is set to auto-update. Latest version of Win 10 does allow postponing updates for a while.

 

IOS on the other hand. Set to not auto update, but Apple gets sneaky. They pop up a message to update now or later. If you don't read the fine print, you don't realize that Later to them means that night while you are presumably asleep, and that the update is already downloaded so if the unit is powered, it WILL update.

Only effective way I've found to stop it at that point is to completely power down (which resets the message), then power up and remove the IOS update software from the list of stuff occupying space. Likely will have to do again, they tend to get real insistent on updating.

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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I always have a complete image backup on PC or Mac, even for monthly updates. NOTHING is set to auto-update. Latest version of Win 10 does allow postponing updates for a while.

 

IOS on the other hand. Set to not auto update, but Apple gets sneaky. They pop up a message to update now or later. If you don't read the fine print, you don't realize that Later to them means that night while you are presumably asleep, and that the update is already downloaded so if the unit is powered, it WILL update.

Only effective way I've found to stop it at that point is to completely power down (which resets the message), then power up and remove the IOS update software from the list of stuff occupying space. Likely will have to do again, they tend to get real insistent on updating.

 

Very valid points! In my experience, when they ask you to update later, and you go to the "enter your passcode" page to set it up, if you hit the tiny message "wait until later" at the bottom of the screen, it will put it off for a few days. I also avoid leaving my units plugged in overnight... that's potentially better for battery life anyway. You do have to be very careful that they don't sneak it up on you!

 

Sometimes I get the chance to delete the OS installer, which can be found in Settings > General > Storage, and sometimes I don't. For my one later-model iPad that I'm trying to keep on iOS 10, I actually leave Wi-Fi turned off unless i need Ableton Link, and I only connect to my network to manually update apps once in a great while.

 

To quote Mad-Eye Moody, "Constant Vigilance!"

 

mike

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Great advice Mike, I"ve read the same over on Audiobus. 12.4 caused no issues but then again I only have Galileo 2, Synth One, Viking and FM Player 2 loaded. I"m waiting to see what happens with 13 before buying AU, and a few others.

 

If you mean AUM, do not wait, buy it immediately. It is the best app an iOS musician could ever own, absolutely fabulous. Unless you only load and play one app at a time and are completely content with its internal effects and don't ever want to mix, bus, automate, or externally control anything, AUM is vital.

 

mike

 

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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To quote Mad-Eye Moody, "Constant Vigilance!"
A favorite reference of mine. Thank you for the heads up... the IT team at my day gig are all gearing up for this as well, but it's good to have some folks who are specifically concerned with how the OS will affect music-making.

 

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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If you want stability, then your best bet is to stick to the most current 10.x.6 release. Typically the .6 release is the final iteration of that year's version. There's no real compelling reason to go to the first OS release just because it's new, unless you like to tinker with your computer and are willing to accept that things will break.

 

IMO, if your machine can run 10.14.6 Mojave then that's what you should be on (assuming your software is also current). The main reason being is that 10.13 (High Sierra) introduced a new file system - HFS+ is extremely old, and APFS offers significant improvements in performance.

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I'm waiting (so impatiently) for the 16" MBP. I'd expect it to ship with macOS 10.15 Catalina, but maybe by then, compatibility with most of my software will have been confirmed. Fingers crossed.
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I'm still on iOS 10.x because I don't want to lose all my 32 bit apps that never got updates. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: I know, suck it up or buy another iPad. :(

 

Devon

 

I did the latter. I recommend it anyway; if you're seriously into music, multiple iPads are very cool to have in hand.

 

You can get an iPad that's perfectly capable of running 12.4.1 or 13.1 easily at any reputable pawn shop for surprisingly little money these days, and older models that can only run iOS 10 or lower are super-cheap. Get a first-Lightning-generation iPad and you CAN'T update your old apps out of existence.

 

I am actually planning to find a used iPad 4 (first generation Retina/Lightning) for this exact reason, because my Mini 4 on iOS 10 is a ticking time bomb, one mistake away from updating my copy of Alchemy away forever.

 

mike

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Another country heard from: IK Multimedia

 

Apple recently announced plans to release macOS 10.15 Catalina. This update to their operating system brings features, fixes, and updates, but will also affect your use of IK and other audio software that you rely on.

 

We urge all IK users not to install macOS 10.15. Our team is currently working on full compatibility for our products.

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