Sick of audio-related bloatware

[Al Coda]

11 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

But Native Access only runs when doing those specific tasks, correct? Once sounds are downloaded and activated, NA doesn't need to run unless you need to again download, install or update. Mine is just sitting on my hard drive.

 

 

Yes,- once all is done, you log out from NA and that´s it.

 

11 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I don't see MTK-daemon running in my Activity Monitor window (I'm on MacOS Mojave 10.14.6)

 

I´m on a Windows laptop where it is a service running in background WHEN it´s set to autostart,- what it is by default.

That´s why I´m talking about ...

Most users install and leave all as it is,- big mistake.

Same rules for NI "Kontroller Editor" which is a driver and a service running in background.

 

But it can all be de-activated and be started only when the related application is needed.

 

Edit:

Sorry, I typed it wrong,- must be:  NTkDaemonService

In Win 10 you´ll find under computer administration>services AND It starts automatic and runs in background.

NI Access won´t run until it´s active.

So, when set to manual start or being deactivated, it has to be activated before using NA.

 

It should be similar behaviour on Mac.

 

 

A.C.

 

[CyberGene]

As I said, I'm very OCD-driven and so I just decided to reinstall my macOS Ventura and I will be really careful with software. I only installed Logic and U-He plugins and I plan on using only them for the foreseeable future. No careless audio software installation unless strictly necessary.

[Reezekeys]

9 hours ago, CyberGene said:

14 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I wonder what this daemon process does that messes things up so much? Aren't these tiny programs using a minuscule percentage of CPU? I have a few NI items I use with Kontakt, no issues with anything (so far!).

Depending on how well (or bad) it's implemented, it can either be very lean or bog down the entire system.

 

You are so correct - I had forgotten about how certain processes can go nuts and burn CPU. It's hit me a few times. I think there was a bug with Spotlight that did that; the whole computer slows to a crawl.

 

I'm open to learning more about how these invisible processes work on the Mac. Of course now that the M-chips are here, probably all that has changed!

 

6 hours ago, Al Coda said:

Sorry, I typed it wrong,- must be:  NTkDaemonService

In Win 10 you´ll find under computer administration>services AND It starts automatic and runs in background.

NI Access won´t run until it´s active.

So, when set to manual start or being deactivated, it has to be activated before using NA.

 

It should be similar behaviour on Mac.

 

Well you got me going. I do indeed have "com.native-instruments.NativeAccess.Helper2.plist" in my hard drive's Library/LaunchDaemons folder. Opening that .plist file I see a reference to what may be the actual program?  /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.native-instruments.NativeAccess.Helper2. I don't see anything with the name "NTkDaemonService", must be a Windows-only thing.

 

I'm afraid this is above my pay grade so I'm leaving this stuff alone. As I said, I'm seeing no ill effects (at least nothing apparent to me) so better to not mess with things at this level.

 

This won't help you, but for those with Macs I found a very enlightening article regarding all of this:

 

https://www.macworld.com/article/221774/take-control-of-startup-and-login-items.html

 

[Edit - from the article linked above: "To see a list of all the currently loaded launch items on your Mac, open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities) and type launchctl list and then press Return." This I just did, there is nothing from Native Instruments loaded - according to this procedure at least.  Exactly 405 launch items are loaded (no I didn't count them individually!), most are Apple.]

[Docbop]

Things slowing down a lot of the time is memory leaks or memory management.   Memory problems increase workload on CPU now having to juggle memory more.   People don't understand their computer is working with that small amount of RAM, but the CPU is working harder and harder juggling that little bit of RAM between the OS and the all running processes/demons and applications and that slows things down. 

 

I remember back when PC users were having lots of memory problems and people were pointing fingers at Windows OS.  The problem was not the OS it was MS  development tools they wrote their app's in had a big issue with memory management.    The programmers wrote good code to use and release memory, but the compiler released the memory to the application, but didn't give the memory back to the OS.    Today programming tools most memory management is done by the development tools not the programmer. So a lot of places memory management can go bad so the operating system and the CPU are both going crazy juggling RAM.  

[piano39]

This discussion explains why I am using my iPad Pro (with Cubasis and Audiobus) more and more to record.  On my Windows machine, there is about a four minute startup, plus constant maintenance of various software license management apps.  If you add something, you need to make sure you point to the VST in the DAW.  All this stuff takes time.

 

My iPad has no problem talking to my 16 channel Presonus interface.  It is (almost ) instantly on.  The apps immediately recognize all audio unit devices, etc.  In general, a lot less hassle.  Updates are automatic.   

 

I will be the first to admit that the DAW is more capable than IOS.  If Apple ever gets around to porting Logic over to IOS, I probably will never go back to the PC.

[analogika]

To clarify the Rosetta thing: Rosetta has always (even back in the Rosetta 1 days) been downloaded and installed only when needed. 
 

It didn’t come with Big Sur or Monterey and wasn’t installed unless it was needed to run intel software on an Apple Silicon Mac.

[Al Coda]

20 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

Well you got me going. I do indeed have "com.native-instruments.NativeAccess.Helper2.plist" in my hard drive's Library/LaunchDaemons folder. Opening that .plist file I see a reference to what may be the actual program?  /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.native-instruments.NativeAccess.Helper2. I don't see anything with the name "NTkDaemonService", must be a Windows-only thing.

 

I´ve found this answer ...

 

and reading posts above,- someone mentioned when NTkdeamon not running and Native Access will be launched, using password at login is neccessary always.

When it runs, it isn´t.

So, setting this background service to "manual" start or deactivate doesn´t hurt much.

Just only use your email and password every time when using Native Acess.

Same rules for the other background services related to NI hardware controllers and/or Komplete Kontrol.

Deactivate or set to manual start, depending on usage of these devices/apps or not.

 

There should be similar tools or helpers on your machine when you (auto-) installed NI Access and Komplete Kontrol and drivers w/ p.ex. a full installation of NI Komplete (Ultimate/ Ultimate CE),- PC or Mac.

 

 

A.C.

[Reezekeys]

I use only a few NI libraries I got on a special sale a few years ago - Grandeur piano and Scarbee rhodes. I also have some 3rd-party Kontakt libraries (Hammersmith Free piano, Orange Tree Famous E) - no Komplete, Maschine, etc. Of course I had to run Native Access to register those, now it sits unused on my hard drive. I noticed Native Access also showed me a bunch of free NI libraries offered for me to download - nice I guess, but I didn't see anything that appealed to me. Maybe someday.

 

Looks like you figured out your issue. For the few times you need to run NA, I suppose typing in an email & password is no big deal. I've no need to run Native Access and as I said, I notice no effects from whatever processes NI is running on my machine, so I'm inclined to leave things as they are for now.