What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Best OSX beyond 10.6.8 for Live

10.7
1
8%
10.8
4
31%
10.9
8
62%
 
Total votes: 13

koranek
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What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by koranek » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:12 pm

It seems most audio people are still on 10.6.8. Yet there are starting to be more apps and plugs that require 10.7 or higher. If I were going to upgrade, which would be best for Live.
https://soundcloud.com/johnkoranek

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jlgrimes
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Re: What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by jlgrimes » Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:06 pm

koranek wrote:It seems most audio people are still on 10.6.8. Yet there are starting to be more apps and plugs that require 10.7 or higher. If I were going to upgrade, which would be best for Live.

I am on 10.8 currently and have no issues with Ableton.

I think I will update to 10.9 shortly and my mac keeps bugging me about once a week to do this.

10.9 been out since October so I would think a good amount of the bugs are worked out but I am more concerned about other programs and drivers than Ableton.

koranek
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Re: What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by koranek » Mon Mar 17, 2014 5:14 pm

One strategy seems to be to always use the latest version of an OS. You get the advantage of the latest technological advances, but you might have to spend a lot of time dealing with incompatibilities or quirky behavior with your current software.

I've run across other surveys (KVR, Synthtopia) and it seems like a lot of musicians have stayed with 10.6. I've never been able to determine whether it's that 10.6 runs better for DAWs or whether it's more mythology than fact. I do find it interesting that 10.6 has lasted for 5 years, and there has been 3 other versions released after it.
https://soundcloud.com/johnkoranek

2020 27" iMac i9 10 core, 64G Ram, OS 10.15.7
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moonpie
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Re: What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by moonpie » Mon Mar 17, 2014 5:46 pm

If its aint broke dont fix it is prob the best advice.

Stability for musicians trumps technological advances. (whether theres any advances in the last 3 osx versions to justify a musician to move off 10.6.8 is up for debate). Also - in terms of project longevity, there is always the danger of updating and finding you cant open that old project you had with that plugin you liked. Its always ALOT more work for a musician to update than the average user.

I think as well - theres a perception osx is heading in the wrong direction from what the professional community want. In some ways - people see upgrading past snow leopard as a downgrade from a simple stable workable os that they like. Also people really didnt like Lion so didnt make the jump.

For musicians - some bug bears and small surprises of mountain lion - the user library is now hidden (youve to unhide yourself through terminal), youve to 'allow' programs to be installed from 3rd party vendors. Click drag changed. Reverse scroll by default. Other stuff I cant remember. Just hints of more to come - more hiding of the os and power user controls.

I like mountain lion - but for me there's very little in it to justify moving from snow leopard. (mine was preinstalled on my new computer). Mountain Lion seems like the last of a generation of type of osx and Mavericks is moving with a new concept.

The best advice I can give - if you actually want to 'use' your computer in a professional context - is always stay a generation behind. Really no need to be cutting edge. Mountain Lion would be a good update since its now pretty mature.

All of Native Instruments stuff now requires Lion and above. Itll be the same with most vendors pretty soon. Too costly to maintain support of 4 os's. And the reason we've 4 possible os's is apple's now extremely fast os cycle.

H20nly
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Re: What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by H20nly » Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:37 pm

koranek wrote: I do find it interesting that 10.6 has lasted for 5 years, and there has been 3 other versions released after it.
As support for Rosetta was dropped in OS X Lion, Snow Leopard is the last version of Mac OS X that is able to run PowerPC-only applications.
Snow Leopard is the last release of Mac OS X to support the 32-bit Intel Core Solo and Intel Core Duo CPUs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Snow_Leopard

koranek
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Re: What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by koranek » Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:17 pm

I did look it up before I posted. I saw 2009 and it's 2014. But strictly speaking it was released August 2009, so you're right, it's actually 4.5 years old, not 5.
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2020 27" iMac i9 10 core, 64G Ram, OS 10.15.7
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H20nly
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Re: What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by H20nly » Mon Mar 17, 2014 8:51 pm

no, that's not what i meant... i wasn't trying to correct you.

some of the people running Snow Leopard have older hardware and software that they stand to loose... up to and including their computer.

koranek
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Re: What's the best higher version above OSX 10.6.8 for Live

Post by koranek » Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:56 pm

Sorry, my misunderstanding. Oh, these typed messages.

Old hardware is always interesting. In general I've rarely gone backwards. Once I buy a new system I stop using the old one completely. Yet I've read interviews of people who are still nursing old Macs and PCs because the don't want to stop using Studio Vision or Samplecell. OS 9 ftw!
https://soundcloud.com/johnkoranek

2020 27" iMac i9 10 core, 64G Ram, OS 10.15.7
Push 2
Novation SL MKIII
iConnectAudio 2+, iConnectMidi 4+
Live 11 Sweet

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