#184

I just bought a 2019 iMac, after ascertaining that it/Catalina wouldn’t impede music making.

No problem so far.

1 Like
#185

Catalina is just fine. Been using it on all three of my various Macs for everything from video/music production (Ableton Live/Max/RME) to software development with zero issues.

2 Likes
#186

I just added two monitors to my MacBook Pro setup, and I am encountering a problem which is driving me completely insane. It isn’t really a hardware issue, but more of a usability / interaction design problem that is wrecking the way I work with macOS.

CMD-SPACE makes the search box appear on the window where your mouse is, which is reasonable, but CMD-TAB appears on the window where you last put your mouse over the dock (?!?!?!?!), and CMD-N creates a new window on the screen where the application was last active. It seems like these can’t be changed and it makes it impossible to create a new Finder / Safari window on the monitor your eyes are looking at (where your mouse very likely is) using CMD-TAB CMD-N without going insane. I use that shortcut combination dozens of time daily and it’s melting my brain. I’ve found a workaround for the switcher (Contexts), but the window creation thing is a huge issue for me. If any of you know some obscure setting enabled via the terminal to change window creation behaviour, or any kind of third-party software that fixes that, please let me know.

#187

Have you tried turning OFF “when switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application” (in Mission Control settings) for the CMD-N shortcut? I recall that fixing some prehistoric gripes I used to have (but now I have it back on again, go figure).

#188

Yes it happens to be disabled disabled.

#189

Hm, bummer. That group of seemingly inoccuous settings in mission control do change quite a bit of the “which space does what” though (and by space they mean desktop, per-monitor). The best I can suggest without deeper Googling of preference files or something is to fiddle with them to see if you can figure out a better compromise.

I find some of this frustrating as well. For instance, the hot corners that show the launcher or dashboard as an overlay sometimes have it pop up on a screen you didn’t bounce into the corner of!

#190

The broken cable of the macbookpro charger can be fixed with a replacement cable, brute force, soldering iron and some glue

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image2403×2403 1.6 MB

1 Like
#191

Hi all,

My computer just died, and I’m looking at newer (refurbished) MB pros as a possible replacement. For those of you working with CPU intensive patches and applications, have you run into trouble with this T2 chip? I have looked into buying refurbished models ca 2015 (which I know are best) but those on the market now don’t have other specs I need. (In case it’s helpful to know: I generally work with multichannel audio running max or pd, I do some work in DAWs, use spatialization software, etc. I use a MOTU interface.)

I know a linux based machine is the optimal solution but my work for the next two years won’t permit my absorbing the learning curve. Looking forward to diving into that pool later.

Thanks in advance for your input. It’s unclear from articles online whether the syncing issues with the T2 chip have been resolved by hardware or software updates.

J

1 Like
#192

I have a variety of macs available to me and as of now there are no outstanding issues with USB audio on any of the T2 equipped macs that I am aware of. RME has declared the issues fixed (by Apple, with some additional workaround/mitigation on their end in the interim to help users minimize the issue). I’ve heard the same from MOTU users, though I am not one myself and would rely on others’ direct experience here to be certain - but since the issue was all related, I expect the results are the same no matter which hardware.

They were resolved by software updates from Apple directly, notably in the late 10.14 series of updates, not all at once, but IIRC 10.14.6 or so was the final point. I am unaware of any issues in any version of Catalina (save that 10.15.2 and earlier were in themselves rather buggy) and the latest version of Catalina is running perfectly on all of my systems running a wide variety of open source, closed source (including Max/MSP, Ableton Live, etc.) and personally written software.

At this point, from my experience, there is no reason not to buy any Apple product of any version, update the OS to the latest, and expect the usual performance and compatibility. Choose based on the hardware you like (and the new Air looks pretty fast for the money, if you’re on a budget I’d personally look at getting that over a refurb older Pro unless you’re looking at the 15" - check the specs etc. but that’s a nice system for the value and paired with a Thunderbolt 3 dock it’ll basically be as port-loaded as you like).

#193

Does anybody know how to prevent MacOS from putting stuff into the dock by itself?
I don’t use the dock as an app launcher. It’s really bad at it. Actually, I don’t use the dock at all if I can. But MacOS keeps adding random applications to it. It does so at random. After having opened and subsequently closed an app that wasn’t in the dock, it stays there, instead of disappearing.
Does anybody know how to prevent that?

1 Like
#194

I believe changing the preference in System Preferences > Dock > Show recent applications in Dock, should do what you’re looking for.

#195

right forgot to mention that I have that disabled already.
“recent applications” is a whole area on the dock dedicated to displaying your recently used apps (a bit like on iOS). But what happens in my case is that sometimes a random application will stay in the dock after I close it, right were it was when I had it running, without me actively selecting the “keep in dock” option or any other action from my side.

#196

here’s a strange and kind of trivial issue that’s been bugging me - I usually keep my programs running in ‘dark’ mode by selecting that option in system prefs > general > appearance, but every morning lately, when i open up my computer, it’s in ‘light’ mode again! it seems like every morning, it decides to switch the option from dark mode to auto, and i can’t at all figure out how to keep it permanently on dark. has anyone every dealt with anything like this?? i can’t seem to find anyone on the internet who has had this specific bug. running catalina btw!

#197

If you move an app around in the dock at all, it will assume you want to keep it in the dock and keep it there after you shut it. Since you put it there by a manual action, the only way to remove it is by a manual action. Otherwise, apps you start e.g. from the launcher or via spotlight will exit the dock on close - there is no option needed for this, that’s just how it works.

#198

Do you have any sort of system behaviour modifier apps, tweaks apps, or a managed profile (e.g. enterprise admin software like Jamf or whatnot) installed on your system? Those can mess with this configuration and/or override your user setting.

#199

I hope I am not derailing. I use a mac for music, and a pc for work and games. I’ve been disturbed by the news that future macs will abandon intel and be essentially iPads with keyboards. It’s forced me to consider a future of making music on a pc, which seems… crazy.
I also use two apollo interfaces, and I’m worried about pc compatability. Is anyone else contemplating using a pc for music? Am I over thinking it? It just seems like Apple has been going down a road of abandoning professional needs.

#200

I mean, my interpretation is that the switch to ARM is going to make iPads much more like Macs than the other way around.

They say Rosetta 2 will allow the new machines to run Intel stuff in the short term. Plus we’ll be getting all those nice iPad music apps that can now run on Macs and maybe some more functional DAWs making the migration to iPad (Max on a touchscreen sounds nice).

Music making is honestly the absolute least of my concerns and it seems like there might be more upsides than downsides.

If I was heavily reliant on the Adobe ecosystem I’d be much much more worried, since untangling that code base to make the full transition might well actually be impossible.

#201

What kind of computer do you have? I’ve got a 2016 MBP, so I’m hoping it’d be fine to upgrade but haven’t bitten the bullet yet

#202

There are plenty of reasons to be frustrated with Apple’s treatment of professionals, but Apple transitioning to their own ARM-derived silicon is probably not one of them. Their chip engineering has gotten pretty extraordinary, whereas Intel has kind of ground to a halt. (I note that on another thread folks are complaining about fan noise on MacBooks… that has a lot to do with the Intel problem.)

The main thing is that if you have no-longer-actively-supported peripherals that are dependent on drivers, those might not work on an ARM-based Mac. But they also might not work on recent macOS versions, either, since Apple has been shutting down kernel extensions.

I am heavily reliant (professionally) on the Adobe ecosystem and I’m not terribly worried. Adobe is already known to be porting their code to ARM and they’ve been rewriting and replacing their old garbage (with new garbage, no doubt) for the last several years.

1 Like
#203

hmm, i don’t have any applications like that that i know of, but i see what you mean - time to take a deep dive into my programs / privacy preferences and see what i can dig up… thanks !