#121

Today in the OS9 dungeon.

I’ve gotten SoundMaker to accept the GUI input from the SoundMagicFX plugins. I had to trash the preference folder and re-register. Now it works. Absolutely wonderful sounds. Still trying a lot of things out, seeing how I can go about using it effectively.

I’ve also contacted Michael Norris, who made the plugins, and asked if he would allow me to share the password and registration code on the blog. He will allow that.

It might still be a bit early, but if anyone seeing this wants to do a blogpost about anything in particular, please send me a PM. It could be on a specific piece of software, a specific patch, technique, a guide to setting up something specific, etc etc.

EDIT: And if anyone wants to offer me some basic help setting up a Jekyll site, please also PM me.

4 Likes
#122

Hi, I would like to contribute but am currently still a bit too deep in the exploration phase.
The prospect of getting access to the Soundmaker/SoundmagicFX combination sounds supercool.
Two of my favourite tools are not really OS9 but early OS X, so I still need to find something worth writing about, maybe I will try Marcohack and see what it does and compare it to still more accessible tools like Soundhack (unless you upgrade your OS X to 10.15) and Argeiphontes Lyre… which gives me the idea to ask Akira Rabelais about his take on the older OS9 software. Maybe a small questionaire to him, Stephan Mathieu, or just links to interviews where they describe stuff (like Steve Roden here) could be interesting.
I don’t know. Did you get any direct messages from people who would help setting it up? I am afraid I would also have to start from scratch and try finding out how this all works.

1 Like
#123

Alright. The site is now live in a skeleton, non-custom URL version.

Still trying to find my way in all of this. Does it show the OS9 Chicago font for the people here?

Also made a twitter, because why the hell not: https://twitter.com/mockfuneral

8 Likes
#124

Wait, you’re based in Copenhagen? Didn’t know that. I am too, but only two more weeks then we’re moving to the country.

No Chicago here, unfortunately. I see it being set as the font family in the CSS, but I think you need a reference to where it can find it, either bundled with your site or somewhere else on the web.

#125

I’m actually based in the Hague until late January, then I am moving back to Copenhagen.

Yeah, I’ve got a lines member helping me via PM. Not well-versed in website making, found a chicago webfont thing, but I can’t seem to make it work. Cosmetics will come later.

#126

This is a great thread… I keep an old G4 Macbook running 9.2.2 principally for running the old Pulsar Generator and a more modern Mac with WINE on it largely for old FM synth editors. Still using ppooll under Max6 and have been since Max4 :slight_smile:

This is an interesting take on the old Pulsar Generator by Chris Jeffs.

Also have Xynthi running under High Sierra 10.13.6. I haven’t done anything to it, it just works somehow. Not sure if I have a later version or something (unlikely) but I’m sure Bhob wouldn’t mind if I uploaded it in case it helps anyone?

#127

It works on High Sierra? That’s odd, it wouldn’t for me and I’m running the same OS.

I sent Bhob an email yesterday about Xynthi and making a writeup about it on the blog. Hoping he still hosts it somewhere deep down on his site somewhere.

1 Like
#128

Yeah, not sure why it does (it shouldn’t by now…)

It says “Xynthi version 0.1 (0.0.1d1) Copyright 2006 Bhob Rainey” when I go into the “About Supercollider” menu if that tells you anything?

#129

Quietly following this thread as I loved a lot about OS9 software. Toured Europe using Reaktor on an old clamshell iBook even in the early 00s. Here’s a broader question maybe:

What is the most flexible version of OS 9 to consider installing on an old laptop? At what point did models of Mac laptops become unable to just use OS 9 without going through some proxy?

I have a 2004 AlBook that I’m almost positive I had OS 9 on, but what are the odds that a 2010 MBP could even install OS 9? Slim, I assume. Is there a website that goes over this sort of compatibility question that you all would recommend? Those two laptops are just hanging around unused and it might be fun to install some old OS 9 stuff on one.

Also, where are you all getting OS9 images?

Wisdom? Thanks!

2 Likes
#130

2010 is too modern, Ibook should work.
Regarding running OS9, I think this should help to answer which machines work:


For old software and OS stuff: https://www.macintoshrepository.org/system/?c=14&p=1
Hope it helps!
1 Like
#131

Bhob shared the dropbox link on twitter here

1 Like
#132

I’m using the same version successfully under 10.6.8.

#133

I have never seen an argument against running the latest version, 9.2.2, on anything that can. Maybe there is some software that prefers earlier versions, but as someone who never really “moved on” from OS 9, my old Macs have been on either 9.2.2 or 7.6 for many, many years now.

All laptops that say MacBook are Intel, they won’t run Mac OS 9 at all. Those are from 2006 at the earliest. The last few years of PowerPC Macs won’t officially either, including as I recall all the aluminium G4s, all G5s, all Mac Minis and some Powermac and iMac G4s, as the link doomglue posted explains. But if you go to macos9lives.com, there’s a modified image that runs on just about any G4. I’ve not tried it, though.

All PowerPC Macs running OS X before 10.4 support what’s called “Classic environment”. This isn’t emulation but it’s still not exactly like running real OS9 (it’s closer to a virtual machine), and one of the things it’s not good at it is things like MIDI and real-time audio, but I think some things do work. It runs the Mac OS 9 apps in windows alongside OS X windows, with things like copy-paste integration.

3 Likes
#134

ChunkMunger!! don’t know what it does but I want it.

#135

One of my questions around all this is why we can’t virtualize it all and keep these things running forever?

What are the obstacles to doing this? Routing audio? Licensing?

#136

For me, running it on the hardware is more tactile and enjoyable. Working out the technical hurdles is a lot of what I enjoy about vintage machines.

1 Like
#137

Well, the old Mac operating systems weren’t written for Intel processors like in modern PCs. There are emulators, but they’re not exact. I tried to set up the one called Sheepshaver a few days ago, and as soon as I tried running the application I was interested in, it just crashed. I’d like to have the environment on a recent laptop with a good battery, though. But it’s not quite the same.

As far as licensing, if you’re downloading OS 9 to run on a machine that came with it, you might not be violating the license as such, but maybe the person giving it to you is violating Apple’s copyright. If the machine came with an earlier version, there’s probably a problem, since a lot of upgrades were all paid and Apple have never released OS 9 for free (7.5.5 was available for download though, I think). If you’re installing anything under an emulator, you’re probably in violation of the license. The upside is, nobody seems to care. Most versions of Mac OS have been easily available on the open web for 15 years, and Apple have never done anything, to the best of my knowledge.

#138

I was part of the gang releasing on FI/MP/RN in the first years of the ‘00s

My contributions to the list:

Soundmaker - mentioned above, always used
Soundhack - mentioned above, often used
Thonk - offline granular, not sure if already mentioned. Good for generating material.
Sakonda patch for Max - still using it today. Without a doubt the most beautiful sounding granular of all time. Shout out to Mr. Fousek for mentioning this one.
Some tone generator software I can’t remember the name of. Tone Generator X might be the modern equivalent.
FFTease objects for Max (~dentist was a favorite)
Karlheinz Essl’s algorithmic comp stuff
My own Max/MSP patches

This stuff went alongside MPC, Nord Modular and a big desk. If you want to get really old school, hunt down a Digigram PocketVX, which was a PCMCIA audio card and the only high quality way I remember at the time for getting audio in and out of a Pismo. It had balanced I/O on XLR and SPDIF, too, which was great for sampling directly from the software to the MPC.

8 Likes
#139

Reading a bit more of the thread, nobody has mentioned Kyma. I had access to a Kyma system at the university where I was studying in ‘97/98 and again when I worked there. I never really got on with it but Taylor Deupree was doing some very nice things with it in the early to mid ‘00s.

2 Likes
#140

curious, did you download your version from the dropbox link posted by bhob? I’m also running high sierra 10.13.6 and get an error message every time I try to open xynthi.