Hackintosh

For seeking technical help with Digital Performer and/or plug-ins on MacOS.

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This forum is for seeking solutions to technical problems involving Digital Performer and/or plug-ins on MacOS, as well as feature requests, criticisms, comparison to other DAWs.
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Hideout
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Hackintosh

Post by Hideout »

Anyone out there running DP (any version) on a Hackintosh?
I'm considering having one built.
Thanks in advance
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FMiguelez
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by FMiguelez »

I know a couple of people who do this, and they're always having problems with the machines. The fact that they couple them with pirated software doesn't help at all. I don't know if the cause of their troubles is the latter or both.

If all you want it for is to be able to run OS, I'd rather get a used Mac in eBay. Or a GOOD PC. I would certainly not even consider a Hackinstosh for a professional environment.
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mikehalloran
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by mikehalloran »

Nearly every Apple engineer I know has built one. Not one recommends using it for anything other than a toy. Unreliable is the adjective that is normally used. You have to rely on patches for the OS to install. The recent security problems...

No one recommends that you have one built. If you want to build one yourself and play with it as a hobby, knock yourself out. If you have a problem, you're on your own.

Serious work for clients? Apple has Macs for that.

If saving money is the goal, some of us can make recommendations on good, used Macs — just need to know what you're trying to do (audio? video? VIs etc.).
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by James Steele »

Hideout wrote:Anyone out there running DP (any version) on a Hackintosh?
I'm considering having one built.
Thanks in advance
FYI, Hideout... you can now upload your avatar graphic directly to this board. It looks like your photobucket one isn't working.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by James Steele »

I can see why people are tempted to go the Hackintosh route as it seems Apple really hasn't delivered the sort of value in terms of raw performance lately. Honestly, as much as I have loved Macintosh over the years, if the Windows version of DP gets to the point where I start hearing that it's as solid and on par with the Mac version, I would probably consider moving to Windows before I'd go Hackintosh.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by HCMarkus »

James Steele wrote:I can see why people are tempted to go the Hackintosh route as it seems Apple really hasn't delivered the sort of value in terms of raw performance lately. Honestly, as much as I have loved Macintosh over the years, if the Windows version of DP gets to the point where I start hearing that it's as solid and on par with the Mac version, I would probably consider moving to Windows before I'd go Hackintosh.
+1

But then again, let's see what Apple delivers when the new, 7,1 Mac Pro hits the market.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by FutureLegends »

I just built a Hackintosh. Which is also the first PC I ever built.
There's some good guides out there.
And funny thing is, although it was a bit of a hurdle, I got macOS High Sierra running on it, but I can't for the life of me manage to install Windows on it haha.

First my reason for building one (which I guess has a lot in common why most people build one)...
I do mostly video these days, and my MacBook Pro Retina 2012 (2.6ghz, 16gb ram) was getting long in the tooth. Granted, it has held up admirably well! And for audio I didn't feel any need to upgrade, but I wanted to take my video editing to the next level... and I was looking at the top of the line (regular) iMac 5K... but just couldn't swing it...

Also, there's the options from apple... all closed systems... which means if you want anything extra in your computer, you have to select it, and pay for it at once. I have a highly irregular income (freelance, artist etc, I'm sure many of you can relate) so I only buy things when and if I can pay it in full. So €3000 in one go is VERY difficult for me.

Now Apple has promised a modular Mac Pro. Problem with that is: they are gonna use high end, server grade components such as Xeon CPUs and ECC memory that are super expensive and overkill for my needs (and most peoples, I would guess).
I wish they made an at least semi-modular MAC, not a Mac Pro, not a Mac mini, not an iMac. But a nice Apple Macintosh, that doesn't use server grade components that you could change/add hard drives, ram, and graphics cards in... But as that is very unlikely to happen I was faced with the option of scraping together everything I had, and selling things (already sold a Neumann mic to afford the new computer!) and be super broke an indebted and get the iMac. Or I could get an Hackintosh that was more powerful AND cheaper. I didn't feel I had a choice...

So what I built was a PC based on Intel's brand new 6-core 3.7ghz (overclockable to 5ghz) i7-8700 CPU and the Radeon RX 580 8gb graphics card. I went with slightly more expensive/better parts than I could have and it ended up costing me €2200... So not THAT much cheaper. But it was exactly everything I had.

So how does it perform? It's been super stable! Except, FCPX quite commonly frooze the whole machine... not good as that was my main reason for getting it. But just yesterday, a fix was posted on one of the communities, and now FCPX just rocks... So it's looking really good.

I haven't tried Digital Performer yet as I haven't upgraded to DP9 (does DP8.07 run in High Sierra/APFS?). Logic seems to run real well though. Projects that were starting to stress the MacBook Pro hardly leave a blip on the CPU meter...
I also haven't tried it with audio interfaces yet. I only have a MOTU 828mk3, so would have to get a FW PCIe card. And for what I've read FW is fairly easy to get going, while Thunderbolt seems a bit trickier. But doable, seems people have gotten UA Apollo interfaces working.
So as long as you get your audio interfaces working, I can't see any reason why Digital Performer wouldn't run fine...

I went into this with the mindset that it would take time to get it working properly and all major kinks ironed out...

It IS a quite major undertaking, and you need to have quite a bit of time and patience ... And then be super careful with updates etc... But it's quite rewarding once you get it going... And if I manage to install Windows, I can also finally play Fallout 4 ;)

At the end of the day, I think I'd trade it for an iMac (top of the line, mind) if I could. (but grown to love this mechanism!)

Not sure how happy James is with Hackintosh talk on this forum, but otherwise I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have!
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by James Steele »

HCMarkus wrote:
James Steele wrote:I can see why people are tempted to go the Hackintosh route as it seems Apple really hasn't delivered the sort of value in terms of raw performance lately. Honestly, as much as I have loved Macintosh over the years, if the Windows version of DP gets to the point where I start hearing that it's as solid and on par with the Mac version, I would probably consider moving to Windows before I'd go Hackintosh.
+1

But then again, let's see what Apple delivers when the new, 7,1 Mac Pro hits the market.
Exactly. It seems to me that Tim Cook & Friends™ really need to hit a home run on the next iteration of the MacPro or more content creators are going to defect to the "dark side." On top of it, they'll have to improve the value proposition. If it's great, but very expensive, it's not going to move the needle much.

I've heard they're going to go with a modular approach. That might work. Just please get away from artsy designs that prioritize the "cool factor" at the expense of function. Geez... all most of us wanted four years ago was a cooler, more powerful tower. You'd think Apple has the resources to send representatives out to post houses, graphic design houses, recording studios and get down in the trenches with their end user and really find out what THEY want.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by FutureLegends »

James Steele wrote:if the Windows version of DP gets to the point where I start hearing that it's as solid and on par with the Mac version, I would probably consider moving to Windows before I'd go Hackintosh.
If Digital Performer is your only main application, and the Windows version gets up to snuff, that would be a viable option. You could have a dedicated Digital Performer PC for not very much.
A lot of people using Premiere for video editing seems to be doing that.
But as Final Cut Pro is my main tool these days, that's not an option for me...
Hackintosh 6-Core 3.7ghz/32gb ram, macOS Mojave
Hardware: Apollo 8, Apollo 8p, Apollo Twin mkII, MOTU 828mk3 & Original 828 | UA LA-610 | Vanguard V13 Tube Mic | MindPrint En-Voice | Genelec M040AM | Gretsch Guitars & Drums
Software: DP8 | FCPX | Logic Pro X | Play
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by James Steele »

FutureLegends wrote:
James Steele wrote:if the Windows version of DP gets to the point where I start hearing that it's as solid and on par with the Mac version, I would probably consider moving to Windows before I'd go Hackintosh.
If Digital Performer is your only main application, and the Windows version gets up to snuff, that would be a viable option. You could have a dedicated Digital Performer PC for not very much.
A lot of people using Premiere for video editing seems to be doing that.
But as Final Cut Pro is my main tool these days, that's not an option for me...
I totally understand. On the other hand, my 4,1>5,1 12-core isn't going anywhere and would probably be a viable FCP machine for a while longer.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by Michael Canavan »

James Steele wrote:I would probably consider moving to Windows before I'd go Hackintosh.
That's my conclusion as well. Mostly IMO Windows isn't bad if you have a dedicated use for it, running music software for instance, and don't randomly browse the internet. The 2009 and up Mac Pros are still viable machines, but when that runs out I probably am not in the financial category where I could afford a sufficiently powerful Mac Pro. The new ones coming who knows when are supposed to be "modular" whatever Tim Cook meant by that, so it will be interesting to see what they put out at least.

The laptops and all in one iMacs are both best in class in their categories though, and it is 100% possible to run a DAW on a macbook and VEP on a PC, which is probably what I would do.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by HCMarkus »

Yeah, the VEP approach is always a possibility. I've got to say, however, that my aging hex, former 4,1, Mac Pro is going gangbusters with DP9.51. Pre rendering really makes a difference; I just keep adding tracks and VIs with 256 buffer (128 when doing basic drum, bass and piano parts) and sometimes forget to bump up the buffer to mix.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by mikehalloran »

(does DP8.07 run in High Sierra/APFS?).
Sort of... you have to log into the license server after every reboot, it doesn’t run as well, it’s not supported...
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by dinobass »

I've been using a Hackintosh for 3 and a half years. It's not a toy and I haven't had any more issues than I had with Macs the dozen years I used them before. It's been reliable and hasn't changed my productivity one bit. At the time Apple was producing the trashcan MacPro and it just was not going to work the way I needed. And I ended up paying less than a third of what it would have cost for a similarly specced Mac. The only downside is that I rely on a Hackintosh guy to help with updates, although with the new overlay that's less of an issue (and I know a lot of guys with MacPros that need a tech for all kinds of help with their rigs so it's not an uncommon situation, just not the one I prefer). I would recommend finding a tech you would trust for help unless you're PC savvy.

None the guys I know with Hackintoshes use pirated DP software.

All this being said, I hope that Apple's new MacPro will be a return to the desktop form that I can use. I'd rather pay more for a computer that I can do most of the maintenance on.
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Re: Hackintosh

Post by bayswater »

FutureLegends wrote:
James Steele wrote:if the Windows version of DP gets to the point where I start hearing that it's as solid and on par with the Mac version, I would probably consider moving to Windows before I'd go Hackintosh.
If Digital Performer is your only main application, and the Windows version gets up to snuff, that would be a viable option. You could have a dedicated Digital Performer PC for not very much.
Please give more detail.

I've checked out what new PCs with components equivalent to currently available Macs, but never seen one that was more than a few hundred dollars different, not worth the aggravation of resetting everything from scratch and replacing applications that are Mac only.

I keep reading posts that claim a PC can be had for half the cost of the equivalent Mac, and further down in this thread, there is a 1/3 claim. Some specific examples would be a big help.
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