From 10.6.8 directly to 10.8.4 ?

[dinobass]

I just did the jump from Snow leopard to Mountain Lion and everything went smoothly

[jo c]

I know the original post was a couple of years ago now, but seeing I've been searching these topics very recently - I just successfully migrated from DP6.03/MacOS10.6.8 to DP8.06/MacOS10.8.5. The parameters for my migration were the long-overdue purchase of a new laptop - the Ivy Bridge-era MBP doesn't do Snow Leopard, which I only found out after buying it (silly me for assuming all i5's were equal in this regard). Also, I wanted to maintain full backward compatibility so i could still use the old white Macbook as a fully operational backup machine. To make this work with the plug-ins, particularly Waves, the trick was to exclusively run DP8 in 32-bit mode - contrary to everything I've read, this actually let me retain the Waves V8 plugs, so I can now open the same projects in DP8.06/MacOS10.6.8 and DP8.06/MacOS10.8.5, both running Waves V8 plugs, and no issues that I can tell (as yet). Oh and I'm also still able to use my Digi 002r - hurrah. (It works with the Avid Family 11.1.3 driver, even though that is post-002; the 10.3.3 driver wouldn't even let DP open.)

So if you're in a similar position to me, don't believe the hype that Waves V8 won't work with DP8.06/MacOS10.8.5 - it will if you stick with 32-bit (Get Info), and to me the advantages of having a fully compatible backup machine totally outweigh the advantages of 64-bit. Yay for old gear and software chugging on and being able to open projects from (almost) ten years ago. (Even Pluggo still works in DP8.06/MacOS10.8.5!)

[mikehalloran]

Staying 32bit compatible is not a good long term strategy. Why limit yourself?

I'm able to open projects in DP 8 64bit that I created as far back as DP 2.7. Yes, there are incompatibilities with a few discontinued plugins but I've had no problem remastering with better sounding current 64bit plugs.

I keep DP 7.24 active to listen to the 32bit version when necessary -- with 32Lives, I haven't done that in two years. I never open DP 8 in 32bit as these's never a need.

32Lives is great for getting around the Carbon/Cocoa issue with old plugs -- an issue for anyone running OS 10.8.x or later.

[jo c]

Staying 32bit compatible is not a good long term strategy. Why limit yourself?

In principle that's a very valid point, but as per usual practical considerations make for less straightforward choices. My main reason for upgrading was that I wanted to have two fully compatible systems running - I've been working on some quite unforgiving projects recently with a few system wobbles, and for peace of mind/'failsafety' I decided I needed a duplicate backup system. And one of these two machines happens to be my old 2007 macbook - that I just don't see having a very good time with MacOS10.8! [Just reading up on that again it looks like 10.7 is as high as it'll go.] Plus a lot of my legacy projects (and half of the album I'm currently working on) rely on Waves V8, and if I were to switch this older machine to 64-bit/Waves V9, I fear a lot of the old V8 settings would get lost in the transition. That said - do you (or anyone else) have experience with opening Waves V8-based projects with V9? Being able to do that could actually be the clincher...
Thanks!