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El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemite
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El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemite
by James Steele » Wed Oct 07, 2015 10:45 pm
First thing I noticed is my AlphaTrack was dead. Not recognized. AlphaTrack Manager doesn't see it. Its driver apparently won't load and the installer comes back with an error. It appears that if you go to El Capitan, be aware that your AlphaTrack is sculpture and unlike in the past where we contacted the developer, I don't think there's anyway to resurrect it. Last time, AlphaTrack was given new life by updating the DP-specific "control surface bundle". This time, it's the actual USB driver that's broken, and I don't hold out any hope for it.
Another issue, but this one will probably be solved, is that even with the new public beta driver, my MTP/AV was sending MIDI out all MIDI outputs, when it was only supposed to be sending on the particular output to which a particular device was connected.
I'm restoring from a Carbon Copy Cloner backup as I write this. I'm sitting out El Cap for a while it looks like. Perhaps, I can take a look at a Behringer control surface, but the idea of doing all my mixing with a mouse is troubling to me and I can't give up my AlphaTrack just yet.
MacPro5,1 Hexcore 3.33, 24GB RAM, OS 10.11.6, ATI 5770, DP 9.1, MOTU HD192, 24I/O, UAD-2 Duo, Lucid GENx192, HV-3C, Red Type B, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by HCMarkus » Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:07 pm
I was getting worked up about El Cap, but have been rethinking… DP runs so well under Mountain Lion, why should I change? I'm sticking with the "DAW as Appliance" model, and loving it.
I have enough excitement in my life.
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by James Steele » Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:16 pm
HCMarkus wrote:If you simply MUST have El Cap, why not just boot into a Yosemite partition when running DP? If your boot drive is an SSD, rebooting takes seconds.
I was getting worked up about El Cap, but have been rethinking… DP runs so well under Mountain Lion, why should I change? I'm sticking with the "DAW as Appliance" model, and loving it.
I have enough excitement in my life.
Nope... I don't simply have to have El Cap.
MacPro5,1 Hexcore 3.33, 24GB RAM, OS 10.11.6, ATI 5770, DP 9.1, MOTU HD192, 24I/O, UAD-2 Duo, Lucid GENx192, HV-3C, Red Type B, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
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James Steele - Site Administrator
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by Shooshie » Thu Oct 08, 2015 1:32 am
Shooshie
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by monkey man » Thu Oct 08, 2015 5:09 am
As for ill Capstan... surely it can wait.
Mac 2012 12C Tower, OSX 10.11.6
MOTU DP8.07, MachFive 3.2.1, MIDI Express XT, 24I/O
Novation, Yamaha & Roland Synths, Guitar & Bass
Pretend I've placed your favourite quote here
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by Morpheo » Thu Oct 08, 2015 6:36 am
James Steele wrote:I threw caution to the wind a bit and upon seeing MOTU had posted public beta MIDI drivers, updated to El Capitan.
First thing I noticed is my AlphaTrack was dead. Not recognized. AlphaTrack Manager doesn't see it. Its driver apparently won't load and the installer comes back with an error. It appears that if you go to El Capitan, be aware that your AlphaTrack is sculpture and unlike in the past where we contacted the developer, I don't think there's anyway to resurrect it. Last time, AlphaTrack was given new life by updating the DP-specific "control surface bundle". This time, it's the actual USB driver that's broken, and I don't hold out any hope for it.
Another issue, but this one will probably be solved, is that even with the new public beta driver, my MTP/AV was sending MIDI out all MIDI outputs, when it was only supposed to be sending on the particular output to which a particular device was connected.
I'm restoring from a Carbon Copy Cloner backup as I write this. I'm sitting out El Cap for a while it looks like. Perhaps, I can take a look at a Behringer control surface, but the idea of doing all my mixing with a mouse is troubling to me and I can't give up my AlphaTrack just yet.
Did you try disabling SIP ? My SSL driver wouldn't load nor show up in my sound preferences until I disabled SIP... Several so-called "incompatibilities" just come from the fact that the system integrity protection is enabled. I don't need it, I know what I'm doing even as root...
Mac Pro 12 Cores (2x2.4) • 40GB RAM • OS X 10.95/10.11.6 • Pro Tools 12.5.2 • DP 9.02 • SSL Alpha-Link
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by James Steele » Thu Oct 08, 2015 9:49 am
Morpheo wrote:James Steele wrote:I threw caution to the wind a bit and upon seeing MOTU had posted public beta MIDI drivers, updated to El Capitan.
First thing I noticed is my AlphaTrack was dead. Not recognized. AlphaTrack Manager doesn't see it. Its driver apparently won't load and the installer comes back with an error. It appears that if you go to El Capitan, be aware that your AlphaTrack is sculpture and unlike in the past where we contacted the developer, I don't think there's anyway to resurrect it. Last time, AlphaTrack was given new life by updating the DP-specific "control surface bundle". This time, it's the actual USB driver that's broken, and I don't hold out any hope for it.
Another issue, but this one will probably be solved, is that even with the new public beta driver, my MTP/AV was sending MIDI out all MIDI outputs, when it was only supposed to be sending on the particular output to which a particular device was connected.
I'm restoring from a Carbon Copy Cloner backup as I write this. I'm sitting out El Cap for a while it looks like. Perhaps, I can take a look at a Behringer control surface, but the idea of doing all my mixing with a mouse is troubling to me and I can't give up my AlphaTrack just yet.
Did you try disabling SIP ? My SSL driver wouldn't load nor show up in my sound preferences until I disabled SIP... Several so-called "incompatibilities" just come from the fact that the system integrity protection is enabled. I don't need it, I know what I'm doing even as root...
You know... that's a great idea! How do you do that again? No... I didn't do that, but what's still troubling is that the AlphaTrack installer refuses to run. I wish I had screen captured the error message as I don't remember what it was. I guess getting AlphaTrack working on El Capitan might still be possible. I'll have to set up a test partition and find out.
MacPro5,1 Hexcore 3.33, 24GB RAM, OS 10.11.6, ATI 5770, DP 9.1, MOTU HD192, 24I/O, UAD-2 Duo, Lucid GENx192, HV-3C, Red Type B, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
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James Steele - Site Administrator
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by dewdman42 » Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:06 am
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by James Steele » Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:24 pm
I did disable SIP prior to working out this procedure. I'm not sure it is necessary. I'm going to try to repeat this with SIP enabled. If that doesn't work, with any luck SIP can be re-enabled AFTER successful install. I hope to follow up with specific instructions soon.
EDIT: I should hasten to add that I have not yet confirmed that it will work with DP 9.01 and the 64-bit control surface bundle, but I'm very optimistic.

MacPro5,1 Hexcore 3.33, 24GB RAM, OS 10.11.6, ATI 5770, DP 9.1, MOTU HD192, 24I/O, UAD-2 Duo, Lucid GENx192, HV-3C, Red Type B, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
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James Steele - Site Administrator
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by dewdman42 » Thu Oct 22, 2015 9:20 pm
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by James Steele » Thu Oct 22, 2015 10:26 pm
dewdman42 wrote:glad you got it working and perhaps this adventure will apply to other drivers and things that simply need to get around Apple's new draconian security.
Yep... after the test worked I installed the latest beta MIDI driver on my main partition while it was still Yosemite, then installed El Cap over it, and it booted right up with the AlphaTrack icon in the menu bar. Apparently, disabling SIP "sticks" with the system itself, it's not associated with booting from a particular drive.
Only slight weirdness is first time I launched DP, I had to disconnect and then re-connect AlphaTrack for it to see track names, etc. and work as it should.
MacPro5,1 Hexcore 3.33, 24GB RAM, OS 10.11.6, ATI 5770, DP 9.1, MOTU HD192, 24I/O, UAD-2 Duo, Lucid GENx192, HV-3C, Red Type B, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by James Steele » Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:26 pm
In my case all the AlphaTrack software had already been installed under a previous operating system and disabling SIP brought the existing AlphaTrack software back to life on the next boot. However, if you do a clean install, you will have to manually copy over the various components to your El Cap boot drive as the AlphaTrack installer will fail to install.
Here's what I did to get the AlphaTrack working on a clean install of El Cap just for reference:
Disable SIP by restarting your Mac, holding down Command + R to boot from the Restore volume. When booted, go the the Utilities menu up at the top and choose Terminal. Type in the following:
csrutil disable; reboot
Your Mac will reboot itself and SIP will be off.
Download the following archive: http://motunation.com/files/AlphaTrack_ ... lation.zip
This archive when expanded should be self explanatory. It has all the necessary files for AlphaTrack and shows where to copy them. It also contains what you'll need including an app called Kext Utility. (See: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Uti ... lity.shtml for info)
You can't just copy the actual .kext file. Use the Kext Utility app to install the kext file so that the system will load it properly. Launch Kext Utility and drag the file, FrontierDesignAlphaTrack.kext onto its window and it will install. Wait till it is finished and then quit the app. On reboot, the AlphaTrack should work.
Keep in mind, this is dependent on also having the special 64-bit compatible control surface bundle for DP. The file is AlphaTrackDPUB.bundle and must be in Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/MOTU Control Surface/. If you do not already have this newer file you can get it here: http://www.synclavier.com/AlphaTrackPlugin.html You also have to add the control surface in DP under the Setup>Control Surface Setup... menu.
Please note! This worked for me, it should work for you. However, given the litigious nature of society these days, I must warn you to backup first and I can take no responsibility if it doesn't work right for you, etc. If you have problems post here, but again, you do this at your own risk.
MacPro5,1 Hexcore 3.33, 24GB RAM, OS 10.11.6, ATI 5770, DP 9.1, MOTU HD192, 24I/O, UAD-2 Duo, Lucid GENx192, HV-3C, Red Type B, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by primeevolutionary » Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:13 pm
Worked like a charm!
Thanks you!
OS X 10.11.6
DP9.1
896 mk3
2 828 mk1s
MTPAV USB
MachFive3.2.1
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by James Steele » Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:49 pm
MacPro5,1 Hexcore 3.33, 24GB RAM, OS 10.11.6, ATI 5770, DP 9.1, MOTU HD192, 24I/O, UAD-2 Duo, Lucid GENx192, HV-3C, Red Type B, Dean guitars, Marshall amps, etc., etc.!
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James Steele - Site Administrator
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Re: El Capitan KILLS AlphaTrack USB Driver... back to Yosemi
by jpetrisko » Fri Dec 04, 2015 6:24 am
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