Mavericks to Catalina? ... I chickened out!

[Buzzy]

It looks like too much of what I have been using will be lost. The 32 lives plug-in will no longer work. I have 2 Muse Receptors that themselves have some no longer functioning software (outside of them) that I still use. EWQL symphonic orchestra on Kontakt for example. NI B4II and Pro53 (discontinued) and a bunch of Slate drumkit expansion packs for Kontakt that they long abandoned.

Anyway ... point being, I think I've convinced myself to upgrade to Mojave instead in order to buy myself more time with these as well as to render my last >10 years of musical project to audio for archiving.

So here's the question. Is everything generally working fine with DP10, related third party plug-ins and Mojave? Is there any -need- to update to Catalina?

[bdr]

So my studio computer is still Mavericks, and I'm with you in not really wanting to upgrade it..I just know it will not go smoothly and will likely be 3+ days of hell.

I have an old MacBook Air that I was recently given at home so I thought I may as well install Mojave on it. I have DP and Sibelius on it and both work fine, but basically without many extra plugins. I'm not going to Catalina bc I don't need to.

I'm also thinking about a Ha**intosh but just bc the price of the basic tower in Australia is over 10K, it's ridiculous for solo or small studios. Even the bigger post houses here will probably not upgrade as fees have plummeted.

[HCMarkus]

I moved from Sierra directly to Mojave with my 5,1 Mac Pro, and have been very happy with this version of macOS. I don't think I had any plug in conflicts attributable to the OS upgrade. (Several, now resolved, arose when I moved from DP9.52 to DP10.11)

Note that there are hurdles to cross to put Mojave on a 5,1 Mac Pro, including the need for a Metal-compatible GPU. Here is an excellent guide for those upgrading a 5,1 Mac Pro:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mp ... d.2142418/

I found that DP's GUI response improved markedly under Mojave, compared to Sierra, likely attributable to more mature GPU driver software.

At this point, I see no reason to move to Catalina, and a number of reasons to avoid it... loss of 32 bit app support and lack of official support for 5,1 Mac Pros are two big ones.

[apanacci]

I just moved to Mojave from High Sierra on my two 5.1 Mac Pros thanks to Marcus and Mike,s help. I am not going near Catalina on my main system drives. I have Mojave spare 3rd drive I might experiment with that but probably will not at this time. Mojave is working fine here.

[bayswater]

I have Mojave on the 2018 Mini, because that's what it came with. I have Catalina on a test volume, but have decided I'll not bother with it, instead waiting to see what 10.16 does. I found Catalina intrusive, demanding and annoying, with nothing to justify the effort of setting it up.

I find Mojave, at least in it's last update, the best OS version since Snow Leopard. (Based on how often I have to restart to resolve OS and App weirdness: 10.6, about every six months; 10.14, a couple of times a month; other versions, between once a day and every two weeks.)

Mojave also seems very accommodating to very old software (assuming you can get it installed). Last week, I installed Photoshop Elements V9 which came free on a DVD with a printer 10-15 years ago. Mojave got all excited about "suspicious processes", but after being told to relax a couple of times, it all worked fine.

[mothra]

Yeah I think Mojave is actually pretty nice and trouble free for the most part..

I just ordered my new Mini last week (its getting drop shipped by Apple cause I got the i7 w/16GB) and Im HOPING I can still put Mojave on it since its technically a 2018 Mac mini just with bigger storage. But if not luckily I think everything of mine is Catalina compatible now.

I just really like how stable and slick Mojave is.. It reminds me of those "good old days" when you got to tell people you used a Mac because "it just works" hah.

[mikehalloran]

I still have two apps that are not Catalina compatible (promises, promises but not yet). Otherwise, I would have updated by now.

There are some things I like about it including screen resolution on my iMac Pro that I can’t get in Mojave. I also have it on an external drive and my MBP. But those two apps...

[stubbsonic]

I have Mojave on the 2018 Mini, because that's what it came with. I have Catalina on a test volume, but have decided I'll not bother with it, instead waiting to see what 10.16 does. I found Catalina intrusive, demanding and annoying, with nothing to justify the effort of setting it up.

I find Mojave, at least in it's last update, the best OS version since Snow Leopard. (Based on how often I have to restart to resolve OS and App weirdness: 10.6, about every six months; 10.14, a couple of times a month; other versions, between once a day and every two weeks.)

Mojave also seems very accommodating to very old software (assuming you can get it installed). Last week, I installed Photoshop Elements V9 which came free on a DVD with a printer 10-15 years ago. Mojave got all excited about "suspicious processes", but after being told to relax a couple of times, it all worked fine.

This is good to hear. My update to High Sierra recently has been not only painless, but actually improved a few things. A couple annoying bugs, but nothing I can't adapt to. I'm thinking if I nudge up to Mojave, I can probably camp there comfortably for the duration of my mid-2012 MBP's life.

[Buzzy]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

Well ... It's done! 10.9.5 to 10.14.6. And surprisingly, quite painless too. So far so good with DP10 as well, although I haven't really run it through much other than playing back and inserting plug-ins into tracks and so on. I did have to go into the terminal program to disable the "csrutil" in order to get through a strange permission problem that wouldn't allow me to save any documents.

Just thought I'd report back this success, for all those that wouldn't be able to sleep without knowing how this worked out.

[HCMarkus]

Nice work Buzzy!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

All good here as well. Some apps like Photoshop CS 5.1 need to be allowed to control the Mac on system prefs (security?). Otherwise everything is great. Messages (Apple app) won’t stay up in full screen at reboot. No big deal. You might want to make sure apps and plugs are up to date. For me, Catalina remains a beautiful island off the coast. I actually do a lot of gigs there. So great.

[mikehalloran]

I did have to go into the terminal program to disable the "csrutil" in order to get through a strange permission problem that wouldn't allow me to save any documents.

You should to talk with Apple about that.

Something's going on at the Root level—it should be found and deleted. There are times to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) but it should be to fix a problem so that you can re-enable it.

Most of us went through these growing pains with Yosemite or El Capitan—which you skipped.

If you were using Soundflower, that should be purged from the root while you have SIP disabled. The current builds don't reside there.

[stubbsonic]

Just hitching onto this thread, I finally mustered courage and went ahead to Mojave.

My first little dabblings are mostly fine. The biggest disappointment is that I can't install that special version of iTunes that let's me to continue to manage iOS apps from my Mac (which I very much prefer).

So now I'm stuck with the newer version of iTunes. Not tragic, but I'll just miss being able to buy apps from my MBP where I do most of my surfing. Grrr.

I suppose in the grand scheme that's a pretty minor gripe.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I suppose in the grand scheme that's a pretty minor gripe.

Still, a dumb move on Apple's part.

[mikehalloran]

I'll just miss being able to buy apps from my MBP where I do most of my surfing

Was that new for Mojave? I noticed that I couldn't do that anymore but don't remember when that happened.

Still, a dumb move on Apple's part

Zero argument here.