New Machine vs Legacy Projects: What options have I (if any...)

[otalgia-2000]

Hello everyone

I'm completing the process of migrating over to a new Mac Studio M1 Max running DP 11 and, as this glorious new day dawns, I start to see all the broken glass that party left in its wake.

So I'd like to ask you all what you've done in similar situations, mostly concerned with accessing past projects now, should the need or desire arise.

In my own version of the scenario, the Mac Pro 3,1 I've been using for 15 years has pretty much died. I suppose I could try defibrillating it if an occasion presented the necessity to access something otherwise lost, but I can't reliably depend on that machine.

My guess is, there's no point in seeing if I can run DP9 on the new machine to open old projects (and would it even run 9 in the first place?) because even if I could, deprecated plugins won't load now. So I might as well open them in 11 and do a save-as.

The gut-punch effect "kicks in" because certain plugins -- particularly MachFive 3 -- carried a lot of weight around here.

If the need arose, I could re-create parts from M5 or Electric Keys in Falcon 2. But I now realize that in the case of M5, there isn't even a clue left behind of what the parts contained. It's just... gone.

And I confess that I've been a naughty creator who didn't avail themselves of the all-important NOTES functionality to at least list what got loaded in where.

Given that kind of landscape, I can see a certain point of view which says "Ya just gotta move on" (though it's my nature not to say "die" easily).

If I adopt the wholesale-rout approach, I guess I wouldn't even go to the effort of copying legacy projects over from their backups, cause why use the disc space. If I need them, I'd go and get them and then sort my way through the wreckage somehow.

Before I throw in the towel completely tho, I just wanted to check around and see whether there might be any sly workarounds known to you all that I'm not aware of.

Ahh, new stuff -- the pleasure and the pain, all at once.

O2k

[mikehalloran]

As long as you a) use Migration Assistant to port your work files or b) zip your Project Folders on the old Mac before copying them over and unzipping on the new, there shouldn’t be too much pain involved (a or b, no need to do both). Even if doing a Clean Install of your Applications and plugs etc. (recommended), you can use Migration Assistant to bring your work files only. If not using MA, unzipping grants you the required permissions to access your files on the new machine. BTW, it’s not just DP — Office, Adobe and many other app work files require this as a well.

If your current version of DP 9 isn’t 9.52, download and run the updater on your old Mac, Open and Save each project in 9.52. Certain audio file bug fixes in 9.52 might save you a bit of grief opening old projects in 11.22 on the new Mac.

There are recent threads about how to handle Mach5 3 over M1. James has made a legacy build of the UVI Player available for download. You will need that plus the tips in those threads for the transition.

[otalgia-2000]

Thank you kindly!

In fact I did opt for the clean re-install route -- after 15 years, it just felt like it was time to clean out the ol' sock drawer.

I wasn't aware one could cherry-pick with Migration Assistant to the degree you describe, I thought of it as being more an all-or-nothing-at-all proposition.

With your helpful information in mind I will give some consideration to which projects I think will remain relevant going forward and if I can get the 3,1 to stay booted up for longer than 5 minutes at a stretch I'll use MA to pull them over.

Muchly appreciated!
o-2k

[sethares]

Speaking of legacy projects...

I needed to revive an old recording session -- but first I had to find the archive, then update it for a modern system. I headed down into storage where there were a collection of boxes in the basement, each with stacks of old recordable CDs. Many were labelled! Reading through the hand scribbled titles: this song, that artist, all ancient history. Finally I found it: nestled there among "Backup Photos 1998" and a "Digital Performer Update 2.11" disk. I pulled the precious CD-R from the box and went upstairs.

My laptop wouldn't read it, giving me the error that "This disk is unreadable by this computer." The Mac Mini wouldn't read it. My neighbors iMac wouldn't read it. Back down into the basement was an even older iMac -- one that had a built in CD reader. After booting up (and finding the login information) I inserted the CD and it made a grinding sound, then beeped a few times. More grinding. Then the disk icon appeared on the desktop! All 600 MB copied, but I was nervous. There was no file extension on the DP project file. There were no extensions on the audio files, they all read like this.L and this.R. Oh oh. Hadn't I seen posts on MOTUnation where people were having trouble reading older archives because of .sd files or missing file extensions? I was getting more and more nervous.

I transferred the folders over to my working computer and double clicked. It opened. All the audio files had blank horizontal bars, and my stomach lurched yet again. But wait... the background processing was working, and after a while (it felt like hours, but was probably only a minute) the audio graphs appeared. Whooo. I just had to assign the audio output and glorious sound burst forth. (Of course, none of the plugins were there, and none of the external MIDI modules from 1997 still work, but the audio was right where it was supposed to be.)

[HCMarkus]

You may want to convert those SDII file to .wav...

[mikehalloran]

Thank you kindly!
…

I wasn't aware one could cherry-pick with Migration Assistant to the degree you describe, I thought of it as being more an all-or-nothing-at-all proposition.

…

Muchly appreciated!
o-2k

Sure. You have any or all of three options with Migration Assistant.

1) System and network settings —you'll still have to verify and log into iCloud when done but if everything was good on the old Mac, no reason not to.

2) Applications and support files. After 18 years, a clean install is not a bad idea as it forces you to download the latest installer.

3) Work files. By default these should all be in Documents — yea, right.

4) Any combination of or all the above.

You can pull from your old Mac or from Time Machine. If from the Mac, USB works but Ethernet (network or direct doesn't matter) or Thunderbolt is faster. You will need to have it connected to a monitor as you will be entering verification codes so that it knows you have given yourself permissions.

If pulling from a Time Machine backup, you have the same options but you don't need to have the old Mac available or on. This will be slower than the above.

[mikehalloran]

You may want to convert those SDII file to .wav...

That bug was fixed in a later version of DP 10—finally. Still a good recommendation.

You can convert the files after opening the project in DP 10.13 or DP 11. You can also change the sample rate and bit depth at the same time. It's quick and easy

[sethares]

You may want to convert those SDII file to .wav...

That bug was fixed in a later version of DP 10—finally. Still a good recommendation.

You can convert the files after opening the project in DP 10.13 or DP 11. You can also change the sample rate and bit depth at the same time. It's quick and easy

Not having ever worked with a 25 year old project before, this wasn't on my radar, but of course you are right -- the old files were 16-bit @44K and so need to be converted/updated. Funny that I had never read chapter 77 of the manual before -- it makes conversion quick and easy. Thanks for the solid advice!

[mikehalloran]

You may want to convert those SDII file to .wav...

That bug was fixed in a later version of DP 10—finally. Still a good recommendation.

You can convert the files after opening the project in DP 10.13 or DP 11. You can also change the sample rate and bit depth at the same time. It's quick and easy

Not having ever worked with a 25 year old project before, this wasn't on my radar, but of course you are right -- the old files were 16-bit @44K and so need to be converted/updated. Funny that I had never read chapter 77 of the manual before -- it makes conversion quick and easy. Thanks for the solid advice!

You’re welcome.

Wait… It’s in the manual? Hmmm… I discovered it accidentally but yes, it’s a great feature.

It’s also available in Performer Lite but the screen is in a different location and the PL manual is wrong on how to access it. Grrrrrrr

[otalgia-2000]

…

2) Applications and support files. After 18 years, a clean install is not a bad idea as it forces you to download the latest installer.

3) Work files. By default these should all be in Documents — yea, right.

...

Yes, that Item Three does sure does illicit a guffaw! And raises an interesting consideration too --

The clean re-install & manual rebuilding process has been good in many ways, offering an opportunity to apply the benefits of whatever hindsight wisdom I've squeezed from experience to an overall re-assessment of the new landscape.

Painstaking, yes -- luckily however, no other pressing necessities coincided with this process so I've been able to devote the concentration and hopefully reap some benefits.

But Item Three gives reason to reconsider that Documents folder as being "a place" after all should MA be called upon in future. Not that I'm saying I'd really ever organize projects into Documents of course!

o-2k

[mikehalloran]

…

2) Applications and support files. After 18 years, a clean install is not a bad idea as it forces you to download the latest installer.

3) Work files. By default these should all be in Documents — yea, right.

...

Yes, that Item Three does sure does illicit a guffaw! And raises an interesting consideration too --

The clean re-install & manual rebuilding process has been good in many ways, offering an opportunity to apply the benefits of whatever hindsight wisdom I've squeezed from experience to an overall re-assessment of the new landscape.

Painstaking, yes -- luckily however, no other pressing necessities coincided with this process so I've been able to devote the concentration and hopefully reap some benefits.

But Item Three gives reason to reconsider that Documents folder as being "a place" after all should MA be called upon in future. Not that I'm saying I'd really ever organize projects into Documents of course!

o-2k

Although many preach the “buy a small internal drive and put everything on an external” approach, I’ve always believed in getting the maximum internal storage available—many reasons that I won’t go into now.

Recent changes to Cloud computing in the MacOS favor my approach and are really making some others quite upset. iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive and GoogleDrive’s many services are all affected. It’s a complex issue and I will start a new thread on that, hopefully soon (been a bit busy and there have been some health issues).