MOTU DP 10, MOTU hardware and macOS Big Sur 11.x

[macnylonguitar]

Usually MOTU is excellent at "Same Day" communication with compatibility with major Apple / macOS announcements.

macOS 11x Big Sure was released for public usage today.

Maybe I am missing something on MOTU's website on this...

In addition, Apple has essentially ended "Kernel Extensions", as another step in security. Apple does not want anything directly touching / interfacing the macOS kernel, and I think that is a smart security measure for Apple and its users going forward.

Apple is instead using "System Extensions" which can be controlled / managed via Configuration Profiles (XML)..

I am hoping MOTU is moving / has moved its hardware drivers to System Extensions for all their hardware: M2, M4, etc.

In the current macOS 10.15 Catalina, upon installing MOTU drivers, one gets the Apple message warning users that Kernel Extensions are deprecated / legacy and developers should move to System Extensions. Thank you so much. John Klimeck, Apple Systems Engineer, former Apple Systems / QA Engineer

[CharlzS]

https://motu.com/en-us/news/motu-and-macos-big-sur/

[macnylonguitar]

Excellent, thanks so much!

[Phil O]

I installed Big Sur on a partition (or whatever the heck it's called now with APFS). I gotta say, I don't like anything about the new look and feel. Yuk!!

DP is definitely not ready for it and 99 plugins (all 64 bit) did not pass initial inspection. I think it's gonna be a while, and even then a PIA with a ton of software updates.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[mikehalloran]

I’ll be installing on my MBP soon enough, testing then revert back to Catalina via APFS Snapshots. I did this a few dozen times with Catalina before finally making the move. Not yet, though as too many of my apps are saying, “Not yet…”

[papageno]

I have still working MOTU Ultralite mk3 FW interface, hooked to my latest Mac mini i7 through two Apple adpters (TB3>2 + TB2>FW) and working absolutely fine with latest Catalina (all updates done).
Next week I will hook up a fast external SSD and test if I will get Ultralite kext working under Big Sour. I did find an instruction how to disable OS protection and install KEXT manually in Terminal. It has been nice of MOTU to still support my old interface with Catalina, although MOTU released Catalina compatible driver begin January 2020. I managed to install non-supported KEXT in Catalina in autumn 2019 already and posted the instructions also in this forum. Seems that Apple has tightened the security protocols in Big Sour even further so the process can be more tricky than with Catalina.
Lets see... i will report back about that issue.

PS. I know that the OS is actually called Big Sur.

[James Steele]

I have one of the MacPro 4,1s upgraded to a 5,1 12 core. I think High Sierra is going to be as far as I want to go for a while. I have a number of plugs that rely on 32 Lives including my LiquidMIx which amazingly still works. I guess I'm gonna be locked in for a while here until I have the budget for a big upgrade at some point.

[mothra]

Not a DP user, but everything here is 100% working in Big Sur on my Mac mini.
828X using the Catalina drivers has been working since day 1 here.
I got extremely lucky everything just works here. Had to get some updates for Little Snitch, Audio Hijack and a couple others but all my audio stuff is flying as it was before. Every plugin, Logic Pro, Wavelab Elements, Audio Finder, etc, all is well. Shockingly all of my MPC's software still runs too. I can still mount it to the desktop (the extensions are still working there too) along with the USB hub/MIDI interface connected to it and can still edit in Sound Diver with VirtualBox. The Network MIDI app has a blank GUI now but still connects my MPC and I can sync with Logic, and play AUs from the MPC in Logic still.

Keep in mind I also have a brand new six month old Mac mini so all this crap better have worked smoothly on it haha. YMMV, but Big Sur is a go here.

[Phil O]

DDMF's Plugindoctor wasn't working for me in Catalina. After several rounds with Tech support I gave up on it. It is, however, working on Big Sur now. Things that make you go hmmm.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[mikehalloran]

DDMF's Plugindoctor wasn't working for me in Catalina. After several rounds with Tech support I gave up on it. It is, however, working on Big Sur now. Things that make you go hmmm.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

I had a few apps crap out in High Sierra but came back to life in Mojave. Catalina improved the performance of a couple.

Not installing OS 11 on my iMac Pro till I’ve vetted it on something else, first. I waited 11 months to go Catalina but that involved a lot of paid upgrades to 32 bit apps—Office, FileMaker, Acrobat Pro, Photoshop… I hope it isn’t as expensive this time around.

[geoffg]

I'm unable to get my MOTU MIDI drivers working in Big Sur. I was able to run the installer (MOTU MIDI Installer 1.6 (82544).pkg), but it doesn't prompt me to enable the driver in the Security & Privacy system prefs as mentioned in this MOTU tech note: https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/ ... rs-big-sur

Instead, after installing and rebooting, Audio MIDI Setup simply does not recognize my MOTU MIDI interface (fastlane). (The Mac system report can see that the fastlane is plugged into the usb port though.)

DP is running fine and so are my plugins (Waves, MachFive), but of course without any MIDI interface, so not very useful. It's only good for audio right now. BTW, my apogee audio interface is running fine on Big Sur.

If anyone has any ideas about getting the MOTU MIDI drivers working please let me know. I've contacted MOTU support.

[mothra]

If anyone has any ideas about getting the MOTU MIDI drivers working please let me know. I've contacted MOTU support.

Do you have it plugged into a hub by chance? My 828X for whatever reason stopped being able to mount connected to my hub. System Profiler can see it (says 'MOTU 828X TBT' anyways) but it won't actually connect to it unless I plug it directly in to its own USB port. Used to work fine but at some point during the Big Sur betas, it stopped working one day. Thought the driver was broke but nope, still works, just not with a hub.

[geoffg]

Thanks for the reply, mothra. Unfortunately it's not plugged into a hub - it's straight into one of the usb ports on my mac mini.

[geoffg]

FWIW, MOTU has updated their Big Sur compatibility page to show that many of their interfaces are not yet compatible with MacOS Big Sur. They are also listing DP, DP Lite, and their virtual instruments as not yet compatible. Hopefully they'll have a fix soon.

[bayswater]

Sweetwater has a guide to compatibility of audio software with Big Sur that looks a bit more comprehensive than the one at GS. Looks like it could be a long time before BS is viable, if ever.

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ar ... g%20Link#m