Help! Anybody knowledgeable about old versions of Performer?

Gavo · Post by **Gavo** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 7:48 pm

Hey guys, don't attack me (!) but I used Performer 3.5 and 4.2, then Digital Performer 2.3 and 2.6 for years but I had to switch to Pro Tools a few years ago.

Every few months I need to get the MIDI tracks from one of my old Performer files and a friend who used to run Performer helped me with the conversions. But now I'm trying to do it myself and for some reason every version I have won't work. Here's the story:

Performer 3.5 - used to run on a Mac Classic with System 7.0 - will not run on my old gray Powerbook with system 7.5

Can't find my copy of Performer 4.2

Digital Performer 2.3 and 2.6 - used to run on a Power Mac 6100 with system 9.1 - will not run on a G4 with system 9.2

Anybody know how to make any of these versions work on my current equipment? Is there a version history somewhere that shows compatibility with the different systems? Or is there an archive of the pre-Digital Performer (ie just 'Performer') installers? I have OS 10.4 on my G4 tower as well...what is the first version of Digital Performer that was made for OS X?

Any help would be appreciated!

Gavo...in Toronto

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:55 pm

I am using Digital Performer 5.01 on a Dual 1GHz Quicksilver Mac tower. In response to your request, I closed my current project and opened the oldest file I could find on my hard drive. It had not been modified since September 9, 1988, and it plays perfectly fine. I had to assign tracks that match my current system, but other than that, there were no alterations necessary, though it did advise me that this is a "Pre-FreeMIDI file," and should be saved in a new file.

Does that answer your question? You are just looking for a way to open old files, right? I've always found that DP opens old files without any trouble. Some have reported other results, but for me it's always worked just fine. I'm thinking that any version of DP you can find for OS X will probably open your old files, but I recommend staying with the newest version, always. Currently, that is DP 5.01.

By the way, as an aside, it was cool to see these old files opened on my 23" Cinema Display. These were created in the original Macintosh, or perhaps a Mac SE, and the window was only about 1/4 (or less) as wide as my current screen! Plus, these files were made before graphic editors, so all the tracks' event lists were open. I'm quite impressed that Digital Performer handles these old files so well. I'm guessing that won't be the case with the Intel Macs.

Shooshie

Gavo · Post by **Gavo** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 9:39 am

Hey Shooshie, thanks for checking into it...actually the question was more about which operating system I would need to use my existing versions of Performer. ie which versions of OS 8 or 9 would DP 2.3 and 2.6 work on, as they don't work on OS 9.2...

I'm not planning on buying the latest version of DP as I only need Performer occasionally to convert old files to MIDI. What I can do though is install an older version of the Mac OS on another hard drive if I know which one will work with what I've got...

What would solve the problem would be a tech sheet with the dates all of the versions of Performer and Digital Performer were released, and/or which operating systems they worked with...?

Thanks!

Gavo

doodles · Post by **doodles** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:36 am

funnily enough i tried to open up some old files this week from an old soundtrack i did to try and nick a few riffs! some worked fine, but 1 in particular kept giving me a kernel panic every time i tried to open it, and would have to restart. ended up binning the file!

as for previous versions:

not sure there's a tech sheet anywhere, but...

OSX was dp 4 and above.
dp 3 was fine on os 9.
not sure about dp 2 and before that

Gavo · Post by **Gavo** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:40 am

Awesome...now that helps...maybe I'll have to install OS 8 to get DP 2 working...

Anybody else know specifics about DP 2 (or even better, the pre-Digital versions, Performer 3.5 and 4.2)?

Gavo · Post by **Gavo** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:42 am

Although...oops...I just realized I don't think my G4 tower runs with OS 8...back to the drawing board...? lol

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:53 am

If you were a registered user of DP3 or before, the upgrade to DP 5 would not be terribly expensive. You can't boot into OS9 or previous on any Mac made since about late 2003. It's up to you, of course, but I know what I'd do. DP has changed radically since you used it last. Looks pretty much the same (except for Consolidated Windows), but has automatic beat detection, pitch correction, plugin delay compensation, virtual "racks" for VIs, and many, many more things that make it a DAW worth having around even for occasional use.

Buying it would beat going to another studio and asking them to rip your files for you... and that's pretty much where you're left if you don't buy the latest version; that or keeping an old Mac around. Which makes more sense? Taking up space with something thats pretty useless for anything but ripping old files, or buying the latest, which takes up no physical space and gives you another DAW option that rivals what you normally use?

Shooshie

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:35 am

Gavo wrote:Although...oops...I just realized I don't think my G4 tower runs with OS 8...back to the drawing board...? lol

I am pretty sure I ran DP 3 on a G4 tower w sys 9.1 and 9.2.

I am very sure I ran sys 8.5 on my G4 tower. I am pretty sure I ran digital performer 2.6 on that set up.

I have this g4 tower:

http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/g4saw.shtml

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:43 pm

I'd go with getting the latest version of DP and opening your older files with it.

Personally I equate time with money and I'd save more money by buying the latest version of DP than I would by trying to track down some way of using old versions of Perfomer.

Yes DP3.x will run on a G4 running OS 9.x. I think Performer (regular Performer, that is, not DP) 2.6 did run on OS8 - but I don't think you can run OS8 on a G4. My old G4 AGP graphics 450Mhz came with OS9.0.2.

tomeaton · Post by **tomeaton** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:18 pm

DP3.11 is extremely stable on OS9.2 in a G4. It was my everyday tool for probably three years and crashed maybe ten times total.

-tom

dimensiondk · Post by **dimensiondk** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:31 am

I have used performer since version3.4-something and dp since version1.4.

dp2.5, 2.6, 2.7 all will work fine with os9 on a g4. 2.72 is the most stable of the bunch. what problems are you having when you try and install them?

davek

Gavo · Post by **Gavo** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:10 am

Thanks Davek...here is the rundown:

G4 Dual 1 Ghz
OS 9.2.2

DP 2.6 (not 2.7 as previously stated, my mistake) - Unexpectedly quits because of an error of type 1 at launch

DP 2.3 - Unexpectedly quits because of a type 3 or type 1 errors at launch

A friend of mine has the same G4 I used to have when I was still able to run Performer in OS 9 (400 mHz, one of the earlier ones). The other day I tried to go to his place and install it...no go, I got the same crashes at launch every time no matter what I seemed to do with extensions etc.

Are there any extensions that are known conflicts?

Thanks again, I just want my MIDI files! LOL

sdfalk · Post by **sdfalk** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:24 am

I remember system 8.6 being rock solid with almost everything...
(including early versions of DP)

Gavo · Post by **Gavo** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:56 am

Hmmm...does anyone know what is the last Mac that will run 8.6? Any of the G4s or iMacs?

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:06 pm

Gavo wrote:Hmmm...does anyone know what is the last Mac that will run 8.6? Any of the G4s or iMacs?

Check out this site and dig around - this will tell you which is minimum system for different machines listed.

http://www.lowendmac.com/profiles.htm

So for example:

http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/g4saw.shtml

which is the g4 sawtooth agp, under "Details" it says:

"requires Mac OS 8.6 or later"

------------------------------------------

MOTUnation.com

Help! Anybody knowledgeable about old versions of Performer?

Help! Anybody knowledgeable about old versions of Performer?

dp2.5 should work fine on os9 g4