MOTUnation.com

Hi all

I've just turned on my new Mac Studio M2 Ultra and finally got my Apollo to work with it. Now it's installation time!...

I have a million plugins and VI's, I store most of my VI libraries on Separate outboard SSD drives (in an OWC Thunderbay), and Intend to keep them there at least for the time being. Most of NI Komplete and other (more synth) vI's are on my Mac HD.

From past experience I'm not doing the Mac "Migration Assistant" due to too many errors in the past. However I wanted to speed up my installation process (otherwise this could take days!).

Does anyone know, if I simply copy over the entire contents of my Mac HD/Library/Audio/Plugins/Components folder from my old Trashcan to my new Mac Studio (same location) will all plugins at least be recognized by DP and work as intended? I'm mostly updated but obviously will update any that need to.

I'm guessing that VIs are a different animal? If I simply copy over the VI component, will that work? I know I'll have to re-authorize each one, but could locating all the respective VI sound libraries get too cumbersome/tricky, even though they'd be in the exact same relative location?

I guess my question is, could it be quicker doing the above, or just I just re-download/re-install all my Plugins/VIs afresh in order to have foolproof installs?...

Thanks,
CT

I done this a few time, and I’m sure many here have done the same. My experience is that it will take a long time whatever you do. Most of that will involve all the inane authorization schemes you have to remember for plugins, and all the support tickets you’ll have to do when some of them don’t work as advertised, schemes that have changed, etc.

I found that using migration assistant, despite a few glitches, is faster than doing a few re-install for everything, You can always do a new install for the few things that don’t work. But once you add on the plugin work, it doesn’t make a lot of difference.

Here’s what does help: Make a list of all your plugins. For any you have to look up to remind yourself what they do, or any you haven’t used for a long time, don‘t install them on the new setup. Run for a while, and then go back and delete. Last hardware update I went from nearly 1,000 to a little over 200 plugins and never missed anything.

There's no problem migrating your System and Network settings using Migration Assistant and it's faster than setting up from scratch. Don't worry, you'll still have a lot of work to do getting your online accounts straight afterward as you have to re-log into them, add and delete etc.

With Documents such as files etc., Migration Assistant grants your new machine the permissions that you had on the old machine. DP projects and Microsoft files are among the many where this is an issue. If you copy and drag over, make sure that you Zip them on the old Mac first and unZip them on the new. Again, MA is a time saver.

What you call "errors" are, in fact, old junk, now incompatible with the new machine and MacOS. This is why many of us recommend clean installs of the Applications. MA pulls old Library files that can go back to the dawn of time and you don't want that.

Apple can make mistakes, of course. I've been on the phone nearly every day for this and that, mainly because of mistakes in Support docs (uh..., I can't "check the box" because it doesn't exist) for Bluetooth settings and other things. Right now, I'm on the phone with Apple because I keep getting email messages telling me how many days I have left to purchase AppleCare+ ... except that I did... It didn't "automatically register with my hardware" — oops!

The VIs you have on your externals aren't going anywhere. You can take your time reinstalling onto your System drive — or leave them alone. Users/Shared is Apple's default location. In the case of NI, you can copy them over, then point Native Access to the new location (don't forget to downgrade Kontakt to 7.6 per the other thread).
https://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73556
With those VIs that have installers, this will be easy, if time consuming. IKM is not behaving and I am in the trenches with them having paid for an upgrade about 6 weeks ago—I know what the issue is but they're not believing me and may have to reverse a $200 charge on my AMEX to get the attention someone senior enough to resolve it — the installer didn't work properly on my iMac Pro, either. They keep sending me screen shots of how things looked over El Cap—sheesh!

This is a good time to clean out the old junk such as 32 bit files and other incompatible stuff. I still had Ozone 2 on mine that survived three rounds of MA — yikes! I've not run into permission issues on VIs because I failed to Zip/unZip.

If you haven't done this yet on the old Mac, do so before running MA or do it on the new Mac: Open the following folder /Users/(account name)/Library/Preferences/com.motu.MotuAudioSystem / Delete these files: Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit , VST3 Info Cache v2 and VST Info Cache 64-bit . Remove the 32 bit versions also. Reboot, relaunch and DP will rebuild those cache files. I found AudioDesk caches going back to the 1990s when I ran that. DP 11 stopped crashing on launch except right after updating a number of plug-ins.

https://www.motunation.com/forum/viewto ... he#p605755

Anyway, it looks like I'm about a week to 10 days ahead of you on this journey. I'll post more as I know more.

It only took me two days to get my new M1 Mac Studio up and running.

Clean Install OS

Migration Assistant for Network Settings

Fresh Install All Drivers, Applications and Plugins. (As Mike notes, don't forget to downgrade Kontakt to 7.6) https://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73556

Copied VI Sample Libraries via sneaker net (hard drive copy, transferred manually)

HCMarkus wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 5:03 pm …
Clean Install OS

Migration Assistant for Network Settings

Fresh Install All Drivers, Applications and Plugins. (As Mike notes, don't forget to downgrade Kontakt to 7.6) https://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73556

Copied VI Sample Libraries via sneaker net (hard drive copy, transferred manually)

Forgot about that. As I was staying on Ventura, I updated from 13.5.2 to 13.6

Yes, those on my iMac Pro's internal drive were moved via sneakernet. I'm using the same external SSDs for now so those are just being copied over.

I'm still on the same Apple Support call from two hours ago trying to straighten out AppleCare and Invoices. I ordered online using my Apple card. Grrrrr...

I'm migrating to a new M4 Max Sequia (wee!) from an M1 Max Ventura, and I am again weighing the benefits of Migration Assistant vs clean install.

I've been using computers for many years, and have never not used Migration Assistant, and I've never had any real problem. However, because of this, I'm still carrying around misc prefs and system files from OS9! Is now the time to bite the bullet and do a clean install? Someone said it only took them two days to do that, but I think it would take me two days to just make a list of what I need to reinstall!

I'm glad to see the resident authority, Mike, endorse, migration assistant. I upgraded to an M4 mainly because two projects I'm working on are getting to be too much for my M1, so I won't have time for a clean install anytime soon. @Mike, given the legacy crap it's in my system would you still endorse MA? Your perspective is always appreciated.

Thanks!

dix wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:47 pm I'm migrating to a new M4 Max Sequia (wee!) from an M1 Max Ventura, and I am again weighing the benefits of Migration Assistant vs clean install.

I've been using computers for many years, and have never not used Migration Assistant, and I've never had any real problem. However, because of this, I'm still carrying around misc prefs and system files from OS9! Is now the time to bite the bullet and do a clean install? Someone said it only took them two days to do that, but I think it would take me two days to just make a list of what I need to reinstall!

I'm glad to see the resident authority, Mike, endorse, migration assistant. I upgraded to an M4 mainly because two projects I'm working on are getting to be too much for my M1, so I won't have time for a clean install anytime soon. @Mike, given the legacy crap it's in my system would you still endorse MA? Your perspective is always appreciated.

Thanks!

If your M1 is working well, I would be less concerned bout using Migration assistant from M1 to M4 than Intel to Apple Silicon.

Sure, it would be nice to start from scratch, but time constraints are a thing, for sure.

HCMarkus wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 1:04 pmIf your M1 is working well, I would be less concerned bout using Migration assistant from M1 to M4 than Intel to Apple Silicon.

Sure, it would be nice to start from scratch, but time constraints are a thing, for sure.

The M1 is rock solid - apart from constant fans - so I had that same thought. In fact the new M4 Max is also a MBP with identical port configuration, so swapping back, in the event of disaster, would be super simple.

HCMarkus wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 5:03 pm It only took me two days to get my new M1 Mac Studio up and running.

Clean Install OS

Migration Assistant for Network Settings

Fresh Install All Drivers, Applications and Plugins. (As Mike notes, don't forget to downgrade Kontakt to 7.6) viewtopic.php?t=73556

Copied VI Sample Libraries via sneaker net (hard drive copy, transferred manually)

What HCMarkus said. He actually helped me when I moved from a 2010 Mac Pro Tower (yes) to an M2 Mac Studio Ultra. But I have never used Migration Assistant and I guess I don't trust it. Especially going from an Intel machine to an Apple Silicon one. I fresh installed everything. Then dragged over my Photos Library, Music Library, VI's and so forth. Some preference files or exporting preferences in various applications and importing them via their menu options.

I used to have lots of internal and external drives but now they are folders on my internal drive (4TB). Yes, backed up via Time Machine AND Carbon Copy Cloner. You can never be too careful. I had to go in and point to where some libraries moved to - no biggie. I would take your time as this part is very important and it's tougher with all the permissions you have to tick because of Apple's privacy controls (which I think is a good thing!)

Good luck!

As an experiment before I make a decision whether to clean install or MA, I installed DP to see if a pesky bug I've had for over a year with DP persisted. Sadly, it did Somehow my disappearing-smart tools issue (the only tool I can see in DP is the pointer) is occurring on my new Mac as well. I installed a few things on this new Mac, but just enough to do this test, so maybe the issue is a conflict was one of those.....anyway, since the clean install of DP didn't resolve that issue, it's a point in favor of using MA.

dix wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 2:07 pm As an experiment before I make a decision whether to clean install or MA, I installed DP to see if a pesky bug I've had for over a year with DP persisted. Sadly, it did Somehow my disappearing-smart tools issue (the only tool I can see in DP is the pointer) is occurring on my new Mac as well. I installed a few things on this new Mac, but just enough to do this test, so maybe the issue is a conflict was one of those.....anyway, since the clean install of DP didn't resolve that issue, it's a point in favor of using MA.

I don't know if this will help, but I encountered a frustrating situation where I was using the pencil tool and then I double tapped the "A" key to bring back the pointer tool (if I recall correctly) and it wasn't working. It turned out that in the Commands window, DP had assigned the "A" key to the first chunk in a project with multiple chunks. Check in your Commands window and scroll down to see the section with the chunks and make sure a hotkey hasn't been assigned to the chunk.

Shot in the dark... but maybe...

James Steele wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 2:19 pm

dix wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 2:07 pm As an experiment before I make a decision whether to clean install or MA, I installed DP to see if a pesky bug I've had for over a year with DP persisted. Sadly, it did Somehow my disappearing-smart tools issue (the only tool I can see in DP is the pointer) is occurring on my new Mac as well. I installed a few things on this new Mac, but just enough to do this test, so maybe the issue is a conflict was one of those.....anyway, since the clean install of DP didn't resolve that issue, it's a point in favor of using MA.

I don't know if this will help, but I encountered a frustrating situation where I was using the pencil tool and then I double tapped the "A" key to bring back the pointer tool (if I recall correctly) and it wasn't working. It turned out that in the Commands window, DP had assigned the "A" key to the first chunk in a project with multiple chunks. Check in your Commands window and scroll down to see the section with the chunks and make sure a hotkey hasn't been assigned to the chunk.

Shot in the dark... but maybe...

Not a bad thought but hell if I can find any conflict in the commands window. It's not just the pallet tools I lose btw. I don't have any of the cursor location-enabled, smart tools.... no little hand to extend MIDI durations, no trim tool for audio. Nothing. And I haven't since last August

If you have a small System drive, a clean install of your Applications makes sense—a lot of old Library files taking up useless space but these will rarely cause a problem. Since you are migrating from an M1, I wouldn't give it a second thought—again, unless drive space is an issue.

MA won't save space in regards to Account/Network settings. You can purge User files after if needed by archiving to an external.

My AppleMusic library has grown to about 750GB. That can be seamlessly offloaded to an external that has been properly formatted and granted the right permissions.

dix wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 2:07 pm As an experiment before I make a decision whether to clean install or MA, I installed DP to see if a pesky bug I've had for over a year with DP persisted. Sadly, it did Somehow my disappearing-smart tools issue (the only tool I can see in DP is the pointer) is occurring on my new Mac as well. I installed a few things on this new Mac, but just enough to do this test, so maybe the issue is a conflict was one of those.....anyway, since the clean install of DP didn't resolve that issue, it's a point in favor of using MA.

I'm confident you simply don't have the right combination of preferences checked dix.

I don't have a recent manual (DP7 or 8 is all I have) and I don't have the app installed so I can't point you directly to the spot.

I saw this question asked during a webinar and the solution was in prefs 100%.

No matter how you slice it, this is a PITA and takes a long time. I've had good luck with migration assistant but I think I would go the clean install route even though this would literally take days. Were you satisfied with the performance and stability of your previous system?