Why can't NI keep up with Apple updates, especially Silicon Sequoia 15?

DunedinDragon

Quite frankly I've never understood the driving need to upgrade an operating system unless there are compelling features that you really need. I'm still on Windows 10 simply because I saw no compelling features in Windows 11 for my uses. That's probably going to change with my next computer upgrade due to some improvements they've made in the memory management and thread allocation parts of the OS.

Quite honestly it's the same with applications for the most part. I'm still on Ableton Live 11 because 12 didn't give me good reason to jump on board. That also could be changing eventually since they've introduced a few thing that would make it worth it.

But I come from the old school so I need an actual benefit before I take the possible chances. I depend on these things daily and don't want to have to tinker with anomalies unless it's worth it.

Vocalpoint

"Quite frankly I've never understood the driving need to upgrade an operating system unless there are compelling features that you really need. I'm still on Windows 10 simply because I saw no compelling features in Windows 11 for my uses.

+100. You would think that once any user (regardless of skill level) has arrived a known good working state (regardless of OS) and they are able to make music, do work or whatever their DAW is doing for them - they would simply leave it alone.

This is a DAW after all- I want the OS to disappear and simply run my apps and that's it.

As I have client work to deliver - I treat the gear here like any big studio would. Maturity and stability leads to billable hours and sanity. When I walk into any Mac based studio here in town (where work is actually occurring) - all I ever see is Ventura (or older) on 3 year old Macs holding down the fort and doing the work.

I sometime ask about why they are not on this or that - and almost without fail I get the old "Well - this is working for us now. We will look at "that" some other day"

These guys clearly do not care about an Apple keynote every September. They are focused on stability without interference.

Now - don't get me wrong. I schedule appropriate downtime for upgrades, hardware tuneups and the like - but this occurs on my schedule - not when some vendor tells me it's a good idea.

"That's probably going to change with my next computer upgrade due to some improvements they've made in the memory management and thread allocation parts of the OS"

Ironically - when I built my new DAW in the last weeks of Jan 2024 - this was the exact reason (Thread Director) I bailed on Windows 11 (23H2) and went right back to Win 10.

Even with cutting edge parts (as of Jan 20, 2024) - and three complete Win 11 installs - it took me two weeks to figure out where all these glitches, pops and who knows what else was appearing in my work files. I finally snapped and yanked it back to Win 10 22H2.

Smooth sailing is literally priceless.

VP

chk071

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/188379#Comment_188379

You're absolutely right.

Lionzinio

There are many things you can criticise NI on, but this is not one of them.

I'm not sure what Apple's developer event horizon is for their new, annual OS updates, but I don't imagine it's very long (probably under a month before the final OS is released). And until developers get the final, released version, there's really not a lot of point in spending time seeing whether anything other than key programmes work. And 2 - 3 weeks is really not a lot of time to do both extensive testing and software correction. I would much rather wait until NI and other music software companies sorted out their compatibility properly than have them do a half-ars*d job and pretend everything was fine.

And note, this is an issue that is absolutely not limited to NI. Every single music software developer is in the same position. Some will certify sooner, some much later.

With Maschine 3.0 I would assume that it has been tested on final Sequoia Macs, because they've been out for at least 2 weeks.

As with most music software, the best thing to do it not update immediately, but hold back, let other people expose any flaws and join the party when it's clear everything is working fine.

TH3MONST3R

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/187610#Comment_187610

Clearly has other priorities than supporting the platform that most of their users subscribe to. It’s called cost of doing business. Either get your ****** together and get someone on the inside of Apple to work collaboratively with Apple to release updates in a timely manner or shut up and lose your customers. That simple! Quit defending mediocrity you Gen Z weirdo.

TH3MONST3R

I agree. This is beyond ridiculous. THE music platform to use. The platform used by probably most of their serious professional users and they can’t get anybody on the inside of Apple to work collaboratively on releasing updates in a timely manner. How much is your company worth? You aren’t a company that can get ahold of somebody at Apple to make this happen? If I was on your executive team, darn sure I’d find a way. We didn’t pay these ridiculous prices for this kind of low level operation. Figure it out, or I’ll go back to pirating your stuff like I used to in my starving days.

DiosGnosis

Sequoia 15.1.1 on an M2 Mini 8GB and an M3 Pro MBP 18GB with no issues concerning compatibility/stability thus far.

I have yet to open instances of all my VSTs/AUs for empirical assurance, but all have scanned without hitch so, my assumption is they work.

I'm a home user and fearless. I'll be your guinea pig if you'll be my huckleberry!!

tetsuneko

I got a brand new M4 mac mini and so far Native Access 2 and what I have installed on it (Traktor 3, Maschine 3) have been working without issues. I also updated my older mac to Sequoia and that too seems to work fine, for now.

As for all the "why mac users update? Stop being sheep LOL" comments, yes, every mac user knows not to update their OS too soon, but the thing is, when you buy a new mac it always comes preinstalled with the latest "beta" OS, there is no option in those cases to use an older OS. And like I said, I bet these M4 macs will become very popular in no time at all..

Luckily it seems that things are OK for the most part this time.. If I had to guess which systems will end up having the most issues, I'd again bet my money on those Max versions of these chips (M4 Max etc), simply due to the fact that Max CPUs have had probs before..

Kymeia

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/187972#Comment_187972

So I waited a few months but did update to Sequoia last weekend and despite having pretty much everything by NI and being a very active user of them, so far I have zero problems that appear to be Sequoia related (obviously that doesn’t mean there are no issues, but just none I can attribute to the update as they were there already - it certainly did not break anything)

The last 2 MacOs updates have been like this, the thing about how they break stuff is largely a relic of the transition periods moving onto new chips and ending 32 bit app support, but right now most of that is over.

Michael Davis

Thanks everyone. I can put this all to bed now. It seems to be working for me as well. Thanks for all the comments and I realize that I could've made my initial statement more of a question.