|
by Sean Cooper of <MEAN> Ltd
Macguide Issue 12 It is now a year on since the first Mac OS X-compatible audio and MIDI applications started to ship globally, and what an up-and-down year it has been. It has been a year full of transition, some of it welcomed with open arms and some of it shunned completely. Have all things audio and MIDI improved under OS X, or are things even worse then they were? Well it depends who you talk to, and it seems the jury is still out on that one÷ Core audio and core MIDI
Time to get out your old copies of MacGuide. Way back I penned an article about the new music-making technologies that are an essential part of Mac OS X (it is definitely worth a read, so dig out your Issue 3 - or order a back issue now).
Core Audio is the system-level Mac OS X component that deals with shuttling audio data in, out and around your Mac. It's a far superior technology to the awful 16 bit, two-channel Sound Manager found on all OS 9 Macs. Core Audio supports 24-bit audio with sample rates of up to 96KHz, it is multi-client and it also supports multiple outputs. Core Audio also has support for system level Audio Units, which are all the nice little plug-ins that add sauce to your productions. These plug-ins are, generally speaking, of a higher standard than VST plug-ins. Core MIDI is the system level in-built MIDI engine in OS X that allows music applications to talk to any connected MIDI interfaces and devices such as synthesisers and drum machines. Pass me another nail÷
It is safe to say that 0S 9 was dead in the water from the moment Apple announced OS X to the world over three years ago, and over the last 12 months Apple has pretty much 'euthanized' our faithful old pal. We have seen Macs that could only run in OS 9 in the rather restrictive Classic Mode (not to be confused with Depeche Mode, circa 1988), Macs that had no 0S 9 start-up volume, no updates to Mac 0S 9 in what seems like eons (it all ended with 9.2.2) and a general lack of any kind of focus from Apple to promote 0S 9 and any new 0S 9 applications any further. Although as users we will continue to have the option of purchasing a rather under-specified 'dual boot' G4 Mac, do we really want to pay a premium for moving backwards? The introduction of the 64-bit Mac G5 series really is the final nail in the coffin for OS 9, as the G5 will be only be able to run OS 9 in Classic Mode, which is useless for just about everything in audio and MIDI-land. If you want to stay afloat, it's time to jump aboard. The first audio and MIDI applications for OS X started to ship in November 2002 (Emagic was the first), and it is more than fair to say that at that time things were more then a little bit shaky. The Core Audio and Core MIDI aspects of OS X seemed a little quirky to say the least - however, it all came right with the release of Mac OS X 10.2.4. Now we are on Mac OS X 10.2.6 (or even 10.2.8) it's pretty fair to say that, even despite a few niggling issues, things have never been better. Any change from a tenner?
Despite this state of seemingly positive affairs, a large number of musicians and producers have been reluctant to update their current Macs and/or switch to OS X, for any number of reasons, the primary one being the perceived cost. Virtually all the major manufacturers of audio and MIDI applications have now made their software available for OS X for free: you just need to be an existing and ideally a registered user of the application in question. This has to be commended. Recoding an application to work under OS X is no easy task and takes many person-hours to complete. The fact that most software developers have done this for nothing has to be a good thing. Whilst this is all good, there is apparently something rotten in the state of Denmark. Many musicians and producers currently using OS 9 have invested heavily in plug-ins, those nifty little applications that sit inside the main audio and MIDI applications and give them extended sound-mashing capabilities. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of plug-ins available ranging from the sublime to the totally ridiculous, and many musos and producers rely on the wonderful little extenders to give them a point of difference. Updating these little apps can seem like a daunting and costly exercise÷ The real cost
Now it might alarm you to learn that if you're an existing and registered user - and if your plug-ins are not years out of date - then a good portion of these plug-ins can be updated to OS X versions either for free or for minimal amounts. Many plug-in manufacturers are very small companies that do not have the same financial clout as the likes of Digidesign (which is really Avid), Emagic (which is really Apple) and Steinberg (which is really Pinnacle Systems), so they have to charge or run the risk of going out of business. Business is tough enough anyway for many of the plug-in companies, given the proliferation of cracked plug-ins on the market. It seems obvious to state that any illegal cracked software cannot be updated for free; perhaps this is a core reason why so many have yet to jump to OS X? What's with all these VSTs and OS Xs?
VST (Virtual Studio Technology) was pretty much the standard plug-in technology most Mac OS 9 users were familiar with. Despite the confusion out there VST is implemented in OS X; any OS X VST plug-in will work with any OS X VST-compatible host program, such as Cubase SX. But what if you're a Logic user? The bad news is that the Logic range of software from Emagic no longer directly supports VST under OS X. Bummer, huh? However, all is not lost - there are a couple of software widgets out there called VST Wrappers that essentially convert the OS X VST plug-in into the superior OS X native Audio Unit format, a format that Logic does support. The best of these is the VST-AU Wrapper from FXPansion - not only is it dead easy to install, it takes care of the conversion with no apparent loss of performance. As a test we installed a nifty little OS X VST soft synth called the Oddity on our G4, and converted it to an Audio Unit with no problem whatsoever. It might seem obvious, but OS X only supports VST plug-ins that are written for OS X÷ time to chuck out all those cracked OS 9 VSTs! RTAS (Real Time Audio Suite) plug-ins are also supported under OS X, so if you're a ProTools or ProTools LE user, all is not lost. It is simply a case of updating your plug-ins to the OS X versions, and off she goes. Core Audio and Audio Units
When Apple announced OS X 10.2 and introduced Core Audio to us it seemed like, at long last, things were going to get a little easier and a lot less confusing when it came to making music on a Mac. As the paragraph above shows, this is far from the case. Apple was bold in introducing Audio Units, Emagic even bolder in dropping support for the VST standard. Apple/Emagic might have been banking on plug-in makers dropping support for all the different formats, and focusing their energies on developing their products solely for the superior Audio Unit standard. This does not seem to be the case. We still have VST, RTAS, MAS, and a few proprietary systems to deal with. Low latency the bonus
In order for any audio or MIDI interface to work on a Mac running OS X you have to do the obvious, and make sure that the unit is OS X compatible. This last year has seen almost every manufacturer release OS X drivers for their products. Hats off to each and every one of them. The even better news is that the reported low latency figures which were touted on the release of OS X 10.2 were not corporate hot air. Latency is the bane of a computer musician's life. It's the time it takes for audio to be input into the Mac, processed and then output again - the higher the figure, the more useless the system. Back in OS 9-land we counted ourselves lucky if we could get that figure down to 15 milliseconds. Under OS X we can run at a figure of 64 samples or less, dependent on the quality of the Core Audio driver. Work it out, that's around one millisecond of latency! Some older legacy interfaces may not be OS X compatible; it is best to check the company's web-site to make sure your product is going to work under OS X before making the jump. In order for applications and audio interfaces from different manufacturers to work with each other, the audio hardware and interface needs to fully support Core Audio. As of this writing, if you wish to use a Digidesign 002 or 002R (which are both amazing products!) with anything other then ProTools-LE, and maintain the full functionality of your audio and MIDI program, then beware. The Last Summary?
So it all seems good in OS X land. Things have come on in leaps and bounds but there are still a few teething problems out there that can be summarised... - If you are looking at running a native-based system (that is one that uses the Mac's CPU to take care of everything) then generally speaking you should be sweet. Just make sure your Mac has OS X 10.2.6 or above installed and that all your software, drivers and interfaces are OS X-compatible.
- If you are running a DSP-based system such as Pro-Tools (the non LE Version) then it pays to check with the local distributor of the system to see if the DSP cards and interface cards are OS X-compliant.
- There are still issues surrounding running certain DSP systems and certain applications working together, although this could all have been addressed by the time of printing.
As always it pays to do your homework before you make any decision to move to OS X, so talk to as many people as you can!
© Parkside Media 2003
For permission to use this document, email
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
