Yosemite / M box / Pro Tools 9 .... help please!

[cjl]

Hi,

I've had Pro Tools 9 (9.0.5) for a few years, along with a MBox Pro (1.0.8) and have only been using them sporadically for tape archiving and a bit of recording ...

Recently I have had to update my Mac to Yosemite (10.10.5) and although the PT works ok (as far as I can tell) there seems to be a big problem with the M Box .... when I've tried to connect it won't be recognised by the computer and the details mention something about the Firewire - as you'll have guessed, I'm not a computer expert!

I'm supposing that I have to install new drivers for the Mbox to make it compatible with the new Mac?

Hopefully someone can tell which driver I should use, and will it still work with PT9?

I've got no desire to upgrade (I'm not a professional recording engineer anymore), especially if it's going to cost me money!

I'd appreciate any help ....

Thanks

Chris

[VRW]

Originally Posted by cjl

Hi,

I've had Pro Tools 9 (9.0.5) for a few years, along with a MBox Pro (1.0.8) and have only been using them sporadically for tape archiving and a bit of recording ...

Recently I have had to update my Mac to Yosemite (10.10.5) and although the PT works ok (as far as I can tell) there seems to be a big problem with the M Box .... when I've tried to connect it won't be recognised by the computer and the details mention something about the Firewire - as you'll have guessed, I'm not a computer expert!

I'm supposing that I have to install new drivers for the Mbox to make it compatible with the new Mac?

Hopefully someone can tell which driver I should use, and will it still work with PT9?

I've got no desire to upgrade (I'm not a professional recording engineer anymore), especially if it's going to cost me money!

I'd appreciate any help ....

Thanks

Chris

Hi, I have no good news for you unfortunately .
There will be no way to get PT9 to work properly on Yosemite 10.10.5. as the last
OSX PT9 was supported with was OS X Lion 10.7.x. Check it out there.
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...ility/en380535
The latest version of PT9.
http://akmedia.digidesign.com/suppor...20Me_74269.pdf

And there is no MBox Pro driver for OS X 10.10.5 as well unfortunately. The last version
of OS X the last driver was compatible with was OS X 10.10.3. Check it out there again.
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/d...ox-Pro-Drivers

I really understand that you don´t want to invest a lot of money but you definitely need
to think it over thoroughly which way you want to go. If you seriously want to stay with
your version of Pro Tools and your MBox you have no other option but to roll back your
OS X again or to buy an used older Mac you still can use with the older OS X you need
to run PT9 and your MBox Pro successfully.

If you would want to upgrade your Pro Tools you would have to do it until 31st Dec 2015
because after this period there will be no upgrades anymore, only a full and much more
expensive version of Pro Tools to buy.
Anyway because upgrading your system would include Pro Tools itself (around £200.-),
replacing your MBox with a more recent interface (the most affordable yet useable ones
would be for example Focusrite Scarletts for around £150.-) and probably another more
recent -or at least more powerful- Mac computer as well (PT12 wants an i7 Quad Core
processor to work as it´s best/as it is supposed to, so you even could get an used 2011
Macbook Pro or a Mac Mini 2012 with an i7 Quad Core processor and 16GB Ram at least
-via Ebay- which would be the most affordable yet working machines for PT12, for around
£600-900.-).

So this would be a certain amount of money to invest for sure.
Therefore I personally rather would suggest to get the most affordable new Mac Mini for the
daily use and just roll back the OSX on your current Mac for your music recording system,
means to split both applications.
It will be the more affordable variant at the end of the day imo.
http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac...A&step=config#

Finally these are the facts obviously. Nevertheless, as you were saying your PT9 was working
on OSX 10.10.5 anyway, you of course may try to install the latest driver for your MBox Pro
(which was compatible with 10.10.3) on your current system anyway and see what will happen.
Actually no part of your music system is meant to be working with Yosemite 10.10.5 anymore,
no part officially will be compatible anymore, so you may be prepared to face problems but it´s
probably worth a try if you really do not want to invest any money. Maybe you will be lucky and
it will work anyway? You will see. However I would not recommend it!

Again, I personally would recommend to split your both systems, to get an affordable, new Mac
Mini for your daily use and roll back your music system to the version which used to be working.
This would make sure that your music system would work properly again at least.

But once again, if however you would consider upgrading Pro Tools you should do it before 31st
Dec 2015 because after it Pro Tools will be way more expensive than now.

Sorry for not having better news for you, the very best to you anyway!
Cheers.

[cjl]

Nevertheless, as you were saying your PT9 was working
on OSX 10.10.5 anyway, you of course may try to install the latest driver for your MBox Pro
(which was compatible with 10.10.3) on your current system anyway and see what will happen.

Actually no part of your music system is meant to be working with Yosemite 10.10.5 anymore,
no part officially will be compatible anymore, so you may be prepared to face problems but it´s
probably worth a try if you really do not want to invest any money.

Maybe you will be lucky and it will work anyway? You will see. However I would not recommend it!


Hi VRW, thank you very much for the swift and detailed response, it's been very helpful, although I have to say I'm really pissed off about this .... when I worked in (and owned) studios in the 80's and 90's I can't recall any occasions when someone from Otari or Soundcraft walked in and told me my equipment wouldn't work any more because it was more than a couple of years old.... how do these people get away with this???

The last thing I need is another bloody computer, and like I said I'm really not up for spending any more money on this stuff so I'll try downloading the latest driver for the MBox and see what happens.

I understand it might well not work, and your "I would not recommend it" has got me worried! ..... but it won't do any harm, will it?


I suppose the easiest thing for me to do if all else fails is to roll the Mac back to the previous OSX using Time Machine ... but can I do this just for a PT session and then revert back to the Yosemite using the same method?

I'm not too technical so all help and guidance is appreciated!

[VRW]

Originally Posted by cjl

when I worked in (and owned) studios in the 80's and 90's I can't recall any occasions when someone from Otari or Soundcraft walked in and told me my equipment wouldn't work any more because it was more than a couple of years old.... how do these people get away with this???

I hear you and I also remember working in studios in the late 80s/90s quite well and I have experienced
all the giant changes and tremendously fast development in the pro audio department as well.

Actually it´s been happening not only to the pro audio world but to the whole technical world for years and
it´s breathtakingly fast but also fascinating in a way for me personally I have to admit.

So everything has changed and is changing as we speak. On the other hand it is so cool what is possible today
with that less effort with such high quality for such a small amount of money compared to the old days!
I have to say I love it anyway. Even if sometimes you simply run out of money trying to stay up to date to some degree.

Originally Posted by cjl

but it won't do any harm, will it?

I don´t think it will. You might do a separate back up from your Yosemite set up as well before installing the driver anyway.

Originally Posted by cjl

I suppose the easiest thing for me to do if all else fails is to roll the Mac back to the previous OSX using Time Machine ... but can I do this just for a PT session and then revert back to the Yosemite using the same method?

Theoretically this should be possible but you will have to wipe your drive every time before you change the system to
remove any driver, settings and other stuff from the previous system. If you will not do that remaining stuff from one
system may mess up the other one finally.

Although you say you don´t want to get another computer I still would recommend it as it would make your life a lot
easier at the end of the day.
The Mini I showed you for example would be quite affordable and you could easily do your daily stuff and get back to
your music stuff without losing time and energy. But it´s all up to you of course! If it will be worth to you finally.

Wishing you the very best whatever you decide to do!

Cheers.

[cjl]

Theoretically this should be possible but you will have to wipe your drive every time before you change the system to
remove any driver, settings and other stuff from the previous system. If you will not do that remaining stuff from one
system may mess up the other one finally.


Thanks once again for your thoughtful reply ..... just one more question though!

When you say "wipe your drive' do you mean the Mac HD?

Can you quickly explain how to do that? .... and will the contents already be saved on Time Machine or will I have to save it somewhere else (i.e. on an external drive) .... ?

Sorry to be so thick, but I really am out of my depth here....

[VRW]

Originally Posted by cjl

When you say "wipe your drive' do you mean the Mac HD?
Can you quickly explain how to do that?

Yes, I mean the OS drive or Mac HD.
Always when you get to the point where you will be asked if
1) install a new system from...
2) recover a system from a time machine back up
etc.
there additionally you will find the option to go to the Disk Utilities menu on your Mac.
So always before you will go to install/recover your system you might open Disk Utilities
and erase your Mac HD. This will wipe everything from the Mac HD and provide a completely
clean HD for the new install.
By doing this all the remaining stuff from the previous system will be erased and will not be
able to interfere with the new one.
Because you intend to use 2 versions of OSX of different times and generations on the same
computer this will be important.

But there would be another option how to get this to work.
I´m personally not a big fan of it, many people use to to do it successfully though.
It is, running the 2nd OSX from an external HD.
Means, you would have to install the system for your daily use on a separate, external HD
and you just always would have to hold down Alt=the Option Key while booting your system
which always would bring up a screen where you simply could choose which OSX (from which HD)
to use at that moment.

This again would be a much more convenient solution than always reverting back your main system
as well. It would work like this:
you would have installed (for example) your music recording system on the Mac HD of your computer
and you would have installed the newer OSX for your daily use on an external HD which permanently
will be connected to your computer as well.
Like described above you simply choose on the start up which OSX to use then.

Which brings us to

Originally Posted by cjl

and will the contents already be saved on Time Machine or will I have to save it somewhere else (i.e. on an external drive) .... ?

You have mentioned it already. You will have to save your content always to another external drive.
In either cases, if you decide to revert back and forth your systems on the Mac HD or if you go for the
2nd external OSX solution.

You may know it anyway, but Pro Tools wants a 2nd separate drive for the Pro Tools sessions with it´s
audio files. It does not work as it is supposed to if you record to/play back from the Mac HD=internal
OS drive only. Therefore you should use another, external 7200rpm HD for your Pro Tools stuff anyway.

You did not mention what Mac model you are using but if it is an older one which only has USB 2 and
Firewire connections, you need to use an external Firewire drive with 7200rpm for this application
(USB 2 will be too slow). If you have a newer Mac with USB 3 ports, you can use an external USB 3 drive
with 7200rpm rotation speed too (those USB 3 drives are cheaper than the Firewire models in most cases).

I would suggest to keep your music recording system on the original Mac HD (with the older OSX) and
record to/playback your Pro Tools content from an external 7200rpm drive (Firewire or USB 3).
The new system (Yosemite 10.10.5) for your daily use I would install on another, larger external drive.
There you can save all the content of the newer system to as well because there is no Pro Tools on it which
needs a separate drive for it´s stuff.

Finally you had 1 computer and 2 separate drives connected to it.
On the computer itself there were installed the music system, on 1 external drive there were the Pro Tools
content/data/audio files, on the 2nd external drive there were the 2nd newer OSX Yosemite installed inclusive
all the content used on this particular system.

This may sound a bit complicated at first sight but it will be a pretty convenient, simple solution at the end
of the day. Much less stressful than always reverting back and forth your main computer OSX.

If you haven´t got such an external Firewire/USB 3 drive for the Pro Tools content already, this one would be the
most affordable yet good quality one and you could use it via Firewire or USB 3 as it offers both connection types.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Rugged...Rugged+7200rpm

Originally Posted by cjl

Can you quickly explain how to do that?

I would suggest to get and install this little app on your current system. It´s the Carbon Copy Cloner app.
http://bombich.com/?_ga=1.158678975....023.1446379212
With this little app you can copy your current system to another external drive, make it bootable and so get
the 2nd OSX for your daily use on this drive. As it will be free for 30 days you need not buy it for this one time
application now.

You first go to Disk Utilities on your Mac,
click on the external HD (where you want install the Yosemite system on) on the left side,
click on Partition on the right upper side
click on 1 Partition at Partition Layout
click on Options... below
click on GUID
name the external drive at Partition Information/Name
select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) at Partition Information/Format
finally click on Apply

After that your external drive should be ready for the installation of your 2nd OSX.
Now go to the application folder on your Mac, open the Carbon Copy Cloner app and follow the instructions.
For the Source you may select the Mac HD, for the Target you may select your external drive.
The whole operation will take a certain amount of time to get finished depending on how large your current Mac HD
will be. Don´t get worried, if there is a lot of data on your Mac HD it may take 1/2 hour or even longer.
Once it will be finished, you will be able to boot your OSX Yosemite system from this external HD then.

If this will be done, you may roll back the OSX on your Mac HD to the one which used to work properly with your music
stuff. If you still have your Pro Tools content (sessions+audio files) on the Mac HD, you now may copy it to the other
7200rpm external drive, erase it from the Mac HD and run your Pro Tools sessions from the external drive in the future.

Now you will have 2 different fully functional OSX systems controlled by 1 computer and a 2nd external drive for your
Pro Tools/music content.

In the case you have an older Mac Pro computer where you could put in several internal drives, you just can copy everything
said regarding the 2 external drives above to 2 additional internal drives. There just have to be 2 additional separate drives
to the original Mac HD, so that you will end up with 3 separate drives finally.

I hope this all will help you further.

The best of success to you!

[cjl]

Yet again thank you very much for the quick reply and detailed explanation....

I probably won't be able to get round to doing any of this for a couple of weeks, but when I do I'll post up the results (I've still got my fingers crossed that installing the latest MBox drivers might work!) ....

Cheers

Chris