Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone is running the combination of a Trashcan mac Pro (3.5GHz 6 core), clean-install upgraded to Big Sur, PT Ultimate 2020.6 or .7, driving HDX card(s) in a Sonnet thunderbolt-PCIe frame? I have a colleague I support with an HDX2 system who is keen to make the move from Mojave (which was NOT a clean install and apparently isn't performing great). Any reports of the positive or negative kind appreciated!

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

No experience there with the 2019+ releases. Only Yosemite with hd 11 using sonnet thunderbolt 2 chassis's.

If you're gonna do it, at least get another SSD and install everything on there and stress test it all with clients typical setup and templates running before handing it back over to the client.

If it doesn't work, simply insert the old SSD and you're back to where you were before.

Also you're gonna need to dismantle that Mac and completely refurb it, remove dust, re paste GPUs, cpu e.t.c., I suspect it's had a good run of being maxed out all day long.

You're also going to need a fan control programme that keeps the fans at at least 1400rpm all day long to prevent the system overheating. Think SMC fan control or macs fan control for Big Sur+

Honestly I wouldn't break a system that works perfectly fine unless there is something you really need. It's something to have a long & careful think about before doing anything.

Think about it. Tape machines never had software updates, yes they were limited in what they could do but doesn't any PT release after HD10 practically have everything you could ever need from a DAW?

Remember every O.S. & PT update requires plugin updates If they even exist, for some plugins that may not work.

One such example is: Pitch n time pro which is currently only supported up to Mojave.

Something to consider before breaking a system that works perfectly well.

Just my two cents.

Feel free to reach out if I can be of further help.

l

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

Trashcan Mac in Big Sur with Protools native no cards… Big Sur was kind of a mess for me just everything got a little weird around the edges enough to slow me down and frustrate me to no end… There’s some users on here we’re running pretty high end systems and are sticking with Catalina

Seems like Protools in Big Sur is random whether it works for you or not… looks like Protools is trying to get their arms around this M one and Apple is changing their software to accommodate that as well and somehow it’s stuck in the middle

Protools very often is on a knife edge and you really have to be careful about your system which is been going on for a decade if not more I think Big Sur only exacerbates that but, like I said some people have been having success try to figure out how to do a parallel system install so you can jump back
In the beginning I thought it worked OK but everything turned into a sluggish reactions which over the course of hours of working with the system can really drag you back the errors seem to be a little more often… And frequently huge black boxes would appear on the screen and then if you move the mouse they disappear so there’s definitely something laggy and weird in the video redraw area of this program we love to hate called ..
Protools

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

That would be my recommendation too, if you have Intel hardware. Catalina works great and everything is 64-bit, so if you keep it up to date, you are pretty much guaranteed to have very little hassle migrating to Apple Silicon when the time comes.

Apple Silicon users however have no choice. For the first generation is Big Sur or later (working very well here by the way, on a fully loaded Mac Mini) or the second generation which has delivery problems, they will come with Monterey preinstalled.

My educated guess is that The Next Place after Monterey is still third version of testing and get software ready for Apple Silicon native stuff, and whatever place they invent for 2023 is when the transition is over and with luck we also have Apple Silicon Mac Pro, however costly that is. But before that, things are still in motion.

In the previous transition from PPC to Intel, the first Intel OSX was 2006 and the first Mac Pro that was good enough was 2009 and they got the cheesegrater perfected in 2010. That is how long it takes.

Back to the point, those who bought one of the last generation Intel workstations in 2019 were very wise, because those will last through all of this transition. And when they drop support for Intel code, it is time to replace the workstation with a new one.

I have also seen the transition from 68k to PPC, but that was very painful. There is a chance this transition is faster than the previous, but I would not hold my breath.

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

I have Big Sur 11.6 running on a 2010 MacPro 5,1 with PT 2021.7. No issues at all. I routinely run large mix sessions with reference videos. So far I have seen no differences from Catalina to Big Sur 11.6.

That said, there is currently no real reason to upgrade from Catalina at the moment for a strictly Pro Tools system. But if you are going to upgrade from Mojave or below, I'd skip Catalina at this point and go right to Big Sur.

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

... or wait two days and go right up to Monterey if you want to be living on the edge :cool:

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

I assume this is in jest but I don’t feel upgrading from a 3+ year old OS to a 1 year old OS is living on the edge. Big Sur has been approved to run PT since March of this year.

Talking of going to Monterey before it’s even released is madness.:eek:

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

Monterey just released.

Now who wants to take a guess when Avid releases either Apple Silicon native or/and Monterey supported version of PT? :cool:

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

well the minute Avid do support Monterey, they will drop official support for Mojave, as they seem to only support the three most recent OS versions.

Probably should have added to my original post that my current personal studio system is a 2018 Mac Mini 6-core i7 3.2GHz on Big Sur 11.6 running PT Ultimate 2021.7 through an RME interface and it is running better than any PT system I've ever used - no screen redraw lag problems or anything, probably because it was a completely fresh install from new and I didn't use any sort of migration assistant / time machine workflow to transfer old files and preferences. I only installed plug-in versions specifically stating that they were OS11 on Intel approved, with the exception of the older Exponential Audio reverbs - which I did last (and seem to be fine...).

Re: Trashcan MacPro, Big Sur, HDX combination
 

My guess is Monterey support under Rosetta 2 before full Apple Silicon native support sometime in the first quarter of 2022.

This is a total guess, I have zero insider knowledge, just based on 30 years of Digi/Avid experience. :)