App launching PT Native vs. PT Rosetta?

[Eric Lambert]

I've been toggling between PT Native and PT Rosetta via the checkbox in the Get Info window, as we all have, but this seems low-rent and unnecessarily cumbersome.

I'd love to have two separate PT icons in my Dock -- one for PT Native and one for PT Rosetta. I imagine there's a way to do it with Keyboard Maestro or SoundFlow macros, but Avid can't expect everyone to take that route.

Anyone know of an easier, faster, more intuitive way of launching PT in a specific mode? I'd actually like to have two separate buttons on my StreamDeck but that's not necessarily a question for this forum.

[Darryl Ramm]

The obvious/easy way is to install Pro Tools 2023.3 twice, renaming at least one of the .app and changing one of the .app to use Rosetta.

It is possible to do what you want with a bit of shell script magic... but no need when the above will work and is easy to do/understand.

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

The obvious/easy way is to install Pro Tools 2023.3 twice, renaming at least one of the .app and changing one of the .app to use Rosetta.

Why not just duplicate the app instead of installing?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Why not just duplicate the app instead of installing?

No hard reason... but just not what I've done. Try it!

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

No hard reason... but just not what I've done. Try it!

I'll leave it to Eric.
I've been happy with PT native for quite a while now.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

The obvious/easy way is to install Pro Tools 2023.3 twice, renaming at least one of the .app and changing one of the .app to use Rosetta.

It is possible to do what you want with a bit of shell script magic... but no need when the above will work and is easy to do/understand.

I'd considered this. Maybe it's old DNA at work and a fear of how computers and disk hierarchies once operated, but my Spidey Senses tell me to be careful with duplicated folders of similar apps which I will flip between often, especially those which might share files.

It could be fine, and probably would be, but ideally there would be a different way that merely switches that Get Info checkbox.

Or... (and this would be acceptable) is there a way to more easily get to the Pro Tools Get Info box? I've been clicking Applications, then Pro Tools, then Command-I. Yes, it's super easy, but with 10 windows on the desktop (and a lack of patience) it can be an annoyance. I'd settle for any kind of timesaver here.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I'll leave it to Eric.
I've been happy with PT native for quite a while now.

I'm largely staying in Native but still have too many plugins that require Rosetta, so I'm about 50/50 between them at this point.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

I'd considered this. Maybe it's old DNA at work and a fear of how computers and disk hierarchies once operated, but my Spidey Senses tell me to be careful with duplicated folders of similar apps which I will flip between often, especially those which might share files.

It could be fine, and probably would be, but ideally there would be a different way that merely switches that Get Info checkbox.

Or... (and this would be acceptable) is there a way to more easily get to the Pro Tools Get Info box? I've been clicking Applications, then Pro Tools, then Command-I. Yes, it's super easy, but with 10 windows on the desktop (and a lack of patience) it can be an annoyance. I'd settle for any kind of timesaver here.

You want choices?

1. Sure you can mess around switching the info box with Applescript, but not the way I'd go.

2. Or you can mess around with the arch(1) utility. e.g.

arch -arch x86-64 <command that actually launches Pro Tools>
arch -arch arm64 <command that actually launches Pro Tools>

While you can just launch the underlying app executable and it will start up I expect you will run into problems. Arch(1) does have lots of configurability, documented in its man page that will make multiple ways of steering the architecture type, but it all comes down to making sure the underlying app executable is launched as if it was launched from the .app with all it's usual settings.

3. It would be nice if Apple had added a simple arch equivalent option to open(1) so you could launch this from open(1) but they did not. Not doing that obvious one mystifies me.

4. Also would be nice if they added an environment variable that set the architecture (similar to how some "dualport" UNIX systems set the flavor of UNIX) that programs would run in, but nope to that as well.

5. Or I've already give the method that you can get running in minutes, uses usual icons etc, and likely is very safe.

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Why not just duplicate the app instead of installing?

I quote myself because my message perhaps didn't get thru.

Well, I did it myself; I right-clicked the PT app and selected 'Duplicate'.
I set the duplicate to open in Rosetta2.
On opening it gave a standard error 'The application is damaged, trash it…'
This is a standard safety thing in macOS.
I bypassed it by right-clicking and selecting 'Open', and it launched PT in Rosetta mode and I opened and played back my last session without any problem.

I quit, and opened my original PT app - it opened without rosetta (slightly faster and slicker btw.) and played the same session flawlessly. I have not tried to run them both at once - I'll leave that to the brave.

Anyway, I can now open the rosetta or non-rosetta PT without the tedious procedure of opening the getinfobox.

[Darryl Ramm]

Nice.

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I have not tried to run them both at once - I'll leave that to the brave.

macOS is just not going to allows both to run concurrently. Trust me... (Mac enters space-time wormhole and the universe is destroyed...).