New Intel iMac (OS X 10.4.10) - will protools work????

[kajacosmic]

Hi all.

My PC recently went cactus, it had always run PT7.0 beautifully and never missed a beat, but one day the motherboard blew and and I figured rather than spending $800 fixing/upgrading it, I would just "get a mac" as they say. I bought a brand new 20" Aluminium iMac with the Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHZ processor and the rest. The standrd cheapest model.

The unit came with Tiger 10.4.10 preinstalled with the Tiger discs and the Leopard update.

I've been running it with every other program I have and its a beautiful machine - I am truly in love.

HOWEVER, I'm really concerned about Protools not working on it. I have run the Prebinding script and that is fixed. I have reinstalled and turned off updates, so it is in its raw state from the install discs. I have tried running 7.0 on it and everytime I open it, it bounces twice and then CRASHES.

I have just bought a new Mbox pro from eBay and that is on its way with a fresh copy of 7.3. Is the concencus that a post 7.1 UB version of PT will fix my problem?

I'm aware that 10.4.10 has had these issues, but I'm buggered if I can get my hands on a copy of 10.4.9 for iMac. I will keep looking, but if I can get it running in 10.4.10 I will be happy, cos then I won't have to reinstall all my software for the 8th time.

I've tried many things, but would really love some advice from someone else who has bought a shiny new aluminium iMac and is running PTLE successfully!



Thanks in advance,
James

[jddrews]

Yes.

I bought a new iMac that came with 10.4.10. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way to downgrade your OS.

PT 7.3 ran okay. Some people had no problems with it, but it was pretty buggy for me... lot's of random crashes.

However, 7.4 is running like a dream. Once you get your Mbox, you should install 7.3 and give it a shot, but definitely look into upgrading to 7.4.

We 10.4.10'ers are kind of in a dead zone. I'm waiting for PT to become Leopard compatible and then I'm going to upgrade my OS and PT and start fresh. In the mean time, you'll have plenty of productivity with 7.4.

There are a few threads that cover this that'll have more info as well.

Enjoy the Mac!

[kajacosmic]

Ah! Thankyou so much for the quick reply. Nice to know I'm not alone in this boat... will certainly do that. The 7.4 upgrade isn't too much $, so I'll get right on it, and AMEN to hanging on til PT is Leopard compatible. When I first got my machine I put Leopard on right away not knowing that it would not be PT compatible. I fell in love with the layout, the new dock, and the smooth sheen to the whole OS.

Going back to Tiger was a drag, but I guess at the end of the day, functionality is paramount over glitz and gimmicks.

Thanks for the tips, I'll let you know how I go.



Cheers

James

[paul_g]

I'm running 10.4.10 and just upgraded to 10.4.11 w/ 7.3cs4 and have no issues.
Any issues I have had were some small geekdom stuff that I had to do a bit of reading, and a few (very helpful) phone calls to digi support.

So far so good...

[Gemylon]

I have an iMac 24" 2.8 GHz.


When I was running 10.4.10 with ProTools LE 7.3 cs5, no probs. at all.

After upgrading to PT 7.4, ProTools starts telling me 'running out of CPU power' !

I think thats kind of weird, when It shows like its around 45 % use.

Could this be an issue of 7.4 ?

Been playing around with different H/W buffer sizes just to check, still the same.

Do PT 7.4 require more CPU power than than 7.3 ?
(I haven't heard anything about that so far...)


G

[Cam9021]

My school has nothing buy iMacs running PT 7.3 and everything seemed to run OK, so you shouldn't have any problems.
Dan'o

[Oralet]

Hi,

I'm running a macbook Pro 2.4gHz OSX 10.4.11 wth pT 7.4, which until now doesn't give me problems running PT.

BUT I HAVE PROBLEMS

1.
seing pdf-files on the net (they won't open),

2.
I can't install downloadet updates to my Adobe CS3 Suite
(Keeps saying:
Installation could not continue because the downloaded file
cannot be movede to a secure folder location (/users/Ulle/
LibraryApplication Support/Adobe/Updater5/Install/
acrobat8pro-en_US/AcroProUpd811_all.dmg) prior to validation
and installation. Please make sure the secure folder location
has enough free disk space and has sufficient access rights for
administrator)

3.
and now after upgrading from 10.4.10 to 10.4.11 (with the combo update) theres seems to be a buck in Safari (Keeps telling me "No contact with the spellingchecker"), which makes safari unusable.

javascript:void(0)
Can anyone help, please???

All the best
Ulle - Denmark

[rgdrummer]

James

I run PTLE 7.3.1 cs4 on a new iMac w/OSX10.4.10 and all is well. I'd just upgrade the PT to 7.3, and make sure you configure the iMac as per instructions on the Degidesign site (turn off bluetooth, airport, etc.)

[John McDonough]

I'm using a 2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Mac Pro with 9GB of ram. I'm running Mac OS Version 10.4.11. I have an original Mbox, running Pro Tools LE 7.3.1 cs5.

"Most" things run fine. With one GLARING exception, heaven forbid I do almost ANYTHING else on the Mac while Pro Tools is playing, recording or bouncing. That includes something as simple as the screen saver. If it kicks in, BAM - I get the error message that says "CPU usage is holding off USB audio. Remove some plug-ins, or increase the H/W Buffer Size in the Playback Engine dialog. (-9136)".

Ok, another DUC user made a pretty good point: He said I should never be doing anything else other than letting Pro Tools run.

1. This is the real world. I have a ton of work - I could be emailing in the background, writing scripts, etc. I don't feel there's any reason a brand new Mac with no problems shouldn't be able to handle a couple of relatively simple tasks at the same time.

2. (and more importantly) I also have the exact same system on my Powerbook (PPC) and I DO NOT have the same problems. Exact same software, exact same settings. I launch every program on the computer while Pro Tools is doing its thing. The only remarkable difference between the two rigs is the processor(s). One is Intel, the other is PPC. Does Pro Tools not like the Intel chip? I don't know. I have heard anyone else make the same complaint as me. Maybe it's something I've done wrong. I'm not afraid of that possibility. If it is, I wish someone would point it out to me.

My only other complaint, and I seem to be alone on this one, is the Workspace Browser. This is how I find all my SFX, music beds, etc. The Workspace Browser is constantly freezing when I try to audition files. I don't know why. I've just learned to deal with it.

[davidp158]

I am in the market for a new Mac to use with my 002. What kind of limitations does the iMac impose as a PTLE DAW? Maxed out with RAM and a decent external FW drive, what would be a realistic expectation of track and plug ins count? Any thoughts on how the Mac Pro boxes might outlive the service life of an iMac?

cheers,
Dave