The current holy grail of sampling seems to be getting at more memory by providing 64-bit memory addressing, as I said this morning. With Tascam’s Giga out of the picture, it’s up to competing sampler products to deliver. Cakewalk’s Dimension Pro is already 64-bit support, as is their host, SONAR. Native Instruments points out that their flagship sampler Kontakt is on track to be 64-bit soon.

Kontakt 3 does support disk streaming now, but it can’t yet do 64-bit memory addressing. With 32-bit memory addressing, you’re limited to around a couple of gigs of available RAM. That should change soon for Kontakt, with a cross-platform release supporting as much RAM as your machine and OS can handle in the works.

The official announcement was made back in January; I think I missed it amidst the NAMM hoopla. It’ll be a free update for existing Kontakt 3 users. NI’s forum admin Thomas wrote then:

I want to bring you the good news that NI has started development on a Kontakt version that supports 64-bit memory addressing for Mac OS X 10.5 and Windows Vista 64.
This will be a free update for Kontakt 3, and will allow to go beyond the 32-bit memory addressing limit and utilize as much RAM as your operating system or host makes available.
This version of Kontakt 3 will also run as a VST plugin under 64-bit hosts in Windows Vista 64 (Windows XP 64 will likely not be supported; standalone and 32-bit plugin operation under Vista 64bit are already possible with Kontakt 3.0.1).
No specific info on the release date yet, but you can expect it sometime in the second half of 2008. It is a substantial development effort and requires a lot of testing and optimization.

Details of the update and a thread you can follow for further news is available on the NI forum:

Official update status – Kontakt 3

I expect, with the release of greater 64-bit support in Mac OS X Leopard, other cross-platform sampling solutions are likely to go 64-bit, too; any vendors with news, we’re happy to run it.

See also:

Cakewalk has a 64-bit Computing for Musicians site that talks more about what 64-bit means; their SONAR host would also provide access to 128GB of RAM for Kontakt 3.1 for 64-bit Windows, when it becomes available, so this is information that’s important across vendors.

Disclosure: CDM writes about Kontakt on our Kore minisite, which is sponsored by Native Instruments.

We suspected AirPort issues with both Leopard and Tiger; many of you reported the simple fix was to turn AirPort off. The latest update:
“Addresses AirPort issues that may result in slower performance in Logic Studio or MainStage.”

Now, that’s oddly worded. Unless there’s some really specific interaction between Logic and AirPort, but no other audio apps, presumably this line actually means “…that may result in slower performance in music and audio applications.” Update: Readers tell us that’s exactly the case. So, Apple, why not simply refer to audio production apps, since third parties depend on your OS, too?

Leopard is gradually getting fixed for real-time audio performance so the number of you with problems is waning, but those of you who have had trouble through 10.5.3 with AirPort on, let us know if this fixes software from Apple or anyone else.

About the Mac OS X 10.5.4 update

“Addresses an issue with stuttering video and audio playback in certain USB devices.”

Also interesting, given that some issues may have been related to wireless issues: “Improves 802.1X behavior and reliability.”

About the Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update [Knowledge Base HT1141 at Apple Support]

Thanks to John for the tip. (I hear shouts of joy from various people as that Software Update dialog pops up…)

This would appear to address at least some of the audio performance complaints with 10.5.2. Those of you who have been having issues who were unable to downgrade, let us know as you test if it seems to make your problems go away.

Because operating systems are complex, however, it was unclear whether this was the only issue with 10.5.x and audio, so we’ll also be watching for more comprehensive testing feedback from CDM readers and music and audio product makers. (Specifically, we had gotten reports of issues with FireWire devices as well as USB, meaning this may not be the complete fix we had hoped for. But Apple software update release notes are notorious for being vague and incomplete; as Vince notes in comments, the version number on the FireWire driver has in fact changed and there may be other changes not explicitly listed in the notes.)

Still, I think it’s bad to see drivers missing altogether this late in the game — especially in the case of Windows XP SP3, a minor update to a six year-old OS. Maybe some of this isn’t M-Audio’s fault — maybe OS driver development needs to be easier. But either way, when a major music hardware vendor is this far out of sync with the software shipping on new machines, it’s a problem. And while their loss may be good for their competitors in audio hardware, it’s not terribly good for the music tech industry in general.

(Okay, Digidesign/M-Audio — before you start throwing things at me, I’m not saying this to be mean or to single you out, I’m saying this because I hear this all the time from your customers. I think if there are problems on the Apple/Microsoft side, then that’s worth examining, too. But I do think this is a situation that could stand some improvement.)

Digidesign + Vista

Digidesign Windows OS Requirements

On the Digidesign side, the good news is Pro Tools 7.4 LE and M-Powered are now supported on Vista — sort of. The bad news is, you need 7.4, there’s still no support for Pro Tools HD, and Digidesign hasn’t yet qualified SP1 for anything. (M-Audio has made the same statement.) Now, I’m used to Digidesign’s lagging OS support, and to be honest, I think being cautious about support is a good idea. But in this case, SP1 largely involves fixes for Vista — some of them very significant issues. It’s a little odd that you could qualify Vista without SP1, containing most of the same fixes installed as HotFixes, but not SP1 itself, even though the latter is more likely to be stable and compatible in almost every other respect.

Then it gets odder. Vista Home Premium is still not supported by Digidesign, despite being identical to the supported Ultimate and Business editions in regards to music, audio, and driver support. Maybe Digidesign has some reason for doing this, but I can’t imagine what it is, and they’re not saying.

M-Audio + XP SP3

If you’re using M-Audio hardware, I recommend holding off on updating to Windows XP SP3. For starters, SP3 doesn’t really offer anything essential to audio users to begin with. But more importantly, I’ve seen a number of reports that M-Audio hardware refuses to install on SP3. That’s a major oversight. Unfortunately, there’s not even any information on M-Audio’s site other than a general statement that their drivers haven’t been "qualified" for SP3 (which I suspect means very little to users trying to get specific fixes):

M-Audio XP SP3 Statement

What makes this so odd is that this is what Digidesign has to say about Windows XP Service Pack 3:

"There are currently no known compatibility differences between systems with XP SP2 or SP3. All compatibility information regarding Windows XP Service Pack 2 also applies to systems with Windows XP Service Pack 3." [Emphasis Digidesign's]

Yet despite massive incompatibility with SP3, a minor service update that’s been available to developers for many months, M-Audio condescendingly tells users in a support document that we should "rest assured that supporting Service Pack 3 is a top priority for us."

M-Audio + Vista

M-Audio’s support for Vista, which had been lagging badly, has now improved somewhat:

M-Audio Vista Driver Development

Among the drivers still missing as I write this, though, is M-Audio’s flagship audio interface and control surface, the Project Mix I/O. And while Roland/Edirol, MOTU, RME, and others have supported 64-bit Windows, M-Audio has no support whatsoever.

M-Audio + Leopard

Mac OS X is slightly better off, but a significant number of drivers are lagging. The entire FireWire line and Project Mix I/O, among others, remain in beta.

M-Audio 10.5 update

Got experience with drivers on current OSes? Let us know.

Apple’s "point" releases — those seemingly-harmless updates you get automatically in Software Update — do sometimes break stuff. I tend to ignore the updates until I’ve had a chance to confirm they’re okay. Case in point: it looks like 10.5.2 can result in glitchy audio on laptops.

Native Instruments has an official statement out on the problem, but according to them, this issue can affect software from other vendors, as well:

User feedback and internal testing indicates that recent changes introduced by Apple in Mac OS X 10.5.2 can cause audio dropouts and similar problems on Macbook/Macbook Pro computers. This issue is not limited to NI software in particular, but applies to performance-criticial music software in general.
Therefore, Native Instruments currently cannot guarantee the proper operation of its products under Mac OS X 10.5.2. If possible, users should refrain from upgrading beyond Mac OS X 10.5.1 until further information about this issue becomes available.

Now, I will say this: I am frustrated with Apple’s OS upgrade approach — and I think on any OS, media support is the most vulnerable area.

It’s not uncommon for changes to Mac OS and QuickTime, changes that have significant effects on third-party developers, to show up in these point updates. I talk to developers regularly, and I know they are regularly caught by surprise. That seems unnecessary — especially given Apple’s otherwise sparkling OS record. Users are encouraged to automatically update their systems, so presumably those updates should be critical bug fixes and security updates only. Bug fixes in one place can introduce bugs in another, of course. But that’s another reason third parties need to have their hands on this changes sooner, with better communication about what’s happening, so issues get fixed before, not after, an OS gets released.

By and large, I think Apple deserves the credit it gets for the quality of the OS and Core Audio. And responsibility lies equally with third-party developers to test as aggressively as possible; I can’t say whether they’re using builds as soon as they get them, because I don’t know. But of course, on any operating system — Linux and Windows, as well — music/audio (and video) are the areas most often affected by these kinds of subtle problems. On any OS, improving communication between OS developers and application developers, and increasing the amount of testing and quality control on changes impacting media playback could improve the experience for everyone.

In the meantime:

• I suggest, as always, avoiding system updates until you’ve verified compatibility, particularly if you have a machine you’re using for critical tasks like live music performance.
• We’ll keep an eye on this issue here on CDM and let you know when we hear more.
• If you are using 10.5.2, let us know your experience — and I imagine it’s possible, as with all of these kind of issues, that you’re running 10.5.2 on a MacBook/MBP with no problem at all.

And you may even want to avoid upgrading to Leopard from 10.4 until you’ve verified compatibility with your tools. Native has another statement out, this one apparently vendor-specific, that suggests RTAS issues with NI software on Pro Tools. I’m still running 10.4 on my Macs here, just because it’s doing it’s job, and it remains a fantastic OS. I know plenty of people equally happy with 10.5, but it’s worth some research.

See full NI details on Leopard here:

Compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

And stay tuned.

Updated: Is Airport the Problem?

Well, there’s a reason I ended this headline with a question mark. The update in question may actually be an Airport update, not an OS update. From our first comment:

Rather than this being a 10.5.2 problem, it could be a separate issue with Airport software. I’m running 10.4.11, and since a recent software update I have to turn off my Airport card when doing audio stuff.

This was suggested to me by Ableton, who say this is a common problem.

As far as 10.5.2, there aren’t direct changes to Core Audio (as I said, the point is that audio performance is vulnerable to changes elsewhere). 10.5.2 has some specific AirPort changes:

* Improves connection reliability and stability
* Includes 802.1X improvements.
* Resolves certain kernel panics.

About the Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update

Lest you think this can fuel your latest OS war argument, there was recently a similar issue involving networking and audio performance on Windows Vista. This stuff is really incredibly delicate.

I’m not sure about 10.4.11; that update doesn’t mention AirPort, and it came out in November. I’ve been running it without incident, as have others. There was, however, an AirPort Extreme Update released on March 27 for Intel machines running 10.4.11. I don’t want to implicate something without evidence, but if anyone with these updates can let us know what your experience has been, that’d be helpful.

More updates: Serato also reports issue

Check out our latest story for still more details; it seems Serato have also reported issues with 10.5.2 (and recommend avoiding the upgrade), and the most recent AirPort update for 10.4.11 is likewise suspect. Time to turn Software Update off altogether? I’m considering it on my Tiger-running performance MacBook.

And still more info:

A fix for Tiger, and evidence that the newest Penryn laptops (using Broadcom Wi-Fi chips, evidently) are unaffected.

This is especially bad news for music users, who almost never upgrade operating systems the day they ship because of compatibility and support issues. (Sure, Logic will support Leopard from day one … and your audio interface will be around in, what, three months, with Pro Tools months later?)

Close reading of the user agreement in Boot Camp beta had given some users warning of this some time ago, which is prompting hordes of Apple apologists to somehow argue this is a good idea. I salute you for your positive outlook, but this seems awfully annoying otherwise (even if right now I’m keeping XP only on my PC boxes.)

Given that Boot Camp has been a huge publicity score for Apple, I’m hopeful Apple will reconsider, offering Boot Camp for Tiger at least as an unsupported download, or at least give Tiger users a grace period in which they can upgrade to the new OS. Yes, it’s a beta … but it’s a beta of Boot Camp, not Leopard per se, and it’s working for people, often a selling point for hardware and software far more profitable to Apple than the OS upgrade is. And because Boot Camp is really great, and Leopard promises lots of additional awesomeness beyond Boot Camp, it seems unlikely that people will need a self-destruct sequence in Boot Camp just to get them to upgrade.

On a bright note, at least Linux dual-booters have other options… and there’s always Parallels and VMWare.

Apple warns of Boot Camp expiration [MacNN]
When does Boot Camp Beta expire? [Apple.com Support, in a document curiously not answering when that is beyond obliquely suggesting "October 2007"]

Update: R Eunson and others point out some details Apple left out of their support document: only the Boot Camp Assistant should stop working, not the bootloader that lets you choose operating systems.

I still say, though, this isn’t exactly one for Great Moments in Customer Support. Is it a deal-breaking, press-stopping issue? No, of course not. But it’s niggling issues where customer satisfaction is won or lost — the difference between 9/10 and 10/10. We focus a lot on quality in terms of technical quality assurance — whether engineering got the code / gear working right. But a lot of cases actually come down to communications and support. Here, Apple could make basically the exact same decision, but communicate more effectively (a user license is not an effective communications tool) and clearly (telling you when the app stops working, not your legal license). I’m not trying to single out Apple here, by any means. This is something all tech companies could do better, not because they have to or because their business requires it, but because they’ll have happier customers. And happy customers do spend more money.

You probably don’t care about that unless you’re a developer.

You probably do care that the 10.4.10 update can cause some FireWire audio devices to cease normal function, including the Behringer FCA-202 and Mackie Onyx Satellite. MacFixIt has the full details, and a workaround from Mackie:

Mac OS X 10.4.10 Special Report: FireWire audio interface issues — fixes

Basically, you can roll back the FireWire driver itself while leaving 10.4.10 in place. Of course, if you haven’t yet installed 10.4.10 and you own an affected interface, you might just leave well enough alone for now.

The “glass half full” way of looking at this would be to presume the full 10.5 update may not cause any earth-shaking driver issues, beyond a few fixes here and there. And we may have jumped over some of those issues before the full 10.5 issue hits. My Focusrite Saffire, for instance, is performing just fine under 10.4.10 on two machines. For anyone complaining about Vista, this is further proof that OS updates will generally cause issues with audio hardware, simply because, aside from class-compliant devices, most pro audio gear interacts with the operating system at a pretty low level. Low-level functionality just tends to break first. The question is, can you fix it, and how fast? (In this case, “pretty durn” fast seems to apply.)

Apple still releases more incremental updates compared to Microsoft’s fewer, larger updates, and Microsoft’s changes in Vista were more sweeping changes to the underlying driver model, compared to Apple’s incremental improvements to audio-specific features. The jury is still out on which is better; it’s still unclear to me, for instance, how much benefit the Vista driver model switch will have in the longer haul.

Xray is designed for visualizing performance and debugging code, which is a linear, time-based process. That means that some kind of timeline interface makes perfect sense. Apple didn’t just stop there, though: the track view, transport controls (including record button), volume, channel controls, ruler, and loop display elements are all there. It’s so close that you wind up with sentences like this:

Add different instruments so you can instantly see the results of code analyzers.

Instruments turn out to be exactly the same word in development; see comments for more details of what this means for real programmers as opposed to weekend coders like me.

I’m just waiting for Apple to add an Apple Loop Browser so you can lay down a groovin’ trance or house beat while you figure out why your application is sucking so many CPU cycles.

Mac OS X Leopard Sneak Peak: Xcode 3.0 [Apple.com]

And in a non sequitur at the end, Apple reverts to their usual marketing hyperbole: “Xray. Because it’s 2006.” So we should have a developer tool with the interface from Sonic Foundry’s ACID in 1998? Hey, if it saves developers time and makes the dev tools more intuitive, I’m for it! Developers who want to chime in on this and let us know what you think, please do.

1. OS X is 64-bit, top to bottom: Here’s a real demonstration of the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Windows XP x64 has been a mess; virtually no one has adopted it (despite some advocacy on the part of music developer Cakewalk), and a lot of software isn’t compatible (like, notably, any music software that relies on PACE, as well as many drivers). Now Apple will make OS X 10.5 entirely 64-bit, with seamless compatibility for 32-bit apps. Hopefully that includes Core Audio; we’ll be asking more about the details on this.
2. Automatic backup: Time Machine provides automated backup of everything you do, answering a real need as Apple has found only 26% of users polled are backing up. (I’m guessing 75% of them were lying, too.) Restore everything or some things, locally on a hard drive or on a server. It even works with applications like iPhoto. It’ll be interesting to learn more details on this; this is a feature I’ve wanted Apple to add for years.
3. Time Lord: [Demonstrating the new Time Machine UI] “Time is a dimension that recedes into your desktop,” says Lee, a la Expose. A timeline on the right side flips through earlier iterations of a folder in Finder. This is a key point, because one of the oft-overlooked needs for backup is undoing human/user error, not just recovering from a drive failure. Everything works right within the Finder. “Best backup UI ever,” says Lee.
4. New Software Bundle: Leopard will now come right out of the box with Boot Camp (for Intel Macs booting Windows), Front Row (the multimedia app), and the fun photo app Photo Booth, plus, a new app –




5. Spaces: Apple has finally taken on virtual desktops; Lee says it’s a “nice, clean implementation, even if we’ve seen this kind of thing before.” All due respect to Linux, I’m sure Apple can implement this more elegantly than GNOME and KDE.
6. Spotlight Finally the Way We Wanted It: Search machines and servers on your network as well as locally, use advanced search booleans (finally, Apple Spotlight catches up with 1970s search tech!), and use a dedicated app launcher, recent items
7. Core Animation: A new animation layer for developers that integrates text, images, and OpenGL 3D, but with start, goal, and key frames, for adding animated interfaces easily to the OS. Sounds a lot like Microsoft’s new presentation facilities, but Apple-style (and based on OpenGL rather than DirectX); it’ll be interesting to hear how this relates to Quartz Composer (which lacks keyframes). More on this, most likely over at Create Digital Motion. Right now, we’re stuck trying to figure out what the heck this slide means (via Engadget).
8. Text-to-Speech dramatically improved: Get ready to sample it into your next mix.
9. System-wide to-do item service: We’ll assume you’ll see a zillion GTD hacks for these in the coming months, even though I’ve gone online with all my info, thanks.
10. Dashboard: “Over 2500 widgets,” says Apple. “About ten of them useful,” says Lee. “Dashcode, with templates, graphical tool for HTML/CSS, and a parts library,” says Apple. “Okay, we’ll finally make a CDM widget,” says Peter. And in the Dashboard-actually-becomes-cool category: JavaScript source editor/debugger, and the Web clip feature lets you make any part of a web page a widget. Nice. (Now I can stay up to date with Penny Arcade.) Easy, on-the-fly widget creation sounds like the real goal.
11. iChat: Boring: Tab chats, multiple logins, invisibility, etc. — it’s ironic to get these features in iChat, as Lee is telling me about them via Adium, which already does it. Cool/silly: Photobooth effects, video recording, animated buddy icons, “iChat theater”, backdrops. Hopefully this means we’ll have some remote video interviews via iChat on CDM soon. Very useful: share photo slideshows and Keynote presentations.

Leopard Sneak Peak [Apple.com]