Status of virtual instruments in MacOS Catalina

[dave2002-lmms]

Does anyone have any knowlege/experience of the virtual instruments which work in macos Catalina?

I thought that VSTs might not work - just not sure at all about AUs - and now I wonder whether some sfzs and sf2s have been blocked by Apple's somewhat agressive policy, ostensibly due to 64 bit compatiblity.

I was having some problems with instruments in Logic, which had worked previously with El Capitan, but I've not checked the situation with LMMS extensively since doing my "upgrade".

So - anything that definitely does work, and any plug-ins which no longer work after Catalina installed.
I'd probably opt to reverse my install if I hadn't been made aware of how difficult that can actually be.

Time is too short to be trying to fix things which really shouldn't have happened in the first place - IMO.

[musikbear]

Does anyone have any knowlege/experience of the virtual instruments which work in macos Catalina?

I thought that VSTs might not work - just not sure at all about AUs - and now I wonder whether some sfzs and sf2s have been blocked by Apple's somewhat agressive policy, ostensibly due to 64 bit compatiblity.

I was having some problems with instruments in Logic, which had worked previously with El Capitan, but I've not checked the situation with LMMS extensively since doing my "upgrade".

So - anything that definitely does work, and any plug-ins which no longer work after Catalina installed.
I'd probably opt to reverse my install if I hadn't been made aware of how difficult that can actually be.

Time is too short to be trying to fix things which really shouldn't have happened in the first place - IMO.

The only thing i can tell you is that nothing base on VST ao VST itself, works in MAC
It would be great if someone that uses MAC would chime in, with more info :)

[Mr. Lumbergh]

As Musikbear pointed out, MacOS uses its own AU format. There are utilities such as WINE that allow you to run Windows applications (this would include VST's) on top of MacOS they way it does Linux, but while this install is pretty trivial on most Linux distros it takes a bit more doing on Mac because with security in mind they've made it harder to install unsigned software and you'll have to get it from MacPorts. One thing I do know is that WINE will still require 32-bit binaries to run, and 32-bit support has been steadily decreasing in OSX throughout the various iterations and indeed has been stripped from Catalina completely. The last version of OSX that has any hope of this without significant hacks right now is Mojave. If you have a significant number of commercial plugins, you should be able to download the newest 64-bit versions of many of them, depending on what you have.
Now for the disclaimer: my music production at the moment is almost completely on Debian Linux; my Mac is from 2009 and is a bit hardware-challenged, though I did take delivery yesterday of a refurb MBP that I'll be using in tandem with Debian to have something portable. I requested that it be updated only as far as Mojave when I placed the order for the reason that I mentioned above, I still need 32-bit support not only for VST's but for some older programs such as Adobe that I don't care to pay a rental fee for.
I've currently got an order in to upgrade the SDD on the Mac, and because it's technically a used piece I want to do a fresh install of OSX once I get it installed. I'm happy to share my experience getting LMMS and plugins working there if you'd like, though I don't know how applicable some of it will be to you if you've made the jump to Catalina.

[dave2002-lmms]

As Musikbear pointed out, MacOS uses its own AU format. ......

I'm not sure - I think I have had some VSTs working on Macs - but not in LMMS. I'd need to check though - often the instruments from good sources are in several formats, including AU. Logic does have folders it looks in for VSTs. However not all VSTs will work - that is also a factor, but I think some do.

I would advise anyone still on earlier versions of MacOS - from Yosemite up to High Sierra to think hard before considering upgrading to or towards Catalina. It can hit you in more ways than you know. One extra problem is that Apple make it hard to migrate to other versions, such as High Sierra or Mojave - just try finding the download files .... It can be done, but if Apple gets a chance it'll move you to Catalina before you know it. The last version I was reasonably happy with was High Sierra - which didn't seem to have too many problems. I'm not sure about Mojave, as I couldn't find a reliable download file. I should have tried harder.

Apart from problems with LMMS and anything which might still need 32 bit capability, users may have other common programs. In my case I have versions of Microsoft Office with a full licence - but they no longer work in Catalina. I am reluctant to pay more to Microsoft for new versions because of Apple's "upgrade". Also printer drivers may not work. One Epson printer we have, which is not too old, doesn't yet seem to have a Catalina compatible driver. Maybe Epson think we're going to buy a new printer. They can take a hike!

I do rather wish I hadn't done this upgrade - but I would have tried to migrate to Mojave - but Apple just wouldn't let me do it.
Someone I know did this, and then did manage to revert back to Mojave, but it took a very long while. A total pain. For me it's a nuisance, as I have several machines, and there are work arounds, but it is nevertheless a nuisance when it affects the machine which I currently use most often - not this one - as this is still running El Capitan, and needs to be bumped up a stage or two.

If anyone thinks about migrating upwards, I'd also quite strongly recommend buying an external SSD or HDD, and using a backup tool, such as Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup. At least that way it'll be possible to run a copy of your existing system from the external drive. An alternative, which is possible I think, is not to install Catalina on the main drive, but to install that on an external drive - so that anyone who wants to can run Catalina and experience its delights from the external drive, but the main drive and system on it will still work as before.

Perhaps there's nobody else out there in LMMS world who's been mad enough to run on Macs, and particularly to do the move to Catalina! I am thinking of reclaiming an old iMac and converting it completely to Linux - and running LMMS from that - but that will also take time.

[Mr. Lumbergh]

Assuming you're not married to your installation that you can't revert, you can still get High Sierra and Mojave from their download servers since they're technically still supported. Perhaps reinstall after getting your activation details from the necessary apps?
I don't have my Mac in front of me, but I found the links by searching for "reinstall Macos Mojave."
I agree though, it's a bad move on their part to break backwards compatibility in the way they did. I hope that at some point they or the open-source community will release some sort of 32-bit container or compatibility layer to allow for those apps because there are so many of them still out there.

I'm not sure - I think I have had some VSTs working on Macs - but not in LMMS. I'd need to check though - often the instruments from good sources are in several formats, including AU. Logic does have folders it looks in for VSTs. However not all VSTs will work - that is also a factor, but I think some do.

One of the odd things about LMMS is that the native Linux format for plugins isn't supported directly, even when running on it; I have to use Carla for those.