Something perhaps worth sharing…
Okay, this one’s for anyone thinking of taking the plunge and moving over to the new Apple Intel machines for music making.
If you have no idea what I’m on about then sorry.
When I had the opportunity to sell my Powerbook G4 and upgrade to the new intel model, I decided to take it. I was aware that I would have to wait for the software to all be coded to the new processors and was beginning to understand exactly how long a wait we were talking about.
Although the main sequencer packages are starting to release universal binary versions (usually at a price), the main problem I had was plugins. Virtually none of the plugins I use are universal binary yet, some don’t even have any plans to release new versions at all!
Others like Native Instrucunts Instruments seem to think that charging €30 or so PER PLUGIN is reasonable!
Essentially I was beginning to think that I was going to lose all my beloved older plugs like the excellent Mtron or freeware ones such as Buzzer2. I was lost in a world of misspent money, wishing I’d never forsaken my trusty old G4.
Until…
I came across an article detailing how some users had found the Intel version of the Safari web browser to be behaving badly with certain online content. It was basically stating that because some of the java plugins and so on had not been updated to universal binaries, Safari wasn’t able to display some content and would crash. It suggested a tip that if you selected an application and hit ⌘-i then there’s a checkbox allowing the app to run the PowerPC version under Rosetta emulation.
I tried installing an old PowerPC audio plugin on my Macbook Pro and booted up Ableton Live as normal. As I suspected, Live did not load the plugin, nor was it available after a rescan of my plugins folder. I then told Live to run under Rosetta and hey presto! The Plugin was there in all its glory.
Of course running a program under Rosetta emulation does affect its performance quite a bit, but to be honest with the speed boost of my Macbook over my old G4 it’s pretty much just like having my old laptop back. Albeit living in my nice shiny Macbook Pro!
Posted by Rob Lab 
