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macOS Big Sur and Apple Silicon (ARM)

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The next version of macOS (Big Sur) is around the corner. We are still testing compatibility, but there shouldn't be any disruptions with upgrades to macOS 11.0 from Catalina or earlier, provided you stay on Intel-based hardware.

Apple Silicon based Macs with an ARM chip have not yet been announced officially, but they will eventually hit the market. Probably towards end of the year.

Please be aware that Cognitone is not yet ready to support ARM hardware. Although we do have all the tools in place to do the port quickly, the programming language we use (compiler) is still being extended to support the new hardware. We don't expect problems with that, since the language has a rich history of supporting more than a dozen other hardware platforms, but we need to be patient.

There is no ETA yet, although we expect this to be finished by the end of the year. If your work depends on Synfire or HN, please keep in mind they won't yet run on a new ARM-based Mac.

As a general precaution, we advise to always wait with a major upgrade until the dust has settled a bit. There will likely be other drivers and programs that need some time to adapt.


Wed, 2020-10-07 - 11:17 Permalink

Die nächste Version von macOS (Big Sur) steht vor der Tür. Wir testen noch die Kompatibilität, aber es sollte keine Unterbrechungen bei Upgrades auf macOS 11.0 von Catalina oder früher geben. Vorausgesetzt ihr beibt auf Intel-basierter Hardware.

Apple Silicon Macs mit einem ARM-Chip wurden noch nicht offiziell angekündigt, werden aber irgendwann auf den Markt kommen. Wahrscheinlich gegen Ende des Jahres.

Bitte beachtet dass Cognitone noch nicht soweit ist ARM-Hardware zu unterstützen. Obwohl wir über alle Tools verfügen, um den Port schnell auszuführen, wird die von uns verwendete Programmiersprache (Compiler) immer noch erweitert um die neue Hardware zu unterstützen. Wir erwarten dabei keine Probleme, da die Sprache historisch bereits mehr als ein Dutzend anderer Hardwareplattformen unterstützt hat, aber wir müssen geduldig sein.

Es gibt noch kein Datum, aber wir gehen davon aus, dass dies bis Ende des Jahres abgeschlossen sein wird. Wenn eure Arbeit von Synfire oder HN abhängt, denkt bitte daran, dass sie noch nicht auf einem neuen ARM-basierten Mac ausgeführt werden können.

Als allgemeine Vorsichtsmaßnahme empfehlen wir, immer mit einem größeren Upgrade zu warten, bis sich der Staub etwas gelegt hat. Es wird wahrscheinlich andere Treiber und Programme geben, die einige Zeit benötigen um sich anzupassen.

Wed, 2020-11-11 - 14:16 Permalink

Apple today announced macOS 11 (Big Sur) and their new M1 platform (ARM CPU).

Cognitone software is not yet ready to run on that hardware. Our software is based on Smalltalk (for the most part), a language that has been historically multi-platform for decades already, but is still in the process of being ported and optimized for M1. We expect this to be finished by the end of the year.

Expect the move to a new hardware architecture AND a new major OS at the same time to be pretty disruptive. Especially if you are using highly specialized software and peripherials, as many musicians do. Even on Intel hardware, we recommend you wait for at least the first Big Sur update before making the move, unless you have a second Mac that you don't depend on.

We will keep you posted on our progress.

Fri, 2020-11-13 - 18:40 Permalink

Synfire 1.10 and HN2 2.8 do basically run on Big Sur (Intel), however with a little caveat:

Synfire seems unable to launch the Audio Engine by itself. Some new security feature of macOS seems to prevent this. You can circumvent this for now by starting Engine.app manually. Go to the folder /Library/Application Support/Cognitone (from the Finder menu) and double-click on the Engine app before you start Synfire.

As said however, many music software developers have already announced issues with Big Sur. Some plug-ins might not yet work. If you make the move, we would greatly appreciate if you post any issues you encounter here in this thread. Thanks!

Tue, 2021-03-16 - 18:48 Permalink

Could not reproduce this on macOS 11.2.2 (Big Sur) here. Your issue may be due to restrictive folder permissions on your Mac specifically.

Anyone encountering the same problem, please check access permissions of the following folders. Look them up and do Command-I (Information). If the folders are hidden, use the "Goto Folder..." menu in Finder. They should all be readable and writeable by your user account:

/Users/<yourname>/Documents/Harmony Navigator 2

/Library/Application Support/Cognitone

/Library/Audio/Presets/Cognitone

Hope it helps.