Old 02-17-2017, 04:00 AM   #1
BBQJOE
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Default Made the switch to Mac

Of course a whole mess of plugins don't work.

Is there a good grab bag of misc plugins for the mac somewhere?

I'm really missing stuff like density mkll, blockfish, and stuff like that.
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:18 AM   #2
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Blockfish is available for mac: http://www.digitalfishphones.com/mai...em=2&subItem=5
Maybe this one: https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/
http://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/
https://www.xferrecords.com/freeware/
Some good js plugs: http://sonic.supermaailma.net/
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:59 AM   #3
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I haven't checked the others, but unfortunately Blockfish was compiled for PowerPC and never updated to be compatible with modern (post-2006) Intel Macs. That was a bummer.

Even though OS X / macOS has a smoother and (in my experience) more reliable audio+MIDI system, and I prefer using OS X over Windows, there are definitely more free plugins available in VST format for Windows than there are in AudioUnits for Mac.

It's possible, though extremely technical and a huge pain, to run some Windows VSTs on Mac (or Linux) under Wine. I tried this on OSX many years ago and got a couple to work, but it wasn't worth the trouble compared to just finding new plugins.

Edit: One site I used to go on a lot to find new plugins was KVR Audio. At least as of 2011 or so when I was more actively looking for new plugins, they were good about sorting them based on free, paid, and OS compatibility.

Last edited by Matt Mayfield; 02-17-2017 at 08:01 AM. Reason: Added reference to a helpful site
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Old 02-17-2017, 08:10 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Mayfield View Post

Edit: One site I used to go on a lot to find new plugins was KVR Audio. At least as of 2011 or so when I was more actively looking for new plugins, they were good about sorting them based on free, paid, and OS compatibility.
There are dozens of such sites. I'm on Windows, nevertheless I don't like plugins made with any development enviroments...
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Old 02-17-2017, 09:17 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Mayfield View Post
...
Even though OS X / macOS has a smoother and (in my experience) more reliable audio+MIDI system, and I prefer using OS X over Windows, there are definitely more free plugins available in VST format for Windows than there are in AudioUnits for Mac.

It's possible, though extremely technical and a huge pain, to run some Windows VSTs on Mac (or Linux) under Wine. I tried this on OSX many years ago and got a couple to work, but it wasn't worth the trouble compared to just finding new plugins.

Edit: One site I used to go on a lot to find new plugins was KVR Audio. At least as of 2011 or so when I was more actively looking for new plugins, they were good about sorting them based on free, paid, and OS compatibility.
I'm pretty sure there are more free VST format for OSX than AU format for OSX as well. I don't see any superiority of one over the other. (Just like both VST & DLL formats are usually fine in Windows.)

Paid plugins will have installers/versions for both OSX & Windows.
If it was a couple/few years ago and you just threw out the OSX installer and you can't find the emailed authorization code... call and whine.

Anyway...

A good rule of thumb is if a plugin is only ever written in VST format for Windows, it's probably not a very serious (or stable) piece of code. And there's almost certainly a better and more professionally written choice (still for free). There are an awful lot of "Hey, look at the cool GUI I made! It looks just like a real plugin!" offerings out there is what I'm saying. This appears to be more of a Windows phenomena than OSX.

That said, I know there will be a few exceptions. There always are. And someone will probably start listing them in response right now!
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Old 02-17-2017, 10:06 AM   #6
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Thanks for the replies everybody.

Believe it or don't, my first confuser was a TRS-80.
I never owned any, but almost got good at DOS.
My next purchase was an apple mac plus.

A half dozen PC's later, I threw my hands up!

What can possible be worse than needing to use your computer right away, and it tells you to sit tight while it worries about itself for ten minutes every other time you turn it on?
The final straw was when I was in the middle of something and it decided that it needed to update right there and then, and gave me no choice.

I now have this macbook and couldn't be happier!!!
What a great computer. I'm still learning, but AFAIC, MS can bite my shiny metal Azz!
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:10 PM   #7
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Good 4 you !
Longtime Apple computer user here (almost 25 years) and loved/ love working on them every minute.
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:20 PM   #8
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Can't go wrong doing a search on KVR. https://www.kvraudio.com

It's probably the most complete listing with links .
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:31 PM   #9
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The best way to be a happy Windows user is turning off updates.
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Old 02-18-2017, 12:06 PM   #10
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The best way to be a happy Windows user is turning off updates.
Definitely not ... just learn to configure it correctly, except you are mad enough to use Windows 10 Home, then goodnight Win 10 Pro users can configure it with gpedit.msc and for Win 7 users it's even easier.

But it has a reason, that I too moved from Windows to OSX around 2 years ago, when it got obvious, that Win 10 is the greatest spyware of all time.
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Old 02-19-2017, 10:19 AM   #11
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Definitely not ... just learn to configure it correctly, except you are mad enough to use Windows 10 Home, then goodnight Win 10 Pro users can configure it with gpedit.msc and for Win 7 users it's even easier.

But it has a reason, that I too moved from Windows to OSX around 2 years ago, when it got obvious, that Win 10 is the greatest spyware of all time.
I'm using Win 7, because Win 10 is a piece of s**t, even if it has better performance.
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Old 02-19-2017, 10:33 AM   #12
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But it has a reason, that I too moved from Windows to OSX around 2 years ago, when it got obvious, that Win 10 is the greatest spyware of all time.
MS had the golden opportunity of a lifetime to take advantage of diehard Mac users' dissatisfaction with the direction of OS X and hardware development. Even people like me, on Windows when they have to be but otherwise it's always been Macs, 98% of the time, they had us ready to take one foot out of the Mac world and begin the Windows adventure and maybe switch our DAW/photography/databases/ecosystem out of OS X/IOS.

Instead the put out 10.
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Old 02-19-2017, 10:48 AM   #13
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Quote:
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MS had the golden opportunity of a lifetime to take advantage of diehard Mac users' dissatisfaction with the direction of OS X and hardware development...
Like the misguided OSX updates and the fact that they haven't refreshed the Pro line of computers since 2012?

Looked like the opportunity of a lifetime from the perspective of past Apple performance as a company. I guess it turns out they're still light years ahead of the Windows camp even with that.

There's really not much to genuinely complain about right now. We have this pool of super computers from the last 8 or so years to choose from. You can set yourself up to the highest levels for cheaper than these tools have ever been before. More happiness and light in the equation than anything else.

But I miss seeing a new innovation every 6 months or less and seeing new batches of machines that sweep the floor with the old ones. It's very much worrisome to see Apple sitting on their laurels with 5 year old pro machines being the most current offering and stuff like the iTunes store being 15 years out of date selling mp3 quality music (not even CD res there yet let alone 24 bit HD).

We got spoiled for a spell there with constant innovation and performance. Now it's like "Where'd everybody go?!"

Seems like a perfect storm of opportunity for someone in the Linux camp to write an audio engine and take over the pro audio world right now.


FYI, turn off some of the 'call home' stuff in OSX too.
And you should absolutely install Little Snitch! I don't care what OS you run, install Little Snitch. Nothing will get in or out without permission.

Don't screw around leaving the door unlocked and then scanning for infections after the fact with virus scanners. Lock the door like you do with your house!

Last edited by serr; 02-19-2017 at 10:53 AM.
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Old 02-19-2017, 11:39 AM   #14
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Quote:
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Seems like a perfect storm of opportunity for someone in the Linux camp to write an audio engine and take over the pro audio world right now.
After MS tried to get rid of Steam's success on Win10 to push their own game store, more and more Steam games get released on OSX and Ubuntu ... so yeah ... we need good color management for photographers and good audio support for musicians and producers and Linux might become the long term winner over both OSX and Windows.

PS: Funnily even MS begins to support Linux.
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