Old MacBook, old macOS: expect problems?

Gig Performer on Mac OS X
1

Hi!

I have GP installed with the same-ish plugins on at 2017 Windows 10 PC, and on a “mid-2012” MacBook Pro which is running macOS Mojave (10.14.6)

The MacBook is part of my onstage rig – I’ve been using it in live shows with (formerly Propellerhead) Reason since 2012 with no issues to speak of. I just used the Reason DAW and fiddled with a lot of buttons/knobs during the show to get the sounds I needed :astonished:

I recently moved to GP for my live setup, because it’s awesome! No more fiddling with controls! But I’m finding that on my MacBook, Reason crashes GP constantly (SIGSEGV), Garritan CFX sometimes freezes GP where I need to force-quit it, and there are a few other plugins with varying degrees of problems on my MacBook.

What’s super interesting to me is that the exact same gig file, opened on my Windows system, works perfectly! It’s snappy and stable! On Windows, I can’t reproduce any of the issues that I have on macOS.

At this point, gentle reader, you might be wondering what my question is … and I’m not 100% sure, but I’m sorta curious to get a “room read” on whether I should even expect to have a smooth experience on my old MacBook at this point, or if I should just abandon ship and just get a Windows laptop to use onstage?

Side-note: I do have a ticket opened with Reason Studios right now…

2

When you get crashes on Mac, I think this crashes come from plugins.
Are you sure the problematic plugins are certified on Mojave?
What happens when you use the AU version of the plugins?

How can Reason crash GP?

3

Yeah, it’s definitely the plugins causing the crash.

I’m using the Reason Studios Rack plugin (VST3) – there was a whole thread about it here a long time back: Reason as a plugin

The crashing thread is failing due to some bad interaction between Reason, GP, and macOS:

VM Regions Near 0x841f0f:
--> 
    __TEXT                 0000000109c7f000-000000010cd69000 [ 48.9M] r-x/r-x SM=COW  /Applications/GigPerformer4.app/Contents/MacOS/GigPerformer4

Thread 0 Crashed:: HotFudge  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0   libobjc.A.dylib               	0x00007fff5e060359 lookUpImpOrForward + 178
1   libobjc.A.dylib               	0x00007fff5e05fe14 _objc_msgSend_uncached + 68
2   se.propellerheads.reasonrackplugin.vst	0x000000013fc5db65 0x13f0d5000 + 12094309
3   se.propellerheads.reasonrackplugin.vst	0x000000013fb0b724 0x13f0d5000 + 10708772
4   se.propellerheads.reasonrackplugin.vst	0x00000001408784c1 0x13f0d5000 + 24786113
5   se.propellerheads.reasonrackplugin.vst	0x0000000140877fa3 0x13f0d5000 + 24784803
6   se.propellerheads.reasonrackplugin.vst	0x0000000140885087 0x13f0d5000 + 24838279
7   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff30dfea73 -[NSWindow(NSEventRouting) _reallySendEvent:isDelayedEvent:] + 6840
8   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff30dfcd73 -[NSWindow(NSEventRouting) sendEvent:] + 478
9   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff30c9cf95 -[NSApplication(NSEvent) sendEvent:] + 2953
10  com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff30c8accc -[NSApplication run] + 755
11  com.deskew.gigperformer4      	0x000000010a189a9b 0x109c7f000 + 5286555
12  libdyld.dylib                 	0x00007fff5f8343d5 start + 1

I could try the AU versions – I’d thought of that, but I’d need to rebuild my (complex) plugin configuration then, right? And then the gig file would no longer be cross-platform. But it could be worth an experiment.

Everyone claims Mojave compatibility :man_shrugging:

4

I guess, though, it was more of a general question – since I’ve had issues with at least three or four plugins on macOS that all seem to work perfectly on Windows.

Are my macOS battles in the “losing battle” category? :slight_smile:

5

Or, perhaps asking from a different perspective – are people generally having amazing experiences on 2102 MacBooks running Mojave, or am I so far in the past at this point that I’m outside the bell curve of what’s being deeply tested?

6

Do you have installed the recent versions of that plugins?
And for reason rack, I heard you need permanent internet connection to avoid licensing issues.
Is that true?

7

I have the latest version of everything except macOS – newest GP, newest plugins, newest drivers, etc. :slight_smile:

Reason Rack does not require an Internet connection for authorization – it supports the same authorization schemes as the Reason DAW. My machine is permanently licensed (and the plugin itself confirms this in its settings screen).

In any case, reproduceable SIGSEGVs that occur while using the panels seem independent of licensing (and the problems are identical with or without an Internet connection on the laptop) …

All good questions, though!

8

Are you a generally happy Mojave user, @pianopaul ?

9

I am on Big Sur

10

I found this in a forum

I found a solution, if it can be called a solution to the problem. I don’t know how in Cubase, but in S1 you need to add AU plugin, turn it off and hide it without deleting the instance. Then adding VST3 version, there will be no problems. You can delete any plugin without problems. It’s all about the authorization issue, as I understand it.I

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11

I’m using a 2015 MacBook Pro (so slightly newer) on Mojave and GP runs like a dream - I’m using it for guitar modelling and have no issues at 128samples with a Focusrite interface. I run GP alongside Ableton running stem-heavy tracks as well as some software synths plus a load of MAX devices to control various things. None of that causes any issues.

I’ve been looking at upgrading but honestly don’t see a whole lot of need until it eventually dies as it is still performing absolutely fine!

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12

Good to hear, @speed12 !

I guess it could just be the specific plugins I’m using – a perfect storm of having selected a few buggy ones in a row. I can play with the AU suggestion, @pianopaul, but there’s really no reason that an authorization issue should result in Reason Rack playing sounds correctly for a two hour rehearsal, but then SIGSEGV-ing when I try to flip the rack around inside the panel.

Segmentation fault crashes are caused by software bugs – somewhere in their code, they are trying to dereference an invalid memory address, either due to an invalid pointer or a buffer overflow or similar.

Since the fault seems to consistently happen in objc_msgSend, I would assume they are suffering with some kind of address-space corruption caused by a buffer overrun or something. Unfortunately, either GP or the VST could be the root cause, but if everyone else is having a magical time :sparkles: on this platform, I’m going to have to assume that I just have hitched my wagon to the wrong horse(s) (plugins).

13

Hi, @pianopaul – I found the forum post that you were referring to. Thanks for the info, but it’s definitely different than my problem. I’m running with computer-based authorization in Reason 12 … :man_shrugging:

14

Ok, maybe you get a feedback from the reason developers.
Or you can ask the old propellerhead guys :slight_smile:

15

I do have a ticket open with them in which they have the full crash dump and debug logs and everything, so I’m hopeful.

But I guess my question came from the fact that I have had problems with a few different plugins on macOS Mojave in which the same versions of the same plugins work fine on Windows, so I was just wondering if people had a good experience on macOS in general or not, because my anecdotal experience so far has not been gr8 :slight_smile:

16

Update: the AU version of the Reason Rack plugin seems to be much more stable. I spent a few hours with it (converting all my VST settings over to new AU containers! :open_mouth:) and it didn’t crash once. Downside: the gig file is no longer cross-platform.

17

So, this is a case for reason support.
But I fear they will refuse to help as gig performer is not a supported platform on their side.

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18

My MBP from 2017 came with Mojave and I only updated it last month!, so pretty happy with Mojave (meanwhile updated to latest Monterey)

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19

I’m sure everyone tests their AU version carefully against Apple’s app

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