Electron & Tau Pro on Intel Mac

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I've just moved to a new Intel MacBook Pro and running Mackie Tracktion 3. Tracktion (and another VST host) dont seem to like/recognise these plug-ins. Should they run on an Intel Mac?

thanks

Craig
craig

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I am in exactly the same position. The Muon plugs are not universal binaries, so they will not run on Intel Macs. I bumped in to Dave from Muon in the TB303 thread in the instruments forum and asked if a ub is in the pipeline. Here's the reply:

"I'm still around and the question isn't OT so: the quick answer is no, nothing is planned in that respect. Our development efforts are concentrated mostly elsewhere these days (www.samplebase.com for example) but you never know, if I ever get a free moment I might dust off the older products."

So for the moment they will not run. They are pretty old plugs though, especially Electron.

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hmmm.... that's really sad... I still have a number of older unfinished projects which used Tau Pro to a great extent and I love the sound of it, on top of being one of the easiest bass plugs to program...

Now I'm stuck trying to find new sounds to fill up the void. It would be most lovely to see a universal binary of Tau Pro released. Hmm... so much for changing from a PC to an Intel Mac.. :cry: :cry: :cry:

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Use Boot camp to run Windows on your Mac. Failing that, replace Macosx with Windows.

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If I'm not mistaken, someone had a similar problem...their plug-in wasn't a UB version. So to use it anyway, he used a freeware VST host (the one that comes with Computer Music) and clicked on the app to show more info, then was able to click a box that said 'open in rosetta (or classic..don't remember). Then he installed his plug-in and did the same thing...clicked a tab that said open in rosetta (or classic). The app was a little slow but he had a powerful Mac and the application hosted the plug-in just fine (but slow like I said). Now I don't know if that will still work now that Mac OS X has been updated (this happened about 6 months ago), and if you are using 10.5, I would forget about it altogether, unfortunately.

Believe me...you're not alone in waiting for plug-ins to be ported over to UB's. I've got about five synths that are too cpu-hungry to run on my current G4, and the developers haven't said a single word about future updates. I think that's a terrible policy. I understand the need for secrecy but some people have a lot of money invested in products they may not be able to use (like myself). For instance, I have an unused new-in-the-box copy of X-Phraze that's a little too cpu-intensive for my G4, but there's been no word on the UB version, except for a public beta which ended up causing a lot of problems. I've held on to it because at one time, there was talk about future Intel-Mac versions being fixed. Now, I haven't heard a thing. Should I keep it or sell it? I really want to use it and support reFX because they have released some great software in the past. But the silent treatment has me concerned and confused.

Anyway, the only thing I would suggest is to try and find an alternative or replacement. There is a lot of really high-quality freeware and shareware to choose from. You just need to do some research first. Hope you find something that works for you!!

Peace - morphex

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Rosetta will indeed run PPC software on an intel mac, but there's a slight complication that needs to be taken into account specifically with plug-in software like a VST. For Rosetta to work the entire process has to be PPC - VST plug-ins run inside the host process, so you can't mix and match an Intel host and a PPC plug-in or vice versa.

So if you happen to have an old PPC host program, you can run it under Rosetta and then it will be able to load PPC plug-ins but not Intel plug-ins.

Apart from that limitation if your Mac is powerful enough you should be fine. When I was at NAMM last year I demonstrated the PPC versions of the AMG plug-ins on a Mac Pro running the PPC version of Bias Peak and it worked surprisingly well. With a less powerful mac YMMV.

As for a more permanent solution I've been reviewing our ancient website and I'm getting it redesigned to more accurately present just what Muon has been up to with Tachyon etc. all these years. As part of that process I've been looking to see just which of our legacy plug-ins can and can't be brought up to date. At the moment Tau Bassline MkII looks a likely candidate for a full update to VST2.4, AU and of course UB as the code is in good shape. Work on TB2 has already started though there is no definitive timeline for this to be released.

Unfortunately the older plug-ins like Electron and Tau Pro were written in a time when VST was the only format worth supporting and they basically need a full rewrite in order to bring them up to date.

If I had more time I'd love to see all these old plug-ins updated, but for now the official line is still "there are no plans to update Electron and Tau Pro at this time".

Kind regards
Dave
www.muon-software.com

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thanks for all of that. I guess that's definitive. I only found out recently about checking the Rosetta option, so Illl think about whether that will help me.

while I am amassing plenty of newer software instruments, I really like the older stuff too, and I have having to shell out for new or updated versions all the time.

I have been and still am a big fan of the Muon stuff, so you have my vote for any new versions!

cheers
craig

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or now the official line is still "there are no plans to update Electron and Tau Pro at this time".
The official line has changed :D

Tau Bassline MkII and Tau Pro are being prepared for release in VST2.4 and AU flavours. The Mac versions will be fully UB also.

Electron *may* be updated, but at this time I can't say for sure as it depends on a lot of other work I have to get done.

The updates will be ready in time for our website relaunch, which will happen in spring.

Kind regards
Dave

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very cool!!!

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