Anyone tried el capitan 10.11.6?

I did a quick search and couldnt find a simple answer.

I too have the odd audio drop out on 2015 macbook pro, and wondered if anyone has updated to 10.11.6 and if this is better/worse?

using the latest version of traktor.

Thanks for any answers!

 

Hi Declan

As a performing DJ, rig stability is most important. Any dead air at a private function is a big NO!!!!!!
I am also wanting to upgrade to 10.11.6 on a MBP 2012 but do not want to proceed until NI give the all clear. I also looked for information and found nothing.

Current console hardware i m using includes ADJ VMS4 "Traktor edition" & NI Audio 8 running Traktor Scratch 2.10.2 9 on OSx10.11.5 with no issues with sound.

I am aways jumpy about updating or upgrading operating systems, especially when being the first to upgrade, in my experience unforeseen audio problem have occurred. When I purchased my MBP 2012 15" non retina, it was the first USB 3 version and last of its kind and the NI Audio 8 driver was not compatible with my MBP for about a month. I was force to use the VMS4 which worked just great until I could use my timecode vinyl again.
NI care to comment? Is Mac OS 10.11.6 safe or not?

I cannot risk an OS update until the all clear is given by Native Instruments

cheers
Paul

 

There is currently no information on 10.11.6
I would not update your OS at all. I would certainly not update a 3 year old MBP. I made this mistake and was told explicitly by Apple Tech Support and a Genius Bar technician that El Capitan is an OS too far for a 3 year old MBP.
I had too many issues and I am now back on Mavericks (on my mid 2012) MBP and it's running perfectly. My newest MBP is fine with 10.11.5

With all the current issues with CoreAudio and El Capitan I doubt NI will be issuing any 'all clear' for sometime...but that's my guess.

Karlos

 

I am running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 on macbook pro late 2011 well optimized for music purposes no issues!
As long as not canceled from Apple hardware compatibility list i will keep on updating!

 

Hi Karlos

I do not trust those Apple "Geniuses" because they are sales people and are mostly not technical. A mid 2012 i7 MBP is more than capable of keeping up with todays software. Take a look at your old MBP 2012 CPU clock speed and compare it to your new MBP CPU clock speed.

My Late 2012 non Retina i7 2.7Ghz MBP has been upgraded to the max with 16Gb RAM and 2 x 1Tb SSD's, the second SSD is in a cradle designed to replace the DVD drive. I am running El Cap 10.11.5 on it and it is working perfectly.

All your 2012 MBP needs is a memory upgrade and an SSD to be installed and you have a MBP that performs faster than the day you bought it. If however, your old MBP is a retina version, memory upgrade is not possible because the memory is soldered in to the mother board.

Not going to 10.11.6 until the all clear from NI though

Cheers

 

Dude, with respect are assuming quite a bit... I know the shortcomings of Apple Genius's - I had to teach one of them recently about the difference between V2 and V3 Mail Data and why they are not compatible when going back to an OS older that 10.11

The Apple guy I spoke to was the tech manager at the store not a guy on the desk and the guy I spoke to on the phone was a tech support manager and both said that the changes in El Cap were too many compared to Mavericks & Yosemite.
Bare in mind this machine shipped with Mountain Lion.
The machine in question is an i5 (not i7) and has 16GB ram and a 1TB Samsung EVO SSD. They knew this as they had the machine apart installing a new logic board.

They had no need to sell me anything new as I had already bought a new MBP the day before and had it my hand in-store - this was a visit to fix an issue with hardware on the old Mac. Their advice was quite clear - stay away from El Capitan on this machine.

Please note: whilst I'm sure some of you guys are having no issues with 10.11 with older MBPs - my advice remains. My experience with El Capitan and Traktor on a 3 year MBP has been bad.

The difference between a 2012 i5 MBP and the last (and final iteration) is quite substantial.

Anyhow... this machine is working perfectly with the latest Traktor beta (the public one) and Mavericks.
I even have a battered 2009 MBP running Traktor 2.9 on Yosemite with 16GB and a 960GB SSD working perfectly
My newer MBP is working fine with Traktor and El Capitan.

Karlos

 

Hi Karlos

Yes I did make some far stretched deductions. (Assumed a bit much, LOL)

To clarify what our experience is as far as Traktor 2.10.2 9 and our 2012 MBP 13" i5 and 15" i7 is concerned. The i7 is our primary machine when we DJ at private functions and the 13" i5 is the backup and both machines perform perfectly with the latest NI Audio 4 & NI Audio 8 drivers, Traktor 2.10.2 9 and El Cap 10.11.5.

I agree with you Karlos about upgrading, if is isn't broken then don't fix it with an upgrade / update, at least until you are 100% sure things wont break and the all clear is given from NI. Also make a Time Machine backup or / and CCC clone before anything.

@Abebe, please can you let us know your experience and future experience on 10.11.6 and Traktor as you have bravely taken the leap

Paul

 

Yeah I currently have 4 different Time Machine external drives on the go. I do a mass back up of all 4 MBPs weekly and I do a daily backup of my main play-out machine (which is the beauty of Thunderbolt) as I'm working on playlists on a daily basis on that machine as it's used for weddings.

Honestly, until El Capitan I have never really been this cautious. My experience with Macs and Traktor has been pretty darn flawless for over 10 years (much to the annoyance of many around here) - El Capitan has changed all that.
This was the first time I have ever had to roll back an OS and it was a pain in the ass.

Let's pray for better things to come brother... can I get an Amen on that

Karlos

 

Hi @OCDJ

My experience with OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 is up to now okay i have never skipped updating my mac and i have had no problems since i bought it about 4 years ago. I don't use it to browse the web except for software updates since i don't have antivirus or malware installed only the builtin firewall is on and wifi and bluetooth are off when Djing to prevent disruptions.

No Adobe flash player is installed because i think it will causes poor sound quality, further well optimized by using the audio optimization guide/iBook i bought in app store i guess about two years ago.

I can not tell what my future experiences will be with OS X El Capitain 10.11.6 or traktor but as i said i will keep on updating until my mac is going to be out of date!

The same with traktor pro i have never skipped their software updating not always optimal but okay two times downgrade to the previous version and now running 2.10.3 beta version since begining of july i found it stable except the high CPU usage which goes up to 60% by normal configuration when playback.

Let's wait and see what the public release brings.

 

Hi Abebe

Thanks for your reply, good to know that 10.11.6 is working for you.

I think i am going to go ahead with the update at the end of this month, this month is a bit hectic so far, I am DJ'ing at an 18th birthday this Saturday and a 21st birthday next Saturday. After that I have time in between to update and test Traktor before my next Gig.

Cheers
Paul

 

I should have mentioned i am currently on 10.11.4, and that is the version that gives me 1 guaranteed big drop out for around 1-2s (although ive had problems with all versions so far). So by the look of these posts people have had more luck with .5, but unfortunately ive missed that update as the app store only has .6 to offer me, so i think after my booking on Saturday im going to update, and then have 3 weeks to stress test before my residency starts back up. So thanks for all the replies!

 

Hi Declan Bird and Others:

Did anyone ever get an answer from NI whether Komplete Audio 6 audio interface will run on El Capitan 10.11.6 (on my Macbook Air 11") without drop-outs and glitches? Their last post saying it didn't only seems to refer to 10.11.4 and recommended upgrading to Sierra, which I absolutely don't want to do.

 

Welcome.

Can I ask the reason for not wanting to update to macOS Sierra? It really is a much better OS than El Capitan in many ways.
I doubt NI will ever give a clean bill of health for anything with El Capitan - there have been far too many documented issues with it which were only fixable by Apple (macOS Sierra) - NI like many other companies cannot fix the drop-out issues.
The recommendation to upgrade is good advice.

If your machine cannot run Sierra I would seriously look at rolling back to Mavericks.

Karlos

 

Thank you for your reply. It is conventional wisdom and more than 20 years of Apple products experience that says do not "roll back" to an OS that has never existed on your machine or with your current programs, or upgrade to an OS if you have everything working perfectly in order to get one product to work, when the market sells many suitable alternatives. I'd like to buy the Komplete Audio 6. But it is not worth doing so if it (or has the potential to) cause other problems. Also, if NI has not fixed the problem (along with Apple's help), it shows a lack of customer attention and I'd likely just buy another MOTU or Focusrite interface. Does anyone know if NI has fixed the drop out issues for 10.11.6?

 

I have already mentioned that NI cannot fix drop-out issues in 10.11.6. They were issue introduced by Apple in CoreAudio. They are now fixed by Apple in macOS Sierra.

The drop out issues are not going to be fixed in El Capitan.

 

As per Karlos' answer the dropout issues that have plagued many people are a Core Audio issue that Apple will never fix for people using Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan. There is absolutely nothing that NI can do to fix the issue, and it's not just NI's soundcards, it's happened to me on Pioneer mixers and A&H mixers too.

If you do not need to use any of the latest hardware (S5, S8 or D2) or features and your MacBook is a Mid-2013 or before model, then it is recommended to use OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion and Traktor (Scratch) Pro 2.6.8, as this is an extremely stable platform.

Should you have newer hardware, or have a MacBook from Late-2013 (basically if it came with Mavericks or newer) to now then as much as you want to resist, upgrading to macOS 10.12.1 Sierra is what you should do as Apple have fixed the Core Audio dropouts.

If you have any other software or hardware thats not supported with Sierra then you need to weigh up your legacy hardware/software with having a stable platform for performance.

I have been one of the most vocal people about these dropout issues on this forum, I have moved on to Sierra now as I have a pair of D2's that have sat on the shelf for way too long as I rolled back to 10.8.5/2.6.8 to have a stable system to play out with.

Although the CPU usage is much higher with 10.12.1/2.11.0, I have not had a single dropout since upgrading.

If you have any question please let me know.

 

Early 2011 Macbook pro 8gb 960GB ssd, installed OS Sierra, every app runs normal but when I run Traktor CPU usage is higher, laptop very hot
near 90C. I did 4 gigs but let me tell you I was not comfortable thinking my laptop being hot would shut down. I even installed SMC fan control but still had worries with the heat so finally went back to Mavericks which never had any issues with any version of Traktor. I had to reset SMC since
the fan was running continually. I use Kontrol S4, DJM 900 nexus and never had any issues with audio.... knock...knock