• Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks

Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks DAW Compatibility Overview [Update]

With Apple’s new operating system OS X Mavericks released just over a week ago, producers and musicians are dying to know whether their DAW of choice is compatible or will be in the near future.

Of course knowing whether your DAW works under 10.9 requires a lot more than just installing the software and see if it runs. You need to check whether the driver for your audio interface and all the plugins that you use are compatible. The main advice for now is to hold off the update until the for you important developers have given the green light.

Here’s a short list though of most DAWS and their current status on OS X Mavericks compatibility.

Pro Tools 11
Avid is strongly advising NOT to update to 10.9 at this moment. Many uninstallers for their hardware drivers and software are definitely not working. Avid is busy testing compatibility with 10.9.

[UPDATE November 13, 2013] Avid has released pro Tools 11.0.3 which introduces support for Mac OS X Mavericks. Mountain Lion users should note that 11.0.3 is only intended for 10.9 and shouldn’t be installed on 10.8 ML.

[UPDATE January 7, 2014]
Avid have released Pro Tools 11.1 which is fully compatible with OS X 10.9. Be aware though that at this moment Pro Tools 11.1 is NOT yet compatible with the latest Mavericks 10.9.1 update.

Logic Pro X
Apple hasn’t clearly stated that Logic Pro X is compatible with Mavericks but the Logic specifications page states that it will run on 10.8.4 and higher. Many users on Apple’s Discussions Forum have reported that Logic seems to be working well under Mavericks. Some users though have reported some problems with Logic Pro 9 so some caution is advised.

[UPDATE January 2014]
Several updates for Logic X Pro have been released with major bug fixes for OS X Mavericks support. The latest version has been 10.0.6.

Cubase
Steinberg is advising against updating to OS X Mavericks at this moment. In a statement they revealed that all their software products (except for Cubase LE / AI / Elements 7.0.6) are affected by an issue with the CoreAudio2ASIO component when using audio hardware in class-compliant mode which may lead to dangerous digital noise. Some Steinberg hardware products need to be updated as well to ensure full compatibility with the new OS X version.

[UPDATE January 9, 2014]
Steinberg have released information on OS Mavericks compatibility for all their products. More information can be found on this page on Steinberg’s website.

Digital Performer 8.0.5
Motu has stated that most of their software seems to be compatible with 10.9 but they are still testing. Several users on Motunation reported that Digital performer is working well.

Live
Ableton has confirmed that both Live 9.1 and 8.4.2 updates will be compatible with 10.9. These versions are still only available as Beta versions from Ableton’s Beta Program but will be released soon.

[UPDATE}
Ableton Live 9.1 is available and fully compatible with Mac OS X mavericks according to Ableton. Visit the page mentioned above for more information. Existing users can download the Live 9.1 update in their Ableton account.

Studio One
Presonus has been stating 10.9 pre-release compatibility for some time now. A new post on Presonus’ website however states that they have identified a problem with Studio One 2.6.0 and the final release of Mac OS 10.9. The 2.6.1 update for Studio one is in the works which will fix the problem.

[Update 31-10-2013] Studio One 2.6.1 has been released today and has improved support for OS X Mavericks.

Reaper
Cockos today released Reaper 4.55 which according to their website has better 10.9 compatibility. Good signals are also coming from users on the Cockos Reaper forums where many state that Reaper is working well for them.

Maschine
According to many forum posts, Maschine 1.8.2 is not yet compatible with OS X Mavericks. Native Instruments hasn’t revealed whether Maschine 2.0 (available 1 November) will be compatible with 10.9. At this moment the requirements only state 10.7 or 10.8.

[UPDATE November 1, 2013] Maschine 2.0 is reported to work fine by many users on the NI support forum. Some have very minor problems but nothing serious. An updated driver for the MK1 hardware should fix some problems that it had under OS X 10.9

Reason
Propellerhead released a statement saying that initial testing of the new Mac OS X Mavericks has not revealed any problems with Reason 7.0.1, ReCycle 2.2 or the Balance audio interface. More in-depth testing is done and Propellerheads will release a formal compatibility statement as soon as tests are final.

[UPDATE]
A new statement from Propellerheads is stating that from Reason 6 and upwards they have experienced no compatibility issues with Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9. You have to make sure though that you have installed the latest drivers for your audio hardware interfaces and midi controllers.

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