Audacity Version: 2.4.2
Mac OS: Catalina 10.15.7
MacBook Pro (Mid-2012… getting a new one in two weeks!)
ACX Check has been a little testy for me lately - more and more frequently, I am not getting the final pop-up window that gives me the results of the check. This is a difficult one to troubleshoot, since it is a sporadic problem at present. ACX Check shows that it is working, and then processing, and then the final pop-up window just doesn’t come up.
I am not running a bunch of programs at the same time as Audacity and I have tried restarting as well as complete shut-downs of the laptop. I have plenty of free storage space (at least 300 GB) and have been recording with Audacity for several years with no issues save for having to use the old Catalina workarounds through Terminal.
Make sure you understand very clearly the differences between the machines. The new Macs tend to leave things out and it can be a nasty surprise. I understand you can still buy some of the older models because of this problem. The new Air has two Thunderbolt ports and one of those is the charger.
Do you use a USB audio adapter? Chances are good you have to use a connection adapter now. USB hubs and splitters don’t always do audio reliably. No headphone port? Bluetooth is the answer. See the forum postings from people having Bluetooth noise problems.
That and nowhere did I see any mention of the new M1 chip Macs being completely backwards compatible with your software and jobs.
Are you in the middle of a book or other production? Do Not upgrade your production machine until you finish, or don’t kill off the old one.
Appreciate the response - I dropped the newer plug-in into the application support folder, so perhaps that will help!
Re: New MacBook; Definitely not killing off the old workhorse. Plan to finish up the current audiobook with it. It was indeed a nasty surprise when I went to pre-order the new 13" that I noticed all the new USB/Thunderbolt ports. My interface is currently connected via FireWire, so I’m pretty sure I scooped up a FireWire to Thunderbolt adapter. I hope that works. The interface and the condenser microphone itself are due for an upgrade anyway, so I’ll probably end up re-doing my entire sound chain, haha. So it goes.
Keeping fingers crossed on the M1. I don’t normally get in on the ground floor of such things - prefer to wait until kinks are worked out - but I must admit I got a little of the old Steve Jobs flutter in my heart with Apple’s marketing of their new chip. I can only hope that it is insanely great.
The interface and the condenser microphone itself are due for an upgrade anyway, so I’ll probably end up re-doing my entire sound chain…
Does your old one work and are you happy with the sound? Stay there. See forum postings from all the problems people are having with new microphones.
Ever use a “de-esser?” That’s the program you need to get rid of the harsh, gritty “essing” sounds that newer microphone put in your voice. Every single SS sound (and some other letters) in your work are boosted. They do that because it sounds more “professional.” It makes my ears bleed. And that’s over and above low volume problems, noise, USB leakage, etc.
due for an upgrade
According to whom? Stay away from the Fear Of Missing Out thing. I was at the lunch counter and I asked which cellphone my neighbor had. He said, “The Latest One.”
I went back to my scrambled eggs.
If you have to buy something get a duplicate—if you can. There’s just nothing like having to troubleshoot a new microphone or system half-way through a book. That can kill a book submission. ACX needs everything to match.