Apple Silicon...

Will 3.0.0 support Apple Silicon on the Mac or will it continue as an Intel x64 program?
Thanks!

The goal of the 3.0.0 project is the unity project - to consolidate the audacity project file structure into a single file.

For additional information on Audacity 3.0.0, see here: Missing features - Audacity Support

Totally confused now, are you saying there will be one install file that will choose the correct version to install? SQLite is already running on Apple Silicon so that shouldn’t be an issue. Sounds like the installer will have native versions for whichever OS it’s installing on, or do I have this wrong?

I’ve not seen one of the new Apple lineup yet, but unless they have really messed up badly Audacity will work just the same on the new kit.

From what I’ve read, it’s not like their change from Power PC to Intel (or when they dropped support for 32-bit apps) where half the software suddenly stopped working. This time they have made an effort to retain compatibility with existing software.

If you are considering getting a new M1 Mac and you already have an audio interface, check that your interface is supported by Apple Silicon (many are not yet fully supported).

I already have an M1 MacBook Pro, I use Audacity to mix not to record, so an audio interface isn’t an issue for me. It would be nice to have an M1 native version if only for the speed increase.

There is no guarantee that a native M1 version will run any faster. Some native M1 apps will run faster by taking advantage of special features built into the M1 chip, but Audacity has very little hardware specific code.

Audacity does make use of a lot of third party libraries. According to Apple documentation, it is only possible to build a universal app (that runs natively on both Intel and Silicon) if ALL libraries that it uses are universal. I have no definitive information, but I would expect that it will be quite a while before that is the case.

Also note that the latest (Tiger Lake) i7 beats the M1 on many benchmarks. Where the M1 wins is that it gets close for much lower Watts. If you read between the lines of the Apple hype, it’s “speed per watt”, not raw speed, where the M1 excels (the fastest Macs are still “Intel inside”).

I guess we will see what happens then…

M1 is fast, it can only get better as we go to the M2, M3, etc.

Sure, the Mac line is Apple Silicon oriented from now on, even if Intel should be supported for some time.
I use a Mac Mini M1 (Apple Silicon) under Big Sur, very fast, low heating, perfect for music. My Focusrite card and Audacity works nicely.
But in the 2.4.2 as in the 3.0.0. version of Audacity, I have no check mark in the menus with options, also no arrow indicating a submenu. Am I the only one ??? Is is difficult to know what options is checked when ther is no check mark…
THANKS.

I assume you are referring to this post: Quick Play menu (activer lecture rapide) Mac mini M1

@jademan
YES.

I do not have this problem on my M1 Macbook Air under Big Sur. We have had no other reports of this. You may be the only one.
– Bill

Thanks for trying to see if you can duplicate the problem with 3.0.0 :exclamation:

I tried setting my Audacity language preference to Français here on Windows 10 with both Audacity 2.4.2 and Audacity 3.0.0 and am not able to duplicate your issue. :confused:

Perhaps someone on Mac can take a look your menu issue :question:

In the meantime, try Tools > Reset Configuration and/or rebooting.

I hope this helps. :smiley:

Bill: I just saw you post now…

wissme,

As you know, you are the only one using Audacity that has reported this problem so far. However, there appear to be reports of a similar issue with the wxWidgets software package, which is incorporated into Audacity.

The problem seems to be related to certain locale settings other than English, specifically German, French, and Russian. It has been reported to occur with Mac OS 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 (beta). I do not know if it is specifically an M1 issue.

I have reported this issue to our developers on your behalf. However, I do not anticipate an overnight fix.

I have copied this post (with translation) to the French forum.

For reference:

https://forums.wxwidgets.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=48118
https://trac.wxwidgets.org/ticket/19023

It seems to be macOS uses SVG in forming the menus, and numbers in the SVG are misread when using a language with comma as a decimal separator in numbers.

Apple Silicon is supported by the 3.2 alpha: https://audacityteam.org/nightly