Support for Apple Silicon M1 chip

[andresbrocco]

Hello,

Is the release of an arm-based compilation on the road path?

The new Max 8.2 version is M1-ready, but it cannot load external libraries that were compiled to Intel architectures. It would be great to have the bach library compatible to the new Max release!

[andreaagostini]

Hi,

There is no definite timeframe as of when this will happen --- the first, essential condition would be that we can put our hands on one of these M1 machines, which is not the case yet

Anyway, you should be able to run Max in emulation mode through Rosetta 2 (there should be a checkbox for this if you open the Max app info with cmd-i in the Finder), and this should allow you to use any Intel-only external, including bach.

It would be great if you could confirm that this actually works!

Best,
andrea

[KennKumpf]

Hi all,

I came here with the same question, as a few of my students have laptops with M1 chips. I make practice tools in Max for my ear training class, several of which use Bach.

It appears that running Max in Rosetta 2 doesn't help, as Max still blocks Bach from installing. I tried copying the package files manually and removing the folder from quarantine (using xattr - I don't know if that step is out of date); Max recognized the Bach installation but still wouldn't load the externals.

But it was working for one of my students! It turns out that while Max 8.2 - ironically, updated for ARM compatibility - won't allow Bach, downgrading to Max 8.1.11 seems to work fine. None of my students with M1s have reported any issues with using Bach since discovering this workaround; my practice tools are pretty simple (I'm still relatively new to both Max and Bach), but so far so good.

Best,
Kenn

[mjh7]

I have a MBP M1 Pro. Started Max in Rosetta 2 mode. Installed bach through the package manager. Works perfectly. Thanks.

[sebastianadams]

@mjh7 which Max version are you on? 8.1.11 or 8.2?

[danieleghisi]

Hello guys, here's a relevant post on the subject:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/60089551

Best,
Daniele

[danieleghisi]

Hello everyone. Glad to report that we have managed to compile bach/dada/ears (cage had no need) for M1 architectures.
There surely are some issues that require more thorough testing (we've already spotted some) but in any case the development release will be available shortly for our patrons (and this support will be, later on, in the official 0.8.2 release, whenever it will be).

Unfortunately, this transition means that the minimum required version of Max from now on will be 8.2.0, on both Mac and Windows.
If you are planning to use previous version of Max, stick with the current release.

All the best,
Daniele

[danieleghisi]

We now have a M1 development release available for patrons on Patreon. It will constitute the basis for a future 0.8.2 public release.
Daniele