Apple today introduced the latest version of OS X, Yosemite, at the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), being held June 2-6 in San Francisco, CA.
Key new features include:
- The UI has been streamlined, making it more iOS-like, but not a shocking change;
- iCloud Drive is located within the Finder and lets you store any type of file and share it across devices;
- Handoff lets you start an activity on one device and pass it to the other; and
- Instant Hotspot makes using your iPhone’s hotspot as easy as connecting to a Wi-Fi network.
In addition to an updated UI, Yosemite features several key features that may have special interest to musicians:
- Mail Drop allows you to easily send large videos, images or files up to 5 GB from the Mail app to any email address. This could be very handy for collaborating with other musicians and sending media files to vendors or clients.
- Messages – Now you can add titles to ongoing message threads so they are easy to find, add new contacts to ongoing conversations, or leave those conversations you no longer want to follow. With ‘Soundbites’ you can create, send and listen to audio clips right in Messages.
- iCloud Drive – sort of a built-in Dropbox, it’s designed for easy sharing between OS X, iOS & Windows. It works like any other folder on a Mac, so you can drag documents into it, organize them with folders and Tags and search for them using Spotlight.
- Airdrop now lets you easily share files wirelessly between iOS and OS X.
- Continuity – ‘Proximity awareness’ lets your devices sense each other. When your iPhone or iPad is near your Mac, Handoff lets you start an activity on one device and pass it to the other. Instant Hotspot makes using your iPhone’s hotspot as easy as connecting to a Wi-Fi network. Now the SMS and MMS messages that previously only appeared on your iPhone appear in Messages on all your devices. You can even send SMS or MMS messages directly from your Mac and make or receive iPhone calls, using your Mac as a speakerphone.
As with Mavericks, Yosemite will be a free release, coming in the Fall. It’s also going to be available as an open beta.
What would be neat is if the “extensions” in the SDK allowed, for example, the opening of wave editor app from within another synth / DAW app – or similar kind of functionality, but it seems like it may be initially limited to things like photo editing and web app integration. Let’s hope it’s broader 🙂
Will audio interfaces actually function in this version of OS X?
Working perfectly fine here, and with every other musician I know. You might want to take that up with your interface manufacturer.
Focusrite interfaces still don’t work properly with Mavericks—you have to download a patch to run it in class-compliant mode, which strips away all kinds of everyday-use features. A quick Google search will show you it’s been (and remains) a fairly widespread problem.
Are you sure it’s Apple’s fault and not Focusrite’s? I’ve used the same MOTU interface from Leopard to Mavericks without issue.
i have sapphire 40 pro and the octapre to go with it, as well as a pro dsp24. firewire, optical, and usb connections between them – never had an issue on mac. both macbook pro as well as a fully stuffed macmini.
i assume by ‘class compliant’ that your model is usb – it sounds like you need to install the drivers + mixcontrol software – or use a powered hub… or read the manual…
Or maybe you don’t know the full story and prefer to act like a twat. See Xtopher’s comment below.
I have a 6i6 and it still only runs in class compliant mode. Focusrite is taking no action. To be fair it’s getting the job done, but no way in hell will I give Focusrite money again knowing they abandoned support for this unit the day it was launched. Also, I did my research and the unit was listed on thier web site as Mavericks compatible. They changed the status later at least. Feels shady and lazy if them.
If you switch just don’t go to m-audio. I had a problem with the last point release of Logic and my (admittedly cheap) m-audio interface did not work so I switched to a little bit nicer focusrite with a few more features and it has worked great both with Logic and Mavericks in general (Reason, Guitar Rig Pro, etc). So if m-audio is junk and you don’t like focusrite that doesn’t leave a lot of others unless you want to go all high end and get some thunderbolt motu thing…
Now having said that I don’t see why Apple has to break hardware support every year with the new OSX, Do the new features in Mavericks or Yosemite really require a rewrite of drivers for usb devices? Adding finder tabs had what to do with usb exactly? If they’re going to release a new OSX every year and give it away free hoping for fast adoption they need to find a way to add the new features without being so disruptive to everything that is already working well. Just because my interface is working fine now it doesn’t mean it won’t be a brick with Yosemite so I do share the concerns.
I run an 18i20 in Mavericks (mostly Logic) with nary a hiccup. It runs considerably better under Mavericks than it does on my Windows 7×64 workstation (mostly Sonar). It actually runs quite well with Sonar via Parallels, too.
I switched to the Focusrite because it is so damn reliable. I am surprised to read of trouble in the setup of others. I had nothing but trouble with my previous interface from PreSonus. I blame that on Firewire as a protocol, not strictly PreSonus.
My Focusrite Safire pro 24 DSP works fine with Mavericks. And my mate has a Focusrite liquid Safire 56 with his mavericks install. No problems here or there. I’d check your focusrite drivers and mixer software before blaming an OS.
I have 10.9.3. plugged my newly bought Focusrite 2i4 in, and my MacBook Pro- late 2008 instantly recognised it, along with logic pro X 10.0.6 and the entire Mac OS defaulted itself for audio ins/outs without me having to adjust anything.
No drivers/downloads needed..
I didn’t know there were issues with interfaces and would question the manufacturer as suggested. I’m using a first gen Apogee Duet via a FireWire to Thunderbolt adaptor with zero issues and plug and play from day one.
Have a look at this thread and be amazed: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5484036
Half of these sound like Bonjour with a buzzworthy rebrand. Mavericks scares the shit out of me, I’ll probably stick with 10.8 for as long as its feasible and then switch to full time linux.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Bonjour is a services discovery protocol, it doesn’t provide any functionality in and of itself.
And what of the above bullet-points are services that cannot be discovered by Bonjour as it is now?
How is anything in the list simple Bonjour discovery? There may be a component of Airdrop and Continuity that utilizes Bonjour in the initial discovery process, but it goes little beyond that.
3rd party keyboards! Time to make a QWERTY to MIDI extension so audiences can interact with the show while they FB and TXT during the show.
Secret Base Design is working on an app for that – well – at least the QWERTY to MIDI part.
That section caught my eye too, and I’m hoping they really open up what you can do with keyboards. There are cheap drum pads (and other stuff) that send out ASCII keystrokes, but they’ve never played nice with OSX (or iOS, for that matter). With luck, there will be ways to pair multiple keyboards with a device, and route keystrokes from different keyboards to different places. Adafruit has a little DIY Bluetooth keyboard kit, where you can wire up buttons to generate keystrokes — seems like potentially a great way to create interesting and inexpensive controllers.
Using Mavericks with an 828x fine… worried about updating.
seems like a little update as far as features go. More of an aesthetics update.
Just the opposite – if you check out the updates, the biggest ones are new options for developers, which should translate into better apps.
Sticking with my 10.6, thankyouverymuch. Too bad some developers are starting to drop support for 10.6… SL is only 4 years old for crying out loud!!!
probably finding it hard to get film for your camera too… like it or not, things change. you can fight it, but you’ll lose.
I’m sorry but your analogy is complete exaggeration – a 4-year old OS is not “that” old. Remember how long XP was around before support was dropped? Hell, many people are STILL using XP. Same with 10.6. A great number of musicians prefer 10.6 to newer os releases. It works and it’s stable. I’m a firm proponent of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. I’m not gonna upgrade my OS every 6 months and dick around with fixing broken apps and drivers every time around. I’d rather be making music.
if it ain’t broke don’t fix it is a recipe for stagnation
No it’s a recipe for getting shit done. And you still haven’t answered my question, exactly how newer than 10.6 releases are better for music-making.
so your logic implies the pinnacle of technoilogy has been reached, let’s all give up on any attempt at progress?
No, he’s saying “is there any evidence that this update will improve, or at least not degrade, the operating system’s utility for my specific purpose? And, if not, isn’t it a bit early to drop support for the relatively modern version that is working for me?”
You are being willfully obtuse and no one is impressed.
Incorrect. I am impressed with myself. I could add the team at Apple that have invested 4 years of effort into improving every aspect of their technology since 10.6 are impressed with themsleves. I don’t imagine they think they should have ceased development because it was not worth the effort. In that time I have continued to develop a music production system that eclipses the one that I had in the so called ‘glory period’ 4 years ago that Misho refers to. The nature of technology is to progress. I can’t imagine why you would think otherwise. It is self evident that as hardware advances so must software.
“I am impressed with myself.”
On what grounds? That a new OS is being made freely available and that you are going to use it? You parents must be very proud of “your” achievement.
Seems to me Misho has merely stated the new OS has features surplus to his(?) requirements. Your implication is that he’s a fool think this (“I can’t imagine why you would think otherwise.”).
At no stage was it stated that the new OS is in any way inferior to Snow Leopard. In fact the “glory days” reference is yours, not Misho’s.
Your decision to be an early adapter gives you a new OS and nothing else. It certainly doesn’t give you the right to be churlish towards others who don’t share your opinions.
Get over yourself.
Admin: Personal attack deleted. Please keep your comments on topic and constructive.
You still haven’t answered his very simple question : exactly how newer than 10.6 releases are better for music-making.
Pinnacle of technology was reached long time ago.
It’s just become cheaper.
And I challenge you to point out one way that 10.7, 10.8, 10.9 or now this 10.10 are superior to 10.6. Good day sir!
Unless you can afford or even want to use your computer ONLY for music then it’s kind of nice to be able to use iMessage, FaceTime, real dual monitor, the battery saving processing, the fluidity, iCloud integration, easy sharing, file tagging, optimization, etc, that all came with later releases.
I love making music on my computer as well but occasionally branch out…..
At what point would you consider upgrading? A decade? 2?
Why the snark?
Misho claims that OS 10.6 is just fine for his(?) particular application.
Neither you nor steve have addressed the question put by misho. If what he has works, why change? Seems to me the reasons you both gave for upgrading are irrelevant to the music making process.
Misho is not saying that you should not get a new OS, he just gave a perfectly valid reason why he won’t be.
“I love making music on my computer as well but occasionally branch out…..”
And we must all do what you do?
I didn’t suggest anyone should. I said what I do.You read that differently?
The reasons for me personally were as I explained. He can do whatever he wants, but he is complaining about a system that has progressed in many ways. I think the fact that companies are going to start discontinuing, or already have, support of 4 year old operating systems would be the main reason.
He stated his objection to the new OS, which is the topic of this discussion, and I pointed out the reasons why I think it’s fine. PLUS I don’t know anyone having difficulty making music on Mavericks, AND enjoying what else the os can do…that was my point. Seemed pretty straight forward.
(deep breath). So a specific thing that changed since 10.6 is the introduction of Bluetooth LE. Did not exist in 10.6, added in 10.7, and significantly improved functionality in 10.9. It may not be of importance to everyone, but it’s a big deal to me. There’s other stuff too — let’s not pretend that nothing has changed between OSX versions, because many things have changed.
People buy computers for the applications, not the operating system. It was Visicalc, Lotus 123, WordPerfect that sparked the computing revolution, not MS-DOS. But… developers need the operating system to leverage off of, and by adding new features and APIs, Apple is helping developers create new and better applications.
Apple has been pulling support for old operating systems as a way to reduce fragmentation. Every hardware or software unknown makes developing an application more difficult (in a multiplicative way). If an application has to worry if there’s support for some feature A, there are two cases to code for. Add in feature B, and now there are potentially four different cases. As a developer, you try to encapsulate and abstract as much of the complexity away as possible, but it does get harder. Writing code in the Apple universe is (IMO) easier than writing for Windows or Linux; the APIs are consistent, clean, and relatively well documented. I’m working on a Bluetooth LE driver for Windows currently — in the MS universe, there are at least four different driver APIs available, each of which partially works on different subsets of W3.1, W95, W98, ME, 2K, NT, XP, Vista, 7, and 8. It took me about two days to port some iOS Bluetooth code to OSX. I’ve spent three months on this with Windows, and I don’t yet see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Apple philosophy has been “out with the old, in with the new” for many years. They’re harsh and brutal in pushing their user base forward, but it minimizes fragmentation — which is IMO, a net benefit for developers and end users, and also good for the Apple bottom line.
Nobody has to upgrade, though. If you’re happy with what you’ve got, stick with it. My keyboard is an old Yamaha from the 1980s; MIDI out the back works fine, thank you, and I like it very much. I’ve got a Fender Telecaster from the ’80s, and that works nicely too. I can play my old records. My “daily driver” laptop got upgraded to Mavericks last week — there was no need to rush.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. I understand the annoyance at Apple for abandoning old tech, but I think there’s a lot of good reasons for their approach. They’re trying to make life easier for developers by offering useful APIs, and minimizing fragmentation. This means better applications are available, if you want them. If you don’t, that’s fine too.
And Apple just announced that they’ll be doing MIDI over Bluetooth. I guess it’s time to really buckle down on the Windows drudgery.
Some days you’re the windshield. Some days you’re the bug.
As with any OS release, big or small, if you update your main production machine the moment its released you’re nuts. You wait a bit. Or update a different machine that is not critical to your livelihood. I thought everyone knew that by now.
People need to complain about something…leads to selective memory.
Totally, but absolutely no reason not to get an external hard drive, clone your internal hard drive using Super Duper and then upgrade that version and play around all you like with the new OS until you are completely happy the upgrade has gone ok and all your stuff still works.
Then simply clone the external drive onto your main machine – easy, fool proof (well almost – I should add that you should take a second backup of your internal drive before making the swap) and I’ve done this several times without any loss whatsoever and complete peace of mind that everything is ok. Your production machine stays 100% functional though out the process and you can spend little bits of spare time here and there for as long as you like with the new version.
I’ve done this once using Thunderbolt which is extraordinary, ~250Gb setup copied over in < 9 mins!
Good luck!
Amen. My update to Mavericks involved SuperDuper copying onto a new (bigger) disk, and then a physical swap of the old and new hard disks. I’ve now got much more disk space, and if something does go horrifically wrong, I swap the old drive back in, no damage done.
And yes, I also use Time Machine. Disk space is cheap enough that there’s no reason not to have a safety net (or two).
don’t see why this is a new os and not simply an update. Hardly anything grounbreaking ( not always a bad thing) .
It would be so cool if iCloud drive was compatible with android. 🙂
What would that do for musicians?
Hopefully they’ve fixed the crackly audio issue.
Also, if we’re going on rants why in 2014 can’t we be given a computer and interface solution with ZERO latency!?
because physics.
So physics allows computers to map the universe but my home studio has to have discernible latency?
yes.
The universe isn’t mapped with very discernible latency.
“IS mapped”
I don’t think the universe is all mapped by our computers but any way…
latency is due to how digital works, if you want a linear phase eq to work it’s magic you got no choice other than create a buffer to allow your plugin to look back in time to process the current sample, that means before the first sample comes out you’ll have to wait. Same for super fast compressors they need to know what is going to happen before it does, you need a delay so they can pretend they see things in the future.
And some effects like flanger that are based on delay, it needs buffers to be filled in so they can add a signal with variable delay time to the one coming in.
Your best bet for cutting down that latency time is limitations and comitting to your choices bouncing tracks with effects, this I guess you figured out.
If you do it all in midi in your machine then good luck for your infinite quest to power.
I’m waiting till OSX Stone Mountain to up grade eff dat
Just curious, seeing as I haven’t upgraded to Mavericks yet… running an mbox2 I should sit tight for a bit? 🙂 If I had time machine and an extra hd I’d go the backup route, but that’s not an avail option. thx
You mean you don’t back up your machine?
I’m running an MBox2 Mini on Mavericks without any issues.
Ahem… slightly off topic but what I really want to know is when Apple are going to bring back the excellent separate analogue/optical audio ins and outs available on older machines and now only on the Mac Mini … dropping to one headphone port was one of the worst decisions ever by Apple imo!
As a professional user who runs a studio with several Apple machines, I find Apple’s ongoing preoccupation with forcing OSX towards iOS integration a bit unnerving. All our workstations run on 10.6 and we’ll soon be forced to upgrade because of discontinued support for the platform; shame really, as it struck a great balance between features, usability, resource handling and stability. I would describe that OS design as functional and discreet, in the sense that it rarely forced you to do things you didn’t want to, and mostly left you to get on with what it was you wanted to do: aka the Great Apple User Experience (praise praise). The problem I have with the newer OSX designs (since Lion) is that it feels ever so much like Apple wants to decide what kind of user you are, and not vice versa like it used to be (or at least that’s how I feel as a long time user, since Mac OS9). For some time now I’ve felt like they’re constantly and rather clumsily trying to redefine that consumer experience in-house to suit a commercial vision – which incidentally has been near sighted at best since Jobs’ departure – rather than to satisfy actual user needs and demands.
I can understand not wanting to upgrade from a stable platform when it’s doing everything you want it to do, but saying that newer versions of their OS are less functional, discreet or reliable as 10.6 is a little off-base IMO. While I agree that Apple has implemented some features in newer versions of their OS that make the experience more aligned with iOS, most if not all of these features can either not be used or turned off quite easily. Especially if you live in a DAW all day, there is almost no difference in usability when it comes to the end user experience.
I like the look of the new OS… but at what point do all these new features stop helping the user and become bloatware?
I understand the demand for all of the features from 10.6 onwards… And I also understand that the average user isn’t dedicating his machine solely to music. But studio musicians and video guys want stabililty, power, connectivity, timing, organization… and as little background processes as possible.
It just seems like apple has moved away from the “creative pro” market in an attempt to gain market share. In both their hardware, OS, and Pro apps, they have been distancing themselves from those who praised them the most when apple was still in Microsoft’s shadow…
The new Mac Pro is retarded BTW.
Right. Logic Pro X with massive update a couple weeks ago. The Mac Pro. Final Cut having more and more pro features added and being re-written from the ground up. A mobile OS that had core audio built in (something android still can’t match). They really abandoned the “pros,” didn’t they?
Considering most of their sales are from iOS, I’m impressed by (and happy about) the attention they still give to Pros. They give Mac a lot of attention for something that represents so much less in sales.
The Mac pro is far from retarded…..I would love to have one.
The Mac Pro has numerous issues that make pro studio use difficult. Your average producer will not experience these problems, but guys who do this on a larger scale will. PCIe support now requires (expensive) additional hardware. This adds cost to the ridiculously expensive investments studios have already made. For a good unit, it’s in the thousands. The shape creates other problems to big studios who have invested thousands of dollars in enclosures, computer isolation, and studio furniture. Plus, PCI and PCIe are the standard for 99% of pro studio hardware.
As for pro support waning… I agree that the new updates to Logic were welcomed by many… But how many Pro studios are actually using Logic? Sequioia, Sonic Solutions, Samplitude, Pro Tools, Nuendo, Pyramix, etc… but almost never Logic.
And yes…Apple’s love for the pro studio guy has lessened. I don’t blame them, as we are a really small niche market. Still, the new Mac Pro is something MANY studios I know (including mine) have passed on for various reasons.
And the “pro studio” is something many musicians have passed over for various reasons…gotta love these studio guys who are all snobby like a new mac pro isn’t “pro enough” for them but then they cry you a sob story about studios closing and going out of business in the next breath…
I don’t think I was being a snob. Big studios still play an important part in music creation. More resources, more sets of ears, better educated and trained individuals, constantly working and therefore more experienced, with access to more fellow musicians and their ideas… Yes, the niche has gotten even smaller nowadays… but my statement re: the Mac Pro being passed over by us “studio guys” is also true.
You may not value what it is that large studios offer, but please don’t speak for them, devalue someone’s way of making an honest living, etc.
Yes studios are closing left and right. That has less to do how “pro” a studio is, and (in my experience) has much more to do with musicians believing they can do everything themselves with the same quality. A few can, but most would benefit from hiring a pro studio (with better equipment, isolation, acoustics, etc.) with pro enginners (with degrees in their field.)
Nerds.
You’re on a site called Synthtopia
Guilty as charged.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’m still on 10.8 and everything is working wonderfully. Thanks
My only real disappointment was Apple not going with “OSX 10.10 Weed.” That would have been awesome.
Cali themed names are a recipe for lolz.
OS 11 – Implants
OS 12 – Wildfire
OS 13 – Burrito
OS 14 – Homeless
OS 15 – Smog,etc..
I know people still making great music on a G4 running OS9. Think of your production system as you would an analog tape machine. If you love your Studer you have to maintain it, as close to its original state as you can. (Granted a huge PITA!) But you do it because you love it. If you love your DAW, and all of its plugs you deem necessary, just make sure you keep it up to snuff. Pick up spare parts on eBay, safely store all of your software, don’t mess with the OS, etc. Everyday, thats EVERY day, there is a raft of new tools released. Its sick! You could change your entire recording environment every month. However.. Nobody who listens to your music gives a rats ass what equipment you used. Except other gear-geeks like us. 🙂 Personally, I have a dedicated system for music production. I just upgraded for the first time in 5 years. I made sure everything was working, piece at a time, before I pulled the trigger. It took a couple of weeks. I am extremely happy with my decision. This system works so well that I will not “need” to do much for a very long time.
I am very interested how Yosemity gonna work with my Xone DB4.
The A&H mixer has taken a long time to work under Mavericks. Lots of driver issues..
The downside to sticking with an old operating system, is that you will marginalize yourself technologically.
Music software is a niche, and the group of musicians that stick with older operating systems is a niche within a niche that is time-consuming and expensive for developers to support.
More absolutely bush league work from Johnny ‘Ive been busy throwing Apple’s legacy under the bus’…heartbreaking. Question for the peanut gallery: what’s your favorite DAW for the PC? 20+ year Mac user here, cannot believe I’m even saying this but ready to jump ship from the post-Jobs Apple world in the wake of this nauseating, tacky ‘Mac OS 1987’ flat crap, with all its social network integration and iOS emulation…isn’t this what we said wasn’t enough years ago?? At least offer users an OSX ‘Pro’, without all this BS…
Wow. Good luck. Windows will be copying all of this in a few years anyway so enjoy it while you can.
You might like the live tiles too since you don’t like tacky design. Have fun with those fonts too.
Yeah you can get social media update squares on your desk top on windows 8. Good riddance!
2006 – “Redmond, Start Your Photocopiers”
2014 – OSX now looks like Windows more than ever (especially the bottom task bar)
You talk about jumping ship because of Apple OS BS… But have you seen the utter BS that is Windows 8? Get serious man!
All it means to me is Apple makes another one of my macs obsolete.
Your computer is obsolete when it no longer does what you need it to do.
That doesn’t really happen because of what Apple or a vendor does, it happens when you decide that new features are valuable enough to you that you want to pay for upgrades.
I’ve got an iPad 1 that can’t run recent iOS versions, but it does everything I bought it for and a lot more.
There are plenty of people making music with Commodore 64’s, Atari’s and old Mac OS’s. New systems didn’t make their gear any less useful than it ever was – it just gives you new options.
1.
no longer produced or used; out of date.
“the disposal of old and obsolete machinery”
synonyms: outdated, out of date, outmoded, old-fashioned, démodé, passé, out of fashion; More
antonyms: cutting-edge, the latest, modern
I’m no Windows lover if that’s what you think. As a matter of fact I own almost every apple product there is. Seven Macs, four iPads, and a drawer full of iPhones and iPods. Not to mention ALL of their software. I think that earns me the right to bitch about it.
My clients and associates use Final Cut X and In order to collaborate on projects we keep up to date. Last years update requires Mavericks which is not supported on my perfectly fine 2006 Mac Pro. You need to know that it will run on the machine with no problem, but Apple does not allow it. There was a “hack” that enabled Mavericks to run, but an update broke it and I don’t have days to spend hacking computers.
Also in one day with the release of mavericks the value of that machine dropped by mare than 50%. You can hardly give the things away.
This release will do the same for my mint condition 2007 MacBook Pro. Sure it will continue to run certain things as always any idiot can understand that.
Want to use iCloud documents on all your devices? Can’t do that unless all of them run the current OS.
Apple will soon receive (another) several thousand of my dollars for a new machine. And I still have my Atari Falcon
Your computer is obsolete when its unable to get any new software or updates.
But obsolete does not means it becomes useless, as you mentioned with the C64 (which I still use), it is an obsolete machine, but its a fun obsolete machine.
Althought I’m not sure I like it when my 2000$ computers become obsolete overnight just because the company who made it put code in the new OS to make sure it does not run on it.
I wonder about our propensity for suddenly crapping a piston over such tech changes. I’ve been guilty of it myself a few times, but I learned the #1 rule after owning several Macs: you have to buy as close to the point of change as you can and then commit your tools to that platform. Its time-sensitive, but you can mount the crest of a new wave within a year or so and still do fine for several years to follow. Note the satisfied 10.6 users. I stopped piling up demo versions and trimmed my number of actual synths way down, focusing on the sampler and a precious few distinctly different instruments. I now get to play more and fret less. I know its tempting to grab at every new shiny thing, but it’ll weigh down both your thinking and your musical progress. When I shift to Logic X, I’ll have to update three 3rd-party synths and transfer my ESX files over. That’s it. There’s nothing like HD cloning and 6 or 7 backups to keep you feeling fresh. 😛 I encourage you to take on at least one big sampler like MOTU’s MachFive. It greatly streamlines or even solves several issues I see mentioned quite a bit. I know a change *can* lead to a row of falling dominoes, but if you plan carefully enough, its procedural, not world-ruining.
Im in no rush what so ever to upgrade to Yosemite, I havent even updated to Mavericks yet. Ive witnessed first hand issues friends of mine had with apps not working after upgrading to Maverick, and some developers are like, “oh well, switch to using the windows version.” Like the saying goes, ” fools rush in”.