VDMX MacOS X 14 Sonoma Update Guide (Updated 9.19.24)

We currently recommend updating to OSX Sonoma, especially if you are on an Apple Silicon machine and plan to use VDMX6 or VDMX6 Plus

If you plan on installing the latest version.

  • Don’t update if you’re in the middle of a big project that might get disrupted.
  • If possible make a total bootable backup of your system (I like https://bombich.com/ 13), and / or;
  • If possible do the install on a secondary partition so you can switch back if needed.
  • Make a TimeMachine backup of your current drive.
  • Make a previous OSX installation thumb drive (so you can reinstall and roll back to a previous version if need be).

If you already upgraded.

  • Send us bug reports if things go wrong!
  • Post here on the forums if something seems strange
  • Use CMD+Shit+5 and screen capture a video of what issues you see.
  • Use the latest build of VDMX

Download the latest versions:

https://vidvox.net/download/vdmx6

https://vidvox.net/download/vdmx6plus

https://vidvox.net/download/vdmx5

Please submit any bug reports through the built in bug reporter via the help menu when VDMX is open.

If you are currently on Mac OSX 14 Sonoma, please share your experiences here.

Based on some recent feedback, it appears that the Quartz Composer and CoreImage FX can lead to crashes in Sonoma on certain systems. It’s worth mentioning that Quartz Composer is deprecated by Apple, so some future updates may address these issues, but generally speaking more users should transition away from using Quartz Composer FX all together. In anticipation of this, VDMX has an option to completely disable CI & QC content in the VDMX preferences.

If you are on an Intel Mac, or running older versions of OSX, you should be able to continue running VDMX as is, but please be aware of the potential issues of CI and QC FX going forward.

If you’re on Sonoma and like it – let us know your thoughts below.

Thanks!
-The VIDVOX Team

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Related, a minor Sonoma info point: I assume many of us are highly dependent on Recording Indicator Utility to disable/remove that orange dot on external projections:

https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/RecordingIndicatorUtility

I’m still on older 12.x and 13.x where the tool officially works, and will stay there as long as I can, but I’m relieved to learn that according to this post on the Logic Pro Help forums, the tool seemingly works fine on Sonoma 14.0. So hopefully its also gonna work for the future.

(Note I haven’t tested this myself, just relaying info)

2 Likes

@GMM, so the Recording Indicator Utility works for your? I thought it didn’t work properly after a few security updates?

It works for me and it’s a god send. How on earth do you guys avoid the dot without it?

I have two systems (Macbook Pro M1 still on 12.6.1 and Mac Mini M1 on 12.6…x? the latest 12.6.x, I don’t have the system with me right now) and they both work fine, orange dot gone, no problem installing it.

I had some problems with the tool and security updates yes, but the problems where reversible (I could reverse the system to previous state). I communicated with the app developer, I wasn’t the only one, and they solved it in the latest update.

I have a 13.x systems also but that is doing audio services so far, haven’t gotten around to install the tool on that system yet, I might have to do it next year for a tour. According to reports from others it works fine on 13.x (and now, 14.x) but haven’t personally installed it yet.

Since updating to Sonoma, I am experiencing program crash whenever I scroll an FX chain that contains Quartz FX.

I submitted a bug report via Help menu bug reporter, however I have since learned that the crash does not occur if I remove all Quartz FX.

1 Like

I removed all QC FX and also disabled in VDMX rendering settings, however I am still unfortunately experiencing program crashing when I scroll various UI panels.

Could you submit another bug report now that you’ve disabled CI and QC FX

Submitted another report.

Thanks for your support.

With the recommendation to disable CI and QC FX will we get replacement classics like Crop and Gaussian blur in GLSL (.fs) format?

Sure, here’s a new crop ISF filter.

Crop v1 (P.O.).fs.zip (737 Bytes)

I’ll try to make a V1 Gaussian blur version soon. Please test @2bitpunk

4 Likes

Here’s and updated ISF Crop with four edge independent feathering.

Crop V4 (P.O.).fs.zip (965 Bytes)

4 Likes

Perfect, no issues with Crop v1 (P.O.) but with Crop v4 (P.O.) the crop sliders operate differently from v1 which could be confusing to users. It would be better if both versions used the default value of 0 for Top, Right, Bottom, Left. Also I’m not sure if VIDVOX has a coding convention for addressing sides, following the CSS Top, Right, Bottom, Left clockwise order would be logical. Thanks for making the FX.

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Hello everyone!
please help me with my problem.
After turning on VDMX, it unexpectedly shuts down after a few minutes. The project is a test, and I have only one media bin and one layer with three FX: glitch shifter, some feedback, and that’s all. Please help, as I have a performance in December, and I need to resolve this. Thank you."

Hi all, some Sonoma experience: I got a new Macbook Pro M3 just now, and that came with Sonoma so I’m forced up, its currently running macOS 14.1.1.

I haven’t had the time to stresstest VDMX extensively, but just from first impressions, seemingly it opens and runs my projects fine. I haven’t done any development or production work, just opening a bunch of various projects with different routings, layers, effects, all seems to open fine. I won’t be working with this system and VDMX production properly until January, might have more to report then.

Only thing puzzling is that VDMX takes almost a minute to start when launching? With seemingly nothing happening for the first 30 seconds, the icon just bouncing. Compared to pretty much every single other heavy media application that opens rapidly in just a few seconds (Vuo, Photoshop, Final Cut, Logic, Ableton etc), this is veeeery peculiar. But I think I’ve reported this before.

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Any timeline from the VDMX team on when will the next roll of updates arrive for the bug crashes?

Which version of VDMX are you running?

Before trying again, remember to delete VDMX and reinstall from the latest DMG. When upgrading a Mac, it doesn’t always allow VDMX the correct permissions to run properly. A reinstall and update of the permissions should help with this.

Make sure to install VDMX b8.8.0.9 if you are on Sonoma with an Apple Silicone Mac.

That being said, In the past month, we’ve seen two users who kept seeing crashes on b8.8.0.9 with Intel machines running MacOSX 14. They also had 8 or 16GB of memory, and were running out of it fast.

I’m not sure how memory efficient OSX 14 is, but I would imagine it is even less forgiving for Intel machines.

I’m running on version b8.8.0.9, Apple Silicone MBP M1Pro 16GB. Unfortunately I’m still facing crashes after reinstalling VMDX

I’d follow up with a bug report and email to support @ vidvox.

See if you can get more information.

1 Like