Announced in June 2019 at WWDC, the long-awaited macOS 10.15 Catalina is the 16th major release for Apple’s operating system. Tons of new features besides the usual improvements have been added covering everything from iPad compatibility to security & entertainment.
However one of the biggest issues is the removal of support for 32-bit based applications – historically a huge part of the macOS software portfolio. A lot of these apps are still in active development and have been updated to 64-bit, but others have either moved on or died. That has left countless people high and dry with no affordable alternatives.
MacOS 10.15 Compatibility with Live
Music Producers be aware. Your DAW is running all sorts of libraries and plug-ins and so on. New security updates in the Apple OS hinder a few of the essential DAW processes, while they look for Malware.
Is MacOS 10.15 Catalina compatible with Ableton Live 9?
Live 9 contains certain components which are no longer supported on macOS 10.15. The last officially supported version of macOS with Live 9 is macOS 10.13 (High Sierra).
Ableton has clearly stated, that it will not be releasing or relaunching Ableton Live 9 thus strongly advising users not to update their operating system to macOS 10.15 if they wish to continue using Live 9. Ableton recommends to dual-boot your Mac, so you can run two different versions of the macOS.
Is mac macOS 10.15 Catalina compatible with Ableton Live 10?
Live version 10.1.2 is fully compatible with Catalina. Live 10.1.1 and all earlier versions of Live 10 are not compatible with Catalina. However, it is very possible that some third-party VST-s, plug-ins, hardware drivers and other software programs are not yet supported on Catalina.
In case you have already updated your operating system, roll-back to your previous operating system to keep using Live 9.
In case you want to dual boot your Apple computer with Mac OS and Windows
Native Instruments had published a statement saying that simply none of their products are compatible. PreSonus published a technical note explaining that you’ll need to update not only their Studio One DAW; But also to most (or all) of their plug-ins. Steinberg in a statement to Computer Digital Magazine said that currently, they are experiencing issues with the USB-eLicenser under 64-bit operating systems.
Conclusion
Currently, we would strongly suggest you not to upgrade to the macOS 10.15 Catalina. Wait for more clarity from developers before upgrading their software to the requirements of OS 10.15.
