Computer Audio Design OSX Audio Optimization Script

[ckpiv]

Well after a shutdown and restart, "Agents" works fine. Whatever it is, it's killing at least DHCP, and manually adding the address etc. into OSX network setup doesn't work either. I tried to comment out line 250-252 in Text Wrangler, thats the only thing I could find that looked like it had anything to do with Networking, no luck.

Even with that problem, my music sounds much better. I had used another guide before that gave me a nice jump in SQ, but your script does much more to improve the SQ. Just wish I could get the "Daemons" working, to get that last little bite of SQ. Thanks again for all your hard work. Help me if you have time, but it's no big deal.

 

Pocobear,

 

I was having trouble as well with the script disabling internet access and the iphone/ipad remote. What I found to work is commenting out (#) the following line in the list of launch daemons:

 

# sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.alf.agent.plist 2>/dev/null

 

Running the script I answer:

Yes to turning of wifi

Yes to disable system Launch Daemons

Yes to disable system Launch Agents

 

This has brought back internet access and remote.

[Pocobear]

Thank you ckpiv, that tip gave me networking back. One last problem, I can't register but one IOS device at a time. I like to have two iPads that are able to control iTunes from two different areas of the room, so I don't have to carry one iPad all over the room. Any idea where to look to see where iTunes stores multiple registration numbers, and enable it again? Some PLIST I guess.

 

Thanks again.

[ckpiv]

Thank you ckpiv, that tip gave me networking back. One last problem, I can't register but one IOS device at a time. I like to have two iPads that are able to control iTunes from two different areas of the room, so I don't have to carry one iPad all over the room. Any idea where to look to see where iTunes stores multiple registration numbers, and enable it again? Some PLIST I guess.

 

Thanks again.

 

I am able to access from my iphone remote and/or my ipad remote. Have you paired both ipads with iTunes and entered the unique passcode for each IOS device into iTunes?

[Pocobear]

I am able to access from my iphone remote and/or my ipad remote. Have you paired both ipads with iTunes and entered the unique passcode for each IOS device into iTunes?

ckpiv,

Yes they are registered with the code. OK, I started over with a fresh copy of the script, and commented out that line, and the first time I tried with both iPads it worked, so I tried to add my iPhone5, lost iPad3, cleared iPhone5 and tried again, back to only one working, the others have lost their registration. Now, if I re-register one of them, I lose the other one. It's erratic at best. Without the script "Daemons" and "Agents" set, all iDevice work as expected, can control iTunes for anyone of them. Crazy! iTunes must save these registrations somewhere in one of these PLIST or something, otherwise they would disappear after each re-boot and everything would have to be re-registered again. Frustrated!

Thanks for the help it's appreciated very much.

[wdw]

Pocobear,

 

I was having trouble as well with the script disabling internet access and the iphone/ipad remote. What I found to work is commenting out (#) the following line in the list of launch daemons:

 

# sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.alf.agent.plist 2>/dev/null

 

Running the script I answer:

Yes to turning of wifi

Yes to disable system Launch Daemons

Yes to disable system Launch Agents

 

This has brought back internet access and remote.

 

Ckpiv,

many thanks...worked like a charm. 88 processes running and logged in immediately.

Wdw

[CAD Support]

Hi Damian,

Given many of us are running headless mini's, will you eventually have a version with an option to maintain screen sharing? I'm likely doing something wrong in terminal, but even when I tried to modify the script in version 1.2.1 it didn't resolve my screen share issue. Losing screen sharing becomes a major issue for me to recover from since I don't have a spare monitor to attach when I need to run the reset script.

 

I'm holding off on trying 1.2.2 until I know screen sharing can be maintained without my trying to modify the script again.

 

Thanks

 

 

Hi Bob63,

 

Did you try commenting out the two lines that seem to have helped others having trouble with screen sharing?

 

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.RemoteDesktop.PrivilegeProxy.plist 2>/dev/null

 

 

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.alf.agent.plist 2>/dev/null

 

You could also try commenting out:

 

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.alf.useragent.plist 2>/dev/null

 

com.apple.alf.agent.plist and com.apple.alf.useragent.plist are both related to the system firewall. Do you have the firewall switched on? Try turning it off and see if that helps.

 

Damian

[CAD Support]

I shouldn't go so long without running Linux or FreeBSD, I forget my command line syntax.

 

Yes, with quotes around "ResetOSX v1.2.2.command" since there's a space in the filename (you should consider renaming the script ResetOSXv1.2.2.command to eliminate the space and the consequent need for user renaming or quotes), the reset script runs.

 

So what needs to be eliminated or commented out in the optimization script?

 

P.S. If you guys wanted to be extra specially nice, you could tell me if there's a way to get the optimization script to skip my "RAMdisk.app" script when eliminating items that run at login. My wife uses the laptop also, so I'm always re-running the reset and optimization scripts.

 

Hi Jud,

 

Can you tell me in which folder your Ram Disk startup script resides, and it's exact name please?

 

It should be in one of the following:

 

/Library/LaunchDaemons/

/System/Library/StartupItems/

/Library/StartupItems/

~/Library/LaunchAgents/

 

Thanks,

Damian

[wdw]

Hi Jud,

 

Can you tell me in which folder your Ram Disk startup script resides, and it's exact name please?

 

It should be in one of the following:

 

/Library/LaunchDaemons/

/System/Library/StartupItems/

/Library/StartupItems/

~/Library/LaunchAgents/

 

Thanks,

Damian

 

Hello Damian,

 

Many thanks for your work on this. After using ckpiv's advice (below) I could successfully launch your script. Can you advise which line should be commented out to allow the use of Carbon Copy Cloner or a similar back-up programs? The program hangs as though building a directory list at each run and I wonder if this is due to the 'kill" of spotlight.

 

Regards,

Warren

[Jud]

Hi Jud,

 

Can you tell me in which folder your Ram Disk startup script resides, and it's exact name please?

 

It should be in one of the following:

 

/Library/LaunchDaemons/

/System/Library/StartupItems/

/Library/StartupItems/

~/Library/LaunchAgents/

 

Thanks,

Damian

 

Hi Damian. The path is /Applications/RAMDisk.app

 

I've added RAMDisk.app to the items that run at login by going into the System Preferences for Users and Groups, and adding it as a login item for myself as Admin. But the app itself isn't in any of the directories you mentioned; nor is there a name containing "RAMDisk" or "RAMDisk.app" amongst the plist files that are in those directories. I've also opened a couple of the plist files with names containing "login" in the various LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons folders, but nothing in any of those I've opened so far contains the name "RAMDisk.app".

 

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, though perhaps my description of how I added the app to the login items will help you or someone else familiar with OS X figure out where to look.

 

Just wanted to add that I appreciate tremendously your time, hard work, and willingness to help all of us here.

[CAD Support]

Hi Damian. The path is /Applications/RAMDisk.app

 

I've added RAMDisk.app to the items that run at login by going into the System Preferences for Users and Groups, and adding it as a login item for myself as Admin. But the app itself isn't in any of the directories you mentioned; nor is there a name containing "RAMDisk" or "RAMDisk.app" amongst the plist files that are in those directories. I've also opened a couple of the plist files with names containing "login" in the various LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons folders, but nothing in any of those I've opened so far contains the name "RAMDisk.app".

 

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, though perhaps my description of how I added the app to the login items will help you or someone else familiar with OS X figure out where to look.

 

Just wanted to add that I appreciate tremendously your time, hard work, and willingness to help all of us here.

 

Hi Jud,

 

No problem! Glad the script is proving useful for the folks here. We are also very grateful for all the testing that you guys have been doing with it and the feedback.

 

Try commenting out the following line:

 

mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist.$SUFFIX 2>/dev/null

 

You shouldn't need to, but you may want to comment out the following in your reset script as well:

 

 

if [ -f "~/Library/LaunchAgents.$SUFFIX" ]; then

mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist.$SUFFIX ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist 2>/dev/null

fi

 

That plist is where the login items that you set in System Preferences are stored and should hold the link to your RAM Disk app. Obviously any other login items that you've set will also not be removed so you'll need to turn them off manually in System Prefs.

 

Hope that solves it for you.

 

Damian

[CAD Support]

Hello Damian,

 

Many thanks for your work on this. After using ckpiv's advice (below) I could successfully launch your script. Can you advise which line should be commented out to allow the use of Carbon Copy Cloner or a similar back-up programs? The program hangs as though building a directory list at each run and I wonder if this is due to the 'kill" of spotlight.

 

Regards,

Warren

 

Hi Warren,

 

I'm afraid I haven't tested Carbon Copy Cloner with the script as our goal here is to have as little running as possible in order to improve the audio. Can I suggest that until we have a chance to have a look at CCC you just run the reset script before you do your backup and then re-run the optimise script?

 

Thanks,

Damian

[Computer Audio Design]

Brilliant that many are able to keep at least screensharing and Screens going with the full CAD script.

 

Being clueless, I've had no such luck (even using Vinod's trick). (As posted earlier - I can get Rowmote if leaving all launched daemons alone). I may go back to that, as I'm not sure if disabling them helps the sound)

 

But I'm very much enjoying the sound :-)

 

Ideally, I'd like the script to allow -

- Splashtop

- Rowmote Pro

- future Audirvana Plus iOS app

- installation of apps from dmg files

(there is one app I need in particular - SSD Fan Control - broke sensors, so need to use such app to keep fan from going at full speed)

 

Due to my own incompetence, I may be in the minority of folk who can't get such things going with the CAD script. Any advice is appreciated :-)

 

Hi Odely,

 

I think trying to support 3rd party apps is not going to be possible for us at this point. The theory behind writing audio optimization scripts for both Windows and OSX is that the fewer processes that are running that are not needed for audio the better the sound quality. It is hard enough for us to get this figured out - so at this point of the project we do not have the resources to support 3rd party apps.

 

Now this does not stop others from giving it a go. : )

 

Scott

[BobP63]

Still hoping for a version that allows screen sharing "without modifying" the script. Modifying 1.2.1 didn't work for me, haven't tried modifying 1.2.2 but I did confirm 1.2.2 disabled screen sharing on my mini.

 

Maybe if there are confirmed script modifications that re-enable screen sharing they could be made into another Yes/No option, i.e. Allow Screen Sharing.

[Computer Audio Design]

Still hoping for a version that allows screen sharing "without modifying" the script. Modifying 1.2.1 didn't work for me, haven't tried modifying 1.2.2 but I did confirm 1.2.2 disabled screen sharing on my mini.

 

Maybe if there are confirmed script modifications that re-enable screen sharing they could be made into another Yes/No option, i.e. Allow Screen Sharing.

 

Hi Bob63,

 

That is exactly what I want also. We are working on it. I personally do not use screen sharing - I just use iTunes Remote.

 

Scott

[CAD Support]

Still hoping for a version that allows screen sharing "without modifying" the script. Modifying 1.2.1 didn't work for me, haven't tried modifying 1.2.2 but I did confirm 1.2.2 disabled screen sharing on my mini.

 

Maybe if there are confirmed script modifications that re-enable screen sharing they could be made into another Yes/No option, i.e. Allow Screen Sharing.

 

Hi BobP63,

 

Did you have a chance to try those extra comments in my post #281 on v1.2.2? I'm interested to see if those lines have any effect on your screen sharing problem, and if you happen to have your firewall switched on.

 

Thanks,

Damian

[odelay]

Thanks Scott.

Streamlining Mavericks is fantastic - the difference it makes to the sound is clear :-)

 

With Audirvana, I've always used it on its own - as iTunes reduced the sound. So I'm not adverse to limitations of convenience in the quest for better sound. If vnc had the same effect, I'd still like it to be an option I can switch on or off.

 

I've been playing with the script, without much success. Much respect guys - it's tedious work, indeed.

 

I've made two partitions on my little SSD. So I've been able to keep one stable one without the CAD script and another I can experiment on. This way I can make Carbon Copies of the CAD partition from the other.

 

The reset script left the osx rather battered and bruised (eg. wouldn't install apps or run scripts ). So today, I did a clean install to start afresh. I run the script saying 'no' to daemons and agents - then, run the lines in terminal manually in batches - so I can leave out the suspect ones. But as I say, I'm yet to get a stable OSX with the CAD script.

 

I would be thrilled to be able to tailor the script more painlessly. I wish each daemon and agent could just be toggled on and off like a light bulb. Wouldn't that be neat? :-)

 

Meanwhile, I eagerly await your next installment :-)

[Superdad]

I use the current script without commenting much out--and I have no trouble at with screen sharing. I wish I had a suggestion for those who do.

[wdw]

Hi Warren,

 

I'm afraid I haven't tested Carbon Copy Cloner with the script as our goal here is to have as little running as possible in order to improve the audio. Can I suggest that until we have a chance to have a look at CCC you just run the reset script before you do your backup and then re-run the optimise script?

 

Thanks,

Damian

 

To all Carbon Copy Cloner users who may have problems running this utility when using this script. I contacted the vendor and received a reply and solution within hours. Absolutely great customer service. Recommended to all.

His reply me and the lines to add back in:

From: Mike Bombich (Bombich Software support staff)

Subject: paired down Maverick and CCC not running

 

I see errors like these several times:

 

Archive Management Tool: The task output and standard error pipes have been

closed for several seconds and the task finished distributed notification

still has not arrived. Time to bail on this task...

 

Looks like distributed notifications aren't working. Try reloading the

distnoted daemon and agent, e.g.:

 

sudo launchctl load -w

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.distnoted.xpc.daemon.plist

launchctl load -w

/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.distnoted.xpc.agent.plist

 

Mike

 

 

View this discussion at our support site online:

paired down Maverick and CCC not running / Questions / Discussion Area - Bombich Software Support

[Superdad]

Warren, thanks a lot for getting that info for us from the nice folks at Bombich! I will try those reloads the next time I go to B/U my boot SD card.

 

I used to be a big fan of SuperDupper (similar and in some ways more intuitive and clearer than CCC), and while I still use it on other machines in the house, it won't work at all if one has Spotlight fully disabled. So I bought a license to CCC a couple of months ago and was very happy until the heavy slimming with the CAD scripts made it hang on the same EFI boot file near the end of cloning. (Now I just remove the the SD card and run the b/u of it at my desktop machine.) Hopefully your solution will take care of this.

 

Best,

ALEX

[wdw]

Warren, thanks a lot for getting that info for us from the nice folks at Bombich! I will try those reloads the next time I go to B/U my boot SD card.

 

I used to be a big fan of SuperDupper (similar and in some ways more intuitive and clearer than CCC), and while I still use it on other machines in the house, it won't work at all if one has Spotlight fully disabled. So I bought a license to CCC a couple of months ago and was very happy until the heavy slimming with the CAD scripts made it hang on the same EFI boot file near the end of cloning. (Now I just remove the the SD card and run the b/u of it at my desktop machine.) Hopefully your solution will take care of this.

 

Best,

ALEX

Adding these lines back in and CCC ran as it should.

[Shikasta]

A HUGE thank you to Damian and all here who have helped with their suggested tweaks to the latest 1.2.2 scripts.

 

After running the 1.2.1 reset script I repaired all disk permissions on my bootable SD card.

 

Then, only after making the suggested changes to the new Optimize script, then taking a deep breath, I ran it. I chose not to back up my system this time as it is on the SD card, and can be removed if the Optimize script hadn't worked, allowing me to boot from my clean internal SSD.

 

I was VERY pleasantly surprised that I had no problems when I went through my routine to load music from my NAS onto the RAMdisk then copying into Amarra's Playlist. The sound seems fuller/richer, more engaging. Jennifer Warnes' album The Well sounds divine!

 

Checked Activity Monitor and within a minute it stabilised at 76 processes, 20 less than my previous, very conservatively edited, 1.2.1 script.

 

One very happy chappy here.

 

Graeme

[Jud]

Hi Jud,

 

No problem! Glad the script is proving useful for the folks here. We are also very grateful for all the testing that you guys have been doing with it and the feedback.

 

Try commenting out the following line:

 

mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist.$SUFFIX 2>/dev/null

 

You shouldn't need to, but you may want to comment out the following in your reset script as well:

 

 

if [ -f "~/Library/LaunchAgents.$SUFFIX" ]; then

mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist.$SUFFIX ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist 2>/dev/null

fi

 

That plist is where the login items that you set in System Preferences are stored and should hold the link to your RAM Disk app. Obviously any other login items that you've set will also not be removed so you'll need to turn them off manually in System Prefs.

 

Hope that solves it for you.

 

Damian

 

Works - thanks!

 

Now my only remaining issue is that I can't just double-click the Reset script, I have to run it from Terminal.

[wdw]

Many thanks to CAD Support for your efforts

 

After finally overcoming my particular problems, successfully running the script with Screen Sharing and the occasional use of CCC, I haven't had any opportunity to listen to my system until this very minute. So much room for auto suggestion and expectation bias but I'll jump in unreservedly and say it sounds great. That ever-present digital noise floor is lowered yet again.

 

Many thanks.

 

Now, what was that other thing to do?

 

...Boot from an SD or create a Ramdrive with A+ run on SD? Can't remember.

 

...oh, well, further down that rabbit hole I go...

[ralphoi]

Im on Mavericks with a 2013 MacMini. Just installed the v1.2.2 version but answered no to disabling startup deamons. Screen share works fine, so Im going to step through the startup deamon lines one by one. Slow and steady

[odelay]

Splashtop and Rowmote are working now :-)

 

I seem to have had luck on the second clean install. I am baffled.

 

There is still something going awry with the launch agents. Un mounting them means I can't open dmg and other installer files. ... I have been absorbed in the tennis - but will be happy to play around with it soon :-)

 

"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field" -Niels Henrik David Bohr

 

I've taken comfort from that idea. Not to take anything away from your talents, but it seems rather apt in the computer world. We are all grateful for your expertise :-)