Computer Audio Design OSX Audio Optimization Script

[odelay]

Carsten - I seem to have the same connection issue.

 

After having a pretty stable system for some weeks, I woke to find my CAD system wouldn't connect to the internet. I have no idea what caused it. I haven't installed anything new on that system.

 

After messing around a little, I've reverted to a back-up.

I'm sure everyone using the script has good back-ups.. if not, this might be a good reminder...

[carsten s chr]

Hi Carsten,

 

Sorry to hear you are having problems. We have run the script and reset script many times and have not run into the issues you are having. There have been a couple differnet versions of the script and the reset script - as chpiv says, is there a chance that you possibly used the incorrect version of the reset script? You mentioned you have been using it for 2 months, did you run the script 2 months ago and then recently download a newer version of the reset script?

 

Scott

Hi !......

 

I'm 100% sure, that the used Reset Script is the correct version !

 

But ok - I should have updated my backup, before playing arround with scripts - I know !

 

Last evening I reinstalled the OS - in a couple of dayes I'll be back on track - and yes, it's running quite smooth !

 

Best wishes !..... :-)

[RichB]

Welcome to CA Rich! I know you have been lurking for a while, but now it's time to start posting and sharing some of your years of experience.

BTW, any CA members on the east coast--finding themselves within 200 miles of Rich's place in Liverpool--should look him up. I've known Rich for at least 15 years, meeting up only at CES where he helps out Merlin Music Systems, and he is one of the nicest, most thoughtful people I have met in this business (and I've met a lot). Sadly, I've never made it to his showroom, but I am sure he is making terrific sound (especially with the latest Merlin speakers).

 

Anyway Rich, I am sure some others here will answer your questions. My mini is now so stripped down that I can't do much of anything but play music with it. I do keep alternate partitions with less severe Mavericks installs (though my favored boot is an SD card), and I always recommend backing up immediately before running any slimming scripts.

 

Have fun!

 

Alex C.

 

Thanks for the very kind words Alex! On the MBP I have separate partitions set-up so I have a dedicated bootable Mavericks partition for music playback use, but have not done that on the listening room Mac mini which does not have a large SSD. Looking forward to give this a try and listen to hear what it can do, then I'll do the OS updates and optimizations to Merlin's set-up that I put together for them.

[alsterfan]

Hi,

trying to follow Alex´s effort to slim down the OS and reduce the number of processes not necessary for listening to music, I have deactivated some services that were still running after the CAD script was activated:

bookstroreagent, distnoted, tccd, aosnotified, pacemaker, applespellservice. Thus, as been shown by the screenshot, the number of processes has gone down to 75.

This of course refers to my iMac being used for listening to music only, using cableless keyboard and mouse, LAN and WLAN (necessary to use audiophile La Rosita plugin for iTunes).

Best wishes,

Uwe

[Superdad]

^Uwe: Very nice work.

Which iMac model are you using? Does it have an SDXC slot? Have you tried cloning your slimmed-down OS to an SD card, booting from it and then ejecting/unmounting the internal drive? It's a great sound. (Check one of the threads I started for details.) Works best if the computer's SD slot is the high-speed SDXC type, as the earlier ones on some Apple laptops were actually on the USB bus. Not sure about the iMacs, but it is easy to check.

 

Best regards,

ALEX

[alsterfan]

^Uwe: Very nice work.

Which iMac model are you using? Does it have an SDXC slot? Have you tried cloning your slimmed-down OS to an SD card, booting from it and then ejecting/unmounting the internal drive? It's a great sound. (Check one of the threads I started for details.) Works best if the computer's SD slot is the high-speed SDXC type, as the earlier ones on some Apple laptops were actually on the USB bus. Not sure about the iMacs, but it is easy to check.

 

Best regards,

ALEX

 

Hi Alex,

Nice to hear from you. I think every step you explained how to improve the sound, I have made myself. I have an iMac 21,5´´late 2012. So I have copied Mavericks (10.9.2) to an SDXC card, installed 2 ram discs, 1 for iTunes (200mb) and one for music (7gb), uninstalled a lot of programs and reduced the services, thus slimming down the OS to 16gb. As to the sound the use of an sd-card und ram discs were two big steps forward. Concerning the effort of slimming down the OS I can only say, it didn´t get worse.

Best wishes,

Uwe

P.S. Touching the services xpcd, pboard, CVComputer and secd smashed my OS, having to reinstall and start it again.

[floschu]

I just registered in this forum in order to say thank you.

Thank you Damian and Scott for the wonderful CAD-script.

Thank you Alex for writing about installing OSX on a SD-card, playing music from a ramdisc and operating a mac mini headless.

Thank you guys for making my music sound like it never sounded before!

 

Best regards,

 

Florian

[Superdad]

I just registered in this forum in order to say thank you.

 

Dear Florian: Welcome to Computer Audiophile! Do stick around both to learn and to contribute your own experiences. It is mostly a very friendly bunch of people who love both music and audio.

Regards,

ALEX

[Computer Audio Design]

I just registered in this forum in order to say thank you.

Thank you Damian and Scott for the wonderful CAD-script.

Thank you Alex for writing about installing OSX on a SD-card, playing music from a ramdisc and operating a mac mini headless.

Thank you guys for making my music sound like it never sounded before!

 

Best regards,

 

Florian

 

Hi Florian, You are very welcome for the script! I am glad you feel it makes a worth while improvement in the sound quality.

 

There are a lot of very talented people on this forum that can help you get your computer audio sound quality to compete with anything out there - at any price! Enjoy!

 

Scott

[jotauve]

Only Spotify, and Amarra Symphony work properly.

Audirvana gets stuck at "Initializing audio device"; and new Fidelia 1.5 doesn´t even open the app.

OSX Mavericks 10.9 and Mac Pro Mid 2010.

[alsterfan]

I presume, most of you, if using a remote control, enjoy an iPad or iPhone to do so. For 2 reasons I have gone a different way. First of all I did not want to spend money on an iPad at this time and secondly, my Netbook (ASUS 1015 PE) has not been used for quite a time. Today it came to my mind, to try TeamViewer (freeware when not used commercially). And I can say, while still using the CAD script iMac and Netbook are working together perfectly.

Best wishes,

Uwe

 

[alsterfan]

And I can say, while still using the CAD script iMac and Netbook are working together perfectly.

Best wishes,

Uwe

i.e. iMac with Mavericks and Netbook with Windows 7.

[AlanF]

Hi guys, I've got a very modest system but I've now got it working really well using a cut down version of the excellent CAD script. I've turned it into an app using a brilliant free program called Platypus.

 

If anybody is interested, I've uploaded it here -

 

alfortune.co.uk/wordpress/CutDownAudioOptOn.zip

 

and here

 

alfortune.co.uk/wordpress/CutDownReset.zip

 

Its a much simpler version which only turns off the basics but I put it together for the worriers like me who couldn't afford to switch almost every function off. I use it with Fidelia with a definite improvement.

AL

[CAD Support]

Carsten - I seem to have the same connection issue.

 

After having a pretty stable system for some weeks, I woke to find my CAD system wouldn't connect to the internet. I have no idea what caused it. I haven't installed anything new on that system.

 

After messing around a little, I've reverted to a back-up.

I'm sure everyone using the script has good back-ups.. if not, this might be a good reminder...

 

 

Hi odelay,

 

Have you since re-run the optimize script? If so has your system been stable since?

 

Thanks,

Damian

[odelay]

Kind of you to ask Damian - indeed my system does seem stable running your script.

 

However, I don't seem able to update the system through the App Store. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

Taking out the script has been a tedious affair - as I seem unable to modify the script successfully. If I had any brains, I'd work it out... but it would be great if someone felt like uploading their version.

 

Or have you already updated the script, Damian?

 

luke

[CAD Support]

Kind of you to ask Damian - indeed my system does seem stable running your script.

 

However, I don't seem able to update the system through the App Store. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

Taking out the script has been a tedious affair - as I seem unable to modify the script successfully. If I had any brains, I'd work it out... but it would be great if someone felt like uploading their version.

 

Or have you already updated the script, Damian?

 

luke

 

 

Hi Luke,

 

Good to hear that things are stable now. Indeed Apple Software Update is an issue with the script that we'll be looking at for the next version. Will let you know when we have an update ready.

 

Thanks,

Damian

[vicento]

disabling spotlight interferate with App Store updating system

[wgscott]

If you remove the -w arguments from all the defaults commands, the changes only will persist until the next reboot, which would permit users to do system maintenance, update software (which requires Spotlight and mds processes), etc.

 

Then, with the very minor inconvenience of having to run the script again at reboot, they can unload all the launchd processes again until the next reboot.

 

Given that most of the users don't know how to edit the file, why not make two versions available, so users at least will be given this option? You could avoid this slew of complaints and bug reports.

[Le Concombre Masqué]

Hi Luke,

 

Good to hear that things are stable now. Indeed Apple Software Update is an issue with the script that we'll be looking at for the next version. Will let you know when we have an update ready.

 

Thanks,

Damian

Hello, I'm very happy with the script on a SD card (thanks) BUT...

 

osx 10.9.2 gets corrupted faster and faster (every time I redo a script optimized SD card) : would not boot though in perfect condition as seen per Disk Utility/Repair option. When I try to run a permission repair there are zillions of input/output errors that don't get repaired but get the system unstable beyond any hope of recovery.

 

Could it be that my SD card is getting physically tired (I go back and forth using it and the ssd for non audio purposes) ? or is it a script issue others are facing ?

 

thanks

[alsterfan]

Could it be that my SD card is getting physically tired (I go back and forth using it and the ssd for non audio purposes) ? or is it a script issue others are facing ?

 

thanks

 

Hi,

Although using the script and having reverted the OS back to normal a lot of times I have not perceived booting time to have changed for the worse.

I use a Transcend Ultimate-Speed SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 32 GB.

Best wishes,

Uwe

[Flo2984]

Hello guys,

 

I´m using a Macmini as audioserver only with itunes and auridvana to send my music controlled by ipad remote app to the Le@audiophil.

The Leaudiophil (LA) is a DAC based on the airport express like LaRosita.

 

I´ve experienced some strange behaviours, maybe you can help me.

 

Using the LA to hear music is generally very good.

But if I connect my Oppo 105 (via USB cable) and add it in the midi setup, the sound of the LA gets absolutely amazing!

Yes you´ve read right, adding Oppo makes LA sound much better. But it´s getting even weird. If I remove the Oppo, the sound stays absolutely amazing until a restart of the macmini.

 

Any ideas what happens doing these steps? I want to have this sound always and not by trial and error :-)

 

BR

Flo

 

PS: I´ve done a little reading in this thread but where to find your scripts?

[alsterfan]

PS: I´ve done a little reading in this thread but where to find your scripts?

 

Hi Flo,

maybe this is what you are looking for:

Computer Audio Design » OSX Audio Optimization

[Computer Audio Design]

Hello guys,

 

I´m using a Macmini as audioserver only with itunes and auridvana to send my music controlled by ipad remote app to the Le@audiophil.

The Leaudiophil (LA) is a DAC based on the airport express like LaRosita.

 

I´ve experienced some strange behaviours, maybe you can help me.

 

Using the LA to hear music is generally very good.

But if I connect my Oppo 105 (via USB cable) and add it in the midi setup, the sound of the LA gets absolutely amazing!

Yes you´ve read right, adding Oppo makes LA sound much better. But it´s getting even weird. If I remove the Oppo, the sound stays absolutely amazing until a restart of the macmini.

 

Any ideas what happens doing these steps? I want to have this sound always and not by trial and error :-)

 

BR

Flo

 

PS: I´ve done a little reading in this thread but where to find your scripts?

 

Hi Flo, I see Uwe just showed you where to get the scripts. I wish I could offer some advice about what is going on for you, but I have no idea! Sorry!

 

Best Regards,

 

Scott

[Flo2984]

Hi Flo,

maybe this is what you are looking for:

Computer Audio Design » OSX Audio Optimization

Sorry maybe i am blind, but where on this hompage to click for the scripts?

(maybe it doesnt work on ios?)

 

please anyway to all of you think about the root cause of my issues...?

[Computer Audio Design]

Sorry maybe i am blind, but where on this hompage to click for the scripts?

(maybe it doesnt work on ios?)

 

please anyway to all of you think about the root cause of my issues...?

 

 

Scroll down to the bottom.

 

Scott