Computer Audio Design OSX Audio Optimization Script

[Superdad]

I have late 2008 2.0GHz Core2Duo with 8GB pf RAM. Will it be fine for Maverick?

 

Not so fast guys. There is no such thing as a "Late 2008" 2.0GHz mini. You either have an Early 2009 (Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 (Early 2009) Specs (Early 2009, MB463LL/A*, Macmini3,1, A1283, 2264) @ EveryMac.com) or a Mid-2007 (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-2-duo-2.0-specs.html)--which was not discontinued until March 2009.

 

If you have the Early 2009, then yes you can install Mavericks. If you have the Mid-2007, then Lion (10.7.x) is the latest OS supported for installation (though there are some ways around it to get Mountain Lion to install)--but Mavericks is out.

[Superdad]

BTW, I can understand the idea of heaving less processes running in the background which decrease the I/O requests and then disk activity, but what actually Maverick did for the sound improvement under the hood? I don't use CoreAudio, instead I prefer iZotope, so what else?

 

Parts of Core Audio--and a lot of USB stuff--is still used by A+, just not for sample rate conversion when iZotope is selected.

[mkrzych]

Parts of Core Audio--and a lot of USB stuff--is still used by A+, just not for sample rate conversion when iZotope is selected.

 

So, I use Macbook, no Mini firstly. Second thing I've selected iZotope, not CoreAudio and Direct Mode. My DAC does not support Integer Mode, but it is selected anyway - just not active. Does it mean that A+ still using those so called improved guts of Maverick to operate?

[Superdad]

Does it mean that A+ still using those so called improved guts of Maverick to operate?

 

What I should have said more plainly, is that regardless of A+, Mavericks sounds different--and in my personal opinion better--and it may not even be due to changes in Core Audio much at all. It may be due to its improved process paging--less is going on that does not need to.

Even iTunes by itself sounds different.

 

Try it. You may like it. (But the most fair way to test it is with a truly clean install. I make no endorsement of SQ for "Software Update" systems, though perhaps those are okay--I wouldn't know.)

[mkrzych]

What I should have said more plainly, is that regardless of A+, Mavericks sounds different--and in my personal opinion better--and it may not even be due to changes in Core Audio much at all. It may be due to its improved process paging--less is going on that does not need to.

Even iTunes by itself sounds different.

 

Try it. You may like it. (But the most fair way to test it is with a truly clean install. I make no endorsement of SQ for "Software Update" systems, though perhaps those are okay--I wouldn't know.)

 

OK, thanks a lot. I will consider it for sure. So far, I am trying to narrow down the processes numbers using separate account dedicated only for music playing.

[Viola]

My MacBook Air is working around 97% when playing Audirvana and 1.2.2 script and 66 process.

 

Is this the best I can do?

[Viola]

97% idle CON in Activity Monitor with 66 process.

[Viola]

CPU sorry, not CON....autocorrect

[Viola]

Any advice?

[eltee00]

For some reason after I run the script I lose the ability to open .dmg files.

[Leonardo Piras]

For some reason after I run the script I lose the ability to open .dmg files.

I was loosing it too when I applied the script.

You need to launch Disk Utility and manually activate .dmg

[eltee00]

I was loosing it too when I applied the script.

You need to launch Disk Utility and manually activate .dmg

 

Anyone have any solutions to this? I can't launch any Applescript applications as well.

 

Or does anyone have version 1.2.1 of the script? I didn't seem to have this problem before.

[odelay]

I removed coreservices from the script so I could launch dmg files.

 

But to try it, reload it in terminal first:

 

launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist.2>dev/null

[semente]

Hello Scott,

I have to questions for you:

 

1 - If I install/run this script will I still be able to boot with WinOS (if I wish to use Foobar)?

 

2 - Would it be possible to install/run this script for a single User and have another User with a "normal" configuration?

I have considered using my MBP for Audio only but it would be much more useful if I could have other software installed…

 

Cheers,

Ric

[CAD Support]

Hello Scott,

I have to questions for you:

 

1 - If I install/run this script will I still be able to boot with WinOS (if I wish to use Foobar)?

 

2 - Would it be possible to install/run this script for a single User and have another User with a "normal" configuration?

I have considered using my MBP for Audio only but it would be much more useful if I could have other software installed…

 

Cheers,

Ric

 

Hi Ric,

 

1 - When you say WinOS do you mean Windows running via Boot Camp? If so then yes, the script only alters the mac installation which you are booted into, so if you have a separate partition for Windows that will be unaffected.

 

2 - Unfortunately no, some of the changes that the script makes are global in terms of the Mac OS and will therefore affect all users.

 

Thanks,

Damian

[wgscott]

I removed coreservices from the script so I could launch dmg files.

 

But to try it, reload it in terminal first:

 

launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist.2>dev/null

 

When that fails, try this:

 

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist 2>/dev/null

 

or better yet,

 

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist

 

(There is no reason to obscure the standard error output by sending it to /dev/null ).

[semente]

Hi Ric,

 

1 - When you say WinOS do you mean Windows running via Boot Camp? If so then yes, the script only alters the mac installation which you are booted into, so if you have a separate partition for Windows that will be unaffected.

 

2 - Unfortunately no, some of the changes that the script makes are global in terms of the Mac OS and will therefore affect all users.

 

Thanks,

Damian

 

Thanks for your reply Damian.

Since I am planning to run Windows via Boot Camp, I guess I'll install all the software I need on MacOS and playback music on Foobar/Windows…

 

Cheers,

Ric

[CAD Support]

Thanks for your reply Damian.

Since I am planning to run Windows via Boot Camp, I guess I'll install all the software I need on MacOS and playback music on Foobar/Windows…

 

Cheers,

Ric

 

Hi Ric,

 

No problem. I would say however that if you haven't already set your Windows partition up I would get that done with Boot Camp before running the script in case it causes any issues for you.

 

Damian

[Superdad]

When that fails, try this:

 

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist 2>/dev/null

 

or better yet,

 

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist

 

(There is no reason to obscure the standard error output by sending it to /dev/null ).

 

And when THAT fails--due to one "com" too many, use:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.coreservices.uiagent.plist

 

 

--Alex C.

[tranz]

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

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11002[/ATTACH]

 

Hi Uwe,

 

Thanks for sharing your experiments and results. Can you please let us know what the commands were you used to shut down:

 

bookstroreagent, distnoted, tccd, aosnotified, pacemaker, applespellservice

 

Any others you looked into and perhaps tried, like?:

 

airportd

CloudKeyChainProxy

fontd

hidd - for seeing hidden files

softwareupdated

 

Cheers

[tranz]

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.

 

Hi ckpiv,

 

Thank you! Thank you!

 

That worked like a charm.

[pj]

Hi Uwe,

 

Thanks for sharing your experiments and results. Can you please let us know what the commands were you used to shut down:

 

bookstroreagent, distnoted, tccd, aosnotified, pacemaker, applespellservice

 

Any others you looked into and perhaps tried, like?:

 

airportd

CloudKeyChainProxy

fontd

hidd - for seeing hidden files

softwareupdated

 

Cheers

 

IMHO the best strategy is to do a bit of research and kill off anything that is not need in your setup.

 

hidd is the Human Interface Device Daemon. You'll lose mouse and keyboard functionality if this is disabled.

 

fontd is the system font management daemon. This apparently makes fonts available to the system. There is a fairly good chance this will mess with the UI and application font rendering.

 

pacemaker is used to adjust the system clock to compensate for drift against network time servers. You may well find that manually setting the time in Date & Time (untick the automatically set time checkbox) disables pacemaker.

 

aosnotifyd is part of the iCloud syncing software. I'd guess this is safe to disable if you aren't planning on using any iCloud functionality.

 

CloudKeyChainProxy ditto.

 

disnoted is a distributed notifications daemon. This allows applications to exchange notifications of events. Apparently disabling this can lead to "random wonkiness", but you'd have to try it and see if there were any problems in a stripped back setup.

 

airportd manages wireless interfaces. If you aren't using wifi it should be safe to disable.

 

tccd is used to control access to your contacts database. It would be safe to kill if you haven't got any contacts or if you don't care which apps access your contacts.

 

applespellservice - do you write documents and emails that require spell checking on your music server? If not you don't need.

 

bookstoreagent - planning on buying books?

 

I'm curious if anyone has looked at using Parental Controls and Simple Finder as a way of paring back the OS?

 

cheers

Paul

[tranz]

IMHO the best strategy is to do a bit of research and kill off anything that is not need in your setup.

 

hidd is the Human Interface Device Daemon. You'll lose mouse and keyboard functionality if this is disabled.

 

fontd is the system font management daemon. This apparently makes fonts available to the system. There is a fairly good chance this will mess with the UI and application font rendering.

 

pacemaker is used to adjust the system clock to compensate for drift against network time servers. You may well find that manually setting the time in Date & Time (untick the automatically set time checkbox) disables pacemaker.

 

aosnotifyd is part of the iCloud syncing software. I'd guess this is safe to disable if you aren't planning on using any iCloud functionality.

 

CloudKeyChainProxy ditto.

 

disnoted is a distributed notifications daemon. This allows applications to exchange notifications of events. Apparently disabling this can lead to "random wonkiness", but you'd have to try it and see if there were any problems in a stripped back setup.

 

airportd manages wireless interfaces. If you aren't using wifi it should be safe to disable.

 

tccd is used to control access to your contacts database. It would be safe to kill if you haven't got any contacts or if you don't care which apps access your contacts.

 

applespellservice - do you write documents and emails that require spell checking on your music server? If not you don't need.

 

bookstoreagent - planning on buying books?

 

I'm curious if anyone has looked at using Parental Controls and Simple Finder as a way of paring back the OS?

 

cheers

Paul

 

Hi Paul,

 

Thanks for details. There are just under 50 processes that look to be possible contenders for the axe. Time for some experimentation...

 

Cheers.

[Superdad]

Hi Paul,

 

Thanks for details. There are just under 50 processes that look to be possible contenders for the axe. Time for some experimentation...

 

Cheers.

 

Tranz: We look forward to your report of what new ones (beyond what the CAD script unloads) can be safely cut. I just have not had the time for such experiments lately, but I would love to cut a few more. I find that I can clearly hear each drop of 8-10 processes. I'm down to about 69 at idle (well 71 if screen sharing). I doubt more than about another 10 or so of actual active processes can be cut without crippling functionality (and I mean just a dedicated music machine), but I'd enjoy even getting those.

Thanks,

Alex

[Lionelh2]

I just ran the optimization script on my iMac and im amazed by the improvement in SQ. Many thanks to all who worked on this.. very much appreciated.