what is the status of biab 2021 running on macos Monterey

Band-in-a-Box is not yet officially compatible with Mac OS Monterey. Historically it usually takes a few months after the official Mac OS release for our software, as well as software from other companies, to become fully compatible. Here are the current Band-in-a-Box 2021 requirements: https://www.pgmusic.com/bbmac.requirements.htm

Thanks

BIAB runs fine for me under Monterey 12.1 beta.

And for me too, on a Macbook M1. There were far fewer big changes with Monterey than there were with Big Sur, so I've noticed much fewer issues comparatively - not just with BIAB but with other audio software as well.

As Chantelle said we do not yet officially support macOS Monterey as testing is still ongoing, but the 2021 version "looks" to be ok so far. Just make sure all your other software and hardware is compatible first!

Hey ya'll. So I got a new MBP with an M1Max chip and it came with macOS 12.0.1 Monterey pre-installed. BiaB worked fine for me in Big Sur on my old Intel MBP. After a sucessfull install of BiaB on the new machine, when I try to launch it, it gets stuck launching, with a message that says, "Application not responding" I reached out to support and Chantelle walked me through a few steps (deleting prefs folder, computer restart, deleting Biab & reinstalling), but no dice: still the same issue every time I try to launch it. The only thing left to do, apparently, is downgrade to Big Sur, but, unfortunately, I can't do that.

Just posting here because I'm curious to see if anyone's installed BiaB on Monterey from scratch and it worked. Or am I just out of luck until a Monterey version of BiaB is released in a few months?

And follow-up question: when I download BiaB from the "My Products" page, is that install pkg the latest build or just a build that I'll have to update once I open BiaB (which I wouldn't be able to do becasue I can't open it right now.... hence my question. hehe)

It depends on how long ago the latest build was released. Mac software updates are also posted here, so you do not have to first open Band-in-a-Box in order to download and install it: https://www.pgmusic.com/support_macintoshupdates.htm

If you happen to already have the latest build installed and not know it, it will not hurt anything if you run the installer for it again.

Hi electricRGB and welcome to the forums!

I have been testing BIAB 2021 on macOS Monterey for a while and I haven't experienced the issue you're having. I'm using an M1 Macbook Air - theoretically the M1 Max shouldn't operate that differently than the M1, but as we haven't tested on an M1 Max yet we don't know for certain. I've made a report to the developers so they can look into this at least.

For now try installing the latest build update and see if that helps: https://dl11.pgmusic.com/support/mpatch/bb2021_mac_update_build515.pkg

If that doesn't help, please try the following:

Download the txt file attached to this reply onto your desktop - please make sure it is not renamed, it should be named "WriteBootupLog.txt"
Open a Finder window then navigate to /Applications/Band-in-a-Box/Data
Copy or move the WriteBootupLog.txt file into the Data folder
Try running BIAB again.
If BIAB does not open after a couple minutes, please look in the Data folder for a file named "BootupLog.txt", copy it to your desktop, then either attach it to your reply here or email it to us at support@pgmusic.com so we can take a look.

Hiya,

Ok. So. Downloaded BiaB fresh, along with the patch you linked. Installed BiaB again (just the 'bandinabox_2021_full.pkg', not anything else.). Did not try to open, but immediately installed the patch. Tried to open: and nada.

Followed the steps you wrote and... I'm not sure how to attach a file here. I've looked around and don't see an option to do so. I've emailed it to support@pgmusic.com, and included a link in there to this thread to make sure that context is carried forward.

Thanks so much. (Selfishly) Hope it helps the devs!

Thanks, I've received the log file and I'll check it out!

I've been running BIAB 2021 on Monterrey with no issues. I didn't try the patch so maybe just install BIAB and try opening it.

macOS Monterey has been a bit different for everyone - for me it's worked exactly the same as Big Sur on my M1. For others they're having problems, and in the case of electricRGB even reinstalling macOS didn't change anything.

RGB - we're still looking into the issue, please bear with us.

BIAB over Monterey doing well for me.

There is a bug in the plugin which cuts out on certain sections of tracks. See my post in the plugin forum.

Hi, I'm new of BiaB and for christmas I want to buy the ultrapak+ version but I have a mac with Monterey.
Do you suggest to wait until the new version will be available? I don't want to spend (for me) a lot of money and for a version that does not work but I'm very curious and i want it as soon as possible ;-)

That's the question: any news about the release for monterey? May I hope that it will arrive until the end of the year? If not may I use the 2021 version on my Monterey OS? (I read in the 3d and it seems yes but i'm not sure). In case the upgrade will be available also for the 2021 version and free for all the users?
Thank you in advance
Toni

Toni, several Mac users (including me) report no problems with Monterey, but then, I don't know why PG isn't officially blessing that platform yet.

Now I'm wondering:

With BIAB 2022 for Windows out, is "Fully Monterey-Compatible BIAB For Mac" something to expect only in BIAB 2022 for Mac?

Putting that differently, is it possible full Monterey compatibility will only come with the next PAID upgrade?

I was about to say, hey, go ahead and get it, you can always upgrade for free when they release a blessed Monterey version, but with the timing here, I'm not sure.

Thanks I agree with you.
I have to pay around 550euros then I want to be sure that the product is suitable for monterey. At the moment the alternstive is to wait next spring when biab 22 will come (and surely will be compatible with monterey). If the software house will upgrade the current version of the app I will buy biab 21, but at the moment I think that you are right and I have to wait
Toni

I got this answer to resolve the Monterey issue:

“ Please close BIAB and navigate to Applications/Band-in-a-Box and rename the Preferences folder to Preferences2, then try to run BIAB again. Band-in-a-Box will re-create these files, so it is normal for them to come back later.

Please note that macOS Monterey is not yet fully supported.

Thank you,
Simon
PG Music Inc. L


I gonna try it …

… that is, I’ve already installed Monterey and had problems to start biab so I wrote the support:

“Hi I tried to install the latest patch of BIAB after the Mac Monterey update and it doesn’t start at all.
When I try it kind of pops up like its about to start but nothing happens and the icon stays shady as if its in its starting process….but nothing happens

I tried to restart the computer, istall the patch again..but same-same

I think I need to uninstall and reinstall the whole BIAB but am unsure how to do it correctly

Can you please guide me through it if there isn’t any uninstall-program for it?”

For everyone following this thread, please post your system specs here, including the model of your Mac and what type of processor it uses (i3, i5, i7, i9, Xeon, M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, etc). Also please post whether BIAB is working properly for you or not, and any issues you've run into that might be related to Monterey.

The major issues we're aware of seem to only involve the M1 Pro and M1 Max computers. My Macbook Air M1 works perfectly on Monterey, as does my 2015 iMac i5. Issues typically are not show-stoppers. The Monterey upgrade isn't like the Catalina upgrade thankfully, which completely stopped all previous versions of BIAB from even opening.



We'll look into that, thanks!



We haven't blessed it yet because the developers have been busy with the 2022 Windows version. They are working on Monterey support.



That's also possible. I'm afraid I have no answers on that.



Uninstalling BIAB on a Mac is a simple matter of just deleting the Band-in-a-Box folder from /Applications. Two things to keep in mind - you should NOT do this if you're running BIAB from an external drive that we provided, and you should make sure any song files you've saved aren't in the Band-in-a-Box folder before you delete it.

M1 iMac 2021. Running Monterey 12.1. BiaB version 515. BiaB seems to be working normally for me, though I have not really done a lot of deep diving, just basic stuff.

The problem I reported about the plugin creating silence on some tracks towards the end I have been unable to replicate.

Hi, thank you for your reply. Unfortunately I have a MacBook Pro 14 with M1Max.
I wanted to buy BIAB for my jazz studies and I wanted to buy it for Christmas. The ultrapack+ is my choice. The problem (for me) is not if the free upgrade (I could upgrade to 22 version in the next spring or summer) but I don't want to buy something that does not work and then waiting until next spring and pay for the new version.
I hope that the pgmusic developer team will release a full Monterey version or at least I hope to have something that could work (with rosetta) on my new MacBook Pro.
Unfortunately BIAB does not exist in a demo version to try and then I can't try before to buy if it does work on my Mac.

Thanks
Toni

Same here. I'll purchase when fully Monterey / Silicon Native approved.