Peter Castine

Has anyone tried running Max/MSP under Parallels?

BootCamp has been a useful tool for cross-platform development, but 

it's frustrating to boot up Windows only to discover I need to copy 

yet another file over to the Windows partition or I need to rebuild 

something. Sometimes it feels like I'm spending more time booting 

back and forth between Mac OS and Windows than actually working on 

I installed Parallels, got a test authorization, installed XP (SP2) 

on it, installed Max/MSP 4.5.7 for Windows. Also installed QuickTime 

7 for Windows. I can start Max/MSP and get the demo/authorize/quit 

dialog, but when I click Demo and not only does Max crash but Windows 

reboots. So I tried Runtime, which launches but also has problems, 

including crashing when loading externals that work fine with Max on 

Has anyone else tried this combination and had it work reliably?

Peter Castine | +--> Litter Power & Litter Bundle for Jitter

|..................................................

Composer | iCE: Essential Tools for Sequencing, Recording

Sonic Artist | & Interface Building in Max/MSP

Software Developer | Nortron: The Idea Palette

BootCamp has been a useful tool for cross-platform development, but  
it's frustrating to boot up Windows only to discover I need to copy  
yet another file over to the Windows partition or I need to rebuild  
something. Sometimes it feels like I'm spending more time booting  
back and forth between Mac OS and Windows than actually working on  
either.-(

  I installed Parallels, got a test authorization, installed XP (SP2)  
on it, installed Max/MSP 4.5.7 for Windows. Also installed QuickTime  
7 for Windows. I can start Max/MSP and get the demo/authorize/quit  
dialog, but when I click Demo and not only does Max crash but Windows  
reboots. So I tried Runtime, which launches but also has problems,  
including crashing when loading externals that work fine with Max on  
Boot Camp.

parallels-and-maxmsp

I haven't tried parallels, but my guess is something funky with PACE. Maybe? I assume you installed the latest interLock software?...

On Aug 22, 2006, at 3:16 PM, Peter Castine wrote:

> Has anyone tried running Max/MSP under Parallels?

Since PACE isn't supported on any platform under a VM, it should not 

work under parallels. This has been covered in a variety of contexts. 

However, you should be able to use the runtime version fine, but you 

will need to use Boot Camp if you want to use a full version of PACE 

protected MaxMSP (and at least for now, get any HW OpenGL acceleration).

Since PACE isn't supported on any platform under a VM, it should not  
work under parallels. This has been covered in a variety of contexts.  
However, you should be able to use the runtime version fine, but you  
will need to use Boot Camp if you want to use a full version of PACE  
protected MaxMSP (and at least for now, get any HW OpenGL acceleration).

On 23-Aug-2006, at 1:16, Joshua Kit Clayton wrote:

> Since PACE isn't supported on any platform under a VM, it should 

> not work under parallels. This has been covered in a variety of 

Probably I should have been aware that PACE won't run on a Virtual 

Machine, but the Parallels propaganda was so everything-is-just-so- 

great-on-our-VM that I wasn't thinking about it last night. In 

retrospect, the fact that the PACE installer didn't cut in during the 

install should have been a cue. But I multitask when installing 

software (fill out tedious questionnaires, study Italian vocabulary, 

go down for supper, that sort of thing) so I wasn't paying sufficient 

PACE's reaction to being called on a VM is pretty brutal, though.-0

> However, you should be able to use the runtime version fine, but 

> you will need to use Boot Camp if you want to use a full version of 

> PACE protected MaxMSP (and at least for now, get any HW OpenGL 

The performance hits I'm aware of and can live with. I'm not running 

Windows on a Mac as an environment for running heavy-duty A/V 

patches, I'm using it to develop&test externals WRT compatibility 

issues. The ability to switch OS with a mouse click, rather than 

rebooting, would be a godsend. Max Runtime would be mostly sufficient 

I was basically asking if anyone else had good experience w/ 

Parallels--in which case my problems w/Max Runtime are likely due to 

some slip-up I made. If nobody else has actually gotten Max Runtime 

running on Parallels, then I don't need to spend further time 

On 23-Aug-2006, at 1:16, Joshua Kit Clayton wrote:
> Since PACE isn't supported on any platform under a VM, it should  
> not work under parallels. This has been covered in a variety of  
> contexts.

Probably I should have been aware that PACE won't run on a Virtual  
Machine, but the Parallels propaganda was so everything-is-just-so- 
great-on-our-VM that I wasn't thinking about it last night. In  
retrospect, the fact that the PACE installer didn't cut in during the  
install should have been a cue. But I multitask when installing  
software (fill out tedious questionnaires, study Italian vocabulary,  
go down for supper, that sort of thing) so I wasn't paying sufficient  
attention.

> However, you should be able to use the runtime version fine, but  
> you will need to use Boot Camp if you want to use a full version of  
> PACE protected MaxMSP (and at least for now, get any HW OpenGL  
> acceleration).

The performance hits I'm aware of and can live with. I'm not running  
Windows on a Mac as an environment for running heavy-duty A/V  
patches, I'm using it to develop&test externals WRT compatibility  
issues. The ability to switch OS with a mouse click, rather than  
rebooting, would be a godsend. Max Runtime would be mostly sufficient  
for this purpose, if it proves reliable.

I was basically asking if anyone else had good experience w/ 
Parallels--in which case my problems w/Max Runtime are likely due to  
some slip-up I made. If nobody else has actually gotten Max Runtime  
running on Parallels, then I don't need to spend further time  
investigating it.

>I was basically asking if anyone else had good experience 

>w/Parallels--in which case my problems w/Max Runtime are likely due 

>to some slip-up I made. If nobody else has actually gotten Max 

>Runtime running on Parallels, then I don't need to spend further 

On a tangentially related topic, I tried Jack OS X on an Intel Mac 

running Parallels the other day, and was pleasantly surprised to find 

that it works fine; audio playing in applications within 

Windows/Parallels streamed perfectly, via Jack OS X, to Mac-based 

audio apps.... Opens up a lot of possibilities I think...

202 Hack / PC-1600 User / VSTi Host / OMS Convert / Jack OS X

>I was basically asking if anyone else had good experience 
>w/Parallels--in which case my problems w/Max Runtime are likely due 
>to some slip-up I made. If nobody else has actually gotten Max 
>Runtime running on Parallels, then I don't need to spend further 
>time investigating it.

On a tangentially related topic, I tried Jack OS X on an Intel Mac 
running Parallels the other day, and was pleasantly surprised to find 
that it works fine; audio playing in applications within 
Windows/Parallels streamed perfectly, via Jack OS X, to Mac-based 
audio apps.... Opens up a lot of possibilities I think...

Dan
-- 
Dan Nigrin
Defective Records
202 Hack / PC-1600 User / VSTi Host / OMS Convert / Jack OS X
http://www.defectiverecords.com
http://www.jackosx.com


I played around with Parallels a couple of months ago and found it 

annoying that you can't use the same Windows installation for both 

Parallels and Boot Camp. Just the thought of maintaining two Max/MSP 

installations, let alone synchronizing files changed in one 

environment with the other one, made me shy away from using the VM. 

Besides, booting Windows is a matter of a few seconds, and with 

MacDrive you can easily access files on the Mac volume.

On Aug 23, 2006, at 1:48 PM, Dan Nigrin wrote:

>> I was basically asking if anyone else had good experience w/ 

>> Parallels--in which case my problems w/Max Runtime are likely due 

>> to some slip-up I made. If nobody else has actually gotten Max 

>> Runtime running on Parallels, then I don't need to spend further 

> On a tangentially related topic, I tried Jack OS X on an Intel Mac 

> running Parallels the other day, and was pleasantly surprised to 

> find that it works fine; audio playing in applications within 

> Windows/Parallels streamed perfectly, via Jack OS X, to Mac-based 

> audio apps.... Opens up a lot of possibilities I think...

> 202 Hack / PC-1600 User / VSTi Host / OMS Convert / Jack OS X

I played around with Parallels a couple of months ago and found it  
annoying that you can't use the same Windows installation for both  
Parallels and Boot Camp. Just the thought of maintaining two Max/MSP  
installations, let alone synchronizing files changed in one  
environment with the other one, made me shy away from using the VM.  
Besides, booting Windows is a matter of a few seconds, and with  
MacDrive you can easily access files on the Mac volume.

>> I was basically asking if anyone else had good experience w/ 
>> Parallels--in which case my problems w/Max Runtime are likely due  
>> to some slip-up I made. If nobody else has actually gotten Max  
>> Runtime running on Parallels, then I don't need to spend further  
>> time investigating it.
>
> On a tangentially related topic, I tried Jack OS X on an Intel Mac  
> running Parallels the other day, and was pleasantly surprised to  
> find that it works fine; audio playing in applications within  
> Windows/Parallels streamed perfectly, via Jack OS X, to Mac-based  
> audio apps.... Opens up a lot of possibilities I think...
>
> Dan
> -- 
> Dan Nigrin
> Defective Records
> 202 Hack / PC-1600 User / VSTi Host / OMS Convert / Jack OS X
> http://www.defectiverecords.com
> http://www.jackosx.com
>


I have Parallels on a Windows machine running another Windows system.

Maestro (Max runtime application) seems to run with no problem besides the Midi synthesizer being out of tune.

On 23-Aug-2006, at 14:41, Georg Hajdu wrote:

> Besides, booting Windows is a matter of a few seconds, and with 

> MacDrive you can easily access files on the Mac volume.

Thanks for the pointer to MacDrive, that takes most of the pain out 

of forgetting to copy a file over before booting Windows.

I don't know about a few seconds, though: my stopwatch said 1'50" 

between selecting Restart from the Apple menu and being able to 

select something from the Start menu in XP. Depends, of course, on 

how many apps have to close and how quick I am with selecting the 

Windows partition in the Select Partition screen. And about 50" to 

All of that is less time then I spent writing this message, so I 

guess it's a matter of perception.-) Boring activities seem to take 

longer compared to intellectually stimulating activities (like 

Peter Castine +--> Litter Power & Litter Bundle for Jitter

Interface Building for |home | chez nous|

Max/MSP Extremely cool |bei uns | i nostri|

> Besides, booting Windows is a matter of a few seconds, and with  
> MacDrive you can easily access files on the Mac volume.

Thanks for the pointer to MacDrive, that takes most of the pain out  
of forgetting to copy a file over before booting Windows.

I don't know about a few seconds, though: my stopwatch said 1'50"  
between selecting Restart from the Apple menu and being able to  
select something from the Start menu in XP. Depends, of course, on  
how many apps have to close and how quick I am with selecting the  
Windows partition in the Select Partition screen. And about 50" to  
shut down Windows and restart Mac OS.

All of that is less time then I spent writing this message, so I  
guess it's a matter of perception.-) Boring activities seem to take  
longer compared to intellectually stimulating activities (like  
writing email to the Max list--right.)

--------------    http://www.bek.no/~pcastine/Litter/    -------------
Peter Castine             +--> Litter Power & Litter Bundle for Jitter
                                Universal Binaries on the way
iCE:  Sequencing,  Recording &
       Interface  Building  for                   |home    | chez nous|
       Max/MSP   Extremely cool                   |bei uns |  i nostri|
       http://www.dspaudio.com/                   http://www.castine.de

Beware of MacDrive : I've been using it for years on my Windows because 

of my mac-formatted external hard drives (thanks to digi-tosh 

conspiracy), and i'm not 100% sure it's reliable. Copying too much files 

at one time, or too big files (over 10g of data) could end up in a 

disaster. It screwed up a few time my hd tree table, making them 

unavailable for ever (means : save what you can then reformat !). I 

suppose it's half USB's fault, but who knows...

f.e chanfrault | aka | personal computer music

> >>>>>> |sublime music for a desperate people|

> On 23-Aug-2006, at 14:41, Georg Hajdu wrote:

>> Besides, booting Windows is a matter of a few seconds, and with 

>> MacDrive you can easily access files on the Mac volume.

> Thanks for the pointer to MacDrive, that takes most of the pain out of 

> forgetting to copy a file over before booting Windows.

> I don't know about a few seconds, though: my stopwatch said 1'50" 

> between selecting Restart from the Apple menu and being able to select 

> something from the Start menu in XP. Depends, of course, on how many 

> apps have to close and how quick I am with selecting the Windows 

> partition in the Select Partition screen. And about 50" to shut down 

> All of that is less time then I spent writing this message, so I guess 

> it's a matter of perception.-) Boring activities seem to take longer 

> compared to intellectually stimulating activities (like writing email 

> Peter Castine +--> Litter Power & Litter Bundle for Jitter

> Interface Building for |home | chez nous|

> Max/MSP Extremely cool |bei uns | i nostri|

Beware of MacDrive : I've been using it for years on my Windows because 
of my mac-formatted external hard drives (thanks to digi-tosh 
conspiracy), and i'm not 100% sure it's reliable. Copying too much files 
at one time, or too big files (over 10g of data) could end up in a 
disaster. It screwed up a few time my hd tree table, making them 
unavailable for ever (means : save what you can then reformat !). I 
suppose it's half USB's fault, but who knows...

f.e chanfrault | aka | personal computer music
> >>>>>> http://www.personal-computer-music.com
> >>>>>> |sublime music for a desperate people|

Peter Castine wrote:
> On 23-Aug-2006, at 14:41, Georg Hajdu wrote:
>
>> Besides, booting Windows is a matter of a few seconds, and with 
>> MacDrive you can easily access files on the Mac volume.
>
> Thanks for the pointer to MacDrive, that takes most of the pain out of 
> forgetting to copy a file over before booting Windows.
>
> I don't know about a few seconds, though: my stopwatch said 1'50" 
> between selecting Restart from the Apple menu and being able to select 
> something from the Start menu in XP. Depends, of course, on how many 
> apps have to close and how quick I am with selecting the Windows 
> partition in the Select Partition screen. And about 50" to shut down 
> Windows and restart Mac OS.
>
> All of that is less time then I spent writing this message, so I guess 
> it's a matter of perception.-) Boring activities seem to take longer 
> compared to intellectually stimulating activities (like writing email 
> to the Max list--right.)
>
> -- Peter
>
>
> --------------    http://www.bek.no/~pcastine/Litter/    -------------
> Peter Castine             +--> Litter Power & Litter Bundle for Jitter
>                                Universal Binaries on the way
> iCE:  Sequencing,  Recording &
>       Interface  Building  for                   |home    | chez nous|
>       Max/MSP   Extremely cool                   |bei uns |  i nostri|
>       http://www.dspaudio.com/                   http://www.castine.de
>
>
>


> It screwed up a few time my hd tree table, making them unavailable 

> for ever (means : save what you can then reformat !).

I don't know if you know disk warrior, but it is the best tree 

reconstruction software in the world! It saved me again last month 

when my boot drive decided he did not enjoyed the solar storm my 

plane was going through, or some other things of the sort... anyway, 

> It screwed up a few time my hd tree table, making them unavailable  
> for ever (means : save what you can then reformat !).

I don't know if you know disk warrior, but it is the best tree  
reconstruction software in the world!  It saved me again last month  
when my boot drive decided he did not enjoyed the solar storm my  
plane was going through, or some other things of the sort... anyway,  
it has done 3 miracles form me so far.

could have told you that the copy protection wont work

under paralleles, but i am surprised to hear that peter 

could have told you that the copy protection wont work
under paralleles, but i am surprised to hear that peter 
said the free runtime also chrashes.
what could that be?


Parallels and Max/MSP