Tempestuous Technology
Following my avid approval of everything Apple, I decided to upgrade to the latest and greatest version of the Mac OS operating system: 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Now one would be inclined to think that the keyword, “upgrade,” invoked in reference to this software release would entail that the well-being of one’s computer would either remain the same or improve… Big mistake on my part!
Although I am sure that this latest installment of Mac OS X carries multiple noteworthy upgrades under the hood (Grand Central Dispatch, 64-bit program rewrites, etc.), I would not recommend anyone with professional requirements to install this upgrade until existing programs are upgraded/re-written for the 10.6 (or for that matter, 10.6.1) release.
I discovered this the difficult way, three hours before a live DJ set on Tuesday (I upgraded my system over the prior weekend): I was tinkering around with a couple tunes to see if their keys matched when Native Instruments Tracktor DJ Studio crashed without warning. Terrified–as this was the first time this reliable program had exhibited such behavior–I tried furiously to reproduce the issue. It seemed as though the application quit after playing audio from any three tracks loaded into any of the decks. Alas, such performance would cause havoc at a live show…
Next stop… Yes, indeed, the PC server computer tower. I began transferring the music, data, and drivers I needed for the show, and even on a gigabit ethernet link, the transfer indicator pointed to a long wait. Flash forward one hour and I finally make it to the venue nearly 15 minutes late. I complete the necessary setup; however, the PC is on the fritz: continuously scrolling through different Traktor layouts in an infinite loop. Of course, I found a thread addressing the cause of this malady.
I was finally able to piece together some coherent tunes via a synthesis of my iPhone and iTunes. And Controlled Burn, as always, never ceases to impress even in light of the audio hiccups. In fact, the night would’ve been an utter disappointment had it not been for their supportive energy.