Posted By Paul Kafasis on November 16th, 2020

Last week was a big week for Apple and the Mac, with the release of MacOS 11 (Big Sur), as well as all new M1 chip-based Macs.

Since June, we’ve been working tirelessly to get all of our products ready for these transitions. As of last week, all of Rogue Amoeba’s products are Big Sur compatible. Further updates for M1-based Macs are in the works, and will be available soon.

Our team has done incredible work over the past five months, and our Status page has been continually updated throughout the summer and fall. This post provides more details on where things stand right now, as well as what updates are still in the works.

Updates for MacOS 11 (Big Sur)

Rogue Amoeba’s products are now all compatible with Big Sur. If you’ve already updated to Big Sur on your Mac, just download the latest versions of our applications to get up and running.

However, if you haven’t yet updated your operating system, we encourage you to take things slow. Both our own apps, and the OS itself, are not as well-tested as they will be after some time has passed. If you have an important production setup, or even if you just enjoy having a fully functioning Mac, it’s smart to wait on updating your OS.

Most of Our Applications Feature Initial Compatibility

Our home audio streamer Airfoil, our audio capture tools Audio Hijack and Piezo, our audio router Loopback, and our sound control SoundSource all have initial compatibility with Big Sur. Testing and refining is ongoing, and we strongly suggest that mission-critical setups delay moving to Big Sur until we’ve more thoroughly vetted the update. That said, if you’re already on Big Sur, we are too.

A Note on Getting ACE Authorized for Big Sur

All of the aforementioned tools rely on ACE, our audio handling component which enables them to work with audio from other apps on your Mac. In MacOS 11 (Big Sur), the initial installation of ACE requires a bit more set-up than was previously required. The in-app installer provides an overview of the process, and you should be up and running in just a few minutes.

However, we’ve seen a bug in MacOS itself that’s causing some headaches. In rare instances, the “Security & Privacy” system preference can fail to show the prompt needed to allow ACE to run. If you don’t see the expected prompt, restart your Mac, then check System Preferences again.

Farrago and Fission Have Full Compatibility

Both our soundboard app Farrago and our audio editor Fission feature full compatibility with Big Sur. They have been extensively tested, and should work flawlessly for you on the new operating system. Just make sure you’ve got the latest versions, and enjoy!

Updates for M Chip-Based Macs

Our ACE-based releases (again, that’s Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Loopback, Piezo, and SoundSource) will not yet run on M1 Chip-Based Macs. When you launch them, they’ll warn you that they’re not compatible, and you won’t be able to proceed any further.

Fear not, good user, for we already have internal versions which work on these new Macs. Because we’re still in the process of testing and validating them, they’re not quite ready for release. We’ll have more to share in the near future, but for now, you’ll want to be sure to keep your Intel-based Mac around to run these applications.

By contrast, Farrago and Fission work fine on Apple Silicon-powered Macs. These apps are currently running under Rosetta emulation, and as a result, we’ve marked them as having “initial compatibility”. However, we’re not aware of any issues, and don’t expect you’ll run into any trouble. Native versions will be released in the future, but the current versions will work quite well on the new Macs from day one.

Watch for More Updates

We’ll have more updates in the near future. For the most up-to-date information on OS and device compatibility, you should always check our Status page. We’ll also post news via social media, and likely here on our blog. Stay tuned!