My system runs on an M1 Mac mini.
I’m having trouble with Dorico being unable to find sample library plugins. My primary concern is the VSL Synchron player, but also East West Opus. Dorico appears to be able to find only the installed Steinberg plugins (Groove Agent, HALion Sonic SE, Padshop etc) None of my third party plugins are discovered.
The VSL Synchron standalone player is working as expected outside Dorico.
Audio output is to studio monitors using the Mac built-in audio.
The really odd thing is that everything works exactly as it should in Cubase 12, which I thought used the same audio engine as Dorico.
I have downloaded and selected the VSL playback templates for the sample library, but there is no difference. Getting desperate.
Are you running Dorico under Rosetta 2? If not, it’ll only be able to use plugins that can run natively on Apple silicon.
According to Apple support, if a non-native app is launched, I should be prompted to use Rosetta, but this has not happened. I installed Rosetta via the command line anyway, but it has made no difference.
I expected this result as the plugin is working in Cubase, same plugin, same audio engine. If processor compatibility were the issue, it shouldn’t work in Cubase either.
Dorico can run natively on M1 processors, VSL Synchron can’t (according to FAQ: General | VSL - Tutorials).
Have you told Dorico to run under Rosetta, by right-clicking on the application > Get Info > ticking the tickbox? (How to force a native M1 Mac app to run as an Intel app instead | Macworld)
You appear to have solved my problem.
While not fully understanding how it worked, I didn’t realise that (native) Dorico had to run under Rosetta to use the library. Now that I’ve tried it, it seems obvious, but it didn’t occur to me earlier. I’ve only had my M1 Mac mini for a couple of weeks. Having asked Dorico to use Rosetta, it loaded the older Vienna Instruments Pro plugin. I should be able to get working while waiting for an update.
However, I’m still very confused as to why Cubase didn’t have the same issue. Same plugin, same audio engine etc.
I’m not a Cubase user but the Cubase forum does seem to have a few threads suggesting that M1 Macs are running Cubase 12 under Rosetta (Kind: Intel, shown in Activity Monitor) by default. See Cubase 12 in Rosetta only, even though Rosetta is switched off for instance. If you run Cubase 12 and take a look at Activity Monitor, does it show that Cubase is running as Kind: Intel?
If so, there’s your answer. Both Cubase 12 and Dorico 4 are universal - they can run natively on Apple silicon or under Rosetta - but in order to run non-native plugins they need to be running under Rosetta (and this is an Apple limitation rather than a Steinberg limitation - you’d find the same with Logic Pro or Pro Tools or any other DAW).
Yes it does. No wonder I was confused. Thanks for your help. At least I can get back to work in the hope that I don’t lose my motivation while waiting for everything to be updated.