There are still some Mac users who cling to 10.6.8*. The original install of Komplete 9 was 10.6.8 compatible. Not so with the latest updates being offered by Native Instruments. Attempts to install various titles will fail with a “Requires 10.7 or higher” prompt.
There are workarounds.
The first is for the plugins themselves. If you have a 10.7 or higher boot drive or partition, you can install them there and drag the plugins into the appropriate folders in your 10.6.8 boot drive. This works.
Unfortunately, simply dragging the Standalone versions will not work. Launching those will present you the “requires 10.7” prompt.
So, if you don’t have 10.7 or higher, here’s how.
You’ll need a copy of Pacifist. This is an app that will let you open a .pkg file and extract individual elements from it. It also shows you where the installer was set to install various folders and elements. Yes…you have to throw money at this, but Pacifist is one of those few "must have " apps for the Mac that you will never regret purchasing after you realize how incredibly handy it can be.
Rightclick any package element in Pacifist and choose Show Info to see the installers location tree for any given element.
Then, drag the various bits of package contents to the correct locations. The plugins should now be updated and should work in 10.6.8.
Not so for the Standalones. For those, do this:
Open the Standalone’s Contents package (right click file/Show Package Contents). Locate the Contents folder and open Info.plist with TextEdit…standard on all Macs.
Somewhere near the bottom of the file you’ll find a line that reads something like:
LSMinimumSystemVersion
10.7.0
Change the 10.7.0 to 10.6.8 and save the file. Close the package and launch the Standalone. You should be good to go.
You can do this to the VST plugins as well…but so far, it doesn’t seem necessary.
For those Reaktor packages that don’t have info.plist resource files (like Rammfire, Prism…etc) you’ll need to have Apple’s X-Code installed. With that you can open those .pkg files with “Flat Package Editor” and change the two “7.0” entries in the DIstribution text to “6.0”. First change all the .pkg Permissions to Read/Write. Then launch the .pkg file with Flat Package Editor and drag the Distribution file to the desktop, edit it in a text editor and save. Delete the Distribution file within Flat Package Editor using its internal Delete button and drag the edited version from the desktop back into the Flat Package Editor and save with “No Identity”.
I can only assume NI didn’t want to be bothered with testing 10.6.8 and just surreptitiously set the installers to do this. Nice of them not to provide any warning whatsoever about this change. Needless to say, I did this, everything is updated and works in 10.6.8. Of note, the Battery 4 Library installer is the only element that will install on its own in 10.6.8.
*I have a separate 10.6.8 boot drive to deal with older projects that won’t open in 10.8.5 or higher. This includes an install of SX3 needed for importing .ALLs & .ARRs.
A tip of the hat to Quantize for the .plist info.