Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8 for Supported M-Audio Systems

System Requirements in Brief:

Detailed Compatibility & System Requirements for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)

New Power Mac G5 & iMac G5 Models & Mac OS X 10.4

Newer Apple computers ship with Mac OS 10.4.x "Tiger" pre installed. Compatibility with Mac OS 10.4.x with supported M-Audio devices requires Pro Tools M-Powered software version 6.8r2:

April 27 Power Mac G5 Models — Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) Only
Dual 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5 (third generation model M9747)
Dual 2.3 GHz Power Mac G5 (model M9748)
Dual 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5 (model M9749)

May 3 iMac G5 Models — Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) Only
1.8GHz 17-inch iMac G5 (second generation model M9843)
2.0GHz 17-inch iMac G5 (model M9844)
2.0GHz 20-inch iMac G5 (model M9845)

If you are on Mac OS 10.4.x "Tiger", please see the following section in the Digidesign Compatibility Documents:

M-Audio Hardware Supported by Pro Tools M-Powered Software

Product Information, Specs, Drivers:

Pro Tools M-Powered supports the use of any single supported M-Audio peripheral. Simultaneous use of multiple M-Audio peripherals is not supported.

Pro Tools M-Powered Software Compatibility

  • Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8 for Mac OS X and Windows XP
  • Pro Tools M-Powered software requires one of the above M-Audio hardware devices
  • Other audio interfaces from M-Audio, Digidesign, or other manufacturers will not work with Pro Tools M-Powered software

Authorization

  • A pre-authorized cross-platform (Mac/Win) red iLok USB hardware key is included with all Pro Tools M-Powered software purchases

Included and Optional Plug-Ins & Software

Optional Digidesign & M-Audio Hardware

Control Surfaces & MIDI Interfaces

Video Options

The following options are not available for Pro Tools M-Powered:

  • Support for DV Toolkit software
  • Support for DigiTranslator software
  • Support for Avid video peripherals

Maximum Performance Guidelines

  • Recording to the system startup drive is not recommended or supported
  • One or more separate internal or external dedicated audio hard drive(s) is highly recommended for maximum performance and track count. (see Hard Drive Minimum Requirements)
  • Although limited recording and playback of audio tracks may be possible using the internal drive in iBook, PowerBook, iMac, and Mac mini models, a separate external dedicated audio hard drive is highly recommended for maximum performance and track count. Digidesign recommends the use of FireWire drives for use with these computers.
  • Dual processor users will experience increased performance over single processor CPUs

Energy Saver Settings

Pro Tools Does Not Support Sleep Mode

In the Macintosh System Preferences, launch Energy Saver, click the Sleep tab, and disable all Sleep features. Set "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive" to Never. Do not manually put your computer to sleep when running Pro Tools.

Processor Performance & Power Mac G5

For optimal Pro Tools performance, you must set Processor Performance (located in System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options) to "Highest". Updating your Mac OS may reset this to the default setting: "Automatic". After updating your Mac OS, check to make sure this is set to "Highest".

Apple's Mac OS help documentation provides the following info on Energy Saver Processor settings:

  • The PowerPC G5 processor in your Power Mac G5 can run at various speeds. The default setting for this feature is "Automatic", which allows the system to run the processor at full speed when required, and at a lower speed during periods of light processing activity. Certain real-time applications, such as audio creation or gaming, may perform optimally when using the highest processor performance setting. You can change the processor performance setting in the Energy Saver pane of System Preferences.

Supported CPU Models, Speeds & Requirements

  • Power Mac G5 - all models except for the 3 new G5 models listed at the top of this page
  • iMac G5 - all models except for the 3 new iMac G5 models listed at the top of this page
  • Mac mini - all speeds
  • PowerBook G4 - 1 GHz and higher
  • iBook G4 - 933 MHz and higher
  • Power Mac G4 - 933 MHz and higher
  • iMac G4 - 1 GHz and higher

Not Tested:

  • eMac G4 (although not tested, there are no known differences in performance compared to iMac G4 with similar processor speeds)

System Software

  • Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8 is officially supported on Mac OS X 10.3.7 and 10.3.8 (Panther)
  • After updating your Mac OS, always run Disk Utility and "Repair Permissions" on the startup drive
  • Mac OS X 10.3.9 has not been fully tested with Pro Tools and is therefore not recommended
  • Earlier versions of Mac OS X have not been tested with Pro Tools M-Powered software
  • Mac OS X Requirements, Installation, Updating & Authorizing Plug-ins

Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" & Pro Tools M-Powered

The initial release of Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8 for Mac OS 10.3 "Panther" will not work with Mac OS 10.4.x "Tiger". A free compatibility update for Mac OS 10.4.x for Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8 owners with supported M-Audio devices is now available for download:

Total System RAM

  • 384 MB Minimum Required
  • 512 MB (or higher) Highly Recommended

RAM is dynamically allocated. OS X does not require minimum or preferred RAM settings for Pro Tools.

Additional Requirements

Monitor

  • Color monitor required
  • Minimum resolution of 1024 x 768
  • 14" minimum, 17" or larger recommended if using external monitor
  • PowerBook and iBook models with 12" and larger LCD screens supported
  • Dual monitors with standard dual monitor cards as shipped by Apple supported

QuickTime Required

  • Apple QuickTime 6.5 or higher
  • Included with supported Mac OS

Storage (Audio Drive) Requirements

Additional Information

Pro Tools M-Powered Information

Pro Tools LE & Pro Tools M-Powered Systems

Pro Tools LE software requires Digidesign hardware. Pro Tools M-Powered software requires M-Audio hardware. More Information:

Downloads

M-Audio Driver Updates

To download driver updates from the M-Audio website:

  1. Go to the Support-> Drivers section on the M-Audio website
  2. On the right, under Drivers Search, Select Product
  3. Check the box next to "Show Beta Drivers" to show all drivers
  4. Click SUBMIT

Delta 1010, 1010LT, 66, 44 Driver Update
May 19, 2005

FireWire 1814 OSX 1.5 Driver Update
April 25, 2005. M-Audio has posted a new driver that resolves a firmware update issue on Mac OS X with the FireWire 1814 only. To download:

  1. Go to the Support-> Drivers section on the M-Audio website
  2. On the right, under Drivers Search, Select Product -> FireWire 1814
  3. Click SUBMIT
  4. Download the file FireWire_OSX_1.5.dmg

Note: Even though the download information says "This release was tested on OS 10.3.7, 10.3.8 and 10.3.9", Digidesign recommends that all M-Powered owners remain on Mac OS X version 10.3.7 or 10.3.8 for compatibility with Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8.

Download Documentation

For more information, see Getting Started with Pro Tools M-Powered, M-Powered Basics Guide, and other Pro Tools documents in the Support > Tech Support > Technical Document Library and included with Pro Tools M-Powered software.