Annoying Mac issue with Audio Unit (AU) plugins on Big Sur

October 3, 2021 7:55 AM

I've got some old Audio Unit plugins that GarageBand and Audacity (among others) have a problem with. I get "Registry error Please ensure this product has been installed properly" whenever I start GarageBand but I have no idea which plugin it's complaining about.

I had a disk failure and upgraded to an SSD. The shop installed Big Sur, which I had deferred upgrading to from Mojave due to the loss of 32-bit support. Now I get 20+ of these messages whenever I start GarageBand. I know it's likely one of the older plugins but it's certainly not all of them. I can't find a log file for GarageBand or anything related to audio. Am I stuck doing a one-by-one with each plugin and counting the number of errors to see if it decreases?

posted by tommasz to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

One thing you could try is under the Apple menu, go to About this Mac and select System Report. What shows up in the Legacy Software category? In theory, that should identify any lingering 32-bit stuff.
posted by emelenjr at 9:39 AM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

You can get an app called 32-bitCheck and scan your Audio Plugins folders

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins

and it will produce a list of the offenders.

for example, I have a lot of old cruft in my /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins so it reports:

Listing of all bundles which are 32-bit only in the folder /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins:

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/CamelCrusher.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/CamelPhat.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/CamelSpace.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/KingDubby.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/KingDubby.component/Contents/Resources/KingDubbyXCocoaView.bundle
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/PODFarm.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Zimple-Gate.component
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Zimple-Gate.component/Contents/Resources/CocoaViewFactory.bundle
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/CamelCrusher.vst
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/CamelPhat.vst
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/CamelSpace.vst
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Line 6/POD Farm.vst

Found 12 bundles which are 32-bit only, out of 17 scanned in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins (including Mach-O files)
Checked at 2021 October 3, Sunday at 10:47:25 Mountain Daylight Time
posted by FungusCassetteBicker at 9:50 AM on October 3, 2021

Response by poster: I ran 32-bitCheck, 32-bit doesn't seem to be the issue - I've got 50 32-bit plugins but only get 33 errors in GarageBand. I also tried ArchiChect and quarantine, signature, and notarized don't seem to matter, either. I don't know what else it could be.
posted by tommasz at 11:07 AM on October 3, 2021

cut / paste the components to another folder then start GB - copy 1 back in - rinse repeat ?
posted by burr1545 at 12:49 PM on October 3, 2021

Best answer: burr1545: "cut / paste the components to another folder then start GB - copy 1 back in - rinse repeat ?"

Do this but using Binary Search: put half in another folder. If it still doesn't work the problem is in the remaining half. If it does, the remaining are OK. Divide the bad 50% into 25%+25%, put one 25% in, leave the other out. Repeat until you narrow down to the offender.
posted by signal at 6:24 AM on October 4, 2021 [2 favorites]