I've found a MacOS Sierra FIX!

  • Okay I've found a fix! weirdly enough I can get the Virus TI to work when I disable MacOS's SIP (System Integrity Protection)
    This can be done by rebooting your mac into Recovery Mode pressing command+R. Then open terminal, type: csrutil disable; reboot. Your Mac will boot back into Mac OS with the SIP turned off. Now when you open the TI interface and the plugin it works!
    Not a perfect solution but it may explain why the interface between the Virus and the plugin does not work in Mac OS Sierra. Apple has introduced SIP in Mac OS 10.12 to prevent people from manually changing system files. The Virus software is probably changing or rewriting system files every time you use it, but since SIP has been introduced it no longer has the permission to do so..

  • OMFG that works. I love you.


    Major, major lols @ the Virus not working due to Apples's new Antivirus.


    Looking forward to a proper driver being shipped so I can turn that feature back on though, sort it out Access.

  • I've looked a little closer ... the issue doesn't seem to be with system files that can't be written.
    It's rather that the driver's signature can't be verified anymore ("ERROR: invalid signature for de.access-music.virus_ti.driver.audio, will not load"), and so SIP prevents it from loading... (*)


    I haven't tested yet but I'm pretty sure that in this case, instead of "csrutil disable" in your solution, you can use "csrutil enable --without kext"
    This should be enough to make it work and is slightly safer for your Mac, as it will not disable all security systems but only the "kext integrity" one which is causing the problem (still not ideal, but hey...)


    (*) BTW this MIGHT mean that the fix for the developer is really just a matter of getting a new Developer Certificate, building the driver again and signing it, which requires zero code changes and is a <1 hour job... Ok, there is a small chance that the driver is fine, and there's a bug with signature checking in Sierra that only Apple can fix... but let's be serious : my money is 80% on the former (which of course should make everyone very angry, because if this is indeed the problem, then it could have been addressed since June...... X( )

  • Fascinating... with all your cleverness, education and skill level, how keen you are to condemn Access and cast the first stone...


    With 20+ years experience in SW development, I can tell you it's always these "< 1h" jobs that turn out to be a huge headache. It may be a 1 hour job if you know exactly what to do. But what if not. What if there are problems. And even if you get it done within an hour, there's still the whole build process, testing, packaging, publishing. And all of a sudden you face weeks of unplanned work load.


    If the fix is actually to switch off signature checks, then this could (and should) have been announced by the manufacturer. But maybe that's just the surface...

    Bass Player and Synthesist.
    Virus TI2 Darkstar | Virus TI2 Desktop | Sub 37 | Voyager RME | Machinedrum | Analog Four | Digitone | MPC Live | NI Maschine+
    Mac OS 13.5.1 (Ventura) | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | Logic 10.4 | MainStage 3.4 | NI Komplete Ultimate 13 | RME Fireface UFX+

  • I've looked a little closer ... the issue doesn't seem to be with system files that can't be written.
    It's rather that the driver's signature can't be verified anymore ("ERROR: invalid signature for de.access-music.virus_ti.driver.audio, will not load"), and so SIP prevents it from loading... (*)


    I haven't tested yet but I'm pretty sure that in this case, instead of "csrutil disable" in your solution, you can use "csrutil enable --without kext"
    This should be enough to make it work and is slightly safer for your Mac, as it will not disable all security systems but only the "kext integrity" one which is causing the problem (still not ideal, but hey...)


    (*) BTW this MIGHT mean that the fix for the developer is really just a matter of getting a new Developer Certificate, building the driver again and signing it, which requires zero code changes and is a <1 hour job... Ok, there is a small chance that the driver is fine, and there's a bug with signature checking in Sierra that only Apple can fix... but let's be serious : my money is 80% on the former (which of course should make everyone very angry, because if this is indeed the problem, then it could have been addressed since June...... X( )


    I can confirm csrutil enable --without kext does not work either.


    I am by no means a programmer but if it's as simple as you say it is, It's just ridiculous that this problem isn't adressed earlier. They had 3 months before the launch of Sierra! and they can't expect people to not update either. what about new Macs then?? having to downgrade to a former OS isn't exactly Plug'n'Play is it?? Acces, get your shit together!!!! X(

  • Fascinating... with all your cleverness, education and skill level, how keen you are to condemn Access and cast the first stone...


    With 20+ years experience in SW development, I can tell you it's always these "< 1h" jobs that turn out to be a huge headache. It may be a 1 hour job if you know exactly what to do. But what if not. What if there are problems. And even if you get it done within an hour, there's still the whole build process, testing, packaging, publishing. And all of a sudden you face weeks of unplanned work load.


    If the fix is actually to switch off signature checks, then this could (and should) have been announced by the manufacturer. But maybe that's just the surface...


    I have a similar level of SW dev experience (although not first hand on Apple platforms) and you have a point of course, maybe that's just the surface : this is why I didn't want to jump to conclusions and I said "this MIGHT mean".


    However, we have two people here (skittb123 who found the workaround, and wascal) who are saying that disabling signature checks seem to be enough to restore full functionality.


    It may well mean that this is the only issue, and if that is true then I'm sure you'll agree that doing a new build and signing it with whatever new type of certificate is required for Sierra, sounds like a 1 hour job (excluding any further testing / QA). And even if it turns out to really be a 1 month job, my point is that there was plenty of time since June to do it.


    Unless of course, this is an Apple bug around kext signatures that only they can fix (a good clue that it might be the case here is that kext signing certificates are not new : they were introduced with Yosemite, so the current driver for El Capitan should already have that). In that case of course, Access or Ploytech are not to blame at all, Apple is.


    My money is still on the first scenario though... :/

  • Updated to Sierra and i can confirm that it really does work :)
    This should give the staff at Access some breathing space for the official driver.


    I really don't understand some people here crying like little babies and moaning towards Mark and the other Access Staff members.


    So in my opinion :
    Either update to Sierra and disable SIP and enjoy your Virus to the fullest.
    Or
    Have patience and give the Access team some times to have the company come back to them for the official driver and use the Mystery Island Editor instead.


    Anyway the disable SIP works flawlessly and i tested it with my Polar TI - Snow and my TI2 Desktop all day long.

  • Zitat von Stache


    This should give the staff at Access some breathing space for the official driver.


    It should yes, and I'm happy we now have this workaround.
    But you know what, the real breathing space is called "macOS beta testing period" and it's from June to September each year.
    Some of us are angry that (as far as we have been told) this hasn't been taken advantage of to avoid the whole mess, and a user had to find and provide this workaround.


    Zitat von Stache

    I really don't understand some people here crying like little babies and moaning towards Mark and the other Access Staff members.


    You don't understand because you don't seem to realise what disabling SIP does. It's like driving your Mac without a safety belt.
    The procedure is also not easy for complete novices to do (and people will 100% forget to switch it back on later), which is probably why Access isn't mentioning it.


    Finally, because you are the 3rd person here to confirm that everything works fine with SIP disabled, it means that there is only a signature problem, which means almost zero code changes required from Access or their supplier.
    Unless Apple currently has a serious bug with driver signatures in Sierra (not impossible, but unlikely because a lot more hardware would be affected and you would hear about it), then I reasonably believe that getting a new certificate and signing the existing code with no other changes at all, is at most a half-day's job for a developer. Is someone on holiday or in the hospital ?

  • Well in my opinion a lot of people can complain this and that about Access, but most of these people seem to forget that Access has always provided a support for the virus that was second to none.
    This from day 1 back in 1997.
    And once the Virus TI hit the market back in mid 2000 the support and growth has been amazing for this unit.
    Take note that most hardware music oriented material drops in support after 2 or 3 years, this is a hard fact except for a small select few companies.
    Then more important, is that really most people here think Access (Kemper) is a giant company, and this is not correct as it's a company that is not huge but is very demanding on quality of the products they develop and construct.
    So when development and construction for one or more of their products has to be done to supply the retailers (their Amp or the Virus) ; this then is in my opinion always priority number one as smaller companies stand or fall by their sales, no sales would mean no Access anymore and then really no solutions in time.
    As you might have noticed Access is still selling a lot of Virus units, and the demand is not really going down as some really think.
    I follow a lot about synths and sales for it all over the internet and i can tell you that even the Snow is still very popular and people still want it.


    I do realize very well what SIP is and does.
    But like most serious studio geeks that work full time in the studio we all use a Mac/PC that i uniquely used for the music and is not even really connected to the internet most of the time.
    So disabling SIP is really not a concern for me and for some others.


    Carry on !
    I'm back in my studio, enjoying my TI's on Sierra.


  • Unless Apple currently has a serious bug with driver signatures in Sierra (not impossible, but unlikely because a lot more hardware would be affected and you would hear about it)


    May I suggest you read this:
    https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/65232


    Seems like random USB drivers don't work anymore with Sierra.
    Enjoy!

    Bass Player and Synthesist.
    Virus TI2 Darkstar | Virus TI2 Desktop | Sub 37 | Voyager RME | Machinedrum | Analog Four | Digitone | MPC Live | NI Maschine+
    Mac OS 13.5.1 (Ventura) | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | Logic 10.4 | MainStage 3.4 | NI Komplete Ultimate 13 | RME Fireface UFX+


  • Completely agree with you here. Don't get me wrong, I love Access and realise they are a small shop.


    Just pointing out that this mentality of "let's not hurry testing with the new OS, our clients don't upgrade anyway" that is prevalent in the audio world, is disappointing when Apple gives developers an easy opportunity to test and solve problems more quickly.



    That is cool, but not everyone has both the luxury of a dedicated studio machine, AND the knowledge to disable system stuff like this :)

  • May I suggest you read this:
    https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/65232


    Seems like random USB drivers don't work anymore with Sierra.
    Enjoy!


    Doesn't really seem to apply to our problem.
    But after reading your post, I did a bit of searching , and I'll bet my limited edition Whiteout TI2 Keyboard that THIS is the issue : :)
    https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/50380


    And indeed, the Virus driver has exactly the problematic layout they describe :


    Code
    $ file /Library/Extensions/AccessVirusTI.kext/Contents/MacOS/AccessVirusTI
    /Library/Extensions/AccessVirusTI.kext/Contents/MacOS/AccessVirusTI: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures: [x86_64: Mach-O 64-bit kext bundle x86_64] [i386: Mach-O object i386]
    /Library/Extensions/AccessVirusTI.kext/Contents/MacOS/AccessVirusTI (for architecture x86_64):    Mach-O 64-bit kext bundle x86_64
    /Library/Extensions/AccessVirusTI.kext/Contents/MacOS/AccessVirusTI (for architecture i386):    Mach-O object i386


    Which confirms that this is at most a one day job to fix.
    (Don't want to push the envelope too much, but look at the date of the Apple forum describing the fix : June 28th... )