Apple Silicon M1 Native Compatibility
shipped
Andrew Mason
shipped
It's here! Delete Descript and click here to download the new Apple Silicon version: https://www.descript.com/download
Andrew Mason
Hi everyone,
For the courageous among you, a beta release of Descript for Apple Silicon is now available! Keep in mind that you may run into unexpected issues. but I know Descript is currently unusable for many of you with an M1 so we wanted to get it out there ASAP.
Current known issues:
* 4k screen recordings don't work
* This is a beta build, so you'll want to keep your eye out for further updates when Apple Silicon is supported in the normal version of the app.
Please report any issues here or on our Discord!
Tim Scarfe
Andrew Mason: thanks for your efforts, this has been a huge issue for me. The beta runs OK but still pretty unresponsive on a large composition
Andrew Mason
Tim Scarfe: are you sure you fully quit normal Descript (from the menubar)? The icon should look like this. For further troubleshooting please stop by Discord and we can help you there.
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Jethro Jones
Andrew Mason: Thank you for your hard work. Downloaded it and immediately saw a difference in app load time, project load time, scrolling, and exporting. I get it's still beta, but excellent improvements that are immediately noticeable on my end. For some reason, struggling still with dragging clips in. Export of a 36 minute podcast was less than 2 minutes. That's good too!
Tim Scarfe
Andrew Mason: Yep, using the beta version. It's usable but much slower than on my PC. Export isn't super fast either. I have the MBP M1 Pro Max 64 GB. The video was choppy while it was downloading assets from the server, but then stopped
Tim Scarfe
Andrew Mason: Another thing which you guys should really fix now is that your rendering engine is always juicing the CPU -- even when the application is out of focus and idle. I've traditionally used Descript on a PC so it wasn't noticeable performance drain on a 16 core machine and the power consumption wasn't a concern -- but on a laptop this is killing the battery and needs to be fixed asap. Battery performance is really important. Edit, I also want to commend you guys on the M1 version -- I have been using it for a few days now and it's pretty solid overall. Great job!
Tim Scarfe
Also noticed a bug on MacOS where it doesn't show an icon in the bottom taskbar, you need to alt-tab to get it back
Tim Scarfe
Also noted that you are still using Intel version of FFMPEG, which means the transcoding on new media in and exporting is still really slow -- it's only utilising 100% of a single core (per file) on import, and no GPU optimisation at all. This needs to be fixed pretty urgently
I am thinking about a way of making it point to the system M1 ffmpeg which is about 5x faster, how about redirecting from the distributed package i.e.
cd /Applications/Descript\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/beamcoder/build/Release
mkdir backup
cp -p ffmpeg backup
mv ffmpeg save-ffmpeg
rm ffmpeg
ln -s /opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg ffmpeg
I note that there are 2 ffmpegs distributed in descript i.e. one in Electron and a standalone version (which the script above is targetting)
Marcello Bastéa-Forte
Tim Scarfe: ffmpeg is running natively on the M1 builds. I would try fully deleting your existing Descript Beta.app, rebooting to ensure nothing is leftover running in the background, and reinstalling from https://beta-web.descript.com/download?build=beta&platform=mac&arch=arm64 (this should be a newer 30.0.2 build from what was posted above)
If you want to get nerdy with it you can run this from the Terminal to see that it's arm64:
$ file /Applications/Descript\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/beamcoder/build/Release/ffmpeg
Tim Scarfe
Marcello Bastéa-Forte: Confirmed, thanks!
Andrew Mason
We're very close - have a working version on Apple Silicon, but it still has some playback bugs. Trying our best to get you folks something before the holiday break.
Jon Hyman
Andrew Mason: this is wonderful news, and confirms my faith in Descript as a product and a purchase. Cheers to y’all and happy holidays. Please know that your hard works is appreciated.
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Ruheene M Jaura
Andrew Mason: excited to see this, thanks so much!
Daniel
Andrew Mason: gratzi!!
Propane
Andrew Mason: best christmas present ever 🙌
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John Koetsier
Andrew Mason: huge
David Droogleever
Jon Hyman: Andrew Mason I second this! Makes me that much happier to support Descript! #wootwoot
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Laura Tucker
Andrew Mason: Thank you! I am looking forward to a much improved experience! 🎉
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Jethro Jones
Andrew Mason: amazing! Going to make my quiet time editing that much better. I’ve got dozens of podcasts in the editing queue!
Thank you for the hard work and the communication. It is greatly appreciated.
T
Tim Booz
Andrew Mason: thank you!
Nono Martínez Alonso
Great to hear, Andrew Mason! Thanks for keeping us up to date. ❤️
Jeffery Sayers
Andrew Mason: This will change everything! Thanks so much for prioritizing this.
Scott Snibbe
I could really use a fix to this too. Just upgraded to M1. Experienced purple screen of death hard crash on my M1 Mac multiple times when trying to play back. By Friday I was treading more lightly, never swapping out to other apps while editing, and was able to complete an episode late, but the Descript app performed very slowly, with multi second delays before playing after pressing play button.
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Jethro Jones
Kenneth Holden I've seen this too! I couldn't figure it out! Does it happen after you've used Descript to record computer audio? I think that has been the issue for me.
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Frantz Nelson
Jethro Jones: I have experienced the same scenario many times over the past weeks. Even on my intel iMac running Big Sur.
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Thomas Reintjes
Kenneth Holden I've had this issue too, but hadn't realized it's related to Descript! I found a way to restart the Mac's audio system without restarting the computer. Open Terminal and run "sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.apple.audio.coreaudiod" (without the quotes), then enter your Mac user account password.
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Kenneth Holden
Thomas Reintjes: excellent, thank you
Iwasn’t sure at firs,t I thought maybe it was to do the beta because I had the Monterey beta
But after a few days I began to discover a direct connection between Descript and the audio drivers
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Frantz Nelson
Thomas Reintjes: Thank you!
Andrew Mason
Merged in a post:
M1 Mac Feedback
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Kenneth Holden
24” M1 Mac top of the line.
Descript works mostly well without any major issues, yes of course the odd freeze and you have to restart for sure but it’s not chronic every five minutes, it’s sporadic.
The one thing that I have noticed that happens rather regularly, is that it seems to disable the sound drivers on my Mac and I have to literally restart my Mac in order to get sound drivers working again, this was the one anomaly that disrupted my workflow the most.
Other than that, I’ve been able to use it moderately well 90% of the time without any major disruption, except for the sound driver issue which occurs every few days.
I don’t know if this feedback helps or not but there you have it.
Thanks
J
Jeffery Sayers
Best news all day. Working in descript is miserable on my M1 MacBook. Exporting takes ages and it crashes every 5 minutes. This will change my work day DRASTICALLY. (says how helpful descript is that I still use it even with all the silicon stability issues)
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joanne jennings
Jeffery Sayers: We too have a love-hate relationship with Descript. The tools are incredible when they work, but when we are on deadline and the system fails, the consequences are drastic and maddening.
Andrew Mason
in development
FYI we're seeing lots of problems with some M1 machines, so we're prioritizing this and hope to have native support soon. Sorry for the inconvenience, stay tuned!
Lane Campbell
Andrew Mason: glad to see there is focus on supporting this new platform.
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Carrie Gillon
Andrew Mason: oh, now I see why I've been having issues. Seems to be worse the past few weeks, not sure why.
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Mark W Hanna
Andrew Mason: Good to know since I just spent $4400 on a 64GB / 2 TB M1 Pro Max --- Is the experience currently better if we use Dexcript within Parrallels??? Does this make a difference???
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Jethro Jones
Andrew Mason: So glad to hear this. I've been using a M1 MBA for the last year and just got the MBP M1 Pro and this will be really nice to have a native app. Sign me up for the beta when it comes!
Alexander Celeste
Andrew Mason: Awesome! Let me know if there is a beta, or when it is ready as a shipping app. Also, will it be an entirely separate download or will the current version be updated to be Universal?
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Ruheene M Jaura
Andrew Mason: so glad to see this, I've been reporting these issues since early July and was told for 3 months straight that it had nothing to do with my M1, and that I was the only one having issues. Appreciate the update.
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Laura Tucker
Andrew Mason: I’m hoping this is resolved soon. Will it be one major update, or is it a series of fixes with all the “new version” messages we receive?
Day One Coach
M1 is now a force to be reconned with...so glad this is now moving to Planned...
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