Approaching Halloween I had a gig lined up and my 2017 MacBook Pro 13 was fading fast (needing a THIRD keyboard and second USB ports replacement) and I needed to bit the bullet and get a new MacBook. I had no desire to upgrade the OS, didn't realize the Monterey was released and was the only option on the new MacBooks (my bad), and I bought a 2021 MacBook Pro 16.
Everything was looking good until I needed audio output from my XDJ-XZ. No dice, and no way to roll back the OS to Big Sur or earlier. Luckily I had time to load my event specific tracks to a flash drive and work standalone. My question is simple; when will Pioneer supply updated drivers for my $2500 and currently non-functional controller, or at least acknowledge the problem and give some kind of roadmap regarding the problem.
I saw elsewhere in this forum a similar problem was posted, to which Pioneer replied with a vague and unhelpful link to a post telling the poster not to upgrade. Unfortunately this is not an option for many of us. I, for one, didn't upgrade, I was stuck with buying a new laptop with Monterey pre-installed. Similarly, another user posted that he was forced to upgrade because of work concerns, and received a similar response. I find the following comment from a user and response from Pioneer very telling as to Pioneer's attitude towards its customers and responsibilities.
"@Pioneer
Did you know that Apple releases beta versions of their OS so you can do testing before the official release? Tons of other software companies are able to make sure their software works with the OS upon release...why not you?"
Response from Pioneer:
"Yes, fully aware, but also aware that Apple can make changes at the last minute which break things, as has occurred in past. Thank you for your patience in understanding that we prefer to wait until after the official release to validate our products."
That response totally ignores the point made: "Tons of other software companies are able to make sure their software works with the OS upon release...why not you?", or worse, answers it with "Because it's not worth the effort, thanks for understanding."
Pioneer clearly sees no need to take the steps that virtually all vendors caught in the Appleverse take, that is to track in advance Apple's changes, knowing that there will be times this leads to efforts which are undone later. In a situation where Apple is the dog and the vendors are the tail (and this is surely one such), the term for those lost development hours is "cost of doing business".
Pioneer make what is arguably some of the highest quality DJ hardware out there, and Rekordbox is, at its core, the most internally functional and architecurally sophisticated DJ software available, but that is not going to last forever. Pioneer's reponses on so many issues shows an arrogance attitude towards its customer base that speaks volumes.
Yes, development resources always fall short of what is needed, and yes, Pioneer will always have to triage and prioritize development issues. Users can and do understand that. But at least adjust the tone; at some point the smugness and lack of concern for customer issuse will come back to bite. Just ask Bill Gates.
Sorry, I'm not in a position to have a long discussion about the how/why, and you already know the answer is "No, sorry, thank you for your patience."
This isn't being smug, it's just all the information I have at this time.
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