Software Installation & Configuration

Version-pinned software installation guide for the Multi-Camera Livestream Framework.

Last Updated: Version: 1.0.0

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. System Requirements
  3. Version Pinning
  4. Installation Guide
  5. Configuration Files
  6. Updates & Maintenance

Overview

This document provides the definitive software installation guide for the Multi-Camera Livestream Framework. All software versions are pinned for reproducibility—do not upgrade without testing in a non-production environment.

Software Stack

Category Software Purpose
Video Mixing OBS Studio Main production switcher
Audio Mixing Ableton Live DAW, Dante clock master
Audio Network Dante Controller Dante routing
Video Capture Desktop Video DeckLink drivers
Audio Interface MOTU Drivers MOTU 8PRE-ES support
Graphics Blender (optional) Real-time graphics

System Requirements

Hardware Requirements

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Apple M1 Apple M1 Pro/Max/Ultra
RAM 32GB 64GB+
Storage 512GB SSD 1TB+ NVMe
GPU Integrated Dedicated (via TB)
Network Gigabit Ethernet 10GbE for heavy NDI

macOS Requirements

Requirement Version
macOS 13.0+ (Ventura)
Recommended 14.x (Sonoma)
Pinned Version 14.2.1

⚠️ Do not upgrade macOS without verifying driver compatibility.

Version Pinning

Current Pinned Versions

These versions are tested and known to work together:

Software Version Release Date Download
macOS 14.2.1 Dec 2023 System Update
OBS Studio 29.1.3 Aug 2023 GitHub
Ableton Live 12.0.10 Ableton Account
Dante Controller 4.5.3 Audinate
Desktop Video 13.2 (arm64) Blackmagic
MOTU Drivers 2.23.5 MOTU
NDI Tools 5.5.x NDI
Blender 4.0.x Blender

Version Lock File

Create a version lock file for automated verification:

# software/VERSION_LOCK
MACOS_VERSION=14.2.1
OBS_VERSION=29.1.3
ABLETON_VERSION=12.0.10
DANTE_CONTROLLER_VERSION=4.5.3
DECKLINK_DRIVER_VERSION=13.2
MOTU_DRIVER_VERSION=2.23.5

Installation Guide

1. macOS Preparation

# Check current macOS version
sw_vers -productVersion

# Disable automatic updates (prevent unexpected changes)
sudo softwareupdate --set-auto-update-check off

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# For Apple Silicon, add to PATH
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

3. Install OBS Studio

Option A: Direct Download (Recommended for version pinning)

  1. Download OBS 29.1.3 from GitHub Releases
  2. Choose obs-studio-29.1.3-macos-arm64.dmg
  3. Mount DMG and drag to Applications

Option B: Homebrew

# Note: This installs latest, not pinned version
brew install --cask obs

Post-install:

# Verify installation
ls -la /Applications/OBS.app

4. Install Ableton Live

  1. Log into Ableton Account
  2. Download Ableton Live 12.0.10 installer
  3. Run installer
  4. Authorize using your license

Configuration:

  • Preferences → Audio → Driver: CoreAudio
  • Preferences → Audio → Device: Dante Virtual Soundcard (or MOTU)

5. Install Dante Controller

  1. Create account at Audinate
  2. Download Dante Controller 4.5.3 for macOS
  3. Install the package
  4. Grant necessary permissions (System Preferences → Privacy)

6. Install Blackmagic Desktop Video

  1. Download from Blackmagic Support
  2. Select “Desktop Video” for your DeckLink card
  3. Download version 13.2 (arm64)
  4. Install (requires restart)

Verify:

system_profiler SPPCIDataType | grep -i blackmagic

7. Install MOTU Drivers

  1. Download from MOTU Downloads
  2. Select “MOTU Pro Audio Installer” for macOS
  3. Version: 2.23.5
  4. Install and restart

Verify:

ls /Library/PreferencePanes/ | grep -i motu

8. Install NDI Tools (Optional)

  1. Download from NDI Tools
  2. Install NDI Tools package
  3. Install OBS NDI Plugin separately:

9. Install Blender (Optional)

# Via Homebrew
brew install --cask blender

# Or direct download from blender.org

Configuration Files

Directory Structure

software/configs/
├── obs/
│   ├── basic/
│   │   ├── profiles/
│   │   │   └── Livestream/
│   │   │       └── basic.ini
│   │   └── scenes/
│   │       └── Livestream.json
│   └── plugin_config/
├── ableton/
│   └── templates/
│       └── Livestream-Template.als
├── dante/
│   └── routing-preset.xml
└── blender/
    └── overlays/

OBS Configuration Location

macOS default:

~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/

Ableton Configuration Location

macOS default:

~/Library/Preferences/Ableton/
~/Music/Ableton/User Library/

Backing Up Configurations

# Backup script (add to cron or run manually)
BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/Backups/streaming-configs-$(date +%Y%m%d)"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# OBS
cp -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/obs-studio/ "$BACKUP_DIR/obs-studio/"

# Ableton (preferences only)
cp -r ~/Library/Preferences/Ableton/ "$BACKUP_DIR/ableton-prefs/"

Updates & Maintenance

Update Policy

  1. Never update software on show day
  2. Test updates in non-production environment first
  3. Document any version changes in CHANGELOG.md
  4. Update VERSION_LOCK file after successful testing

Checking for Updates

# Homebrew packages
brew outdated

# Check OBS version
/Applications/OBS.app/Contents/MacOS/OBS --version

# Check macOS version
sw_vers

Rollback Procedure

If an update causes issues:

  1. OBS: Keep previous DMG, reinstall older version
  2. Ableton: Download older version from Ableton account
  3. Drivers: Keep installer packages, reinstall from archive
  4. macOS: Use Time Machine or APFS snapshot

Creating a System Snapshot

Before major updates:

# Create APFS snapshot (requires admin)
sudo tmutil localsnapshot

# List snapshots
tmutil listlocalsnapshots /

Verification Script

Run after installation to verify setup:

# software/scripts/setup-macos.sh handles this
./software/scripts/setup-macos.sh

Manual Verification

# macOS version
sw_vers -productVersion

# OBS installed
ls /Applications/OBS.app

# Ableton installed
ls /Applications/Ableton\ Live*

# Dante Controller
ls /Applications/Dante\ Controller.app

# DeckLink driver
kextstat | grep blackmagic || systemextensionsctl list | grep blackmagic

# MOTU driver
ls /Library/PreferencePanes/ | grep -i motu

See Also

Document maintained by Multi-Camera Livestream Framework team