Sharing Projects between MacBook Pro and iMac

I have an iMac (which is my main computer) and a MacBook Pro. Both have the most recent version of Logic running on Catalina. In both, Logic has the full sound library downloaded to the internal disk. I will be away from my iMac for awhile and I want to be able to create projects on the MacBook that the iMac will then be able to read. I will save all assets with the project as a folder.

So far, do you see any problems with this, or things to be careful of?

Now the second step. I also use Native Instruments Komplete 13 as a third party plug-in with its instruments. On the iMac, all of this is installed on the internal drive. On the MacBook, I might be able to do the same, or i might not have enough space (I have 500GB on the MacBook.) If I DO have enough space to install Komplete on the MacBook internal drive, then I think there will be no problem with the iMac reading the project saved on the MacBook. (Is this right?) BUT if I need to run Komplete from an external drive on the MacBook, will the iMac still be able to find the instruments (even though the path to them will be different than it was on the MacBook)? Or will it not work or even crash the program when opening on the iMac?

I think that the main concern would be with the NI libraries...

How about moving them to an external drive that both computer could share?

Can't move the NI library to external on the iMac without messing up the path for all of my previously created projects. I think what I need to know to start is what would happen if I put the NI library on external on the MacBook and left it where it is (on the internal disk) on the iMac. Would the program crash when the MacBook-created project was loaded, or just not load those instruments? If the latter, would Logic allow me to the then direct it to the right instrument on the iMac's internal disk? If none of that works, another solution MIGHT be to simply attach the SAME external disk with the NI instruments used on the MacBook to the iMac when i get home. That SEEMS like it would be foolproof and (maybe) easy bc the paths to the instruments used in the MacBook-created project would still be valid. Or would they?

No you won't be OK. Any moving of NI libraries WILL entail you having to use Native Access installed on your system, then going online, Logging in and navigating the various options to alter the pathways there. Also there is a limit to how many computers you can have NI products installed on, and you need to have your second computer set up to do this. From what I understand, you have to have certain things (Apps etc) installed on that second computer. You cant just copy files and then expect them to work.

 

I've just been researching all this (I'm keen on taking advantage of the 50% off sale til the end of June,) and its quite a convoluted process and many people on NI forums are having trouble getting things installed.

Native Access is a pain, but it's not that hard to use. There's literally a RELOCATE ALL button to point Native Access to the new location, and global path navigation in the preferences. Yes, the plugins themselves have to be installed on each computer—it's fairly common sense when you think about it—but the libraries don't.

 

I'm not 100% on this because I only briefly had two computers set up with it, but I'm 90% sure that on each computer the AU you're using should know where to find its respective library, as that is looked up through Native Access, not stored as some preference tied to your MIDI region or whatever.

 

In any case, nothing world-ending would happen with a mislocation. An alert would simply pop up telling you, "hey, I can't find these samples, what do you want me to do about it?" and you'd respond accordingly. But as a matter of data efficiency (as opposed to workflow efficiency), with an iMac/MBP combo I'd keep only one copy of the library on an external SSD and connect it to whichever computer I'm using at the time.

NI allows you to access one external drive from 2 computers but doesn't recommend it if the 2 computers are Windows and MacOS which won't affect your scenario.

NI allows you to access one external drive from 2 computers but doesn't recommend it if the 2 computers are Windows and MacOS which won't affect your scenario.

 

Worth noting that that's not advisable in any circumstance anyway, due to opposing disk formats.

@lookatthisguy - if by "any" you mean in a Logic setting then yes, but ExFat caters for both platforms in other circumstances.