Apple is expected to end Rosetta 2 support after macOS Tahoe. A huge chunk of the plugin ecosystem still relies on Rosetta to run inside our DAWs, and once that translation layer is gone, those plugins are simply dead on any newer OS.

So what do we actually do here? Is the plan just to stay on Tahoe forever and hope for the best?

Would love to know how people are thinking about it.

 

I wouldn't worry about it 1 bit. What are these Intel plugins you can't replace with either an ARM version, or a different plugin?

Obviously that will be almost entirely [k]d stuff, or abandonware. You could leave the machine you have on Tahoe or even older MacOS.
You could buy a desk big enough to hold a second Mini that can still use Rosetta2 and an ethernet cable. You could Run Parallels Desktop or other VM for just intel plugins.

The easy answer and one I would plan on would be to just go all ARM plugins and not run anything via Rosetta2. Many people have already done that.

 

I would have to go through my system and see if there’s anything I would have an update for that’s compatible with Apple silicon and if there’s anything not compatible, but it might just be “if it’s not 64 bit it’s not going past Tahoe” and I probably have everything as a universal binary (unfattened but would still have universal installation)… anything missing the jump beyond is probably just staying on windows for me

 

MacOS 26 is Tahoe. 27 will be next year and still have Rosetta2. So 28 will be the first version with limited Rosetta2 support.
Here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102527

So two operating systems from now you will have to "worry about it" or make some plans. But what programs are you going to be running 2 years from now which have still not been updated to ARM versions? They will be from basically dead developers, or those plugins you do not have new updates to because they are cracked. If something like that is a problem, you may have to actually buy some stuff that you will have been using as Intel plugins for another 2 years more. That is pushing "try before buy" a little far. If there are new versions, maybe some Team will make a ARM release of them.

And that is the doom and gloom scenario. A more likely one is you will either not even use Intel plugins or you will just figure out some other way to run your DAW completely Native-only. This will ultimately be a complete non-issue.