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Spat5.sfrecord~ problem writing to external hard disc

Spat
#1

I have experienced the following problem with spat5.sfrecord~ for a while, and guessed it was just something simple to solve concerning permissions. But now I dig deeper I can’t fix it:

When I write to my internal hard disc, it’s fine.
When I try to write to any of my external discs I get this error:
“spat5.sfrecord~: Could not open file “/file.wav”. Unsupported format?”

sfrecord~ works fine writing to any discs, and any format (But I don’t want to use sfrecord~).

OS 15.6.1.

So, what I have missed?

Thanks!

#2

Hi Natasha,

This problem had never been reported !
After a quick test with my external hard disk, this actually looks like a (macOS) permission issue.

When Max does not have permission to access “external volumes”, I get the same error message than you (which, admittedly is very confusing. I’ll see if I can improve that).
When this permission is granted the files are properly written on the external hard drive.

Option #1
Go to macOS System Settings. Then “Confidentiality & Security”. Then “Files and Folders”.
Enable “access to external volumes” for the Max application. If necessary restart Max.

Curious note: On my computer, I have both Max8 and Max9 installed. In the macOS System Settings, only Max9 appears, and its setting impacts permissions for both Max8 and Max9.

Option #2
Totally reset the permissions granted to Max.
Quit Max.
In a Terminal, type:
tccutil reset All com.cycling74.Max
Restart Max.
Send a message like “/open /Volume/MY_EXTERNAL_HARD_DRIVE/test.wav” to spat5.sfrecord~. A dialog should now ask you to allow access to the external drive.

Both options worked fine on my system. Let us know if that solves the problem on your side.

Cheers,
T.

#3

Hi T, thanks for the reply.

I have tried all this to no avail:

Max 9 is only listed in the security preferences.
It only show internal volumes, not the removeable volumes option.
Full Disk Access doesn’t solve the problem.

So I remove Max 9. Max 8 now shows up in the security preferences.
Again, no removeable volumes option and Full Disk Access doesn’t solve the problem.

Notes that Max’s own sfrecord~ works, but not spat5.sfrecord~

Then I test on a different computer where I had not installed max9. It still works fine!!

So Max9 seems to have done something mysterious to the security preferences effecting only Spat5. Removing Max9 didn’t help, and maybe there is a library or similar file I missed (there is no deinstall with Max 9 that I can see).

I then downloaded and reinstalled a fresh Spat5. Still no change.

However: “/open /Volume/MY_EXTERNAL_HARD_DRIVE/test.wav” to spat5.sfrecord~ does in fact work! But I do not get a dialogue asking to access the external volume, even though the file is recording now to the external volume. But if I then send “/open” to spat5.sfrecord~ the error message pops up again. The same is true for both Max8 and Max9.

So sending the full path is a work around, but maybe points to something else weird with permissions?

Natasha

#4

Hi T!

After installing the latest Spat5 I find that I have the same external disc write error as in September 2025 “spat5.sfrecord~: Error writing file …”. This is only with Max9 and not Max8.

I do wonder if it’s something to do with that I have two copies of Max9. I run these at the same time for CPU / GPU optimisation in some situations, but in this instance only have one copy open when using spat5.sfrecord~. After your fix last year, I didn’t have the problem with Max8 (same setup with two copies). I don’t experience the problem with the normal sfrecord~ in Max9

If I specify the full path then it works, so its rather a minor inconvenience, but would be great to have a fix if you have time :smiley:

#5

Hi Natasha,

Are you confident that both Max8 and Max9 points to the latest version of Spat ?
(Send the “/post/version” to the object, or use “File/List Externals and Subpatchers files” to verify)

Supposedly there should be no discrepancy between Max 8 and 9, plus I dont think I changed anything in that territory since my initial fix.
Also I believe that running multiple instances of Max should not be a problem.

Best,
T.

#6

Ah ha! Indeed. Paths reset and all good. Thanks!

Natasha