Stop GarageBand from downloading "essential sound files"! 🤬

[usagora]

EDIT: Workaround solution (until Apple fixes this) is found in post 25

The other day I deleted a bunch of extraneous files that I do not need, including the so-called GarageBand "Essential Sounds" (about 2GB). But, unfortunately, I discovered another facepalm Apple developer decision/oversight just now when I went to use GarageBand to edit an existing audio track. Upon launching, without asking, it starts to download the Essential Sounds again and there is no option to "do not download" - you can only pause it and it will pick up again the next time you launch GarageBand. This is absolutely asinine. Is there a terminal command that will stop GarageBand from checking if the Essential Sounds library is there? I simply can't believe this is not a UI preferences option.

 

[BrianBaughn]

The word "essential" is your enemy here. The question I have is: if they're essential why aren't they installed with the app?

Perhaps someone actually knows a workaround of some kind and hopefully they'll post it.

Anyway, I'd suggest finding another way to edit audio…and the answer to that probably depends on what you're trying to do.

 

[usagora]

The word "essential" is your enemy here. The question I have is: if they're essential why aren't they installed with the app?

Perhaps someone actually knows a workaround of some kind and hopefully they'll post it.

Anyway, I'd suggest finding another way to edit audio…and the answer to that probably depends on what you're trying to do.

Not really, because if they meant that literally you wouldn't have an option not to use the app without them installed. They obviously are using "essential" in the sense of "basic" or "fundamental", but that's only if you're wanting to use loops or MIDI in GarageBand, which I don't. As you can see from the screenshot, they clearly state the program is useable without them.

Obviously it's not the end of the world to cancel the download every time I launch GarageBand, but it's ridiculous that the developers didn't think of such a basic thing. The most logical thing would be a dialogue that says,

"In order to use some features of this app, GarageBand needs to download Essential Sounds. Would you like to download these now? You can always do so later by choosing GarageBand > Sound Library > Download Essential Sounds"

and then have a checkbox that says "do not show this again".

Sending feedback to Apple now, and hopefully someone knows of a way to nix this behavior using Terminal until Apple fixes this.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Yeah it's a goof up. What dialog comes up if you're disconnected from the internet (or blocking the attempt using something like Little Snitch or Lulu)?

 

[Graham Caracas]

Essential Sounds is obviously part of the app. Allow it to download and your little peeve goes away. If you can't spare 2gb, delete more "extraneous files".

 

[usagora]

Essential Sounds is obviously part of the app. Allow it to download and your little peeve goes away. If you can't spare 2gb, delete more "extraneous files".

As BrianBaughn pointed out, if it were literally "essential" they would require them to be downloaded and installed before you could use the app. Obviously it's not required as I can use GarageBand without it, as GarageBand does more than work with loops and MIDI. Surely you're not going to argue that the developers made a logical decision to NOT allow the user to prevent this download from attempting automatically repeatedly are you? Allowing it to download most certainly does not make my "little peeve" go away, because the fact that it's trying to download in the first place IS my "little peeve". I've already deleted all other extraneous files, these are the only ones that macOS decides to try to force back on me.

 

[usagora]

Yeah it's a goof up. What dialog comes up if you're disconnected from the internet (or blocking the attempt using something like Little Snitch or Lulu)?

If no internet:

But of course I shouldn't have to shut down my Internet to launch GarageBand without it trying to download files, especially since I'm often streaming something or downloading something in other apps at the time.

 

[bogdanw]

Could you read the preference file for GarageBand? Maybe there is a clue there.

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

As BrianBaughn pointed out, if it were literally "essential" it would be installed with the app package by default. Obviously it's not required as I can use GarageBand without it, as GarageBand does more than work with loops and MIDI. Surely you're not going to argue that the developers made a logical decision to NOT allow the user to prevent this download from attempting automatically repeatedly are you? Allowing it to download most certainly does not make my "little peeve" go away, because the fact that it's trying to download in the first place IS my "little peeve". I've already deleted all other extraneous files, these are the only ones that macOS decides to try to force back on me.

It seems your definition and expectations of 'essential' differ from Garageband's developers. You have to accept it or ask Apple to make it optional (good luck with that). In that case Apple's helpdesk will probably be flooded by people complaining that some aspects of Garageband don't work anymore.
One way or the other: It is how it is and don't expect a short term solution or workaround for that.

 

[usagora]

Could you read the preference file for GarageBand? Maybe there is a clue there.

Not sure where that file even is. I don't see anything under Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences nor under the same folder in the user directory. Nothing relevant in either directory's Application Support folder either.

 

[bogdanw]

Not sure where that file even is. I don't see anything under Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences nor under the same folder in the user directory. Nothing relevant in either directory's Application Support folder either.

Probably in GarageBand's container in ~/Library/Containers

 

[usagora]

It seems your definition and expectations of 'essential' differ from Garageband's developers. You have to accept it or ask the developers to make it optional. In that case their helpdesk will probably be flooded by people complaining that some aspects of Garageband don't work anymore.

Once again, then why do do they allow you to cancel the download of these files if they are literally "essential"? They're NOT, because you can use GarageBand to record and edit audio to your heart's content WITHOUT them. They already warn you that some aspects of the app may not work without them, and that's fair enough, but then the user should have a choice at that point to dismiss that "warning" and never be pestered by an unnecessary (by anyone's definition) download and dialogue again.

And, no their help desk would not be flooded by people complaining because if you attempted to do something in GarageBand that required Essential Sounds without them installed, the app would simply prompt you to download them, not just return an error without explanation. Pretty simple.

Sorry, but I just can't fathom anyone not seeing my point here, even if you don't think it's as big of a deal as I do.

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Once again, then why do do they allow you to cancel the download of these files if they are literally "essential"?

Once again, your definition of 'essential' differs from that of Garageband's developers. You can disagree with that or try to discuss that in length in this forum, but does that bring you closer to a solution?

 

[usagora]

Probably in GarageBand's container in ~/Library/Containers

Nothing there either, unfortunately.

 

[usagora]

Once again, your definition of 'essential' differs from that of Garageband's developers. You can disagree with that or try to discuss that in length in this forum, but does that bring you closer to a solution?

When people try to tell me something is literally essential (as in required/necessary) when that's clearly not the case, yes, I will argue the point for the sake of common sense and facts. I noticed you didn't answer the question I asked, because you know there is no good answer if your premise is that the developers believe the sounds are required. This is clearly a matter of developer oversight, not purposeful design. If it were purposeful, there would be no option to stop the download without another option to prevent it from attempting automatically again. It would simply say, "Please wait while GarageBand install its Essential Sounds library" and that would be that - you wouldn't be able to use the app until they were downloaded and installed.

I know of no other app that has a prerequisite installation that allows you to use the app before that perquisite is installed. If it did, that would prove by definition that it's NOT prerequisite. Therefore, by simple logic, I conclude that the Essential Sounds are not a prerequisite installation and thus it's a developer oversight to treat them as if they were by attempting to download them every time the app launches with no option for the user to prevent such behavior.

 

[bogdanw]

Nothing there either, unfortunately.

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.garageband10/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.garageband10.plist

MAPrefs_ActiveDownloads_2

 

[usagora]

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.garageband10/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.garageband10.plist

MAPrefs_ActiveDownloads_2

View attachment 2050177

What macOS version are you on? Not there in Monterrey:

 

[bogdanw]

What macOS version are you on? Not there in Monterrey:

Bug Sur 11.6.8 (20G730) & GarageBand 10.4.6 (5602)

 

[usagora]

Bug Sur 11.6.8 (20G730) & GarageBand 10.4.6 (5602)

So apparently the location has changed in Monterrey to:

QuickLook lets me view the file's contents, but I'm not sure what app to use to open and edit a .plist file, nor what I would even edit to resolve the issue I'm having. Pasted into a Word document with half-inch margins, it's 300 pages long! Attached

Here's the only section that has the phrase "Essential Sounds" in it:

 

[bogdanw]

The files are downloaded, on my system, in /private/var/folders/kd/6661r7_d29n_qwbdp56z_9dr0000gn/C/com.apple.garageband10/com.apple.MusicApps/audiocontentdownload.apple.com
If you lock the folder audiocontentdownload.apple.com, the download will faill and you will be allowed to continue using GB.

 

[bogdanw]

If you can’t find the folder in Finder, try from Terminal with:

sudo find /private/var/folders/ -type d -name audiocontentdownload.apple.com

 

[rhett7660]

The other day I deleted a bunch of extraneous files that I do not need, including the so-called GarageBand "Essential Sounds" (about 2GB). But, unfortunately, I discovered another facepalm Apple developer decision/oversight just now when I went to use GarageBand to edit an existing audio track. Upon launching, without asking, it starts to download the Essential Sounds again and there is no option to "do not download" - you can only pause it and it will pick up again the next time you launch GarageBand. This is absolutely asinine. Is there a terminal command that will stop GarageBand from checking if the Essential Sounds library is there? I simply can't believe this is not a UI preferences option.

View attachment 2050017

The question is why don't you let it download? Is there a reason on why you won't let it download?

 

[usagora]

The files are downloaded, on my system, in /private/var/folders/kd/6661r7_d29n_qwbdp56z_9dr0000gn/C/com.apple.garageband10/com.apple.MusicApps/audiocontentdownload.apple.com
If you lock the folder audiocontentdownload.apple.com, the download will faill and you will be allowed to continue using GB.

Will give this a try! Thanks!

The question is why don't you let it download? Is there a reason on why you won't let it download?

Read the post you quoted again. I clearly stated I removed files that I don't need to save space on my Mac. So obviously if I removed 2GB of files I don't need to save space, I wouldn't want them re-downloaded.

 

[rhett7660]

Will give this a try! Thanks!



Read the post you quoted again. I clearly stated I removed files that I don't need to save space on my Mac. So obviously if I removed 2GB of files I don't need to save space, I wouldn't want them re-downloaded.

Sorry I missed that...

 

[usagora]

The files are downloaded, on my system, in /private/var/folders/kd/6661r7_d29n_qwbdp56z_9dr0000gn/C/com.apple.garageband10/com.apple.MusicApps/audiocontentdownload.apple.com
If you lock the folder audiocontentdownload.apple.com, the download will faill and you will be allowed to continue using GB.

UPDATE

In Monterrey, it's
/private/var/folders/rq/5w6xvsgs46d96y0s9q5ythmw0000gn/C/com.apple.garageband10/com.apple.MusicApps/audiocontentdownload.apple.com

. . . and I'm happy to report that locking that folder does indeed prevent the download from happening! Thanks so much for your help. Hopefully Apple will implement my suggestion (I sent them feedback earlier today) to simply have an option to prevent the download from even attempting in future releases of GarageBand.