Installation

System requirements

The supported binary install is Apple Silicon (arm64), macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later. The Swift package declares macOS 26.0; the Homebrew cask enforces arm64 and Tahoe. The decoder dependency builder and release packager also enforce arm64.

A Metal device is needed for the GPU path, clean output and recording. The renderer has a Core Image software fallback when no Metal device exists; that fallback does not make clean output or recording available.

Install with Homebrew

brew tap weswalz/ultimatevj
brew install --cask weswalz/ultimatevj/ultimatevj

The official cask was checked on 2026-10-22 and publishes 0.2.1 (3). Its caveat calls this a venue test preview, with full playback soak and venue-output qualification pending. The binary release repository is the download channel; it is not evidence that the current development source is publicly distributed or that every documented development feature is in that ZIP.

The installed app is ULTIMATEVJ.app. Only a Homebrew-managed installation can use Update and Restart. See Updating.

Between shows, quit the app before running:

brew update
brew upgrade --cask ultimatevj

Permissions

The bundle declares two usage descriptions:

• Microphone: "Ultimate VJ captures the input device you select to detect BPM and drive audio-reactive visuals when you enable audio input."
• Local network: "Ultimate VJ discovers Ableton Link peers on your local network to synchronize tempo and beat phase when you enable Link."

Input capture and Link are explicitly enabled in the app. Actual permission prompts and platform authorization behavior were not exercised for this documentation update.

For the beginner walkthrough, see Install Ultimate VJ.