I know it’s possible to downgrade your OS by using a boot drive, but can you still do that if your Mac has never had the older OS in the first place?

I got a brand new 2020 iMac, so out of the box it had Big Sur installed. I want to downgrade to Catalina, but in this specific case, the oldest OS my Mac has ever had is Big Sur and it never ran Catalina before.

Reason I want to downgrade is because the only reason I even use my desktop is for music, and Big Sur is currently incompatible wit a bunch of my plug-ins, making it a brick when it comes to the purpose I bought it for.

I still have my 2013 iMac that’s running Catalina, but the reason I upgraded is cause my old Mac is turtle slow now and music production is a straight headache on it.

I was out of the loop and didn’t even know Big Sur existed, (Or about any of it’s incompatibilities.) because my 2013 iMac doesn’t even support Big Sur, so prior to my new one arriving, I thought Catalina was the newest OS. I didn’t know about any of this until I got my new one and ran into all the issues.

I’m especially glad I didn’t wait to cop an M1 chip iMac like I was originally considering. If the new OS is even causing compatibility issues, that chip will DEFINITELY be worse and prolly won’t be adjusted for a quite a while. Shiny new chip suddenly ain’t so shiny when it voids half your s***. I upgraded to the 10 core i9 in mine anyways and it’s stupid fast.

not sure, but i def wouldn't downgrade your OS and risk f***ing up your new iMac

support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

you gotta wipe the OS

that hardware should work on Catalina

^ this is right

A 2020 iMac will be able to run Catalina, but IIRC you cant downgrade from a newer OS

So you'll have to put the installer on a USB drive (the link gives a tutorial), wipe your hard drive and re-install

Make an installer USB on your 2013 & wipe your 2020

id call into apple support for this issue

its defs possible but complicated for iphones i know, not sure how to do it w macs

Ableon and plugins have mostly been running fine for me on my macbook m1 so far.