Could not import the PyAudio C module '_portaudio'. (Mac M1), about Symbol not found: _PaMacCore_SetupChannelMap

Question

I'm trying to import pyaudio on my Macbook with M1 chip. I have python version 3.9.6 and anaconda (python 3.8), and now using version on terminal is 3.9.6.

Before I get this error, I fixed 'brew install portaudio' & 'pip install pyaudio' problem. Portaudio & Pyaudio installed fine! But when I try to import pyaudio,

Could not import the PyAudio C module '_portaudio'.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/hson/Desktop/k.A.I_speaker/test.py", line 2, in <module>
    import make_pyaudio
  File "/Users/hson/Desktop/k.A.I_speaker/make_pyaudio.py", line 1, in <module>
    import pyaudio
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pyaudio.py", line 116, in <module>
    import _portaudio as pa
ImportError: dlopen(/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/site-packages/_portaudio.cpython-39-darwin.so, 2): Symbol not found: _PaMacCore_SetupChannelMap
  Referenced from: /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/site-packages/_portaudio.cpython-39-darwin.so
  Expected in: flat namespace
 in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.9/lib/python3.9/site-packages/_portaudio.cpython-39-darwin.so

I tried uninstall portaudio&pyaudio and reinstall many times, but still I could not fix this problem.

Does anyone who get this problem and fix it?

Answer 1

My Portaudio and PyAudio installations were successful on Mac M1 too and they even worked for a couple of days. But suddenly when I try to import pyaudio it says:

ImportError: dlopen(/Users/madhurij/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages/_portaudio.cpython-38-darwin.so, 2): Symbol not found: _PaMacCore_SetupChannelMap Referenced from: /Users/madhurij/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages/_portaudio.cpython-38-darwin.so Expected in: flat namespace in /Users/madhurij/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages/_portaudio.cpython-38-darwin.so

Can anyone please help? I have tried uninstalling homebrew, portaudio and pyaudio several times. But nothing seems to work.

Answer 2

There are two solutions dependent on which architecture you need to use. For both, the version number after /portaudio/ may differ, please adjust to yours.

For Intel-based homebrew installation

For those who must use python packages which are not yet available for the arm-architecture, we must revert to intel-based Python packages. This is not trivial and took me almost a day, so I describe it to some time for people in need.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Run a terminal under Rosetta Get Info |Run under Rosetta

2. Install homebrew as intel-based version

In terminal created in (1), run:

arch -x86_64 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

3. Create alias for intel-based homebrew

In .bash_profile, insert:

alias ibrew="arch -x86_64 /usr/local/bin/brew"

4. Install boost and boost_python libraries:

With brew from step (3), run:

ibrew install --build-from-source -vd boost
ibrew install --build-from-source -vd boost-python3

5. Install portaudio

With brew from step (3), run:

ibrew install portaudio
ibrew link portaudio

KEY: This installs portaudio into /usr/local/Cellar/portaudio/19.7.0, and must be referenced for the pyaudio installation!!!

6. Install pyaudio

We now can install pyaudio with the portaudio version we installed by intel-based homebrew. The version number after /portaudio/ may differ, please adjust to yours.

python -m pip install --global-option='build_ext' --global-option='-I/usr/local/Cellar/portaudio/19.7.0/include' --global-option='-L/usr/local/Cellar/portaudio/19.7.0/lib' --force pyaudio 

For ARM-based homebrew installation

1. use normal brew

Run:

brew install boost 
brew install boost-python
brew install portaudio
brew link portaudio

2. install PyAudio

Run:

python -m pip install --global-option='build_ext' --global-option='-I/opt/homebrew/Cellar/portaudio/19.7.0/include' --global-option='-L/opt/homebrew/Cellar/portaudio/19.7.0/lib' pyaudio