Wow $600.00 for a 2TB
You could almost buy another MBA I paid $200 for my external NVMe.
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Air vs Pro for Music Production
- Thread starter majormike
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You could almost buy another MBA I paid $200 for my external NVMe.
Come on man! No need to insult a member. He/she gave you a sound recommendation. Besides based on your posts it doesn't sound like you'd be 100% comfortable with the Air since your thoughts have concerns about long mixing sessions and playback. It's not really a major decision (in terms of being a huge price difference) and the included fan alone is reason enough to get the MacBook Pro since you'll be doing some power work on it.
Don't buy into the Air for your tasks. The Intel version got hot and fans blew with basic use and it was really pain to use. The M1 solved that but just because it's fast doesn't mean it's designed for power users.
The Air certainly will throttle, but it takes sustained workloads for that to happen. There are a few YT vids, and it seems that throttling kicks in around the 20 min mark. However, even then performance is still pretty good. If you routinely compile large chunks of code, render long UHD clips, etc., then the active cooling of the MBP might be worth it. However, in that case, it may also be worth it to wait for beefier Pro machines. These will likely be able to access more RAM, drive multiple displays, and have more headroom for the future.
Personally, I'm holding out for more GPU cores and a larger display.
Personally, I'm holding out for more GPU cores and a larger display.
If you think like that, then get the Air and be done with it. I was just expressing my opinion in a public forum based on your question. Sorry that you don't like the answer. Good luck.
Fellow audio engineer here.
I have not used either machine directly, but have done heavy research on this, and the only real difference is in sustained workloads especially when using sampled instruments. If all you’re doing is recording audio, there’s no need to worry. Longevity should also not be anything to worry about, as these chips are extremely well made and operate under safe temps. Chips getting hot is normal, and it’s highly unlikely you will ever fry a chip as modern chips have so many safeguards in place is virtually impossible.
So really the only difference i see is in sustained workloads. If you use a lot of virtual instruments and heavy plugins, you may feel better about the pro, but in reality they are both fine.
That being said, I personally am waiting for the M1X chip to come out as that chip is rumored to be extremely powerful, allow much better I/O and higher ram capacity which I believe is important for audio imo.
I have not used either machine directly, but have done heavy research on this, and the only real difference is in sustained workloads especially when using sampled instruments. If all you’re doing is recording audio, there’s no need to worry. Longevity should also not be anything to worry about, as these chips are extremely well made and operate under safe temps. Chips getting hot is normal, and it’s highly unlikely you will ever fry a chip as modern chips have so many safeguards in place is virtually impossible.
So really the only difference i see is in sustained workloads. If you use a lot of virtual instruments and heavy plugins, you may feel better about the pro, but in reality they are both fine.
That being said, I personally am waiting for the M1X chip to come out as that chip is rumored to be extremely powerful, allow much better I/O and higher ram capacity which I believe is important for audio imo.
I just got the air with 16G but even in the past I only used like 6 or 8 tracks in Ableton on a MBP.
I use a Focusrite scarlet. Played around a little today and everything was really responsive. woo hoo!
I use a Focusrite scarlet. Played around a little today and everything was really responsive. woo hoo!
I do music production with Logic Pro and I got an M1 Pro over the Air after considerable agonizing, lol.
One of the things that helped sway me was that the internal mic and speakers in the Pro are supposedly better. And on the road, capturing ideas with the mic, that might matter at times. Or playback thru the speakers.
Still, I think the Air would likely have been fine for me, and I do prefer the sleek "wedge" shape. I also considered the Air from fear of the Pro's Touch Bar. But in the end, I kind of like the Touch Bar. Still, if I were to buy now, I might choose the Air. But, ya know, they're more similar than different, and both are bargains, IMO, compared to the competition. Pro has slightly brighter screen might be useful at times.
One of the things that helped sway me was that the internal mic and speakers in the Pro are supposedly better. And on the road, capturing ideas with the mic, that might matter at times. Or playback thru the speakers.
Still, I think the Air would likely have been fine for me, and I do prefer the sleek "wedge" shape. I also considered the Air from fear of the Pro's Touch Bar. But in the end, I kind of like the Touch Bar. Still, if I were to buy now, I might choose the Air. But, ya know, they're more similar than different, and both are bargains, IMO, compared to the competition. Pro has slightly brighter screen might be useful at times.
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You haven't told us what system you're using currently and what limitations you're hitting. That'll help figure out what you need.
As an example: For me, an old Mac Pro with dual 2.4GHz quad-core Xeons was a substantial and totally sufficient upgrade from my 2011 MacBook Pro in the Logic department. My MacBook would spool the fans after like thirty seconds, and it would regularly hit "System Overload" with only a few dozen plugins.
The Mac Pro would barely peak at 35% CPU with the same sort of projects, and that dual-2.4 setup benchmarks less than half of what an M1 can do. So for me, an M1 Air would be more than enough power, since it's still more than double the 2x2.4 Mac Pro even under full thermal throttle.
(I've since upgraded my Mac Pro processors to get more single-thread performance)
As an example: For me, an old Mac Pro with dual 2.4GHz quad-core Xeons was a substantial and totally sufficient upgrade from my 2011 MacBook Pro in the Logic department. My MacBook would spool the fans after like thirty seconds, and it would regularly hit "System Overload" with only a few dozen plugins.
The Mac Pro would barely peak at 35% CPU with the same sort of projects, and that dual-2.4 setup benchmarks less than half of what an M1 can do. So for me, an M1 Air would be more than enough power, since it's still more than double the 2x2.4 Mac Pro even under full thermal throttle.
(I've since upgraded my Mac Pro processors to get more single-thread performance)
I'm on an 9900KS overclocked to 5.1 GHz which is roughly the same performance as the 12 Core nMP 2019 but I need something that's mobile and powerful.
So your saying that you would've chosen the Air over the Pro now? My main gripe is basically the fan and it clocking down to compensate for heat. I don't actually need the touch bar and would've preferred the regular keys and also like the air's Formfactor better and might've even gotten a 1 TB drive with the air instead of 512 with the Pro (budget).
I have an M1 Pro. The fan has never turned on, that I notice. I was also on the fence about the air or pro, but I'm happy I went pro for the better speakers / mics (though rarely needed) and fan. Seems like the Air would be fine, but max out your budget on RAM. You really should have 16gb for music production and it's unified to the chip so you can never upgrade. Get an Air with 16GB of RAM and I think you'll be happy. You'll also be very happy with a Pro. But whatever you get, get 16gb of RAM.
The 2019 Mac Pro 12-core benchmarks just over 11,000 multi-core in GeekBench 5. The M1 Air is just about half that under full thermal throttle. The M1 Pro will sustain its peak benchmark of over 7000 for much longer, but that's still only about 65% of what you have now. Are you maxing out your current system?
That "benchmark" is completely useless to you and your needs. It's also useless to the person that made the video. If you will be hitting anything above 30 tracks per comp then you can't do that on a tiny screen, you will go mad and blind real quick. Forget all the videos you've seen of Skrillex doing something on his laptop or any other dance music brand-name artist doing anything on a laptop cause there is a 90% chance that's product placement. There is a 100% chance they all have ghostwriters and producers that send them bounced stuff for them to monitor, mix and touch up a bit, that's when they can go and use their laptop and their headphones (if they are skilled enough cause you don't want to mix on headphones unless you have tons of experience or proper equipment).
You also said that you are fine with Logic and its native instruments, filters, and signal processors. For now. When you get into music production real deep you will not be satisfied with anything, you will keep changing your workflow hundreds of times. It's only a matter of time. First, it starts with third-party VSTs, then you go get yourself real hardware and then when you hear the difference, then you are hooked and you gonna spend a fortune on hardware. There are two problems right there with M1 and Big Sur. VSTs are gonna glitch, crash or not work at all = useless in your workflow. I/O on M1 chipset is horrible, unstable and you never know if it's gonna work or not. You said that your interface is USB so there should be no problem. Prepare yourself for a surprise just in case. And if you are going to run anything through Rossetta especially your interface software I would say it's not worth it. Just cause the app can run through translation doesn't mean it will run properly.
I might have scared you know but with a reason. I bought myself M1 Mini for testing purposes and none of my DAW mixing workflows are compatible with Big Sur yet (and I didn't even try creative workflow cause that's even more demanding). So in the audio mixing department, it's useless to me. Also, I had Logic not wanting to export my tracks at all. Perhaps they've fixed that with an update later on, don't know haven't turned on the Mini for over a month now.
Overall your concern should not be about Intel vs M1 it should be about when you will create your music. Will you do it at home? Then there are zero reasons for you to buy a laptop unless that would be your only computer in a house. But if you have to I would strongly suggest buying a big monitor to go with it, and another set of a mechanical keyboard and a proper mouse, like MX Master. If you go with M1 just make sure it's a non 4K monitor so you can avoid any potential bugs, I didn't have any but many people did. If you are so certain that you can make some music while sitting in Starbucks or some shared space cubicle then the laptop is your only option but not a 13 incher, once again you will go mad and you will go blind. Not right away but it's coming trust me.
I'm roughly at 11.000 as well (9900KS at 5.1 GHz in Windows) and I don't even use half the computer power plus the M1 within the actual app runs apparently much more efficiently than Intel.
I'll try to put up a Logic Pro benchmark with native Fabfilter and Valhalla plugins to compare.
I wanted to buy a laptop anyways and I mainly work on my 9900KS machine at home with a pair of Proacs, Aurora (n) and a little bit of outboard. In terms of plugins, I have most of all the plugins available and sadly only use 30% of them and have recently realized that I had wasted a lot of money. If Waves comes out with M1 ports and maybe MH and Altiverb, then I'd be set.
I'd like to be able to do prep edits on the balcony, at a friend's place or something and be a little bit more flexible during this bleak covid isolation and generally have a good laptop anyways.
The Air throttles around 93F, so if that's the temp your workload causes then it will usually be throttled. Your choice depends on how much you value silence.