Mac Studio for music production uses

[roadkill401]

I am not a professional studio. I have had a 5K iMac that I bought in January 2015 that has worked pretty much for me. It has had its level of issues that I partly put to i bought a refurbished unit, and the screen issues that that generation. We are not getting close to 7 years of use from this iMac and I am thinking of selling it to recoup some money while the unit still has some value. Its an i7 with 32gb ram and 512gb ssd.

I have tried running Logic Pro on a late 2014 mac mini i5 and it just doesn't work. I see that the mac mini i7 2018 will likely be about the same performance of the 5K iMac that I currently have. So my thought was to move upwards to a much better class of machine that I have now with the hopes of buying a mac that wont be rendered obsolete in 2-3 years and might last 7-8 like my previous iMac has.

The cost of the studio isn't a worry. What is more along the line of compatibility with plugin sounds and my DAW. Right now I have been using Logic Pro that uses AU plugins. about half of the plugins that I have are intel only and do not have a native M1/M2 version availible. Trying to rework compositions that I haven't finished yet when 1/2 - 2/3rds of the instruments don't work doesn't sound appealing.

Does the MacOS 12 for the Apple Studio have a method to support apps written for intel? Are there any music production users here that can give me an idea how you have handled the transition to native apple chips?

 

[rm5]

I suppose it depends on the type of music you will be producing—is it audio tracks, or are you doing MIDI, or both?

In any event, the Mac Studio will be more than enough for what you are doing. I use Logic Pro for all my production. Prior to 2020 when I bought my M1 MacBook Air, I used a 2012 Mac mini, which was deathly slow in almost any task, even with an SSD. At first, not many audio plugins supported Apple Silicon and it was a real pain—instead of my high-end virtual instrument plugins, I was using garbage free ones because those ones were optimized first.

However, now, all that has changed - all the plugins I use are Apple Silicon optimized. I'm much more of a performer (see profile "About" section for details) than a composer, so my productions really aren't terribly complex, but I have had no issues with "Intel-only" plugins, however your milage may vary.

There is a translation layer called Rosetta 2 which, in real time (with minimal issue from my experience), translates x86 code to ARM code.

There are a few plugins that I have heard are problematic. Last I looked, iZotope Ozone was having issues on Apple Silicon, but you should look into that because I don't know if those issues still persist. I also dont use Ozone (way too expensive!) so I have no way to test unfortunately.

If you're wondering what plugins I'm using, it's mostly a combination of these:

• MeldaProduction plugins
  • The "good old" effects—reverb, EQ, pitch correction, etc.
  • Their instruments—MeldwayGrand (which is awesome by the way), SuperSynth, other MSoundFactory instruments
• Orchestral Tools
  • Layers (pretty useless now that I bought Berlin Orchestra)
  • All of the SINEFactory instruments
  • Berlin Orchestra
• Spitfire felt piano, some other less-demanding ones
• The "internal Logic plugins" — space designer, RetroSynth, etc.

... and all work just fine!

So, I'll leave it at that for now, this post is getting pretty long! I hope this helps!

 

[rm5]

Oh! Also, the only issue that I EVER run into is RAM - I only have 16 GB, so that runs out quickly with larger productions. But the Mac Studio should not have that issue, especially if you upgrade to 64 GB.

 

[mikeka]

Right now I have been using Logic Pro that uses AU plugins. about half of the plugins that I have are intel only and do not have a native M1/M2 version availible. Trying to rework compositions that I haven't finished yet when 1/2 - 2/3rds of the instruments don't work doesn't sound appealing.

Does the MacOS 12 for the Apple Studio have a method to support apps written for intel? Are there any music production users here that can give me an idea how you have handled the transition to native apple chips?

The answer is yes. Intel apps run fine under Rosetta which can be quickly installed.

My Intel-only plugins work fine in LPX under Monterey. And LPX can use a combo of native and non-native without problems.

To start out, install Rosetta.

After installing LPX do a get info and click 'open using Rosetta'. Launch Logic It will open and scan your plugins.
When it's finished, quit Logic and uncheck 'open using Rosetta'. Launch again and it will finish scanning, including the native plugins.

Own many plugins here and have no problem running native and non-native plugs without a hiccup in my Ultra.

If you're using lots of VI's and large libraries you'll find more than 16GB RAM will be a big help!

Good luck!

 

[roadkill401]

thankyou. that answers my question. Now to decide do i dive in right away or wait to see if an M2 comes in the new year. ive read that the current version is ultra fast but wonder if Apple will actually fix the M1 Max fan wine issue that some report. I was looking for the M1 max version.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't think the whine is a fan but you can read more on that in a long thread on these forums.

I have an M1 Max Apple Studio and definitely don't have the whine on mine.

The functionality/issues with plugins running via Rosetta is definitely a case-by-case kind of thing from what I understand. The few I have seem to work fine.