MP 7,1 Question for DAW music folks who switched to 7,1

[mythos]

I went with the 16 Core, 192 GB third party RAM, W5700X, Sonnet and OWC SSD cards and my old RAID for storage backup.
Tons of plugins and virtual instruments make no difference at all to this setup.
Particularly useful to have much faster processing when doing sound design, batch format conversion etc etc in apps such as DSP Quattro.

I'll also be using it for creating video in Motion etc and some quick tests with that have me very happy with what I'm going to be able to do now that I couldn't with my old 5,1.

 

[tonecontroller]

I mentioned in a previous post that I was getting crashes when loading up older sessions. This has now been completely fixed with the latest MacOS 10.15.6 update. There must have been something happening at the system level on the Audio Units calls. Anyway, not had a single problem since updating. As others have been saying, coming from a maxed out 5,1 this system is a complete joy to work on.

 

[Parzival]

Vastly overpriced for a DAW (my main interest was for film & that remains underwhelming in comparision to my 4 year old Win dual Xeon workstation w RTX 2080Ti & half the price of the mac). I'd suggest you'd likely be better off will a well spec'ed i9 platform.

Still, if money is no object - and given various compatibility issues with 'Catalina' only: all the the DAWs running here do very nicely; Nuendo, ProTools, Logic etc. Ditto many plugs including from UA, Steinberg & Native Instruments (through there are compatibility issues /bugs with Logic 10.5 & NI). Would have much preferred to remain on Mojave, but there you go ...

PS, avoid timemachine migration, in fact lose that altogether. Semi-Ok if only Apple apps but goes completely pear-shaped with many third party installs & particularly for music. eg, see Native Instruments advice against this, & for that matter I've often seen these common issues with timemachine restores/migration:

• Possible issues, which can occur after using such applications include wrong permission settings as well as directory paths, activation issues and missing settings files.

Clean install everything & especially with DAWs & those zillions of plugs (unfortunately). FYI, I always locate all of my documents on a separate volume /partition (macos or win) and then keep the system drive to a minimum size. Makes for fast backup or restore via something like Carbon Copy Cloner (I *do* wish there was a Macrium Reflect for macos).

I've been quite disappointed with the performance of the 16-core MP. Vastly overpriced is a good way of describing it.
I'm using Cubase, but downloaded Logic Pro for fun, and even Logic isn't as fast as I was expecting

 

[Myrhal]

I've been quite disappointed with the performance of the 16-core MP. Vastly overpriced is a good way of describing it.
I'm using Cubase, but downloaded Logic Pro for fun, and even Logic isn't as fast as I was expecting

can you please explain why it under performs? Reading all the other comments in this topic everyone seems to be really happy with the performance, so I am a bit suprised by your comment. I hope you can give some more information about your experience.

 

[profdraper]

can you please explain why it under performs? Reading all the other comments in this topic everyone seems to be really happy with the performance, so I am a bit suprised by your comment. I hope you can give some more information about your experience.

Seriously? With all due respect, perhaps you may want to consider doing more extensive research beyond listening to blog posts? Nevertheless, will take a brief stab:

• Xeon-W is dead end chip set, that socket will not go anywhere; with other builds for (say) HP & Dell, that is a mid-ranged priced tower, with the pro workstations using dual Xeon Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum combos. For the same $17k I spent on this mac, this buys one hell of a lot of workstation elsewhere.
• Internal storage is very limited and so requires often much additional expense on say PCIe M.2 expanders or external TB3 drive chassis (the internal, optional bays are also overpriced for what they are: a kludge at best). In my case, to migrate I also had to buy an OWC Thunderbay 6 and a Sonnet M.2 + 4x Samsing EVOs.
• Apple's system disks: way overpriced, and proprietary. Everyone else using simple swap, industry standard M.2s (at least).
• The AMD GPUs are garbage by way of comparison to Nvidia. If using for DAWs only then sure, not much of a GPU required (but Apple still gauges the price). The Vega II in now way preforms as well as my Nvidia RTX 2080Ti on a Dell workstation, yet is double the price.
• Bluetooth keyboard, mouse and trackpad are also rubbish: replaced all those with Logictech. 'Rubbish' as in I cannot boot into recovery with blutooth mac kayboard, need wired keyboard; cannot effectively use a dual booth system (now Catalina & Big Sur beta) because each system scrambles the bluetooth and requires setting up again. The mouse cannot be used while charging ...
• The cost of the optional wheels? Comon', this is some kind of sarcastic joke from Apple, surely. Still ... iJustine loves them, eh? Ditto the Apple displays & stand .... [do some research]
• Finally, & as always for MacOS: with every new system this kills much of the software with lack of compatibility, driver issues, security issues, notarisation issues etc. Bottom line is that we then need to buy many updates to software once they become compatible, eg: Pro Tools 2019.6 continues to run perfectly on the latest version of Windows 10 2004 but will not run on Catalina - requires paid update to Pro Tools 2020.5; ditto for Waves v9 vs v11. With many plugins and VIs this all can be quite complex and no doubt we'll see this all over again in Big Sur.

Still, if your'a MacOS fan to start with, no doubt you'll need to go through all this and indeed have very deep pockets. Personally, I am fine with that and have worked with MacOS, Windows & Linux platforms for a very long time. All of these have their benefits and weaknesses depending on what an individual needs. Ultimately this MP purchase will very likely be an excellent computer for most & for those who are really only comfortable with MacOS (less so Unix perhaps?). But for sure - eyes wide open - is way, way overpriced for what it is & we pay for significant Apple R&D, company takeovers, their lawyers & mostly, their shareholders.

Upside for my MacPro? It runs very well, is built well and is dead silent in my recording studio. It runs beautifully with my main squeeze Nuendo and for all of my DAWs. Great performance with VIs, plugs etc. Is not so hot for my NLEs, DaVinci Resolve (or FCPX on mac) by comparsion to my dual Xeon Dell Workstation with RTX 2080Ti. Still, is likely nothing that more money can't fix & a second big Navi GPU may be just the ticket later in the year.
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[Myrhal]

Seriously? With all due respect, pehaps you may want to consider doing more extensive research beyond listening to blog posts? Nevertheless, will take a brief stab:

• Xeon-W is dead end chip set, that socket will not go anywhere; with other builds for (say) HP & Dell, that is a mid-ranged priced tower, with the pro workstations using dual Xeon Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum combos. For the same $17k I spent on this mac, this buys one hell of a lot of workstation elsewhere.
• Internal storage is very limited and so requires often much additional expense on say PCIe M.2 expanders or external TB3 drive chassis (the internal, optional bays are also overpriced for what they are: a kludge at best). In my case, to migrate I also had to buy an OWC Thunderbay 6 and a Sonnet M.2 + 4x Samsing EVOs.
• Apple's system disks: way overpriced, and proprietary. Everyone else using simple swap, industry standard M.2s (at least).
• The AMD GPUs are garbage by way of comparison to Nvidia. If using for DAWs only then sure, not much of a GPU required (but Apple still gauges the price). The Vega II in now way preforms as well as my Nvidia RTX 2080Ti on a Dell workstation, yet is double the price.
• Bluetooth keyboard, mouse and trackpad are also rubbish: replaced all those with Logictech. 'Rubbish' as in I cannot boot into recovery with blutooth mac kayboard, need wired keyboard; cannot effectively use a dual booth system (now Catalina & Big Sur beta) because each system scrambles the bluetooth and requires setting up again. The mouse cannot be used while charging ...
• The cost of the optional wheels? Comon', this is some kind of sarcastic joke from Apple, surely. Still ... iJustine loves them, eh? Ditto the Apple displays & stand .... [do some research]
• Finally, & as always for MacOS: with every new system this kills much of the software with lack of compatibility, driver issues, security issues, notarisation issues etc. Bottom line is that we then need to buy many updates to software once they become compatible, eg: Pro Tools 2019.6 continues to run perfectly on the latest version of Windows 10 2004 but will not run on Catalina - requires paid update to Pro Tools 2020.5; ditto for Waves v9 vs v11. With many plugins and VIs this all can be quite complex and no doubt we'll see this all over again in Big Sur.

Still, if your'a MacOS fan to start with, no doubt you'll need to go through all this and indeed have very deep pockets. Personally, I am fine with that and have worked with MacOS, Windows & Linux platforms for a very long time. All of these have their benefits and weaknesses depending on what an individual needs. Ultimately this MP purchase will very likely be an excellent computer for most & for those who are really only comfortable with MacOS (less so Unix perhaps?). But for sure - eyes wide open - is way, way overpriced for what it is & we pay for significant Apple R&D, company takeovers, their lawyers & mostly, their shareholders.

Upside for my MacPro? It runs very well, is built well and is dead silent in my recording studio. It runs beautifully with my main squeeze Nuendo and for all of my DAWs. Great performance with VIs, plugs etc. Is not so hot for my NLEs, DaVinci Resolve (or FCPX on mac) by comparsion to my dual Xeon Dell Workstation with RTX 2080Ti. Still, is likely nothing that more money can't fix & a second big Navi GPU may be just the ticket later in the year.
[automerge]1595712478[/automerge]

Hey profdraper, you answered my questions on the Steinberg Forum as well Thanks for your thorough reply.

However, I’d like to hear it from him too. Why is it underperforming?

I wonder why you still have the MP, if you think it is so overpriced, then sell it and build a threadripper machine?

if I didn’t have the cash for it I would not be interested at all. I was just suprised why the system all of the sudden was under performing.

I am coming from a i9 7960X build which performs very well, and as long as I am not going backwards in horsepower, I am ready to make the jump.

One thing you don’t hear a lot of things about (in a positive way):

- the CPU supports 64 lanes
- the CPU supports 2 TB of memory
- this is a huge advantage over every AMD or i9 build.

did you know the 16 core Xeon used in this MP was $5000,- at launch?

Intel Xeon W-3245M CD8069504248501 LGA 3647 Server Processor

Intel Xeon W-3245M (CD8069504248501) 16-Core 3.2 - 4.4GHz Turbo, LGA 3647, 22 MB L3 Cache, DDR4, 14 nm, 205W, OEM Server Processor

www.avadirect.com

I am not interested in video performance, but I am looking for a stable workhorse for the next 5 years at least, that can handle my 250 track 5.1 mixes, with tons of plugins and VI’s, while keeping DPC latency to a minimum. I have worked with macs and winpc’s for over 25 years and I am sick of tweaking, memtests, bios resets, bsod’s etcetera.

but I have never been more in doubt about It than now, haha.

 

[OkiRun]

Hey profdraper, you answered my questions on the Steinberg Forum as well Thanks for your thorough reply.

However, I’d like to hear it from him too. Why is it underperforming?

I wonder why you still have the MP, if you think it is so overpriced, then sell it and build a threadripper machine?

if I didn’t have the cash for it I would not be interested at all. I was just suprised why the system all of the sudden was under performing.

I am coming from a i9 7960X build which performs very well, and as long as I am not going backwards in horsepower, I am ready to make the jump.

One thing you don’t hear a lot of things about (in a positive way):

- the CPU supports 64 lanes
- the CPU supports 2 TB of memory
- this is a huge advantage over every AMD or i9 build.

did you know the 16 core Xeon used in this MP was $5000,- at launch?

Intel Xeon W-3245M CD8069504248501 LGA 3647 Server Processor

Intel Xeon W-3245M (CD8069504248501) 16-Core 3.2 - 4.4GHz Turbo, LGA 3647, 22 MB L3 Cache, DDR4, 14 nm, 205W, OEM Server Processor

www.avadirect.com

I am not interested in video performance, but I am looking for a stable workhorse for the next 5 years at least, that can handle my 250 track 5.1 mixes, with tons of plugins and VI’s, while keeping DPC latency to a minimum. I have worked with macs and winpc’s for over 25 years and I am sick of tweaking, memtests, bios resets, bsod’s etcetera.

but I have never been more in doubt about It than now, haha.

Greetings ~
Is there an Apple Store close to you that you can take a project and try it out?
Logic works seamlessly on the 7,1
Are you worried about real-time performance or rendering with he CPU?
I'm sure if you have an experimental project, I or others can make a short recording of how it processes in real-time...