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Which Mac Studio for music production? Max M2 vs. Ultra M2

S

Soundflut

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 22, 2023
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Hi everyone,

which M2 studio would you choose for music production (logic pro)?

The single core appears to be identical, but the M2 Ultra's multi-core CPU is significantly better. Is the surcharge worth it?

I run really heavy logic projects with tons of plugins ;)

Do you think 64GB RAM would be enough? Or better take 128GB (or even more)?

Basically the question is:
Would the M2 Max with 128GB RAM be better than a 64GB M2 Ultra?

I currently have a Mac Mini with 3.2 GHz 6 Core i7 (bought 11/2018), pimped to 64GB RAM.
The potential upgrade to Mac Studio should bring a much better performance?!

Thanks for your thoughts on that topic!
 
I went with the M2 Ultra (hasn’t shipped yet) with 192 gigs of ram since I currently use two computers with 64 gigs of Ram each and easily fill both up. I would think you would want at least 128 to give yourself a little headroom. I do music production with large orchestral templates so if you’re doing anything like that you’re going to want that extra ram, since you won’t be able to upgrade in the future. My two cents.

EDIT: I have an identical Mac Mini to yours. Without question you will see a major increase in power with the M2. No comparison at all. I was hoping to make the mini my work horse machine but it just didn’t have the power - even compared to my 12 core 5.1 Mac Pro.
 
Last edited:
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dpcon said:
I went with the M2 Ultra (hasn’t shipped yet) with 192 gigs of ram since I currently use two computers with 64 gigs of Ram each and easily fill both up. I would think you would want at least 128 to give yourself a little headroom. I do music production with large orchestral templates so if you’re doing anything like that you’re going to want that extra ram, since you won’t be able to upgrade in the future. My two cents.
Click to expand...
Agreed….
I also do large orchestral templates, but I ended up getting the M2 Ultra with 64gb because I have two servers with 1TB of ram so even the 192gb on the studio wouldn’t really add much to the mix for me. I loveeee the CPU though!
 
This site compared the Logic Benchmark results of all desktop macs
LogicBenchMgroup.jpeg


www.facebook.com

We are the first in the world to publi... - HA-MAC-News

We are the first in the world to publish the first test results of the new Mac Studio in Logic Pro. Special thanks to Julien Cadiou, who did this test for us.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
 
ori69 said:
This site compared the Logic Benchmark results of all desktop macs
View attachment 2222294

www.facebook.com

We are the first in the world to publi... - HA-MAC-News

We are the first in the world to publish the first test results of the new Mac Studio in Logic Pro. Special thanks to Julien Cadiou, who did this test for us.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Are we talking about multi core in that graphic?
Isn‘t it strange that die M1 Max seems to have a better performance in Logix than the M2 Max?
 
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Soundflut said:
Thanks!
Are we talking about multi core in that graphic?
Isn‘t it strange that die M1 Max seems to have a better performance in Logix than the M2 Max?
Click to expand...
Assuming those two Mac Studios are both 512GB base models, then there is one downgrade happening where the sequential SSD speed went from 2022's 7000/5000 to 2023's 3500/3000. May be the slightly slower read speed of the 2023 M2 Max model becomes the bottleneck since the test reads loads of data from disk?

Anyway for any M2 Max config, just spec the SSD to 1TB or more then it should perform better than M1 Max Studio.
 
Those tests don't factor in HD speed. They are subject to user error though, as well as strange fluctuations from Logic depending on the settings. They really need to be done by the same person to ensure any level of consistency.

I'm quite sure the M2 Max will load more plugins than the M1 Max, with a similar difference to the M1 Ultra vs M2 Ultra.
 
Sharky II said:
Those tests don't factor in HD speed. They are subject to user error though, as well as strange fluctuations from Logic depending on the settings. They really need to be done by the same person to ensure any level of consistency.

I'm quite sure the M2 Max will load more plugins than the M1 Max, with a similar difference to the M1 Ultra vs M2 Ultra.
Click to expand...

RAM size and SSD speed don't matter. All that matters in this test is CPU power.
I personally did these tests on a Mac Mini with M2 SSD 256GB, 8GB RAM and SSD 1TB 16GB RAM. And there was no difference in the results.
 
FIRST: To OP's question.

I come from an M1 Mini with 8GB of RAM. It runs almost anything I throw at it, BUT where it does choke up to the point of being useless is:

1) When I throw more CPU-intensive plugins on multiple tracks (for instance, Neutron instances that react to inputs from other tracks)
2) When I work with many tracks consisting of complex virtual instruments (combined with CPU-intensive plugins on the channel)
3) When I start inserting mastering/"mixing glue" plugins on the stereo bus on top of the above

I'm currently waiting for my new M2 Max Mac Studio with 32GB of RAM, and my expectation is that it will crunch almost anything I need it to. But, we'll see! 128GB in an Ultra seems pretty extreme :) ... but maybe that's needed for some very specific workflows and arrangement sizes.

SECOND: Those benchmark results?

Not to sound distrustful, but I would question the benchmarks mentioned above. There's is (almost certainly) no way Logic would be slower with 12 M2 cores compared to 10 M1 cores?
 
ori69 said:
RAM size and SSD speed don't matter. All that matters in this test is CPU power.
I personally did these tests on a Mac Mini with M2 SSD 256GB, 8GB RAM and SSD 1TB 16GB RAM. And there was no difference in the results.
Click to expand...
Yes, that’s what I just said. These tests don’t factor in SSD speed, as in, they don’t matter.
 
Sharky II said:
Those tests don't factor in HD speed.
Click to expand...
There is one interesting detail I was reading about the 512GB HD, vs 1TB HD. Apparently the transfer speed is doubled on a 1TB HD, due to a different chip usage?
 
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ratspg said:
Agreed….
I also do large orchestral templates, but I ended up getting the M2 Ultra with 64gb because I have two servers with 1TB of ram so even the 192gb on the studio wouldn’t really add much to the mix for me. I loveeee the CPU though!
Click to expand...
Really hoping for a one box solution at least as far as the main orchestral instruments. Latency with outboard computers really bothers me. You don’t have that issue or have solved it in some way?
 
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dpcon said:
Really hoping for a one box solution at least as far as the main orchestral instruments. Latency with outboard computers really bothers me. You don’t have that issue or have solved it in some way?
Click to expand...
I use Vienna ensemble pro to host my extra virtual instruments and my network is 10gb. It’s very very useable.
 
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ratspg said:
I use Vienna ensemble pro to host my extra virtual instruments and my network is 10gb. It’s very very useable.
Click to expand...
That’s what I use but I don’t use their network audio. I come into my DAW, DP with Lightpipe. It hasn’t been a nightmare since I have a PC dedicated to only Hollywood Strings on PLAY. Once I added the Mini (to my 5.1 MP) I had sync problems with programs I really needed to absolutely lock. The MP just couldn’t handle those additional resource hog plugins while it’s older OS no longer plays the latest versions of numerous things. So, I’ll be a whole lot happier on my primary computer without major work-arounds or show-stoppers. Basically just needed to upgrade and waited for the additional RAM to do it.
 
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ratspg said:
Agreed….
I also do large orchestral templates, but I ended up getting the M2 Ultra with 64gb because I have two servers with 1TB of ram so even the 192gb on the studio wouldn’t really add much to the mix for me. I loveeee the CPU though!
Click to expand...

I chose the i9 13900K.

Logicbench iroN 12i13gen vs M1 GROUP2023.06.15_ddr5.png


LogicBench13900K500_.png



It is much more efficient than the M2 Ultra and I made myself a RAID storage on Sample.

InternalRAID.png
 
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Hi everybody,

also deciding if a max m2 will be fast enough. I am tending to the ultra m2 with 64 Gb since i am upgrading ca. every 5-6 years.

Best regards,
Schnitzel
 
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