Great video! You might want to mention that M1 Pro has much better battery life than M1 Max and will stay even quieter for even longer. This could be really important for some people who do mobile recording. As for the memory bandwidth thing, here's some numbers to think about. Most DAWs move audio at 32-bit internally, and the highest sample rate supported is usually 192 KHz, which most people don't even use. Anyway, one second of mono PCM audio at 32-bit 192 KHz comes out to 4 bytes (32 bits) per sample and 192K samples per second, so 768 KB/s. So, 200 GB is roughly 200,000,000 KB, so if you divide that by 768, you get 260,416. Basically, for your project to be running up against the limits of 200 GB/s, you'd have to be pumping more than a quarter million tracks worth of 32-bit 192 KHz audio.
@@teohalm99 It has fewer GPU cores so that will mean that the computer uses less power at all times, and since audio is CPU-based, the extra power the GPU provides is sort of wasted in that workload, and all it does it generate extra heat and suck up more battery power. If you're pushing GPU regularly, then you can benefit from extra cores, but for music production, there's no real benefit.
Dude that has actually helped me a lot I would be getting the 16 inch 10 core 16 core GPU As A at home music producer I’ve been deliberating for weeks you have really helped me so thanks
Going with 16” as my main computer. Going with Max because I want 64GB… just to finally open large composer template full of Kontakt, Eastwest, Omnisphere, etc… Of course, if I wouldn’t aim at a composer setup, I would go with a M1 Pro with 32GB.
@@fazilsha77889 nice choice too. If I would need mobility, I would go for 14” too… but I’m always home on a bed (I’m handicap), so I don’t care about mobility, and I want the larger display possible to not have to use a desktop anymore. But everyone is different and it’s not “better” or “worse” to pick any model over another one. The most important is to really define our needs and pick the right model for ourselves. I hope you will get great fun with your MBP 14”. I’m still waiting for mine, it was 6 to 8 weeks delay for any 64GB model, it should be there mid-January I guess… waiting patiently :)
@@donjave7146 I saw a lot of good results with 32GB, but I don’t change my whole setup very often. I’m getting this new MBP to replace both my old office work MacBook and my old music station 2010 iMac 27”. So it’s been a VERY long time before I change… I was waiting for the perfect device for the last 4 years. It finally came. So I tend to think I’m gonna use my MBP at least for 5 to 6 years minimum… so at this point of investment, it’s better for us composers to go with the highest RAM possible… so 64GB it is :)
I wrote something similiar in yesterday‘s video about the memory bandwidth. Memory bandwidth is very important for the GPU, not for the CPU! The CPU depends on low RAM latency, not memory bandwidth. Furthermore the M1 Max CPU can‘t even use the full 400 GB/s, it can only use ~240 GB/s according to Anandtech (compared to 200 GB/s on the M1 Pro). I recently listened to a podcast where the Head Chip Designer of Apple explained the same thing. You should only get the M1 Max when you need the extra GPU cores or 64 GB of RAM. Otherwise don‘t waste your money!
Totally agree with you. If max cannot utilize the full 400gb then not worth it unless you need the gpu cores. It’s a good way to look at it. If you need gpu power go max if not go pro.
You missed the fact that the Max brings with it two more memory interfaces, and each memory interface brings with it another block of system cache. Thus, the Max has twice the system cache of the Pro. This extra system cache might very well improve performance for your DAW project with lots of tracks and plugins (because there are fewer system cache misses and therefore less time spent waiting for DRAM). If you always bounce tracks to audio so that you don't have a lot of plugins working at the same time, then it might matter less.
Thanks Man! Great video. Just bought a 1TB 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM last week for $1030 in like new condition with 14 battery cycle count and 100% battery health. Hard to beat that I think. Was wondering how it compared to the M1 Max and your video covered that really well. Using Logic Pro as my DAW. I'm going to look up what people say about video editing too. But I think this will serve me well. If my production activity goes way up I can always upgrade. Subscribed.
The perfect config for me would probably be 14” M1 Pro, 10 Core CPU, 32GB Ram, 2TB SSD. Could MAYBE get away with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD but I don’t really want to compromise on it. I would really want the most out of it and to be able to use it for 5-10+ years with no hiccups. Either way I probably won’t be getting one anytime soon, not a very justifiable purchase considering I have a Ryzen 9 3900X CPU W/ 32GB Ram and RTX2070 GPU PC… (I typically make EDM/Pop/Orchestral music)
I just ordered the base model for 14inch . My buddy has one and I got to test out ableton on it. He’s got tons of 3rd party plugins. And let me tell you we are at around 32 tracks. That’s More than enough tracks for the edm style that we enjoy making , and the cpu handles it very well. It’s scary good. Man I currently have an Hp laptop and I been making music on that with a few hiccups but I still do get through it pretty well. I would say 7.5 out 10 is what I rate my laptop. But the m1 pro is 10/10. With only 16 gb of ram and seeing how it runs ableton so good, I’m set. How many track and how many plugins will you use? We have ozone 9 on the master and serum synths . Soundtoys. And it’s incredible. The project in this video is crazy filled with so many tracks. I don’t use so many tracks in my music like I said 32-50 tops. And most of the time I just record guitars drums bass vocals and synth work. The edm stuff I have been drifting away from it lately. But hey you are set if you keep thing 50 tracks and under with 16 gb. What daw do u use?
I would love to try to get back to FL Studio or any DAW available on Windows but because of my strong addiction to Logic it's definitely impossible for me now, and I'm so sad having to pay that much on computers when I have a beast on Windows :')
On Apple devices, internal drivers are welded on logic board and performance twice speed than external SSDs, so more internal capacity always better. I know Apples ssds /flash memories are overpriced, but 1tb ssd is the minimum nowadays and 2tb ssds would be my choice too. Talking about Ram memories it will affect more, those plug-ins that uses sample libraries as Kontakt, Trillian, Omnisphere, etc. The rest will be more affected by the processor.
Thanks for this crystal clear explanation! You've answered every question I was dealing with in my survey to which MB suits best for me as a music composer/producer. And you've also saved me quite some bucks I guess 🙂
I was thinking a lot, knowing and understanding the technology, what is the optimum solution to every music producer (even occasional video editor), bearing in mind two facts: - These chips will be introduced in desktop products probably by end of Q2 ‘22 - These are portable computers with superb screen. 1. I do not think that 2” of diagonal size makes the 16” worse option. It’s definitely comfy and portable, and not toooo heavy. This is a laptop, and you will gain more battery power, more screen real estate, for around 200USD more (the real difference). 2. Because you can have a super maxed out desktop next year for heavy duty tasks, and you can have around same amount of computing power in LPX with the Pro and Max, if you producing music and you are not heavy video editor, M1 Pro shall be more than enough for you. 3. RAM structure is not similar to Intel’s one. Here with 32Gb you can load multiple sample libraries with ease and hyperfast even with 200Gb/s bandwidth. That’s huuuge compared to anything you experienced before in a consumer setup. Of course, if you’re composing with professional symph libraries everytime everywhere, like a rolling Hans Zimmer, you may opt for 64Gb, for example. 4. The SSD is hyperfast here too. The external one won’t be the same experience exactly, though it’s not what holds you back. SSD size is really up to you, but 1Tb should be the minimum. Then you can check how many storage you needed in your current setup for the OS, daily tasks, plugins, sample libraries, audio samples that you use most of the time… and leave a healthy 500Gb empty space for the audio project you may work on. Conclusion: 16” M1 Pro with 32Gb and 1-4Tb will give you a portable music studio with longer lasting battery life and huge screen, mic, speaker to create ANY recorded idea/demo, while you use it as the heart of your studio when you are at home/sound studio. $3499 and you’ll own a beast for long long time. Well, if you are video editor and you do not have a trusty screen, aaand you do not want to be in the studio only for editing, then a top 16” Max is for you, even if you will lose battery power quicker. Still faster and convenient solution if you are working with ProRes… But if H.264 is your main format… Intel seems to handle it still better. #codecwars
Agree with everything. Music producer 16 M1 Pro with 32GB of ram with 1 TB may be the move. And upgrade hard drive if possible. I can’t wait to see what the iMac Pro will have in store or even the Mac Pro with Apple SOC. I think both will take everything to an even higher level of performance.
He mentionne that higher bandwidth can help for sessions with a LOT of plugins running. My main struggle is with my multiples plugins, which put my Ableton CPU at 95% (at 2048 buffersize). Although, strangely enough my Mac mini M1 have still a lot of idle CPU headroom... In short: 400Gb/s bandwidth = Plugins running smoother ? (RAM doesn't help in that matter I think)
@@spickeys5078 Because a computer and used peripherial is an ecosystem, you need more and more RAM and bandwidth and GPU power to help CPU rendering indirectly. If you use only MIDI with sample libraries and VSTs, and your session is filled with 200+ tracks… sure you can opt for Max and 64Gb. The orchestral producers will have a relief with the next generation of multiplied M1 Max SoCs (40cores). I think Ableton is not running natively, hence, more power is used to run under Rosetta. Not an ideal solution. I doubt more bandwidth could help, but the bet if you ask someone to test your own project on an fully specd Max before you use your money. But why you wouldn’t freeze a track or render audio if that specific plugin is poorly coded for multicore usage, or just simply a CPU hog?? I doubt you are working parallel on each track if you have 200+ :) I think it’s much easier to change our workflow, think twice, and not to throw plugins all over the place. Also Logic/Ableton plugins are sooo good nowadays; literally I do buy any plugin only if it has really unique sound and I know I’ll use it. As for fx, the same applies. If you need to use a bunch of compressors, fx, then something is wrong with the source sound or workflow, that extra bandwidth won’t solve. If the EDM heros and Hans Zimmer could write awarded songs width
@@LipazMusic Thank you so much for your insights ! I finally went for the MBP 16'' M1 Pro 10 cores CPU, 32G RAM. It will be probably enough, even though I'm using often orchestrales libraries (not 200 though.. haha). I also notice that compare to my actual Mac mini M1 (4 performances cores and 4 efficiency cores), the boosted M1 Pro chip has 8 performances cores and 2 efficiency cores ! Which will definitely be an upgrade for Mixing and recording. Hope I making the right choice! And like you said, in the worst case scenario : Freeze track ! ;)
I have ordered the M1 Max with 24 cores , 32 Gb size 14'. I thought this would have been the best investement as I plan to work with it for seveal years! I also do a lot of multitasking and the M1 Max does a great job . Anyway I need to say that these machines are heavy. I am a petite woman and the weight of the 16' is too much for me. I was at the shop and couldn't lift it without effort. So girls out there think about the weight unless you don't care about getting pain in your shoulder!
I think you are right about the memory bandwidth. Doesn’t help for music or CPU. There is so much bandwidth already, that more will not help unless you had 20 CPU cores instead of 10. It’s tempting to get the max upgrade for $200 just for the bandwidth but I don’t think that’s an improvement for music. For video, I think it’s better because there are so many gpu cores that can use it.
4K video editing works smoothly on the base M1 as well, the 14-core GPU is plenty for just about anyone, even when live streaming your production session.
I love your videos, but would like to see how this thing performs with a large orchestral template, using kontakt, omnisphere, zebra, spitfire, orchestral tools, etc. right now I use 54gb in an average session so I think I need the 64 gb machine!
Yes. For your case you would need 64GB. It does depends on what music your making whether you use large software instrument tracks or simply record a lot audio. I’ve opened a session that had over 1000 instruments and it performed like a beast but did take more ram
small note, I asked an apple service guy and he told me that the 2021 Macbook Pro M1 models Ram's or SSD's can be upgraded by Apple. you simply have to pay a bit more than it says on the apple customization page. thought putting that in here might help :)
I am going for the 16", reason? Battery!! (100 vs 70Wh) You are getting a portable computer after all. I was going to go for the higher specs 14", but the entry 16" is the same specs, except half the storage. If you can afford it, upgrade the storage of course, but I have all my sample packs on an external SSD, I feel no difference in performance previewing them, it's really just comfort. But I'd highly recommend to go for the 100Wh battery, that is the legal maximum (for air travel). CPU/RAM doesn't matter for us in my opinion, not even if you are using romplers with huge patches, the swap speed between components (CPU/RAM/SSD) is insane, even on the barebone 8GB RAM 8-core M1 I'm testing for a year now. So yeah, entry 16" inch M1 Pro for me.
Nice vídeo, I'm 40years, 25in music production and I would say that the ram Memory will straight affect plug-ins as Kontakt, Trillian, Omnisphere, etc (those that uses samples libraries).
I went with the space gray 16” Pro and bumped my SSD to 2 TB because I have NI Komplete 13 Ultimate Collectors Edition (1.3TB if you install all of the libraries) and Superior Drummer 3 uses up a lot of SSD as well.
That's why I am thinking the 4 TB SSD is only way to make sure I don't run out of memory. I have Komplete 11 and upgrading soon, to 13. Plus I arturia V8 collection, Omnisphere and a bunch of other VSTs. I like the idea of just having one hard drive for everything and of course backing up all the projects on an external. Just trying to understand if it's ok using a single SSD drive for everything ( music, Ableton, plugins, samples, videos etc) or is it better using an external drive to store music, samples etc. .
@@director2bob Did you get the 4TB? I know I can fill 2TB w NI K13, Arturia V, -he, Omnisphere, plus other sample packs. And I do necessarily want to lug around an external. Yet I can argue to pare down my stuff. I don’t ever use ALL of it. I could install the rarely used libraries externally. $600 to go from 2 to 4GB is a lot.
This is the exact computer I got, arriving tomorrow. 14" M1 Pro - 10 core - 16GB - 1TB. I will be testing the crap out of it over the next few days and possibly returning if I think I'll need the 32GB. $400 is expensive for RAM but I want at least 3 years out of it. The 16GB works out to roughly $80/month (CAD) which is cheaper than my car insurance lol. The extra $500 (CAD) for RAM also adds quite a bit n taxes so it's a bit of a kick in the gut. And from tests i've seen on MaxTech there isn't a huge performance difference between the 16 and 32 because the Macbook will use the swap memory, but I'm no expert and I'm not sure if constantly using the swap is healthy for the machine long term.. We'll see I guess, either way it's much more powerful than my current 2017 MBP 2 core i5 - 8GB - 512GB and I'll decide on the RAM within the 14 day return period.
Do your tests and see if you constantly swapping memory. I’m not an expert in the but from what I understand it is not good for your ssd to be constantly being worked for memory swap. The bigger the ssd the longer it will last with constant memory but I’m not exactly sure what those numbers are. Sometimes the initial investment is worth it down the line.
@@imamusicmogul update: I received it today and so far the only limitations I’m seeing from running the Logic Pro Benchmark tests, is the CPU. I ran 178 Sculpture Tracks with EQ, Multipressor, Chorus, AutoFilter & PTVerb on every track and it runs smoothly at only 9GB of RAM and it literally doesn’t move from there. But as soon as I step up to 180 tracks the CPU maxes out and I get system overload messages. I’m going to test it with Serum, Omnisphere, V Collection, Kontakt, Fabfilter, Plugin Alliance etc. I’ll give an updated reply tomorrow. Curious to see how much I can push it in a real world situation, can I produce, mix & master in one session without bouncing anything? I guess we’ll see! but my understanding of computers is a bit fractured now lol because I’ve always thought the RAM was the most important thing for Production but with this test I ran today it’s showing that the RAM is cruising just above 50% and the CPU is what’s giving out first.
@@imamusicmogul swapping memory to the SSD does degrade it, but it’s very slight. High quality SSDs can write about 800TB to a 1TB SSD before ever thinking about failing. Meaning you can write 220gb a day to it and not hit that mark for 10 years. 220gb a day is crazy and most people who aren’t running giant orchestral sessions will never hit that number.
@@omgflow sorry for the delay, had some issues with aggregate devices and have been dealing with Apple support, feedback assistant, & re-arranging my cable management because the ports are in a different setup on this computer! I’ve got it sorted somewhat so I’ll do the tests today!
I did M1 max 24core, 2gb ssd, 32gb ram, the extra gpu cores might be overkill but I work with the Adobe suit a fair amount to make animations for my punchi Lux beats channel. I’ve had my mid 2012 MacBook for 9 years and it still runs great, better than some of my friends later MacBooks lmao, and I do like the occasional game so if anything it will give me a little more ability to play a good game further down the line. So stoked for the computer to arrive though, I’m really curious how many pianos I can record before latency kicks in, and how fast the bouncing to audio will be, those are the most frustrating parts of my sessions when producing with musicians
it depends on the music your working .with . Electronic music 16gb is fine ...if you are a film composer with a lot of orchestra konkat sessions the more ram the better
I do recommend it least 32GB it least but the way these handle ram it’s pretty good. I’ve opened a 1000+ orchestra session and illogic treated it as though it was a smaller session. These chips amazing
If your using more than 125 tracks at a time 32 anything below that you can definitely use 16gbs Along with freezing tracks and or printing tracks in place
@@MartinGarcia-fi2is You lost me at freezing tracks and printing tracks in place, if that's the case go for 32(if you can afford it) and dont interrupt your work flow. I've been on 32 for a few years now and could never go back to 16g the work flow slows me down way too much!
Electro, pop, hip hop/rap, or rock music, I think 16 is absolutely fine. Even if you're using 60+ tracks, if you have mainly recorded music and not many software instruments, then RAM isn't that big a deal. I mostly record pop and rock music and a "large" project for me usually only uses like 5-6 GB of RAM because the computer optimizes so well. If you want the extra room because what's another $400, then get 32. I wouldn't get the MAX unless you're really in need of 64 gigs.
If I'm only using the MacBook for audio, is there any benefit from having the higher memory bandwidth in the M1 Max (400 GB)? If not, I'll just get the 16" M1 Pro with 32 GB of RAM with 200 GB memory bandwidth.
I’m currently going to college for music production and we are using Protools but since I’m partially blind I’m taking logic instead and I was looking about getting the 16 inch MacBook Pro with the M1 pro max and 16 gigs of RAM and storage would be 1 TB silver and the two extra Coors
Absolutely excellent video. This answered my exact questions and confirmed my assumptions being an engineer myself who needs to upgrade my old MBP which is starting to struggle a bit with me sessions. Thank you for this video!!
I get that battery life while working on projects would vary but I do think it would be worth noting more on these music production reviews since we are talking about laptops and portable use. Even though I know a lot of people will use them as a. stationary set up. I would really appreciate a video that talks about this topic. Thanks for your content!
Absolutely. I’ve been getting about 10 hours until I hit about 10-14% battery with heavy recording and editing on this M1 Max 16 and then I plug it in. The best battery performance would be on a 16 M1 Pro As the max takes a little more juice. Generally speaking if you do music I think the Pro is the way to go and screen size would be your personal preference. If you work on the computer a lot the extra screen real estate makes a difference.
@@imamusicmogul Thanks for the response. That really helps. As of now I’m still on the 16” Intel from late 2019. Best laptop I’ve ever had but when I’m out the battery life is around 3-4 hours unplugged. Not terrible, but if I could get more I definitely would consider that worth it. I’ll most likely go with the 16” M1 Pro. Lastly I’ll need to decide whether to go with 32GB RAM or just to get the base 16GB. I saw a video on the difference between the two and it really did not seem that it affected performance that much. Maybe the extra upfront is worth it for future proofing though. Decisions, decisions. LOL. Have a good one man. Thanks again!
I mainly make beats and record some guitar and vocals. For me the $2000 for the base Pro is already a lot but I don't think I need any more than what the base offers. At the very most I use 40-50 tracks in a song
Hey what’s up yeah I’m basically going to do the same thing I was thinking about getting the M1 pro with 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TB storage do you think that will work
@@liltrboofficial4671 From what I’ve heard the base works for what 90-95% of people are doing, you really only need more if you’re gona be doing orchestral projects with 100s of tracks. Also keep in mind the tax, I had to pay 132$ sales tax
Thank you very much for the information. Reallity for us as a music producer what really make the power is not in the computer or gears is in our brain.
I'm a video editor/producer and musician. I use Cubase and Da Vinci Resolve. I am not sure if Cubase will work , but anyway, I would have probably intense sessions in the music software and will use effects, colour correction and 3d titles in the video software , FHD /4K . I also do light editing on photograpy . I have been reccomended from Apple tonget the M1 max with 32 gb and 24gb or 32 cores. Which is your recommendation?
For 4K video you’ll be more than happy with 24 cores M1 Max. And for music production no need for those extra gpus. CPU is the same between Pro and Max minus base 14 model. So I’d say save some money and choose the 24 cores. You can put that extra savings towards something else 🙌
What buffer size and interface are you using? The buffer size impacts performance more than anything else. Even my M1 mini can run a 120+ tracks with superior Drummer, ominsphere, and a ton of other instruments at higher buffer settings. For tracking superior Drummer I can get away with 32 buffers and a handful of tracks. Doesn’t take more than that before I have to increase the buffer sizes
Nice. I ended up going for the 14" w/ 32GB RAM and 10 core CPU. For me, having a physically smaller machine is also important for portability + live performance. The few hundred extra to bump up RAM/CPU from the base model makes sense, given I am looking to get 5+ years of use out of this laptop.
Good choices. Don’t need anything more than that for music production and the machines will be good for a while. Good move with the ram. I’d say 32GB min I would get if I didn’t want swap to utilize swap memory all the time.
maybe between 14'' M1 Pro and 14'' M1 Max ... do you think for music production in logic x and design tools like adobe illustrator and photoshop the pro is enough? Or the MAX will benefit? I don't do video rendering, just audio rendering and photo edit. I worry about overheat and less battery. Thanks!
Is the jump from 8 to 10 CPU cores really significant? Which is more important for music production - more CPU cores or more RAM? I'm thinking of getting the 14'' w/ 8-c CPU 14-c GPU 32GB 1TB. I can't seem to find a good enough reason to get the CPU core upgrade, as even the base 14'' seems to be an absolute beast. + I'd rather my laptop has a bit more battery left in it, doesn't get as hot and the fans don't turn on as much (as they would with higher CPU/GPU configs). Do you have any thoughts on this?
CPU is king in music production. But the 2 extra core I don’t think make a noticeable difference. The 14” is still a monster and it’s still an extremely powerful and capable machine. With that said new MacBook Pros may be coming soon so if you can hold out and get the base of that mode
This is really useful thank you. So 140 tracks project with probably lots of automation etc and the memory footprint is 3.6GB of Ram. That's seriously impressive performance. Looking at the screen capture I would venture I guess that the plugin count is double the track count (maybe more) but it would be nice to know. How many plugins total in the session? Thanks again. Cheers.
1 Gigabyte = 8 Gigabit. You will find Gigabits used mostly related to the speed of ethernet network: 1 Gigabit / 2,5 Gigabit / 5 Gigabit / 10 Gigabit. On new MacBook Pros specs pretty much everywhere Gigabytes / second are used (such as in case with memory bandwidth -> 200 or 400). *On a side note: If you need to quickly know how fast is your internet connection for downloads (which is usually in Megabits, unless you have a 1 Gigabit connection or something) -> just divide it by 8 to get Megabytes. Thus, if your network operator says that max download speed is up to 100 Megabits/s (Mbps), that means that max download speed can be 12,5 Megabytes / second. I hope this was a useful reference for someone:)
I personally had some issues with plugins not being supported natively, but if I run the DAW in Rosetta, which causes it to act like Intel, it's super stable. This presumably decreases a bit of performance, but these computers have so much to spare than losing a little bit of performance isn't a huge deal. A lot of "unsupported" plugins actually run fine in Rosetta.
I’m currently looking at getting the M1 Pro with 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TB storage with the two extra Coors that’s the one that I really want if anyone has this model how is it performing and do you think it’s worth getting
That's why I am seriously considering the 4 TB SSD. I am just wondering if using a single drive to store everything ( operating system, ableton, VSTs, samples, music videos etc) now considered proper workflow? I thought I read that you want an external drive for storing music and samples. To me I just want to keep things simple and use one internal drive and use external drive or cloud for backing up music. Still a tad confused what is proper workflow.
@@director2bob I’ve read the same from ableton’s site. I’m not positive, but I think the machines now are so powerful it’s unnecessary to have this workflow. Just need to backup everything
Doesn't the M1 max have a high performance mode which allows it to draw more power as well as it being bigger and having a larger heatsink? This info is from max tech video they opened it up and compared the internals . Thank you
Yes it does. But from my experience using it I don’t believe it makes a huge difference to music recording unless sessions are massive. Export times is a little faster because it allows the MacBook to run all out. But to be honest not a huge difference with it on or off. I’m thinking for much more intensive take it would be more useful
@@imamusicmogul thanks for that. Unfortunately mine tend to be massive 250 plus channels so I think I'll take the hit and go for it. Thank you so much for the videos . Not many people cover the macbook pro for music as you do 🙏
My dilemma is wanting a Mac mini, what's out now sounds great but I keep hearing about the m1x Mac mini with more ports, I want to wait but how long do you think?
Don’t get into the cycle of perpetual waiting. No one had any idea when or if this super Mac Mini will be here. The current M1 Mac Mini is bloody awesome as is. I should know. I have one and it really is that good. Just buy the computer you need now and when a new and better one comes out, sell it and get the new one. Just don’t get into this cycle of always waiting for the next big thing. There will always be a next, bigger thing than you whatever you have now.
thanks for the video, it answer some of my questions regarding the conf. Do you have any video about the audio interface you use or recommend with those upgraded Mac pro ? If not, what would you recommend in term of interface ? thank you!
You need at least 32gb memory for modern music production. 16gb of ram can get you through creating the session but you can forget about complex mixing.
lmao what? Me and my mixing engineer have the same M1 Pro, 16 gigs, we're talking 90+ channels, 3rd party plugins (Weiss, Soothe, FabFilter, LiquidSonics, AltiVerb) no problem.
@@campusaint I get it. I saw the videos of folks running insane channel numbers in Logic with M1. If you want your Mac to use swap memory instead of dedicated memory, that's your choice. 32gb would help future proof your investment past the next 4yrs because you can't add it later hoping to extend the life with M1 chipsets. But buying a new one every 2-4yrs is an option as well.
If i do decide to go for the 14inch 10/14 32gb ram 512GB ssd Instead of the 10/14 16gb ram 1tb ssd Spec in order to run everything Loading from an external drive is that going to be the down side factor making the computer bottleneck rather that running all my sessions from the internal drive? All this in order to produce in ableton live and logic pro. I am totaly New to this so id like to do the smart thing. Id like to save money but if that Will cause me to throw money down the line then id pay that extra. From 2300 here in Canada to get all three upgrades 10 core CPU 32gb ram 1tb ssd is an Extra 900 bucks id feel more Comfortable sending 500 but is that Will be my demis they id cuff the extra. Can you help me choose Please. I am almost sure about the extra ram,, I know vst's ask for cpu so that is a must 2 but the hardrive is the one i am not completely savy about and if it Will be more benificial having vs not having the extra ram. The swap of Memory is scary and do not want to spend 3k on a laptop that Will have its hardrive die due to swap. So the 32 i would get Even Over the cpu upgrade i think. Paranoia.
I read some stuff on the net some people run logic or ableton from the internal drive but have the libraries of this softwares on bigger external drive like the xtr sabrent ssd Drives would that impact the computers performance while using logic and or ableton? I i tend to use the laptop Only for music Even wifi Will be off and no Internet on that boy. Laptop, screen, mouse and keyboard, rme fireface400 and studio monitors Thats it.
is autom tune pro and wave plugins compatible with the new update? i’m having struggles trying to switch over from my old laptop. any advice would help plssss someone help hahah
Music Production + Video Production or heavy tasks that 99% of you won't use = MAX. For the other 99% of you just doing music production stick to the M1 Pro it's already stupidly fast and you don't need to just yeet money to Apple for no reason.
So for music production, is the 200 memory bandwidth of the M1 pro sufficient or are you recommending the 400 memory bandwidth of the M1 Max? I’m not interested in the graphics capabilities, only audio. Trying to decide if the max is worth the extra $ configured with 32g ram and 1 tb ssd.
It's not the memory bandwidth that can matter for applications that use only the scalar CPUs. They can only suck about 200GB/s in the worst case. What matters is the size of the system cache. The Max brings with it two more memory interfaces. That means there is also another two blocks of system cache, i.e., the system cache is doubled in size. This larger cache *could* improve performance of your (DAW and plugins I'm presuming) application by reducing the number of cache misses that need to go to DRAM. The memory bandwidth won't directly matter other than that it can fill the system cache faster. More than likely, the Pro is enough, but if you can benchmark your application (test it on both machines), you might find something interesting.
Thanks for clearing that up. I settled on the M1 Pro and 32 gigs of RAM. As I’m not doing any video and only music hopefully that’s more power than I’ll ever use.
I can confirm and happy to say the iamm plugins are working as I am using them myself on this MacBook Pro. And also happy to hear you enjoying the plugins. I’m currently Working on update for Duckout so if there if anything you’d wish the plugin can do more Let me know 🙏
One key feature that would take this to the next level in my opinion would be an added feature to combine and dial in different amounts of the effects of punch and pump. That would be phenomenal
@@imamusicmogul your answer might make me buy one or the other. I want to buy a good enough laptop that Will be up and running in order for me to learn on it the following software: Ableton live 11 Logic pro x Now i was thinking of buying the New 14 inch here in Montreal Canada it sells for 2400 plus mafia tax 15% The thing us i came across a used mint condition 13 inch macbook pro m1 16gb unified memory and ( 2) tb ssd for what i think of it to be a steal at 1750 bucks. That is almost half price. Now either or laptop are they? Good enough Good Great? Also Maybe i can Ride the wave with the used one then when and if the better one comes out i pull the trigger? Or do i Just loose my marbles and get the 16 inch 10 core cpu 16 core GPU 32gb ram 1tb ssd Used one m1 13 = 1800 Ride the the wave New 14 m1 32gb= 4200 good/great one 16'' 10/16 32gb=. 4600 the Mac daddy Maybe i can go sleep after this, I would like someone that has the first gen and has the New one to help me decide.
I will be running some tests running Logic on battery using large Kontakt libraries to see how it performs and how many it can handle. So far I think it can handle a lot but let’s see
Great video! You might want to mention that M1 Pro has much better battery life than M1 Max and will stay even quieter for even longer. This could be really important for some people who do mobile recording. As for the memory bandwidth thing, here's some numbers to think about. Most DAWs move audio at 32-bit internally, and the highest sample rate supported is usually 192 KHz, which most people don't even use. Anyway, one second of mono PCM audio at 32-bit 192 KHz comes out to 4 bytes (32 bits) per sample and 192K samples per second, so 768 KB/s. So, 200 GB is roughly 200,000,000 KB, so if you divide that by 768, you get 260,416. Basically, for your project to be running up against the limits of 200 GB/s, you'd have to be pumping more than a quarter million tracks worth of 32-bit 192 KHz audio.
Marques brownlee said M1 Max has better battery life
@@steelesaldutti the 16 inch has a larger battery than the 14 and M1 max sucks more energy since it's more powerful than the M1 pro
hi! great info. Why would the M1 Pro stay quiter for longer?
@@teohalm99 It has fewer GPU cores so that will mean that the computer uses less power at all times, and since audio is CPU-based, the extra power the GPU provides is sort of wasted in that workload, and all it does it generate extra heat and suck up more battery power. If you're pushing GPU regularly, then you can benefit from extra cores, but for music production, there's no real benefit.
@@mbvglider awesome, thank you. Any opinion on that 32 -> 64 gb jump for heavy music production?
Dude that has actually helped me a lot I would be getting the 16 inch 10 core 16 core GPU
As A at home music producer I’ve been deliberating for weeks you have really helped me so thanks
Going with 16” as my main computer.
Going with Max because I want 64GB… just to finally open large composer template full of Kontakt, Eastwest, Omnisphere, etc…
Of course, if I wouldn’t aim at a composer setup, I would go with a M1 Pro with 32GB.
Go with M1 max 14
I would go with the 16" too as I'm trying to avoid getting a mac pro and I don't want to be tethered, 64gb is definitely needed for us composer's
You know what you're doing! We're power audio users and ppl think we don't exist!
@@fazilsha77889 nice choice too. If I would need mobility, I would go for 14” too… but I’m always home on a bed (I’m handicap), so I don’t care about mobility, and I want the larger display possible to not have to use a desktop anymore. But everyone is different and it’s not “better” or “worse” to pick any model over another one. The most important is to really define our needs and pick the right model for ourselves. I hope you will get great fun with your MBP 14”. I’m still waiting for mine, it was 6 to 8 weeks delay for any 64GB model, it should be there mid-January I guess… waiting patiently :)
@@donjave7146 I saw a lot of good results with 32GB, but I don’t change my whole setup very often. I’m getting this new MBP to replace both my old office work MacBook and my old music station 2010 iMac 27”. So it’s been a VERY long time before I change… I was waiting for the perfect device for the last 4 years. It finally came. So I tend to think I’m gonna use my MBP at least for 5 to 6 years minimum… so at this point of investment, it’s better for us composers to go with the highest RAM possible… so 64GB it is :)
By far the best review I’ve seen for audio producers!
I wrote something similiar in yesterday‘s video about the memory bandwidth. Memory bandwidth is very important for the GPU, not for the CPU! The CPU depends on low RAM latency, not memory bandwidth. Furthermore the M1 Max CPU can‘t even use the full 400 GB/s, it can only use ~240 GB/s according to Anandtech (compared to 200 GB/s on the M1 Pro). I recently listened to a podcast where the Head Chip Designer of Apple explained the same thing.
You should only get the M1 Max when you need the extra GPU cores or 64 GB of RAM. Otherwise don‘t waste your money!
Totally agree with you. If max cannot utilize the full 400gb then not worth it unless you need the gpu cores. It’s a good way to look at it. If you need gpu power go max if not go pro.
You missed the fact that the Max brings with it two more memory interfaces, and each memory interface brings with it another block of system cache. Thus, the Max has twice the system cache of the Pro. This extra system cache might very well improve performance for your DAW project with lots of tracks and plugins (because there are fewer system cache misses and therefore less time spent waiting for DRAM). If you always bounce tracks to audio so that you don't have a lot of plugins working at the same time, then it might matter less.
Can’t wait for my 16” to get here! Thanks man!
Thanks Man! Great video. Just bought a 1TB 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM last week for $1030 in like new condition with 14 battery cycle count and 100% battery health. Hard to beat that I think. Was wondering how it compared to the M1 Max and your video covered that really well. Using Logic Pro as my DAW. I'm going to look up what people say about video editing too. But I think this will serve me well. If my production activity goes way up I can always upgrade. Subscribed.
The perfect config for me would probably be 14” M1 Pro, 10 Core CPU, 32GB Ram, 2TB SSD.
Could MAYBE get away with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD but I don’t really want to compromise on it. I would really want the most out of it and to be able to use it for 5-10+ years with no hiccups.
Either way I probably won’t be getting one anytime soon, not a very justifiable purchase considering I have a Ryzen 9 3900X CPU W/ 32GB Ram and RTX2070 GPU PC…
(I typically make EDM/Pop/Orchestral music)
I just ordered the base model for 14inch . My buddy has one and I got to test out ableton on it. He’s got tons of 3rd party plugins. And let me tell you we are at around 32 tracks. That’s More than enough tracks for the edm style that we enjoy making , and the cpu handles it very well. It’s scary good. Man I currently have an Hp laptop and I been making music on that with a few hiccups but I still do get through it pretty well. I would say 7.5 out 10 is what I rate my laptop. But the m1 pro is 10/10. With only 16 gb of ram and seeing how it runs ableton so good, I’m set. How many track and how many plugins will you use? We have ozone 9 on the master and serum synths . Soundtoys. And it’s incredible. The project in this video is crazy filled with so many tracks. I don’t use so many tracks in my music like I said 32-50 tops. And most of the time I just record guitars drums bass vocals and synth work. The edm stuff I have been drifting away from it lately. But hey you are set if you keep thing 50 tracks and under with 16 gb. What daw do u use?
I would love to try to get back to FL Studio or any DAW available on Windows but because of my strong addiction to Logic it's definitely impossible for me now, and I'm so sad having to pay that much on computers when I have a beast on Windows :')
On Apple devices, internal drivers are welded on logic board and performance twice speed than external SSDs, so more internal capacity always better. I know Apples ssds /flash memories are overpriced, but 1tb ssd is the minimum nowadays and 2tb ssds would be my choice too. Talking about Ram memories it will affect more, those plug-ins that uses sample libraries as Kontakt, Trillian, Omnisphere, etc. The rest will be more affected by the processor.
Thanks for this crystal clear explanation! You've answered every question I was dealing with in my survey to which MB suits best for me as a music composer/producer. And you've also saved me quite some bucks I guess 🙂
I was thinking a lot, knowing and understanding the technology, what is the optimum solution to every music producer (even occasional video editor), bearing in mind two facts:
- These chips will be introduced in desktop products probably by end of Q2 ‘22
- These are portable computers with superb screen.
1. I do not think that 2” of diagonal size makes the 16” worse option. It’s definitely comfy and portable, and not toooo heavy. This is a laptop, and you will gain more battery power, more screen real estate, for around 200USD more (the real difference).
2. Because you can have a super maxed out desktop next year for heavy duty tasks, and you can have around same amount of computing power in LPX with the Pro and Max, if you producing music and you are not heavy video editor, M1 Pro shall be more than enough for you.
3. RAM structure is not similar to Intel’s one. Here with 32Gb you can load multiple sample libraries with ease and hyperfast even with 200Gb/s bandwidth. That’s huuuge compared to anything you experienced before in a consumer setup. Of course, if you’re composing with professional symph libraries everytime everywhere, like a rolling Hans Zimmer, you may opt for 64Gb, for example.
4. The SSD is hyperfast here too. The external one won’t be the same experience exactly, though it’s not what holds you back. SSD size is really up to you, but 1Tb should be the minimum. Then you can check how many storage you needed in your current setup for the OS, daily tasks, plugins, sample libraries, audio samples that you use most of the time… and leave a healthy 500Gb empty space for the audio project you may work on.
Conclusion: 16” M1 Pro with 32Gb and 1-4Tb will give you a portable music studio with longer lasting battery life and huge screen, mic, speaker to create ANY recorded idea/demo, while you use it as the heart of your studio when you are at home/sound studio. $3499 and you’ll own a beast for long long time.
Well, if you are video editor and you do not have a trusty screen, aaand you do not want to be in the studio only for editing, then a top 16” Max is for you, even if you will lose battery power quicker. Still faster and convenient solution if you are working with ProRes… But if H.264 is your main format… Intel seems to handle it still better. #codecwars
Agree with everything. Music producer 16 M1 Pro with 32GB of ram with 1 TB may be the move. And upgrade hard drive if possible. I can’t wait to see what the iMac Pro will have in store or even the Mac Pro with Apple SOC. I think both will take everything to an even higher level of performance.
He mentionne that higher bandwidth can help for sessions with a LOT of plugins running. My main struggle is with my multiples plugins, which put my Ableton CPU at 95% (at 2048 buffersize). Although, strangely enough my Mac mini M1 have still a lot of idle CPU headroom...
In short: 400Gb/s bandwidth = Plugins running smoother ? (RAM doesn't help in that matter I think)
@@spickeys5078 Because a computer and used peripherial is an ecosystem, you need more and more RAM and bandwidth and GPU power to help CPU rendering indirectly.
If you use only MIDI with sample libraries and VSTs, and your session is filled with 200+ tracks… sure you can opt for Max and 64Gb. The orchestral producers will have a relief with the next generation of multiplied M1 Max SoCs (40cores).
I think Ableton is not running natively, hence, more power is used to run under Rosetta. Not an ideal solution. I doubt more bandwidth could help, but the bet if you ask someone to test your own project on an fully specd Max before you use your money.
But why you wouldn’t freeze a track or render audio if that specific plugin is poorly coded for multicore usage, or just simply a CPU hog?? I doubt you are working parallel on each track if you have 200+ :)
I think it’s much easier to change our workflow, think twice, and not to throw plugins all over the place. Also Logic/Ableton plugins are sooo good nowadays; literally I do buy any plugin only if it has really unique sound and I know I’ll use it. As for fx, the same applies. If you need to use a bunch of compressors, fx, then something is wrong with the source sound or workflow, that extra bandwidth won’t solve.
If the EDM heros and Hans Zimmer could write awarded songs width
@@LipazMusic Thank you so much for your insights !
I finally went for the MBP 16'' M1 Pro 10 cores CPU, 32G RAM. It will be probably enough, even though I'm using often orchestrales libraries (not 200 though.. haha).
I also notice that compare to my actual Mac mini M1 (4 performances cores and 4 efficiency cores), the boosted M1 Pro chip has 8 performances cores and 2 efficiency cores ! Which will definitely be an upgrade for Mixing and recording.
Hope I making the right choice! And like you said, in the worst case scenario : Freeze track ! ;)
@@spickeys5078 I’m sure you’ll love it. I saw that display in live and for me, that miniLED is worth a 1000 USD.
I have ordered the M1 Max with 24 cores , 32 Gb size 14'.
I thought this would have been the best investement as I plan to work with it for seveal years!
I also do a lot of multitasking and the M1 Max does a great job .
Anyway I need to say that these machines are heavy. I am a petite woman and the weight of the 16' is too much for me. I was at the shop and couldn't lift it without effort.
So girls out there think about the weight unless you don't care about getting pain in your shoulder!
I got the same one, but a 14 inch, so I'm glad I got that one
@@heyjasper1 isnt a 14 inches battery going to die sooner with so much cpu/gpu/ram?
I think you are right about the memory bandwidth. Doesn’t help for music or CPU. There is so much bandwidth already, that more will not help unless you had 20 CPU cores instead of 10. It’s tempting to get the max upgrade for $200 just for the bandwidth but I don’t think that’s an improvement for music. For video, I think it’s better because there are so many gpu cores that can use it.
4K video editing works smoothly on the base M1 as well, the 14-core GPU is plenty for just about anyone, even when live streaming your production session.
I love your videos, but would like to see how this thing performs with a large orchestral template, using kontakt, omnisphere, zebra, spitfire, orchestral tools, etc. right now I use 54gb in an average session so I think I need the 64 gb machine!
Yes. For your case you would need 64GB. It does depends on what music your making whether you use large software instrument tracks or simply record a lot audio. I’ve opened a session that had over 1000 instruments and it performed like a beast but did take more ram
Yes for huge session should go with 64gb because of kontakt
I was waiting for 12 core atleast in M1 max but they gave only ram upgrade and gpu.😑
Here is the video for that ua-cam.com/video/1armrkB4wFE/v-deo.html
you can save a lot of money by freezing and rendering to audio though
small note, I asked an apple service guy and he told me that the 2021 Macbook Pro M1 models Ram's or SSD's can be upgraded by Apple. you simply have to pay a bit more than it says on the apple customization page. thought putting that in here might help :)
I am going for the 16", reason? Battery!! (100 vs 70Wh) You are getting a portable computer after all. I was going to go for the higher specs 14", but the entry 16" is the same specs, except half the storage. If you can afford it, upgrade the storage of course, but I have all my sample packs on an external SSD, I feel no difference in performance previewing them, it's really just comfort. But I'd highly recommend to go for the 100Wh battery, that is the legal maximum (for air travel). CPU/RAM doesn't matter for us in my opinion, not even if you are using romplers with huge patches, the swap speed between components (CPU/RAM/SSD) is insane, even on the barebone 8GB RAM 8-core M1 I'm testing for a year now. So yeah, entry 16" inch M1 Pro for me.
This video is The best i have seen about this topic
Nice vídeo, I'm 40years, 25in music production and I would say that the ram Memory will straight affect plug-ins as Kontakt, Trillian, Omnisphere, etc (those that uses samples libraries).
I went with the space gray 16” Pro and bumped my SSD to 2 TB because I have NI Komplete 13 Ultimate Collectors Edition (1.3TB if you install all of the libraries) and Superior Drummer 3 uses up a lot of SSD as well.
That's why I am thinking the 4 TB SSD is only way to make sure I don't run out of memory. I have Komplete 11 and upgrading soon, to 13. Plus I arturia V8 collection, Omnisphere and a bunch of other VSTs. I like the idea of just having one hard drive for everything and of course backing up all the projects on an external. Just trying to understand if it's ok using a single SSD drive for everything ( music, Ableton, plugins, samples, videos etc) or is it better using an external drive to store music, samples etc. .
@@director2bob Did you get the 4TB? I know I can fill 2TB w NI K13, Arturia V, -he, Omnisphere, plus other sample packs. And I do necessarily want to lug around an external. Yet I can argue to pare down my stuff. I don’t ever use ALL of it. I could install the rarely used libraries externally. $600 to go from 2 to 4GB is a lot.
Thanks dude for the detailed comparison. I really appreciate you. Blessings.
This is the exact computer I got, arriving tomorrow. 14" M1 Pro - 10 core - 16GB - 1TB. I will be testing the crap out of it over the next few days and possibly returning if I think I'll need the 32GB. $400 is expensive for RAM but I want at least 3 years out of it. The 16GB works out to roughly $80/month (CAD) which is cheaper than my car insurance lol. The extra $500 (CAD) for RAM also adds quite a bit n taxes so it's a bit of a kick in the gut. And from tests i've seen on MaxTech there isn't a huge performance difference between the 16 and 32 because the Macbook will use the swap memory, but I'm no expert and I'm not sure if constantly using the swap is healthy for the machine long term.. We'll see I guess, either way it's much more powerful than my current 2017 MBP 2 core i5 - 8GB - 512GB and I'll decide on the RAM within the 14 day return period.
Do your tests and see if you constantly swapping memory. I’m not an expert in the but from what I understand it is not good for your ssd to be constantly being worked for memory swap. The bigger the ssd the longer it will last with constant memory but I’m not exactly sure what those numbers are. Sometimes the initial investment is worth it down the line.
@@imamusicmogul update: I received it today and so far the only limitations I’m seeing from running the Logic Pro Benchmark tests, is the CPU. I ran 178 Sculpture Tracks with EQ, Multipressor, Chorus, AutoFilter & PTVerb on every track and it runs smoothly at only 9GB of RAM and it literally doesn’t move from there. But as soon as I step up to 180 tracks the CPU maxes out and I get system overload messages.
I’m going to test it with Serum, Omnisphere, V Collection, Kontakt, Fabfilter, Plugin Alliance etc. I’ll give an updated reply tomorrow. Curious to see how much I can push it in a real world situation, can I produce, mix & master in one session without bouncing anything? I guess we’ll see! but my understanding of computers is a bit fractured now lol because I’ve always thought the RAM was the most important thing for Production but with this test I ran today it’s showing that the RAM is cruising just above 50% and the CPU is what’s giving out first.
@@imamusicmogul swapping memory to the SSD does degrade it, but it’s very slight. High quality SSDs can write about 800TB to a 1TB SSD before ever thinking about failing. Meaning you can write 220gb a day to it and not hit that mark for 10 years. 220gb a day is crazy and most people who aren’t running giant orchestral sessions will never hit that number.
@@qlyde How did your tests go with v collection and all? Thanks for the input!
@@omgflow sorry for the delay, had some issues with aggregate devices and have been dealing with Apple support, feedback assistant, & re-arranging my cable management because the ports are in a different setup on this computer!
I’ve got it sorted somewhat so I’ll do the tests today!
I did M1 max 24core, 2gb ssd, 32gb ram, the extra gpu cores might be overkill but I work with the Adobe suit a fair amount to make animations for my punchi Lux beats channel. I’ve had my mid 2012 MacBook for 9 years and it still runs great, better than some of my friends later MacBooks lmao, and I do like the occasional game so if anything it will give me a little more ability to play a good game further down the line. So stoked for the computer to arrive though, I’m really curious how many pianos I can record before latency kicks in, and how fast the bouncing to audio will be, those are the most frustrating parts of my sessions when producing with musicians
thank you so much for the comparison im a pc user and about to get a mac and you made my decision so thank you sir.
it depends on the music your working .with .
Electronic music 16gb is fine ...if you are a film composer with a lot of orchestra konkat sessions the more ram the better
I do recommend it least 32GB it least but the way these handle ram it’s pretty good. I’ve opened a 1000+ orchestra session and illogic treated it as though it was a smaller session. These chips amazing
If your using more than 125 tracks at a time 32 anything below that you can definitely use 16gbs
Along with freezing tracks and or printing tracks in place
@@imamusicmogul I hear brother
@@MartinGarcia-fi2is You lost me at freezing tracks and printing tracks in place, if that's the case go for 32(if you can afford it) and dont interrupt your work flow. I've been on 32 for a few years now and could never go back to 16g the work flow slows me down way too much!
Electro, pop, hip hop/rap, or rock music, I think 16 is absolutely fine. Even if you're using 60+ tracks, if you have mainly recorded music and not many software instruments, then RAM isn't that big a deal. I mostly record pop and rock music and a "large" project for me usually only uses like 5-6 GB of RAM because the computer optimizes so well. If you want the extra room because what's another $400, then get 32. I wouldn't get the MAX unless you're really in need of 64 gigs.
Thanks mate, confirmed all the things I thought but wasn't sure about.
Fantastic vid man!
If I'm only using the MacBook for audio, is there any benefit from having the higher memory bandwidth in the M1 Max (400 GB)? If not, I'll just get the 16" M1 Pro with 32 GB of RAM with 200 GB memory bandwidth.
For Audio, I don't think you'll ever use more than 32GB of RAM, unless you're scoring movies.
@@jorgefrias7889 But what about the 200GB memory bandwidth difference between the pro and max?
@@aterix To be honest that would have to be tested, but I don't think it would make a huge difference for audio production, maybe for video.
I’m currently going to college for music production and we are using Protools but since I’m partially blind I’m taking logic instead and I was looking about getting the 16 inch MacBook Pro with the M1 pro max and 16 gigs of RAM and storage would be 1 TB silver and the two extra Coors
Awesome, thank you for your video. It helps
I cannot believe how good the mics are on the new Macs.
They really are good. It helps can barely comes on as well so they can really be used to record
Absolutely excellent video. This answered my exact questions and confirmed my assumptions being an engineer myself who needs to upgrade my old MBP which is starting to struggle a bit with me sessions. Thank you for this video!!
Glad it was helpful!
I get that battery life while working on projects would vary but I do think it would be worth noting more on these music production reviews since we are talking about laptops and portable use. Even though I know a lot of people will use them as a. stationary set up. I would really appreciate a video that talks about this topic. Thanks for your content!
Absolutely. I’ve been getting about 10 hours until I hit about 10-14% battery with heavy recording and editing on this M1 Max 16 and then I plug it in. The best battery performance would be on a 16 M1 Pro As the max takes a little more juice. Generally speaking if you do music I think the Pro is the way to go and screen size would be your personal preference. If you work on the computer a lot the extra screen real estate makes a difference.
@@imamusicmogul Thanks for the response. That really helps. As of now I’m still on the 16” Intel from late 2019. Best laptop I’ve ever had but when I’m out the battery life is around 3-4 hours unplugged. Not terrible, but if I could get more I definitely would consider that worth it. I’ll most likely go with the 16” M1 Pro. Lastly I’ll need to decide whether to go with 32GB RAM or just to get the base 16GB. I saw a video on the difference between the two and it really did not seem that it affected performance that much. Maybe the extra upfront is worth it for future proofing though. Decisions, decisions. LOL. Have a good one man. Thanks again!
At 2 plus TB ssd the read and write speed increase to 7GB/sec.
I mainly make beats and record some guitar and vocals. For me the $2000 for the base Pro is already a lot but I don't think I need any more than what the base offers. At the very most I use 40-50 tracks in a song
Hey what’s up yeah I’m basically going to do the same thing I was thinking about getting the M1 pro with 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TB storage do you think that will work
@@liltrboofficial4671 From what I’ve heard the base works for what 90-95% of people are doing, you really only need more if you’re gona be doing orchestral projects with 100s of tracks. Also keep in mind the tax, I had to pay 132$ sales tax
Thank you very much for the information. Reallity for us as a music producer what really make the power is not in the computer or gears is in our brain.
This right here is very true
I got the 16" m1 pro and 16gb.. I usually have 1 or 2 instances of omnisphere, ssd5, and maybe a few instances of kontakt.. rest is all analog and uad
Sounds like it runs fine? SSD size?
@@DaveSchulze sorry for late reply didn't see your comment. 1TB. Yes I've been able to run much larger sessions.
@@JLP-333 Right on. Thx.
I'm a video editor/producer and musician. I use Cubase and Da Vinci Resolve. I am not sure if Cubase will work , but anyway, I would have probably intense sessions in the music software and will use effects, colour correction and 3d titles in the video software , FHD /4K . I also do light editing on photograpy . I have been reccomended from Apple tonget the M1 max with 32 gb and 24gb or 32 cores. Which is your recommendation?
For 4K video you’ll be more than happy with 24 cores M1 Max. And for music production no need for those extra gpus. CPU is the same between Pro and Max minus base 14 model. So I’d say save some money and choose the 24 cores. You can put that extra savings towards something else 🙌
Great video. Helped me max a decision. Went Max.
Good information, thank you for this.
What buffer size and interface are you using? The buffer size impacts performance more than anything else.
Even my M1 mini can run a 120+ tracks with superior Drummer, ominsphere, and a ton of other instruments at higher buffer settings.
For tracking superior Drummer I can get away with 32 buffers and a handful of tracks. Doesn’t take more than that before I have to increase the buffer sizes
Nice. I ended up going for the 14" w/ 32GB RAM and 10 core CPU. For me, having a physically smaller machine is also important for portability + live performance.
The few hundred extra to bump up RAM/CPU from the base model makes sense, given I am looking to get 5+ years of use out of this laptop.
I did exactly the same!
Good choices. Don’t need anything more than that for music production and the machines will be good for a while. Good move with the ram. I’d say 32GB min I would get if I didn’t want swap to utilize swap memory all the time.
Friend a query, that session of Montero de lilnas x will run fluid in the mcbook m1 pro base model?, I can make music like that in a base model?
what about deciding between the m1 max 32gb RAM vs 64gb RAM? im trying to decide before buying!
maybe between 14'' M1 Pro and 14'' M1 Max ... do you think for music production in logic x and design tools like adobe illustrator and photoshop the pro is enough? Or the MAX will benefit? I don't do video rendering, just audio rendering and photo edit. I worry about overheat and less battery. Thanks!
Is the jump from 8 to 10 CPU cores really significant? Which is more important for music production - more CPU cores or more RAM? I'm thinking of getting the 14'' w/ 8-c CPU 14-c GPU 32GB 1TB. I can't seem to find a good enough reason to get the CPU core upgrade, as even the base 14'' seems to be an absolute beast. + I'd rather my laptop has a bit more battery left in it, doesn't get as hot and the fans don't turn on as much (as they would with higher CPU/GPU configs). Do you have any thoughts on this?
CPU is king in music production. But the 2 extra core I don’t think make a noticeable difference. The 14” is still a monster and it’s still an extremely powerful and capable machine. With that said new MacBook Pros may be coming soon so if you can hold out and get the base of that mode
@@imamusicmogul Thanks for the reply! Yeah, looking forward to those fall events for some more info on the M2 Pro/Max chips.
This is really useful thank you. So 140 tracks project with probably lots of automation etc and the memory footprint is 3.6GB of Ram. That's seriously impressive performance. Looking at the screen capture I would venture I guess that the plugin count is double the track count (maybe more) but it would be nice to know. How many plugins total in the session? Thanks again. Cheers.
1 Gigabyte = 8 Gigabit. You will find Gigabits used mostly related to the speed of ethernet network: 1 Gigabit / 2,5 Gigabit / 5 Gigabit / 10 Gigabit.
On new MacBook Pros specs pretty much everywhere Gigabytes / second are used (such as in case with memory bandwidth -> 200 or 400).
*On a side note:
If you need to quickly know how fast is your internet connection for downloads (which is usually in Megabits, unless you have a 1 Gigabit connection or something) -> just divide it by 8 to get Megabytes.
Thus, if your network operator says that max download speed is up to 100 Megabits/s (Mbps), that means that max download speed can be 12,5 Megabytes / second.
I hope this was a useful reference for someone:)
I almost didnt wanna give this video a thumbs up because it was at 420 likes but this was super helpful! Thanks for the insight!
Great video, full stop!
Thanks for the vid! And just to help - Gigabits are different to Gigabytes :)
(a gigabit is one-eighth the size of a gigabyte )
If i want to video Djing, should i go for the max?
Is it possible that I can get the M1 pro max with 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TB storage for the 16 inch model I tried looking but I cannot find it anywhere
It's amazing how good the built-in mic is. Also have you experienced any issues with certain plugins not being compatible with the M1 macs?
So far so good. Will report back if I run into any issues with plugins
I personally had some issues with plugins not being supported natively, but if I run the DAW in Rosetta, which causes it to act like Intel, it's super stable. This presumably decreases a bit of performance, but these computers have so much to spare than losing a little bit of performance isn't a huge deal. A lot of "unsupported" plugins actually run fine in Rosetta.
great video, thank you!
I’m currently looking at getting the M1 Pro with 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TB storage with the two extra Coors that’s the one that I really want if anyone has this model how is it performing and do you think it’s worth getting
Did you get it? If yes, do you think 16 gb ram would be enough for long term?
Theres no way 1tb is enough for music production i used up 2tb quickly with just plugins and soundkits :/
Yikes!
That's why I am seriously considering the 4 TB SSD. I am just wondering if using a single drive to store everything ( operating system, ableton, VSTs, samples, music videos etc) now considered proper workflow? I thought I read that you want an external drive for storing music and samples. To me I just want to keep things simple and use one internal drive and use external drive or cloud for backing up music. Still a tad confused what is proper workflow.
@@director2bob I’ve read the same from ableton’s site. I’m not positive, but I think the machines now are so powerful it’s unnecessary to have this workflow. Just need to backup everything
what about the fans? is it loud? when you run this project
Doesn't the M1 max have a high performance mode which allows it to draw more power as well as it being bigger and having a larger heatsink? This info is from max tech video they opened it up and compared the internals . Thank you
Yes it does. But from my experience using it I don’t believe it makes a huge difference to music recording unless sessions are massive. Export times is a little faster because it allows the MacBook to run all out. But to be honest not a huge difference with it on or off. I’m thinking for much more intensive take it would be more useful
@@imamusicmogul thanks for that. Unfortunately mine tend to be massive 250 plus channels so I think I'll take the hit and go for it. Thank you so much for the videos . Not many people cover the macbook pro for music as you do 🙏
Great video of♥️♥️ what is the name of the first track in the background music
My dilemma is wanting a Mac mini, what's out now sounds great but I keep hearing about the m1x Mac mini with more ports, I want to wait but how long do you think?
Probably March or April 2022
@@edgarcmtz thank you
Thinking the same timeline as well. Also hoping for a more budget friend Pro XDR display
Don’t get into the cycle of perpetual waiting. No one had any idea when or if this super Mac Mini will be here. The current M1 Mac Mini is bloody awesome as is. I should know. I have one and it really is that good. Just buy the computer you need now and when a new and better one comes out, sell it and get the new one. Just don’t get into this cycle of always waiting for the next big thing. There will always be a next, bigger thing than you whatever you have now.
thanks for the video, it answer some of my questions regarding the conf. Do you have any video about the audio interface you use or recommend with those upgraded Mac pro ?
If not, what would you recommend in term of interface ? thank you!
This made me really happy with my purchase man thank you
I went 14 inch
10 core cpu
14 gpu
32 unified mem
1 T
That’s a good config. No need for anything more. Good move on the 32GB as well 🙌
You need at least 32gb memory for modern music production. 16gb of ram can get you through creating the session but you can forget about complex mixing.
lmao what? Me and my mixing engineer have the same M1 Pro, 16 gigs, we're talking 90+ channels, 3rd party plugins (Weiss, Soothe, FabFilter, LiquidSonics, AltiVerb) no problem.
@@campusaint I get it. I saw the videos of folks running insane channel numbers in Logic with M1. If you want your Mac to use swap memory instead of dedicated memory, that's your choice. 32gb would help future proof your investment past the next 4yrs because you can't add it later hoping to extend the life with M1 chipsets. But buying a new one every 2-4yrs is an option as well.
If i do decide to go for the 14inch
10/14
32gb ram
512GB ssd
Instead of the
10/14
16gb ram
1tb ssd
Spec in order to run everything Loading from an external drive is that going to be the down side factor making the computer bottleneck rather that running all my sessions from the internal drive?
All this in order to produce in ableton live and logic pro.
I am totaly New to this so id like to do the smart thing.
Id like to save money but if that Will cause me to throw money down the line then id pay that extra.
From 2300 here in Canada to get all three upgrades
10 core CPU
32gb ram
1tb ssd is an Extra 900 bucks id feel more Comfortable sending 500 but is that Will be my demis they id cuff the extra.
Can you help me choose Please.
I am almost sure about the extra ram,, I know vst's ask for cpu so that is a must 2 but the hardrive is the one i am not completely savy about and if it Will be more benificial having vs not having the extra ram.
The swap of Memory is scary and do not want to spend 3k on a laptop that Will have its hardrive die due to swap.
So the 32 i would get Even Over the cpu upgrade i think.
Paranoia.
I read some stuff on the net some people run logic or ableton from the internal drive but have the libraries of this softwares on bigger external drive like the xtr sabrent ssd Drives would that impact the computers performance while using logic and or ableton?
I i tend to use the laptop Only for music Even wifi Will be off and no Internet on that boy.
Laptop, screen, mouse and keyboard, rme fireface400 and studio monitors Thats it.
So what about plug-in that take a lot of cpu
Don’t worry about those one. Either way with the pro or max you are maxed out at 10 core cpu.
is autom tune pro and wave plugins compatible with the new update? i’m having struggles trying to switch over from my
old laptop. any advice would help plssss someone help
hahah
Music Production + Video Production or heavy tasks that 99% of you won't use = MAX. For the other 99% of you just doing music production stick to the M1 Pro it's already stupidly fast and you don't need to just yeet money to Apple for no reason.
So for music production, is the 200 memory bandwidth of the M1 pro sufficient or are you recommending the 400 memory bandwidth of the M1 Max? I’m not interested in the graphics capabilities, only audio. Trying to decide if the max is worth the extra $ configured with 32g ram and 1 tb ssd.
It's not the memory bandwidth that can matter for applications that use only the scalar CPUs. They can only suck about 200GB/s in the worst case. What matters is the size of the system cache. The Max brings with it two more memory interfaces. That means there is also another two blocks of system cache, i.e., the system cache is doubled in size. This larger cache *could* improve performance of your (DAW and plugins I'm presuming) application by reducing the number of cache misses that need to go to DRAM. The memory bandwidth won't directly matter other than that it can fill the system cache faster. More than likely, the Pro is enough, but if you can benchmark your application (test it on both machines), you might find something interesting.
Thanks for clearing that up. I settled on the M1 Pro and 32 gigs of RAM. As I’m not doing any video and only music hopefully that’s more power than I’ll ever use.
How do I configure the microphone to record without background noise?
add a gate
Please make a remake on mafia from travis
Seems like a lot of guesses and maybes....
Thanks so much! Will plug-ins run under Rosetta2? Have you had any issues?
Yes u can use .. no issues
Been good for me so far
Great video. Straightforward and to the point. Thanks man for not being another douchey showoff you tuber.
Do your IAMM Plugins work on the new model?
I’ve been using Duckout and the Bass Mono extensively as of late so I’m genuinely curious
I can confirm and happy to say the iamm plugins are working as I am using them myself on this MacBook Pro. And also happy to hear you enjoying the plugins. I’m currently Working on update for Duckout so if there if anything you’d wish the plugin can do more Let me know 🙏
One key feature that would take this to the next level in my opinion would be an added feature to combine and dial in different amounts of the effects of punch and pump. That would be phenomenal
What about M1 vs M1 Pro vs M1 Max?
M1 still good but if I had to choose between M1 base and M1 Pro I would choose M1 Pro base 14 due to the extra high performance cores
@@imamusicmogul your answer might make me buy one or the other.
I want to buy a good enough laptop that Will be up and running in order for me to learn on it the following software:
Ableton live 11
Logic pro x
Now i was thinking of buying the New 14 inch here in Montreal Canada it sells for 2400 plus mafia tax 15%
The thing us i came across a used mint condition 13 inch macbook pro m1 16gb unified memory and ( 2) tb ssd for what i think of it to be a steal at 1750 bucks. That is almost half price.
Now either or laptop are they?
Good enough
Good
Great?
Also Maybe i can Ride the wave with the used one then when and if the better one comes out i pull the trigger?
Or do i Just loose my marbles and get the
16 inch
10 core cpu
16 core GPU
32gb ram
1tb ssd
Used one m1 13 = 1800 Ride the the wave
New 14 m1 32gb= 4200 good/great one
16'' 10/16 32gb=. 4600 the Mac daddy
Maybe i can go sleep after this, I would like someone that has the first gen and has the New one to help me decide.
It would be possible to translate your videos there are many French people speaking to me not English
Gigabits? Sure about that?
Something to be weary of is that session is only using logic stock, all optimized. Just something to think about.
I will be running some tests running Logic on battery using large Kontakt libraries to see how it performs and how many it can handle. So far I think it can handle a lot but let’s see
But you right though. Logic is optimized so would not be as fair test as compared to a daw that is running Rosetta
thanks 4 this
Your welcome 🙏
A basic M1 with 8 GB RAM is more than enough as it is for 99% of music producers out there
🧢
M1 max compatible with drivers and vst?
What do you do if you need more than 64gb ram (in laptop) ?
👍🏿
If your a business just max everything out! Wright it off on your taxes! Video done!
💯💯💯
How do you do that please?
ITS Gigabytes ... not Gigabits :) GB = BYTES Gb =bits
🌟🦉🦊🦉🌟