Switch to Mac for music production? A PC user's perspective.
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 31. 05. 2024
- I get this question constantly! Is it time to switch to macOS for music production with the new brilliant M1 Chips?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments :)
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Video starts at 12:27
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What a great service you provide to your community by doing a real world deep dive rather than relying on benchmarks, which frankly mean close to nothing in the large picture. I donât know where you find the 25th hour every day but this is surely appreciated.
I switched 3 days ago to Mac Studio Ultra. - 1. super quiet. 2. all plugins i use are running native /except Drumagog .. but maybe there is a similar plugin) 3. power efficinence - 70-80Watt max on Projects with more than 100 tracks + plugins. 4. switching from a Mac pro 2013 trashcan (intel Xeon 8x3,6 GHz, 32 Ram) and the difference: Project with over 100tracks could barely run with 2048 buffer. On Mac Studio it runs on 512 with round about 25% cpu. - i am running a rme fireface UFX. thats the quick information after 3 days. Thanks for the Video Dom! have a nice weekend everybody!
ou could try trigger from slate to replace drumagog
Your points are all 100% valid. These things are beasts and are even kind of fair for the price, but there is one thing that drives me off from Apple: Predatory repair and maintenance policies.
If you watch some Louis Rossmann videos about this topic, Apple does everything to keep these systems as closed and inaccessible as possible. I don't want to support a brand where I know that my system can be bricked within seconds and the cost for a repair is far from economic.
Many thanks for thisđ I'm really looking forward to your next videosđ
Wow, Mister Dom, you are reading my mind. That is exact what Iâm deciding about. Thanks. Waiting for continue
Thank you for doing this! I have always wanted to see what the Mac system would be like and I'm sure with how deep you dive it will be incredibly clear as to what things to expect if switching.
I haven't watched yet but this is SO relevant. Thanks Dom! As always, on point... BOOM!đŁđ€Ż
Very timely video, and you nailed a lot of the things I've also been thinking. I'm also a long time Windows user and recently decided to make the switch. Got myself a MacBook M1 Pro with 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD using a SanDisk 4TB external SSD for sample libraries. This thing absolutely blows my PC OUT OF THE WATER, not only in terms of raw power, but the way the OS so seamlessly integrates with all of my peripherals (x10 if they are Mac). My workflow and creativity are thriving in ways that they never have before because for the first time ever, my computer gets out of my way and reacts exactly how I want it to 99% of the time. It's actively inspiring to use.
Hey Andrew, Iâm considering switching from a PC to a MacBook Pro M1 also. I was just curious if 32GBs of RAM has been enough for any bigger projects youâve worked on with lots of VSTs or not. Thanks, Alden
@@aldenhill I'm still in the process of moving over from old machine and haven't yet had the chance to put it through the paces with heavy VST & sample library use, so I can't comment from first hand experience. But it is my understanding that you can get away with half of what you would normally need.
What was your old PC?
@@damienlobb85 it was a Frankenstein home build. Intel i7 with 32GB RAM and an NvMe system drive. I suppose I may have had better luck if Iâd had it built by someone who really knows what they are doing, but worth the extra cost that would incur, Iâd have ended up paying about the same as I would for a Mac.
â@@GeekOfAudio so wait, how do you know the Mac absolutely blows your PC out the water if you haven't put it through the paces with heavy VSTs? Have you had the chance to now 5 months later? Curious how it's going
I was just watching your latest QBase 13 video and realized you finally switched over to the Mac. I just have to say one thing... Congrats and youâre welcome!đđŸ
Thanks Dom, that is very helpful
Thank you. I have the same question, but I've never used a Mac. I will look forward to the results. In the meantime I will watch your videos that are coming out ; )
always pc in my âcaseââŠ. musicproduction and gaming! peripheral ipads, iphones all over the place at my place! nice weekend! thanks for the vid!đ„
I have been a mac user now since 2004 , i changed because i was a logic user. I had years of using windows and had nothing but trouble audio clicks and pops , since switching to mac never had any problems . With the m1 I couldnât be more happy they are well built and when i can afford it will upgrade mu intel imac. Keep up the good work!
Dom, thank you again. I have to say you have always been patient with me, (especially when I make the live show where you answer in the comments), and NOT ONE TIME have you ever given me bad advice.
Again, thank you.
â€ïžâ€ïžâ€ïž youâre welcome Ted :)
Recently started using (for mobile work out of the studio) an Asus Duo laptop. Twin touch screens and TB4 for the Apollo. Win11 and Cubase run perfectly. Touch screens are great for quick adjustments.
I'm on the fence switching to an M1 or M2 when it comes out, can't wait to see what your conclusion looks like.Thanks and keep it up!
Thank you Dom.
I agree with mostly all you have said here in this video.
I bought the 16â M1 MacBook Pro Max in January 2022 with the 64gb ram & the 32 GPU.
Besides Rosetta & some plugin compatibility issues this thing is a beast!
It is an awesome performer.
Your video here shares a lot of my experience & opinions of how I feel about my time with the Apple M1/silicon.
I still have my Intel desktop.
It works great.
Iâve never owned a laptop before until January 2022.
I am very impressed with M1 MacBook Pro Max.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts, opinions, advice & experiences with the M1 MacBook Pro Max.
Since I enjoy having extra money for other equipment, I've stayed with Windows PC's and have mostly good luck for the last 20 years. My Mac friends often complain about the cost of upgrading, incompatibility, etc. For me, "if it's not broke, then don't fix it". I'll stick with my PC. :)
Iâve been a long time Windows (still am) and Apple user. I use Windows for gaming and Mac for music, graphics & video production and Iâm not sure I understand your comment seeing that you donât have to upgrade more often than a PC user. In fact I would argue the Macs holds their value and lasts longer than any PC Iâve ever had due to superior build quality which almost makes up for the fact that Apple SEVERELY overcharges for RAM and SSDâs. You also get a way more rock solid and hassle free experience due to Appleâs close integration and control of both hardware and software which is also the reason theyâre so stubbornly closed off from everyone else.
In the end if you prefer windows however then thatâs great. Whatever keeps you productive and inspired is the most important thing after all.
Me too! PC is just a good, if not better.
Same here, Iâve built 7 PC DAWs in the last 20 years (three for myself, four for others), all rock solid, all silent, all easily surpassing the build quality of any Mac ever snapped (soldered back in the day đ€š) together on an assembly line, and none of the problems that Mac users refer to regarding PCsâŠand none of the problems that Mac users refer to regarding Macs.
However, to build workstations like this, it takes time for me to research the hardware components for almost every build since the tech changes so frequently. Also, Windows automatic updates has become a problem because it can no longer be easily deactivated, so I had to take time to learn how to do that.
Also, to keep them quiet, cool and easily upgradable, the case had to be much larger than any Mac so thatâs a drawback and sometimes a dealbreaker for anyone with space issues.
So if I had more money than time, it would make sense to pay more and just go with a Mac. Or if I had more work than time, I would likely have no choice but to go with Mac or an equally expensive DAW-specific windows workstation from companies like ADK or SilentPC.
Unfortunately Windows laptops have fallen almost entirely from relevance, success stories are more miss than hit because of the scarcity of Intel USB 3 controllers on laptop motherboards, although thunderbolt may make that problem irrelevant now. Again, companies like ADK or SilentPC seem to have gotten around this.
@Vic LTD Yes and no! The SSD not being replacable/upgradable is a pain in the ass but the ram is so closely integrated with the CPU architecture on the Apple silicon that removing it would be impossible as it is literally in the die. Love it or hate it but this integration is the reason for the amazing results of the Apple M series processors.
@Vic LTD To be fair my Macs last way longer than any of my Windows PC's.
I switched from lifelong PC user to a MacBook a year and a half ago. I got the M1 13" MBP with 16gb of ram. Up until now it has been running great. A few tracks or a lot of tracks, and as many effects as I want, the laptop doesn't even blink. I do have to say that I still need to run my DAW in Rosetta mode, mainly because Native Instruments is not yet M1 native. But even in Rosetta it works great. I can use all the plugins that used to use on Windows, I did not loose anything. I was able to run my old projects on the new laptop (besides a sample that was missing here and there). It just took some days to getting used to the OS.
I already switched to Mac Studio. Running Cubase 12 pro with full version Komplete 13 and a bunch of Ni vst plug insThat I purchased separately, It works like a champ. I love it. Thanks Dom for a great video as always.
how about HW-like interfaces, midi keyboards? I think of Mac Studio too, but I use URC44C and NI KK61 and CC121 Controller and I am afraid of getting into trouble, not to mention being forced to use Rosseta for god knows how long
Thanks for this video Dom đ I am in a similar boat đBut as a hobbyist I am taking it real slow. I am also giving Logic Pro a try before dropping all my Cubase stuff on there.
Dom, love your content. First time commenting. I switched from a PC to a Mac Studio and have had no issues other than plugin compatibility. The Mac Studio is completely quiet and projects that would choke my old PC (i7 3.5Ghz 64GB RAM, I know its a bit old) run at about 10%-15% user CPU on the Mac Studio. My main complaint would be having to get thunderbolt docks or adapters for connectability, where on my PC other than a few powered Anker USB docks I didn't have to spend much. My monitors were all HDMI so I had to get a thunderbolt dock and a thunderbolt to two HDMI connector from OWC. I am currently running Cubase 12 in rosetta mode for some plugin compatibility so I expect that when those plugins are native (cough cough Native Instruments) my performance will be even better. Thanks again for all your content!
Thanks for sharing John! Good to hear the Studio is quiet for you! Thatâs really encouraging !
Thanks Dom, I have been a life long PC user before switching last year to a MB Pro. Itâs true desktop PCs are completely able to do what Macs do when it comes to music production and most of the time PC laptops can too. I need my computer to do more than just music production so I have had to use laptops and Iâve had real problems at times with PC laptops, particularly after windows updates. My last (expensive) PC laptop simply stopped being able to run Cubase after one update and after months of reconfiguring the machine, updating ram and even buying a new interface out of sheer frustration (and hearing good things about the M1 Macs) I decided to switch to a MacBook Pro M1 Pro the month after it launched. It was a very expensive outlay for me (which I know not everyone can afford) a consideration that up to that point had really put me off Macs.
I was never a Mac fanboy but almost a year down the road I can honestly say that I still absolutely love this machine. It is completely unflappable and lightening fast whatever I throw at it. I have recently updated to CB12 which is amazing but for months I ran CB11 it in Rosetta and even this it was way more stable and quicker than the PC. I have run very large projects with high numbers of audio files and plugins and on a couple of occasions when exporting Files from Logic to Cubase I have been surprised to find later that I have accidentally had Logic and Cubase open at the same time with no apparent detriment to performance.
My conclusions:
- Is it expensive? - yes
- Does it do music production well? Yes better than any computer I have ever used before
- Is it overpriced? - yes if you canât afford it but IMHO if you can afford it and need a new machine for music production, it is well worth it in terms of its cast iron stability and reliability.
For that reason over time I have found that it has paid for itself in the fact that always works, saves me time and lowers my frustration levels.
Windows Automatic Updates just enrages me. But it can be deactivatedâŠjust not easily unfortunately.
@@Nightowl427272 yes I learned that after the damage was done unfortunately!
@@thefunkfactory - SameâŠ
@@stephen4625 - I assume thatâs short for Windows Updates Blocker. Unfortunately there are a lot of apps with that name. Which one do you use?
Just ordered my MBP a bit ago. Always been a PC user prior, but going to a laptop setup was always my goal. Dpc issues and bloatware plagued every windows laptop I tried, but this time I am feeling insanely confident with what these new macs can do!!
How do you like it?
@@sterling-beats I love it. Now that a lot of plugins have gone native, everything is working really good. Still some 3rd party plugs that may crash cubase every now and then, but I've been slowly cutting those plugs out or been using them sparingly when needed. And the speed of doing things is great. Rendering in place and exports are swift and the workflow is snappy. I did have to learn some of the shortcuts again coming from PC, but it was pretty quick.
Hey Dom, you are amazing in talking about music and your positive vibes are amazing. I write cinematic music on an iMac 2016 model with i5 intel and 12 Ram..... I have to say that i am really limited in what i can compose. I'm saving from my daily job for a MacBook 16'' pro with M1 pro 32gb and 4TB of SSD drive and YES i want to give this amount of money cause i believe in my skills, everyone of you guys in the comments should do the same. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!! Thanks a lot Dom
Great video! I'm definitely a PC guy keeping his eyes open with this. However being a gamer usually keeps me on the PC side of things. But a macbook pro may be in my future. Looking forward to your future videos on this topic.
I would never buy a macbook the vast majority of people are using PCs
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I have a mac mini M1 with cubase 1 year ago and it works perfectly without a cubase 12 pro rosette. And fl in its latest versions works perfect, I also have a number of plugins and they work perfectly. Highly recommended since its workflow is smooth and fast. Incredible.
I switched to Mac about 12 years a go and never looked back. Its just works! my last macbook pro I got in 2018. I love this computer but I wanted more processing power and eventually I got the Mac pro (very expensive) and that solved any problem I had and its a beast! I highly recommend. Thanks Dom for everything! keep doing a great job.
Hey Dom. I would be interested to see from film composing point of view how you find ram usage of kontslt and sample libraries etc. thereâs not much out there on that but film composers tend to need lots of RAM.
Hi Dom, I post comments very rarely so I take this opportunity to tell you how much I appreciate your channel and the energy, the passion, the good vibes you put into it. I learned a lot thanks to you and I also ruined myself a lot thanks to you :)
I can comment a bit with my own experience. I switched to the M1 platform almost a year ago when Cubase and the vast majority of plugin editors did not yet support it. I had bet on the fact that the support would be quite fast. I know, I played a bit with fire... Today things are quite different, I could actually use my new MacBook Pro as my main workstation, but⊠there is Universal Audio. As you may know Steinberg supports Apple silicon only for the VST3 standard. UA officially supports Apple Silicon but they still haven't made the transition to VST3 (released 14 years ago). In my whole bank of plugins (Plugin Alliance, Arturia, Waves, Eventide, Native Instruments, Spectrasonics, Baby Audio, Fabfilter, Soundtoys, Valhalla, Softube, Output, Toontrack...), UA is the only one that prevents me to use Cubase in native mode. Even Soundtoys, a genial editor, but not known as the most prolific and reactive one out there, released a VST3 version of its plugins two weeks ago! It's quite frustrating especially since UA technical support doesn't want to communicate about a possible roadmap for VST3 support. I was aware of the risks though. Letâs just hope for the best!
Hi Dom, I met you many years ago at the olympia and you've got me into cubase even though I 'm not a musician. The thing is I bought a cubase and composed some tunes and now I'd like to meet you again for you to produce one of my tunes, of course we'll discuss your fee.
the integration features and reliability are key elements here. Now with the mouse over Logic Remote it is also a breeze. I just wish Logic incorporate some few Cubase features that are essential, like a good overview of the articulations , or plugin search box
You made the video the moment i read details to move my studio from a pc to m1. Thank you and I look forward to your next videos.đ
Hey Dom, Great Video! I am in the market for a new laptop and I was thinking about the MacBook M1 Pro for music production, but I am scared to pull the trigger on it. Let us know how it goes!
Thanks for the video Dom. I am considering buying Mac Studio for my home studio but I am hesitant for reason that I use NI stuff a lot, including KK S61 keyboard (following your advice). I also wonder if I should start my mac journey with Macbook as I haven't used mac's before so may start smaller...
Thanks Dom
Hey Dom! Thank you so much for this amazing video. May I share a suggestion? Would you like to share what you are using with this Macbook Pro as accessories. It can be SSDs, it can be NVMe or SATA boxes, hubs, basically what are the details of your setup? Thank you!
Hay Dom , Did you get a MacBook ? I just switched to Cubase and love it , but having problem with F4 audio connections , when ever you disconnect from your main IO rig and go back all connections are lost ! And external Fx or Synths done have a preset !
My Mac Studio Max machine has been a dream machine for music prod. Awesome. The 2019 16" Intel i9 MBP was a nightmare.
I got the m1pro 16â in December. Personally I donât run Cubase in native mode due to plug-in compatibility and because wellâŠ.I donât feel like Cubase struggles under Rosetta soâŠ. Love having a laptop though, getting so much more done.
Thank you Dom .Perhaps Yamaha could build a dedicated hardware unit for Cubase ,standalone , like the Roland MV 8800 .Also a new synth ,sampler that is focused on instrument modeling .The AMD Ryzen 9 that I have is doing a good job .It depends how many instruments .Is a larger project nescesarily a better project ? I also like a nice sized monitor .I am worried that you might accidentally drop it . Won't perform so well then ?
I have a Mac Studio and I love it. It's not absolutely noiseless like the Mac Mini m1 is, which I also have, but it's a really powerful and quite machine.
You really got my attention with this one Dom ! I'm in the market for a PC - always been a PC user, but I'm very curious about apple/M1 performance. Really looking forward to the follow up videos and seeing how it all works out for you. One last thing - I'm still using an 11 year old i7 PC - and it does everything I need, as I bounce ideas and don't rely (like I used to years ago) on having tonnes of plugins going at once - I like the commit to audio approach, and it saves you a headache for opening old projects years later ! Will be watching out for your updates - Regards from Dublin Ireland !
Not necessary to get macs cos of performance with the new windows devices running p series intel
Great video Dom. BTW which display you use with your new Macbook? Thanks
I have an m audio interface that runs on power from my macbook. Do you recommend me to always leave the charger connected to the macbook or not? gracias. bendiciones. oh and i'll tell you steinberg announced that cubase although it opens natively in m1 internally it is working on rosetta to be more stable.
I have both. PC in Studio. An maximal overclocked I9-7940X, 64 gb, with watercooling. No noise. Love the performance. Never had problems. But in the end a 5k âŹ. My MacBook m1 max was about the same price and has roughly 30% better performance. As my main pc is so tightly connected and does the job I will use it till it dies, but there is simple no reason for investing 10k ⏠in two computers when it all can be done with one. I would go with a Mac in the future.
Very much the same opinion, for mobile production, Macbook M1s are great, as well as for live DJ/DAW performance modes. Windows is good for studio production and will save budget savvy folks some coin. I am waiting for the Mac mini M2 to be released, the way the processor handles RAM management means that a 16GB MAC M series will give most folk all they need for visual and audio production (unless you really want to break the bank with the MAC studio, a little overkill though IMO). Great video as always Dom.
Gone M1 Mini. ÂŁ600 refurbished and simply works. Yes a couple of things are not available I.e. halion full version but, and it's a big one.... it is unbelievable how well this little vox works. Been Windows since forever but now.... I am sold.
I just read some articles about Hans Zimmer. He uses both Macs and PCs, but he does carry his Macbook Pro around with him everywhere. He also uses Cubase and ProTools. Cubase is his "go-to" Daw for music creation, then uses ProTools to combine music with video production. Interestingly he uses 2 Native Intruments midi keyboards and an upright acoustic piano for his live concert, "Pirates of the Caribbean." I thought he might be using NI software but he swears by a company called Zebra by u-he, to get sounds like no other.
u-he is the company. Zebra is the product. He also heavily uses Waldorf synths.
Great! Quick one, is Waves Audio compatible?
I think it depends on the pc. I custom built my pc and I can easily keep up with these macs. I have ran 256 tracks at 128 sample rate, placed a convo reverb on every track, and hit record. 75 percent cpu usage. Ran it for 10 minutes with zero hiccups. This test was in PT. Keep in mind I built this PC 7 years ago. I have had zero issues with OS updates not working with plugins. I use Pro Tools, cubase, studio one, and reaper. Mainly PT and cubase. I can count on one hand the amount of crashes I've had on both daws combined in the last 7 years. You can hardly upgrade a mac, you can't repair them yourself for the most part, and for that you are pretty much pigeonholed immediately upon purchase. I love being able to upgrade my gpu when I want, upgrade my mobo or cpu when I want. Instead of buying a 3k-15k apple product that will be outdated in 10 years. PC is still king IMO. Too many limitations and walls to hurdle with Mac. I can also say that 99 percent of the issues I see posted on cubase forums, pt forums, etc are always mac related. I know more people use mac so that's part of it, but still. Why do so many people use it when it has so many issues. I know a top tier producer engineer that has like the 30k mac tower and he can't even open a session without it crashing. This is purely my experience. And btw, I own a mbp, an older one. I used to use my mbp for daily tasks and recording production. After switching to PC I have never been happier. No, PC isn't quite as good at video rendering, but I haven't used the rtx3080 gpu yet to test it.
I agree with you. I like the idea of repair something myself (not that I have needed to - but I can) I built my i9 64GIG ram Nvidea machine for around 1k maybe 3 years ago using Cubase. To get that performance on MAC I'd have to pay quarter to double the price.. for what? the look? When it comes to customisation, it has to be PC all the way, if Apple brought their prices down and you could customise I would concider. I still prefer Windows as an OS too, you simply can get more out of it. Only just though, MAC OS isnt actually too bad but not better.. I think thats the point. I disagree about the video rendering though I watched a video on CZcams several years ago and the PC did better than the MAC overall in an unbiased test "same spec" situation. However out of several tests the MAC did pull in a few victories but didnt win overall. Mind you this is just one plausable set up in the world. I do not video edit, so I can't refer to real world experience. An old producer freind had a MAC and had several crashes. To be fair though, if the machine was optimised I guess performance would be about the same as a PC and stable. I think there is a myth surrounding Apple that you dont need to do anything. All computers need to be optimised to your workflow and none are immune to potential viruses; but I cant rememeber the last time I had a virus on my PC? I dont see why generally some people think that this is a thing? perhaps a little in the mid 90's. But that was ages ago! Plus can you even use Unreal engine properly on a MAC? I mean that is the future! I am getting really into it.. and also who doesnt love a bit of gaming? I've never met a gamer using a MAC. I know it is a thing but I just havn't met one. I have met a lot of Music Producers using MAC though. I just never saw the appeal really, I dont think it fits my lifestyle. If people like the retina display spend the money on a retina monitor you get same result but it is pricey. I did actually have a MAC for a year or so back in maybe 2010 I genuiny thought, maybe I was wrong about what I was using to produce on. However I went back to PC, So it wasnt like I didnt try. Too many limitations and the price. Nah not for me. Whilst in this Video it did make me raise an eybrow I am intruiged to see what the price is, but porting everything over for something that I have been building since 1994 when I started using Windows and Cubase seems like a massive pointless chore now in 2022. And I work as a professional producer so I need a stable system. I am open for change but it needs to be better all round for me to swap again. Besides I am seeing the new GPU usage on the horizon so I think Performance upgrade isnt far behind for PC users either.
My experiences are similar to yoursâŠit depends on the PC.
anyone with adecuate pc building and troubleshooting skills would prefer a pc over a mac, I can't seem to fix anything in mac os when it decides to crap on itself (more times than I can count) when I tinker with a pc really heavily things can go wrong but other than that pc's are just as stable as macs given all parts are working correctly.
Truth.
Macs are an emotional thing for folks lost in life needing to "belong"
But you get a sticker to put on your car.
I'm not a computer specialist but may I ask,
The stress test was between i9-12900K (+DDR5 Ram) vs M1 PRO or vs a previous Intel's generation? I think its good to know.
Peace n' Love đ
The new Mac Mini with the M1 chip, unlike the MacBook Pro has 2 drive bays with an adapter, so one SSD for the operating system and one for projects. Do you think that is a good choice as well?
How you will handle the work on the monitor.. plug a larger external monitor, keyboard mouse and placing the device anywhere under the table? hate to write on laptop keyboards and small monitor.. because and of the other additional work have to be done as well.
Hi Dom - looks like a lot of us are taking the plunge on the M1. Just watched Guy Michelmore's video doing the same. I started my conversion to the M1 Pro two weeks ago (MacBook Pro 16). Kind of painful with some of the VSTs and having to load everything again. Hoping the AXR4 h/w control becomes native soon (Halion 6, Komplete Control, etc.). Looking forward to watching your journey and learning! UF8 review soon? I won't consider buying until it get's the Dom stamp of approval : )
UF8 against the Softube Console 1 and Fader.... no contest. The Softube controllers win hands down.
Hi, Dom! Great video! Did you finally get a chance for in-depth comparison?
Thanks. The standard RAM is not going to cut it if you're streaming multiple, large sample libraries. You need 32GB to BEGIN with really. Some of the newer libraries are EXTREMELY memory intensive.
I have a MacBook from 2018 and itâs worked really well but itâs got such a loud fan thatâs pretty much constant now so I always find myself using gated and C - Suite by uad but with condenser mics and no booth itâs becoming a problem. How is the fan noise after working for awhile? I think if they fan is great, I will buy one just for recording and keep all plugins and stuff on my current Mac to use for mixing.
I started on the Digital Performer DAW in the year 2001 with a Mac G4. My mentor-- a pro TV composer at the time- used the same system, but they switched to Logic on PC's because they could build them and save $. Then Logic was discontinued for PC and they turned to Cubase and then Nuendo. I didn't want to switch till I needed a new CD burner (ha!) that would cost me $300... and upgrading to a Mac g5 would have cost me nearly 5k. But I eventually did it since my mentor could continue teaching me. So in the years after I switched to Cubase SX (haha) on PC, I've built a new state of the art computer every 6 to 8 years for $1500 to $2k. Massive savings and more power every time. The PC programs had some drawbacks and were over complicated at first, but the power I got was better than what I could afford on Mac. Most hi level pros have both in some form-- especially since video editing is part of the game these days. But I've found PC's make me understand the computer better. Macs are beautiful, but they hide what's under the hood. And repair/upgrade costs were huge. Anyway, great video. Just my $0.02. đ
It was all about the convenience which pushed me entirely into Mac for music production and more. No need for additional installations for physical equipment, no need for constant troubleshooting and more, just plug and play!
M1 Pro is what I ended up getting and it's perfect, especially with the high impedance headphone port built in which meant I can finally produce on the train from Bournemouth to London without needing a pre-amp for my 250ohm headphones.
I bought a Macbook pro a few years ago to see what the fuss was all about. I found the old saying that switching from PC to Mac was like moving to a foreign country but not being able to speak the language. The Mac was just all backwards compared to Windows for me. After a couple of years with the Mac being used as a paperweight and a dust catcher, I sold it with no regrets.
Im still using W7 and it works great on 2011 HP Z800 Dual hexcores. I have 3 machines with 72 gigs of ram in each. 1 for main DAW ( Cubase ) and the other 2 are servers that handle all the CPU hungry VSTi's using Audiogridder and Vienna Ensemble Pro. Im running a MOTU Audio card and 4 - 24 i/o breakout boxes for 96 TRS ins and outs, at a buffer setting of 64 and it will also do 32 if I need it to. Bottom line, the system isnt broken. It works well so for me, theres no point in spending any amount of money to get newer computers to give me what I already have, and that is a working Cubase 10.5 set up to produce songs and Premiere to make videos. Im 67 now and Ive been thru the "shiny object syndrome" stuff when it comes to modules, and outboard gear. New gear if fun but if the system you have is doing the job and is making you money, then why do you need to upgrade to a new anything, when six months down the road something more powerful will be out and what you just upgraded to, is yesterdays news?
The best system is the one that works well enough for you. If its doin the job, great. If not upgrade. I just priced out the new MacBook pro 16" with the M1 pro chip and its $100 more than I paid for my three HP machines total. New, the HPs were over $10k each when they first came out, but I bought them refurbished a few years after they were new. Theyre industrial grade servers and designed to be run hard, 24/7. I dont run them near that hard. They still have more than enough horsepower to rum Cubase and Adobe Premiere for me without breaking a sweat. Your mileage may vary. Do you believe that having a new machine that goes a Gazillion miles an hour is gonna impress the clientele or is the quality of your finished production gonna do that? Remember, all of the work you admire from other producers was all done on old outdated tech. Its not the clubs...its the golfers skill with those old clubs that makes the difference.
Your mileage may vary...
Voice of reason
Hi Dom, just upgraded to the Mac Studio base model, running Cubase 12 with zero issues. I have not heard the fans kick on once with the studio.
It's actually quieter than the M1 Mini
Hi! Do you recomend a restored MacBook pro 2017 i7 16 GB instead a new Dell or Asus laptop i7 11th 16 GB?
Was planning on making this switch 2 years ago when I bought a 16-inch Macbook pro with the M1 Max processor, then I ran into some unexpected difficulties.
First of all, my current interface runs on a Firewire connection (and it works great with my PC). The new Macbookâs only have Thunderbolt 4, and there are NO interfaces (as of Sept 2023) that use that format. So either I have to buy a TB3 interface (very few options and very expensive!), or set up an elaborate string of adaptors to continue using my Firewire interface (adaptors into adaptors into adaptors = signal degradation between interface and DAW)
Second, the MacBook Pro has no standard USB ports, meaning you have to add the additional cost of a hub if like most people you have 1 or more midi devices that use standard USB.
The Macbook Pro is a monster of a platform, but it really shortchanges musicians by creating this interconnect limitation.
Cosa usi cpme mac fisso? mentre questo macbook pro che capacitĂ ha?
Iâm anxiously awaiting for them to put the M3 chip in a Mac mini to create a new music production machine.
With the Mac mini, you can use any keyboard, track pad, mouse, and monitor that you like.
I plan on using all my current Apple stuff and some other monitor which I will mount on the wall w an arm.
Iâm super open to suggestions on the monitor and the mounting assembly.
Once I hear some performance numbers from music production, then Iâll decide whether Iâm gonna stick with the into or go for the M3.
I was a pc user from 1998 until 2006, then switched to mac once they transitioned to Intel CPU for good. A white macbook was with me everywhere. Studio, gigs, on the road. There was simply nothing for that price in the pc laptop world. As the years went by, I was going deeper and deeper the Mac world. Had macbook pros, mac pro, started collecting PPCs and then it happened. My machines were outdated, and my money was not enough đ to buy new ones. Software was going forward, specially OSX, and plugins with it. I couldn't update my OS and get the plugins that I wanted. I was satisfied with what I had, but I couldn't even run demos. I was feeling cut out, unless I paid for a new machine. That's when I went down the Hackintosh lane. Not perfect, a bit cheaper solution, but unfortunately not portable at all. Slowly, getting fed up with the constant OS maintenance of a "hacked" version of OSX, I slowly shifted back to Windows in 2020. It was a long ride with Apple, and I still have several machines in my collection, G3 and G4 towers and laptops, ibooks, macpros, all functional with ready to go audio recording software. Windows 10, is flexible and can run plugins 10 years old as well as new ones. I am happy to have made the change but.... I miss the simplicity and efficiency of a mac, but it's a cash eating monster.
Keep it up Dom. I hope that tape delay is still doing well đ.
I swapped from PC to a Mac this year and will never look back. I was running an i9 9900k and it would complain using the granular engine on Omnisphere, not so with the Mac. It hasn't missed a beat since I got it and throughly enjoyed the experience so far.
Hey Adrian--just curious as I'm in need of an upgrade--been on pc for years--did you go M1? Studio or laptop? Cubase or other DAW?
@@Jursorama I went for the studio 64gb version and 1TB internal drive. I plug in a black magic SSD docking station to expand storage to 8TB all SSD. Works a charm and stuck with Cubase, currently Pro 12.
If you need to know anything else feel free to drop me an e-mail through my website.
However there are still many plugins canât be loaded on Cubase12 natively đ there are no such problems on Logic Pro X. Will you also Logic for using some old plugins natively.đ€
i got this last Dec, and am using it, but like you said many plugins are not compatible yet & Cubase 12 no longer supports VST 2 plugins so many of my other most used plugins don't work except in rosetta 2...so it's work arounds until the other developers catch up. sonarworks, hasn't worked out the bugs yet either !!
Thanks for that video mate. I had to switch from my pc to a mobile pc. I have tried 3 different windows highend laptops in the last time. Compared, watched tons of review videos before buying. Problems here and there. And the machines were so loud because of the fans. So my last one was a lenovo thinkpad p14s with an amd ryzen 6850u, 32gb ram, and 1tb fast ssd. The machine run my biggest project. But man, the fans screaming, the laptop got hot on the surface and the overall build quality was feeling cheap. Now, I "downgraded" to a macbook air m2 with 16gb ram and 512gb ssd. And damn. That machine runs so fast even without fans. What you didnt mention in your video. The m-processors need a lot less watts then the intels or amds and deliver still better performance. That are all points that justify the higher price.
Cubase 12 on Windows 11 i9 Dr mix 3XS Scan sys.... on tuesday , currently going thru the 21 hr dongle debacle as the stupid dongle imploded.....going withthat deal on upgrade on Cubase site.....very excited i cant lie....
Iâm actually happy just running Cubasis 3 on a M1 iPad.
What windows Laptop would u recommend paired with an Apollo x8p?
great vid as usual but il stick with my PC. a question off subject what do you use to connect all the USB supported equipment, I have 8 ports which are all in use I'm guessing as you have so much equipment you must have a solution for this what do you use?? ( this question is open to anyone on here lol)
I think even with Rosetta enabled the new macs are still way faster. The only issue is if you have plugins, that are not silicone ready, then it is better to run it in Rosetta, is what I have been told, that's where it feels like it's slowing down if you try to run plugins that are not compatible yet. I'm getting an m1 in a months time, I've been informed to run everything in rosetta and not try to run native yet and the machine is then super fast.
11 months later. Is everything compatible now with the M chips? Thanks
one remark, with "core audio" the only difference in performance depends on the number of i/o (bandwidth) so you will not get better performance with external audio interface compared to the internal. "scan audio" wrote about this in length.
Hmmm... Interesting! On my tests here the latency performance was definitely better with an external Audio interface...Could you share that resource please? I am really interested in it.
@@DomSigalas tried to find it but i couldn't and got lost :) it was mentioned on some test but i can't remember the details, if you have a chance to ask him where it is i will be happy for a link, cheers!
Hi Dom, thanks for your thoughts on this topic. I am definatly not am mac fan. Updated my desktop recantly to a ryzen 9 7950x (windows 11 by the way) and it runs like a beast. But for liveshows and mobile use now i ordered a macbook pro with the 10c m1 chip. Looking forward how this thing performs. Are there comming an update video on this topic soon from u? I think on your latest videos you are still running the windows machine? đ€đ
Keep up the great work! đ
All the best from Germany
Sebastian
What if you use Logic Pro X ? Are the plug in problems there ?
Would you be able to review the new Zen 4 Ryzen chip with DAW workflow?
I switched to Mac in late 2008, and couple of years later somehow caught myself that all my serious (paid) work is being done on Mac. :) It just works. I press power button, launch Nuendo, Logic or PT, whatever I need right now, and just do my daily job. I'm a long time PC user either, and I believe that Windows has made a long way. W7, 10 and 11 are pretty usable and solid. Hell, even 8.x was a pretty nice OS, not even mention good old XP. But when it comes to comfort and reliable ecosystem - IMHO Mac is absolute winner, it fits like a gloove. The only downside is Apple with their terrible, but well deserved reputation.
the "problem" with cubase in m1 native mode is that developers not only need to have m1 natively but also vst3, which some well known vendors didn't have until a few weeks ago, xfer and a few others are still in beta or even alpha stage. however, i run 300+ tracks in m1 with loads of vst and vsti's and my maxed out 14" runs extremely good. antares (codemeter) causes problems. they're on it tho.
Dear Dom. What camera do you use to shoot your videos? Thank you in advance for your response.
I answer it on my Q+A video which is coming up! I use the Sony a7IV and A7siii :)
@@DomSigalas Thank you very much đ
I have the m2 but thereâs still some plug ins that arenât compatable đ until then Iâm running Rosetta but canât wait to run Apple silicon
The loss of boot camp. Would nix it for me for now and I would like to see reliability. Love my old MacBook Pro 2012 but inherited it after it crapped out on a friend a few months out of warranty (temperature sensor) and her replacement was a frequent flier to apple. Other than the fact sequoia doesnât run on a Mac, the only other sticking point for me is software updates. The one good thing about windows is their ability to update without breaking everything else.
Iâd like to see a real world comparison of your PC vs the Mac running Rosetta. In most cases Rosetta still out performs other options. So Iâd be really curious to see it compared
You got it- I want to see some more plugins gain compatibility to do a real-world test!
As an M1 Mac Studio MAX owner, I can say that I havenât been able to break it yet with any session or VI plug-in. It was worth the cash and as a former (recent) PC user, I much prefer OSX. Core Audio is so much smoother and fluid than dealing with ASIO drivers on the PC side.
@@terrygray7465 agreed 100%
5+ stars for the 2001 shirt ;)
Hi Dom! Can you give us a short conclusion after about a year? Did you switch to Mac? Thanks a lot! Bernd
Yes. My main system is a Mac Studio M2 Ultra
@@DomSigalas thanks a lot!
Thanks you
I recently bought a laptop because I travel so much. I read about these new Macbooks and saw some music related reviews. They sounded impressive. But the price soon put me off⊠Iâm running a home built PC that is now 7 years old and itâs still going great. For the money that I saved by buying a capable, but not so expensive, laptop, instead of a MacBook Pro, I now have enough money to build a new mega PC when I eventually need to replace my existing beast, or more libraries, gear, whatever. The point is, I retained more money to spend on other things. The quietness of the MacBook is definitely a winner for us musoâs though. That would be a strong plus.
I work with a Mac mini M1 since six months i had problems with plugins and cubase 12 pro in the beginning but now itâs ok
For me itâs not overprice a pc with thĂ© same performance is equivalent ex MacBook Air is cheaper than the Dell xp 13 and the dell is not so efficient
2:58 Windows 11 is great. Only issue I have is with OneDrive but I just disabled it.
Why not use both? I have MacMini M1 with Cubase 12 and PC with Cubase 11 synced together. Pretty cool.
Since win 10 it's super stable. 7950x will drop this year 5.7ghz across all cores for a few grand it's perfect đ
Hi, I have a question. Assuming that most of people (specially pop, electronic, rap/trap) will work at 44.100/24bit or 48.000/24bit, between 128/512 buffer size, "producing/mixing on the flow". What are the best options of audio interfaces in terms of RTL (round trip latency) on those values?
Get one with a Low Latency Interface with a built in Digital Mixer, Use Direct input Monitoring on the track being recorded and blend in Plugins on a aux input to a bus.
@@elzippo488 Ok, I almost don't record audio, only virtual instruments played by a USB keyboard. I think direct monitoring won't work in that field.
I just switched to PC from Mac last year because my Mac is an old 2015 mid MBP and don't have the money to upgrade lol. Still using macbook for daily life but making music mainly on PC.
U did not make the wrong decision by switching to pc especially because Microsoft has the market share czcams.com/video/OcL932W6E1w/video.html
Hi Dom, is yours M1pro or M1 max?
I am planning for a windows lappy helios i912 gen 16gb ddr5 ram model. Some people confused me by saying "in that budget, go for mac"
I AM CONFUSED
The waves plugins not working on M1 kept me from making the jump last time I looked at them months ago.