Price: Studio One can be downloaded completely free. All the Registered Studio One 3 users can update to version 3.0. In a very short time, Studio One has gained immense popularity and is counted as one of the best DAW for MAC. This piece of software is a complete DAW and is a good one for the professionals.The new Mac mini has Apple's new M1 chip, which increases the CPU performance up to three times faster than the last version, according to Apple.The chip also has a 16-core Neural Engine to bring machine learning to tasks such as video analysis, voice recognition, and image processing. This increases machine learning performance by 15 times, according to Apple.SEE: Apple's MacBook Air with M1 chip: Everything you need to know (TechRepublic)The M1 chip has up to 16 GB of superfast unified memory. The Mac Pro also comes with an additional 4TB of SSD storage, so music producers can save and download multiple files in any size. It has various ports to plug into to connect any equipment needed. This is useful for those who are studio recording or mixing and mastering.Best Music Production Macs for Audio (2021) 1 Mac Mini M1 Best Beginner and Budget Option 2 iMac 27-inch Retina 5k (2020) Top Pick for Home Studios 3.The Mac mini can support two displays: One with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt and one with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI 2.0.The Mac mini comes with all-flash storage up to 2 TB SSD.The new chip combined with macOS Big Sur offers advanced security and privacy features, according to Apple.
Most clock speeds on the current Intel Macs are somewhere in the 3.00 – 3.5 GHz range. The CPU is the ‘brain’ of your Mac, and has a clock speed and a number of cores. This new processor is based on 5-nanometer technology and has an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores. But honestly, I would always suggest you bite the bullet and go for an i7 CPU at least. If you are working on small projects with minimal track counts and only a small number of virtual effects plugins, you can often get away with just an Intel i5 chipset. CPUS – Intel i5 vs i7 and beyondAs a musician, Intel i7 and i9 chipsets for your CPU are ideal These will give you enough power to handle larger, more complex productions. Be on the look out for these if you are interested in investing in a new Mac system. This will give you plenty of power to process complex tasks in real time, which is what making music in your DAW is all about, computationally speaking.Some CPUs also have a feature called hyper threading, which effectively doubles the number of cores at your disposal. As musicians, we should always be aiming for 6-core and 8-core CPUs, where budget allows. For music production, you want a minimum of 16GB of RAM, or you will struggle. RAMAn Apple Mac’s RAM is your working area it is where the CPU puts tasks it is working on in real time. But that won’t be for a little while, so we will be focusing on its current models in this article. With music production you want a 7200 rpm mechanical drive as a minimum. There are two main formats: mechanical drives, often known as HD, and SSD (Solid State Drives). HD StorageRegarding storage space, you will often see something like 1TB or more with desktop machines, or perhaps 256GB or 512 GB on offer with laptops. I run 32GB of RAM in my MacBook Pro. So it’s a good idea to try and get one with as much RAM you can. If you can afford more, then go for it.Unfortunately, Apple laptops, smaller iMacs, and Mac Mini cannot be upgraded with more RAM later. Ghost win 7 64 bit all driverAlthough hard drives can sometimes be swapped out, it isn’t a simple task and could avoid your warranty.SSD drives are a lot faster, but they cost a bit more than traditional mechanical HD drives. Because they are mechanical, they are also easier to damage from being dropped or knocked hard, so you need to be careful with them or you they corrupt your data if damaged.All those sample and loops can fill up your Startup Disk, so put them on their own external drive SSDThe SSD storage Apple uses is on a chip, often soldered to the computer’s main Logic Board. That’s not good.A mechanical hard drive consists of a set of spinning disks inside an enclosure with multiple read/write heads that scan these spinning platters. How To Set Up Your SystemThink of your Apple computer as an physical recording studio. This where our DAW will be running from, so it’s a vital part of your system. Make sure the internal storage is either an HD running at 7200 rpm or more, or an SSD. We can always add a fast external storage device to our Apple Mac after we have purchased it. As musicians, we tend to use external drives to record our projects onto. Your Mac will also have things like Mail, Calendar and Safari installed as well, and although you may not use them they are part of the system and take up some space. You may also have separate audio editing software. You should have a minimum of 500GB of storage space on your HD or SSD.This will hold your Apple OSX operating system, your DAW like Logic Pro X, Ableton, Pro Tools or Cubase, and any third party plug-ins you decide to add to your studio for example NI Komplete, Waves or IK Multimedia. Like a recording studio, your DAW needs space for all the virtual instruments, effects and more. We don’t want to fill the internal drive completely or the Mac will slow to a crawl. Keep it tidy, do not partition it and, ideally, keep some of it completely empty. It is where all your programs live and run from. Mini For Recording Studio Full Of FurnitureIt slows you down and makes it a lot harder. An analogy I’ve often used in conversations with customers is decorating in a room full of furniture. If the drive is chock a block full of data, that gets very difficult. Keep audio on external hard drives, and samples on another external drive. If you use large sample libraries, you may want to keep these on another external hard drive.This gives your Mac plenty of room to work with and stops your main Startup Disk from filling up too quickly. This is the recording space for your audio files on. This means recording to a dedicated external hard drive, either an HD running at 7200 rpm or an SSD. Nowadays almost all of us will be recording to a computer hard drive. External StorageOnce upon a time, everyone recorded to magnetic tape. This would be enough storage to record a whole album on. At the time of writing, a 2TB external 7200 rpm hard drive is roughly £100. Hard drives are continually getting cheaper. Each session or project consists of a session or project folder, which contains the session/project file all the audio files, arrangement data, virtual instrument and any other samples referenced to create your song. You should get into the habit of backing these up when you have finished. Back Up Drive – If you stayed up all night creating something beautiful, then back it up and it goes here!DAWs often store your work as a session or project. Samples Drive – All your sample for any virtual instruments like Komplete or your DAW loops, again they are often in. External Hard Drive – Audio files from your DAW, normally in. Startup Disk (inside your Mac) – OSX Operating System, Programs including your DAW and Plug-ins Audio files take up a lot of space and will fill your Mac’s system drive ups very quickly. Another advantage is that , you won’t fill your startup disk straight away. This will keep everything neatly in one place, making it easier to find and to back up. You should place your session or project audio files and all the song session data on your external hard drive. When creating a backup, back up the entire folder or your song may become corrupted.Your DAW will allow you to set up an audio recording path. Don’t Scrimp (Where It Counts)If you are buying your first Apple Mac, you should budget for the fastest CPU with as many cores as possible and as much RAM as you can afford. That’s especially true if you are charging for your services, where I’d go as far as making multiple copies of the session or project folder. Hard drives are cheap and there’s no excuse not to have at least two copies of your work. If something is important to you, like your latest masterpiece, make a back up. The reason I suggest buy more RAM in a new Mac, is because many of them are non upgradeable these days, except currently the 27″ iMac, (kind of the) Mac mini and the Mac Pro. I’ll be covering more in depth ways of optimising in upcoming articles, this is just the entry level for information for starters. A classical composers using lots of sample libraries for arranging vs a studio with outboard gear that wants to primarily record bands, but integrate some plugins etc You and I have been using Macs a very long time, so we know there is a lot more to this, just I’m starting at the beginning here, so people can follow along and learn. As I also find it depends on how you like to work ie. I’m going to cover more advanced user tips in upcoming articles, this one is to help newer users buy the right machine either new or used. I’ve experienced people with MacBooks with 8GB Ram purchased from John Lewis or Apple, that can’t work out why their Mac isn’t great with a DAW.
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