Mac for Music Production.

Discussion in 'Mac / Hackintosh' started by Adder, Apr 6, 2025 at 5:16 PM.

  1. Brian Mcgee

    Brian Mcgee Newbie

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    I have a m1 pro 16 macbook pro with a apollo twin x and its been going a wild ride, i give you this warning, sonoma and sequoia OS are very bad for music production, incompatibility issues, audio crackles, audio dropouts, performance issues, i am not saying you are going to be unable to do music, yeah you can being very cautious in which plugin you install, which daw you use, know how to disable security and all that features that get in the way of music production, privacy privileges that fuck up things, those OS are very full of security and other AI and Features that make the experience bad

    You can search, m1 pro, m1 or other m processor followed by audio problem, audio crackles, audio performance issues, dropouts, in the google search bar and you gonna see thousands of people with audio problems

    I love cubase and in my machine is simply unusable, in the other hand studio one runs like a rocketship, but only now that i downgraded to ventura, my mac came with sonoma and that and sequioa was the only ones i used and the experience was like hell, son many times i wanted to sell my machine and buy a pc, i cant use the latest version of logic pro because is locked to sonoma, yeah that sounds like a thing microsoft would do but now we live in the opposite reality xD

    And yeah i love mac but it hurts a lot when i payed 3k+ for my brand new machine and the experience was the worst i ever had in my life, before this i had a i5 13 macbook pro 128gb ssd and it was so slow compared to this machine, but i never had any audio problem with that machine, i just plugged and play i never had to worry about anything, i never even had to remember i have to modify a setting or troubleshoot anything so its clearly software related i think

    Apple hardware is more powerful and efficient in my opinion for music production, very low fan noise, but the MacOS is getting worse and worse for music production

    If somebody told me what should they buy for music production in 2025 i would say PC 100%, and its so weird saying that because decades ago mac was the top of the top for music production, well no more

    Maybe if they focus the new versions of MacOS in declutter the experience for the audio professional and improve the performance and stability i would start recommend it again
     
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  2. saccamano

    saccamano Audiosexual

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    seems typical of most apple users to fall back on meaningless insults when confronted with actual facts about their denials. surprising any would actually even know what comptia was let alone pass any tests... probably looked that whole thing up on "chatgpt" where all apple "gospel" comes from... :rofl:
     
  3. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    I had all these similar problems you mention with an Apollo Twin X Quad w/ Thunderbolt 3, on fully loaded i7 Macbook Pro. So much so that I sent it back, and ended up back with MOTU. People love their plugins, but in my personal experience; the actual software from them was terrible. They even had a utility program on the UAD website that they had made to clean up failed installations and dropped connectivity.

    No-one I know has these problems with just MacOS, of any version. Or at least, none that have mentioned it.
     
  4. Lube Bag

    Lube Bag Producer

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    That sucks you've been having so many issues!

    Is that a more specific-to-M1 thing?

    Cos I run an Apollo mkii and a TB Satellite, with an M4 MBP on Sequoia, and have literally not had a single dropout/hang for the month or so since I got this machine. and like, the way my desk setup is, I hotplug my Apollo hardware all the time, and it gets picked up right away every time.

    The UAD install procedure on Sonoma is defo a pain - did you follow the instructions on their site, and do the whole boot into recovery mode to change some secruity setting first? (can't remember exactly what it was, but it was a bit of a thing, but like, I followed all the steps, and it worked great).

    I primarily work in Ableton, but have used Cubase as well, and it seemed fine too? Like, running at 32 sample buffer, with a whole bunch of other stuff running in the background (the M4 is so crazy powerful that I genuinely forget I've got stuff running - I was working on a track the other day, and literally had like photoshop, discord, edge, and the Sims running in the background, a litearlly didn't realise lol), and it's been fine, haven't really had any hiccups - maybe I'm just lucky, but yeah - just for anyone else reading - it's not all doom and gloom!
     
  5. Lube Bag

    Lube Bag Producer

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    I gotta say, I don't really see anyone using any insults, unless I'm missing something?

    Like, I'm honestly not too sure about a lot of the stuff you're talking about, and I'm not really that worried about it tbh - I think like a lot of other folks who are using their machines to make music, and want them to work reliably, I've been really happy with my MBP.

    I was also v happy working on windows machines too (I've always used both).

    But yeah, this does appear to be a bit of a personal bugbear for yourself, and that's totally fine - we all have different experiences - but from having a quick read of the thread, I don't think anybody's really looking for an argument here? I think it was more that a couple of your msgs kinda came in a bit hot, and like, this is just a thread trying to help someone find a machine they can make music on, I'm not sure it's maybe the best place to be diving into the dark underbelly of big tech companies, y'know?
     
  6. sisyphus

    sisyphus Audiosexual

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    I'm not sure what is going on with your system, but I, and plenty of others I know have zero issues with apple silicon and running this stuff like a purring kitten with no problems.

    Sure, you gotta think about what you toss on your system and from where, but I would think that would be common sense anyways.

    I'm not all Mac fanboi here, and all good with people enjoying whatever... but I would strongly beg to differ that it's getting worse on the macOS side in terms of audio production. It isn't. And it's not that expensive.

    I'm sure you can 'google' anything and find a ton of idiots and their buddies who don't know what they are doing. Par for the course.

    I'm not saying it's the only option. I'm saying it's working just fine.

    If you prefer pc, linux, whatever... feel free... all good. and I want everyone to enjoy what they got.

    But there are a ton of us using Macs from osx to macOS to mini's to cheese graters to mbp's to whatever... and doing just fine without breaking bank and doing what we will.

    whatever, tired os wars are tired and if people can't figure out their shit, (and I'm not saying UAD hardware hasn't had issues, and f' them on that...but whatever, I don't use it anymore or can imagine why I would at this point....) sometimes its not the tool....
     
  7. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    You are missing when I said in response to the guy actually using AI for everything that MacOS is simple. I also elaborated that most Windows users do not know Windows. He feels personally insulted by the fact he probably does not have a single Windows IT certification that would barely qualify him to work at Best Buy. Even though I was just saying this about the general public. If the shoe fits...

    It's ok, he will go back to complaining about how he can't use VPN on the free file hosting sites soon. :) The only reason for a Windows user to even be reading a thread about Mac so thoroughly is to talk BS about stuff they don't know anything about.
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2025 at 4:26 AM
  8. SonicBoomer

    SonicBoomer Producer

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    PC's are great but I favor Mac OS and Macs build quality.
    Apple Silicon have made Macs affordable and very powerful workstations, with small desk footprints.
    Caveats are with the storage. It's overpriced from Apple. Get what you need for the system, app and plugins,
    and buy some fast external storage for everything else.
    If you're lucky enough to find them in stock, and a little handy,
    you can upgrade with 3rd party storage fabrications, at a fraction of Apple's prices.
     
  9. thegoat

    thegoat Newbie

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    I switched from a windows laptop to macbook pro m1 this year and i love it , It took me less than a week to get used to the new system ,Also I have no issues running fl studio and ableton I use them both no complains I also use a bunch of plugins such as uad , acustica , fabfilter ...etc works fine . another thing to mention is how good macos when it comes to switching audio output and input sources , in windows you can't do that without the DAW crashing which really sucks , I use SoundSource for switching between out - in sources it does it seamlessly .
     
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  10. Adder

    Adder Newbie

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    The main reason I am considering a MAC is that they use very little power. I am going to use it in my RV. I still have my monster gaming PC at home, which is superb when using Reaper also. I'm running 64 samples on my EVO and it feels like I can literally put on endless with FX. In the RV I'm happy if I can run a couple of Tonex and SD3 and some FX. The MAC Air must be capable of handle that. Thank you for all answers!
     
  11. Radio

    Radio Audiosexual

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    My wish list for the year 2100 is:

    Microsoft and Apple join forces, building the best of both worlds in a single music production computer.
    Windows/Apple OS, the Peace OS v1.0 with a 25-year warranty including free updates.

    One can still dream...!
     
  12. Guido Stoner

    Guido Stoner Newbie

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    John Lennon, going ahead, wrote a song about it
     
  13. zpaces

    zpaces Platinum Record

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    9q1785.jpg
     
  14. Adder

    Adder Newbie

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    I just found out about the PC ARM laptops. I'll go for one of those instead :bleh:
     
  15. tzzsmk

    tzzsmk Audiosexual

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    used MBP M2 Max with 32GB ram and reasonable internal SSD is probably best pick,

    latest M4 is nice, but Air has no cooling and you need consistency in performance
     
  16. Swatch

    Swatch Producer

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    I second this.
    I'm very lucky to have a MacBook pro which i could test for half a year.
    Otherwise I never would have made the switch.
    Now I'm switching from windows to Mac because:
    It just works!

    The core audio from Mac is far superior than this Asio driver stuff
     
  17. pauvlin

    pauvlin Member

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    Be ready for the fact that there aren't so much cracked plugins on the mac OS if you are a pirate of course :winker:
     
  18. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    This is why Windows users who have "tried Mac" cannot see the benefits. When you produce music for 6 months or a year with 0 problems is when the epiphany finally happens. Many experienced Windows users will set up their machine with a partitioned system drive. One partition contains Windows, applications and plugins; and the other one contains audio files, presets, templates, and so on. The reason why they do it is because it is faster to just restore the smaller system/apps partition, then having to restore the entire drive.

    They do it because they are running an operating system where they need to be good at restoring it. That is like pilots who are great at landing planes at the wrong airports.

    "Can't be easily fixed or upgraded" is another one. For what purposes, gaming? Instability? More wasted time and money. No-one builds a reliable car from random parts they order off the internet, and then assembled by a hack mechanic down the street. I'll take my chances with a team of system engineers, departments of people testing configurations of newly introduced systems, and robot assembly.
     
  19. Ad_Vyse

    Ad_Vyse Member

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    That's an apt analogy. The problem with the analogy is that in 10 years, your car will still drive up and down the road at roughly the same speed as all other cars driving up and down the road. It'll still be a comparable car. Can the same be said about any non-upgradeable Mac?

    I'm not a Mac guy. I'm not a Windows guy either. I couldn't care less what someone else is using. It makes literally no difference to me. I will say I personally gravitate towards Windows because I can sail the seas far more easily than on a Mac. I can swap parts out far more easily. It's cheaper to upgrade parts than to upgrade an entire computer. And lastly, because everything-Apple is proprietary "only works with other Apple products" nonsense. I hate being locked into an ecosystem that doesn't play nice with other brands. It's about as anti consumer as you can be. The EU is finally forcing Apple to be a bit more consumer friendly so this is becoming more of a moot point as the years pass but their ecosystem is still too closed off for my tastes.
     
  20. Jeffriezal

    Jeffriezal Producer

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    Been a WIndows user for 35 years... only a brief of time using Mac when i was in university (Uni COmputer) around circa 2002, never liked it and hate it, also have to use it where certain studio equip with it. But just last year I need a mobile setup coz i will be traveling alot and really into doing foley/sound design.. so i grab my self Macbook M1 pro 16.. at first i bought it because with honesty i really hate most windows laptop look like. 2nd is because i heard a lot of good thing about Apple Silicon tech, especially heat managment.

    My first impression, the learning curve.. not that hard, it feel weird at the beginning.. but after 3 days, its pretty much straight forward. Setup my Nuendo and Studio One is much quicker than on Windows..and as not so many K'd plugs on Mac side...so i wont bother much to try every release..most of the time i use stock plug and what ever i already have licensed.

    Im also a casual gamer, i love to play FPS game.. but since Mac dont have the game i usually played.. i kinda dont miss it.. i have more focus to finish my work, and shut down, more time with family especially with my son.. no more cluttered desktop, everything save on external drives...

    Initially the setup just meant for mobile... but recently i just do most of the work now on this macbook.. just start my PC once in awhile to transfer some files.. i gotta say, i love using mac now.. it made me focus on task in hand and not bother with other things anymore. Am I a MAc boy now? Haha perhaps, maybe... :)
     
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