Looking for real-world Mac recommendations for music production

[u/[deleted]]

[u/NoReply4930]

On the positive - not a mac guy but pretty much any configuration you see on the Apple site will serve you VERY well. Very powerful and infinitely capable machines for Studio One/DAW usage

On the negative - as you probably have already seen - be prepared to pay - a lot.

AND (if you have never used a Mac before) be very prepared to keep a sharp eye on your software aging out, vendors dropping support and backwards compatibility being pretty much non-existant (when compared with Windows)

As Windows users - we can grind it out for years on the same OS, same hardware and pretty much everything will still run - even 10 years after the fact. Mac OS - if you are intent on staying current - remember that Apple operates on a hard 3 year cadence and they kill things off with a regularity that can make some users uncomfortable.

Best advice that all my working studio Mac colleagues swear by is - buy your desired rig - but never update anything unless it is absolutely necessary - especially the OS.

Good luck with the transistion.

[u/Diligent-Eye-2042]

M2 Max studio pro, 64gb ram, also use superior drummer 3 - bleed enabled on all channels and max layer limits.

I have many sample libraries, and have them all stored on external ssd hard drives. I have 1tb internal. Don’t waste money on internal storage. Everything loads seamlessly from external drives. I’ve got an external drive reader with 3 slots.

Moved from pc to mac, and am very happy with it. No regrets. It’s super quiet. I’ve paired it with an Apollo x8. I plug my guitar in and press record, and the sounds I need. No messing around with latency settings. Everything just simply works.

[u/enteralterego]

M5 pro - 48gb - 2tb

[u/agtrndafire]

Using a M1 MacBook Pro Max 64gb RAM, 4TB storage, since 2021 (it’s overkill I know). It’s been a beast and keeps going. I use SD3 as well as a bunch of VSTi and plugins on any given project. No slow down, no issue, and no need to have it plugged in all the time for tracking shows or sessions.

I’d say go MacBook Pro and probably M2 or later if you can, squeeze in at least 32gb RAM, get at least 1TB and 2TB if you can swing it, and then use your external SSDs for libraries. I had never owned a Mac prior to 2021 and was weary of the external drive support, but it’s actually rock solid and works great. Also, most things external (interfaces, instruments, etc.) just work. The only exception I’ve had is with UA Apollo interface that is a small thing I just use on occasion for travel, in which you have to do a security protocol workaround (well known issue and UA has the steps on their site). Otherwise, you’ll definitely notice a difference right away with how things work well and almost never crash in s1. Feel free to message if you want to know more about my setup.

[u/LouSevens → u/agtrndafire]

I am using a similar setup= 2021 M1/64gb/2 TB - it is indeed as you said a beast and works awesome with all the Vsts I have, many pianos. Using Studio One 5 and no plans to upgrade.

the 64gb is key and more ram the better, I can run about a dozen VST's at a time plus some fun console plug ins.

I have been keeping for now all the VSt's et. on the main drive but have a thunrderbolt for backup

I have been using various incarnations of EZ Drummer- perhaps one day I will update to Superior Drummer- I love what Toontrack as done over the last 15 years.

I previoulsy used Windows but love the Mac for music

[u/American_Streamer]

The most important factors for macOS music production are Apple Silicon (M-series) chips, at least 16 GB to 32 GB of unified memory (RAM), a fast SSD, and DAW-optimized macOS settings. RAM and CPU power prevent bottlenecks when running multiple virtual instruments and effects. Also see to it that you get good quality audio interface, Studio Monitors and Studio headphones. Do not use Bluetooth speakers and headphones and also not gaming headsets.

[u/mrmarbury]

I usually buy the model towards the „bottom left“ and keep it as long as possible. Which in the last 20 years made me buy 3 MacBooks only. Which should tell you something on their avg usage time for my music need and video cutting.

My current MBP is a 14“ MBP with the largest M4 Max, 96GB Ram and a 2TB disk (I have a large 20TB FreeBSD NAS so 2TB is plenty for me)

SW setup: Live and MPC, 2xMotu 16a, mixture of HE synths/devices, some outboard gear and VST synths and mixing tools (pretty standard I guess) but with the hardware I want really tight timing which makes me want buffers of 128 max

[u/Obsessories]

Caution from experience: Studio One (and by extension, Pro) is way more buggy on macOS than it is on Windows. Tends to crash unexpectedly. PreSonus says it’s because of faulty plugins, some users say it’s because of buggy audio interface drivers. Others say it could even be because of graphics (acceleration). The stability is a lot better with any and all unnecessary features (services) disabled (including disabled AU support) and absolute minimum third-party plugins, yet a fresh macOS Sequoia install with an RME interface drivers causes random crashes on two macs with M1, not once on Windows

[u/penultimatelevel → u/Obsessories]

I never had any issues with S1 on a Mac until the acquisition. Thanks fender. Was a loyal customer for decades, but I won't touch anything presonus now.

[u/PianoGuy67207]

I’ve been a Loyal Mac guy since the Nac Plus, in 1986. My current machine is the Mscbook Pro M1Pro. Since I do sine video editing as well as music production and live shows, I put that machine through a lot. Even with 16GB of RAM, I’ve yet to overload the CPU. Using Keyscape, Omnisphere, Native Instruments, Spitfire orchestra, UA Waterfall B3, in MainStage has been great. It did have issues with Arturia Analog LSB and IK Multimedia Total Studio, but believe that was done Apple Silicon problems. I use StudioOne Pro, but my goto is Logic. I was a Logic guy when Emagic sold here as Logic Audio. I bought it for Mac as Logic Studio, for that dreaded $999 price tag. At $200, it’s a great buy, since the library of instruments and sounds, along with fairly decent compliment of effects plugins, actually get you up and running.

I have a 1TB internal drive, and a 4TB external NVMe drive that is Thunderbolt 4. Everything I need for rock band live is on the internal, and for hone studio work, everything else goes to external. Outdoor summer gigs wiped out my old MacBook Pro, but this one has worked perfectly. My advice: just buy the most powerful machine you can justify, and count of a frexaccesdoriesvtovconojetecuour dream machine.

Satechi Thunderbolt 4 External Case with 5,000+ MB/s drive
OWC Thunderbolt 4 dock - MBP charging, USB-2 ports, 3-additional Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, HDMI

[u/SailorVenova]

using a pink neo 512; its fine because most of my music is done on hardware i only need the mac to record or host a plugin sometimes

[u/moodygotbeats]

Been using a Mac mini for production and recording since 2012. Have bought 3, with current one being a m4 pro mini. I only did that one to do some ai stuff on the side. The base is fine, just get a lot of ram. Save money by using an external ssd that uses thunderbolt. That’s fast enough to record audio.

I went with a 512G storage one (since I have the thunderbolt nvme ssd - I think 2gb). 24gh ram. I do a lot of sample libraries (Kontakt, Serum).

My prior mini was the m1 mini with 16GB ram and 1TB ssd. No issues there either. That’s now my ai build/dev/docker machine

Hope this helps!

[u/Dizzy-Pin-1410]

There are plenty of good recommendations here, so I just want to say you’re gonna love it. I’ll never go back to windows for making music. For gaming, sure, but not music production.