Apple Mac Mini M1 suitability queries

spev11

I use the current PC as a learning device, I record myself "playing" and listen back to hear the errors etc.  Other than that it gets used for browsing and a bit of work (finances and ordering). Most of the time I use an Ipad Pro (1st gen) so i'm not a power user and I'm unlikely to ever get into studio quality recording (and if I do I don't doubt even the 16gb mini wouldnt really suffice anyway). I'll ponder some more as the current PC is working ok(ish) at the moment.

Bod

I'm running a PC with 32GB RAM and it works fine, but I've been interested in the M1 Mini for a long time.  I'd be looking at 16GB minumum, but the £200 for the extra RAM is a deal breaker for me, sadly.

Jonathanthomas83

Best thing I did was go Mac Mini M1 after my Windows machine died. The Windows machine served me well for years, but I've never had a minute's trouble with the M1 since I bought it in 2020 and I've honestly never looked back.

Yorkie

goldtop said:

Guys! The OP said "basic recording and 4 tracks".

For which the 8GB RAM of the basic model is plenty. 

This  

colourofsound

octatonic said:

I am not sure anyone is though, beyond saying 'more memory = more gooder'.

The extra £200 will be quickly forgotten, imho.
Living with a machine that in 2 years time is starting to slow down will be a pain.

This is just not my experience, at all.

I have a Windows HTPC thats on an Intel Sandybridge i7, which upgraded to 16GB of RAM only a few years ago. 90% of the parts are now 8 years + old. It runs a lot of modern games at 1080p, plays 4K HDR without issue; and has taken loads of linuxey security projects and VMs without issue. It continues to operate excellently and boots in around 20 seconds.

I used to have a Hackintosh of a similar age (possibly a year or two older) that would absolute demolish most Logic projects I ever threw at it. Granted, it had 16GB RAM from the outset, but it hardly slowed down at all and I only got rid of it in favour of a laptop

...which is the 2015 Macbook Pro I'm typing on. I made sure it was the i7 16GB model when I bought it second hand; but its only dual core. Sure, it gets maxxed out pretty quick when you start loading plugins in but thats to be expected. The everyday running of the machine is basically flawless.

Comparing an M1/M2 to Intel is like comparing Apples (haha) to Oranges. The processing and efficiency gains are just not comparable. Sure, I would always recommend 16GB of RAM, but will 8GB do on an M1? Sure. I reckon you'll be looking at a solid 5 years out a machine like that for most people.

octatonic

colourofsound said:

octatonic said:

I am not sure anyone is though, beyond saying 'more memory = more gooder'.

The extra £200 will be quickly forgotten, imho.
Living with a machine that in 2 years time is starting to slow down will be a pain.

This is just not my experience, at all.

I have a Windows HTPC thats on an Intel Sandybridge i7, which upgraded to 16GB of RAM only a few years ago. 90% of the parts are now 8 years + old. It runs a lot of modern games at 1080p, plays 4K HDR without issue; and has taken loads of linuxey security projects and VMs without issue. It continues to operate excellently and boots in around 20 seconds.

I used to have a Hackintosh of a similar age (possibly a year or two older) that would absolute demolish most Logic projects I ever threw at it. Granted, it had 16GB RAM from the outset, but it hardly slowed down at all and I only got rid of it in favour of a laptop

...which is the 2015 Macbook Pro I'm typing on. I made sure it was the i7 16GB model when I bought it second hand; but its only dual core. Sure, it gets maxxed out pretty quick when you start loading plugins in but thats to be expected. The everyday running of the machine is basically flawless.

Comparing an M1/M2 to Intel is like comparing Apples (haha) to Oranges. The processing and efficiency gains are just not comparable. Sure, I would always recommend 16GB of RAM, but will 8GB do on an M1? Sure. I reckon you'll be looking at a solid 5 years out a machine like that for most people.

Sure but the minimum RAM for Pro Tools is 16GB, 32GB or more is recommended.
For Cubase, Nuendo, Live it is 8GB, 16GB is recommended.
These only go in one direction.

FWIW though, Reaper has no system requirements beyond a 'Windows or Mac OS/OSX machine'.

Now maybe the OP will only ever want to run Reaper and never go beyond 4 track recording.
The current 8GB M1 Mini will work just fine.

But in my experience people often don't stay where they started.
Buying an entry level and non upgradeable machine limits the life of the machine.
It might not be 2 years but it will limit it.

Programmers will develop applications and software that make use of the efficiency gains of Apple Silicon.
We are starting to see that happen already.

So buying that machine will limit your options down the road compared to a slightly higher outlay now.
I'm not advocating that everyone should go that route, but I would- every single time.
When asked I would also suggest it as the most sensible route.
I have never once felt i had 'too much RAM' in a machine.

But I'm not going to die on that hill- people should do what they want.

I beta-test DAW's, plugins and audio software for about a dozen companies.
I see all sorts of setups, basically every new Mac type that comes onto the market (but not every configuration).
I stress test the machines with audio software to get them to break, write reports detailing what I did and when/how they break.

I have two Apple Silicon machines at the moment (14" MBP and a Mac Studio) in addition to the Mac Pro tower.
I briefly had a 16GB M1 mini- I returned it.
I also returned a 16" i9 MBP (but for different reasons- thermals were crazy).

Danny1969

With my customers  / mates I refer to 3 kinds of music computers when they express an interest in recording. 

Music multitracker  - this does the job of a multitrack tape machine. This requires very little CPU power. To give you some idea how little power you need we were using Pentium MMX computers running Cubase VST with 32Mb of ram to record 8 track projects in the late nineties. 
But a 10 year old IMac or Macbook is the machine I normally provide as these can generally do 32 tracks all with EQ and Compression ... which is all you need on a tracking machine.  This is what I use for my recording as I believe if you need any kind of special plugin to fix a sound you have tracked then it needs retracking. 

Basic DAW machine
This is capable of running 48 tracks all with EQ and comp plus a few different verbs and a few delays plus a couple of VI's. Generally you can do this on 4 to 8Gb of ram and an i5 or 7. 
Again older iMacs and Retina age Macbooks are generally ideal. 

Production machine 
Capable of running loads of VIs and 100 odd audio tracks all with plugins
Basically as powerful a CPU and as much ram  as you can afford. 


Has to be said that a lot of problems with DAW computers comes form the users. Users often run into crackles and stuttering  not because the computers not fast enough but because it's not configured. All the time the computer is signing in to icloud / dropbox / google drive / Adobe updater etc you are going to have problems. If you kill the wifi and don't have all that shit running the computer can get on with the job in hand. 
If you want a good reliable DAW computer just load the DAW on it and nothing else. Turn off the Wifi 

Oh, and use aux buses .... don't put a separate reverb on each and every track ... I see this all the time

I've got an M1 Macbook but don't bother using it as a DAW because my 2012 Retina is plenty fast enough and I prefer the larger screen on it. 

Blueingreen

Yorkie said:

goldtop said:

Guys! The OP said "basic recording and 4 tracks".

For which the 8GB RAM of the basic model is plenty. 

This  

Yeah, a lot of it's about how much you're going to use it. 

 I bought a decent PC laptop for home studio use about 4 years ago and in truth it's been under-used.  I've dabbled enthusiastically in short bursts, but there have been long periods of not using it. I already have a Mac Mini hooked up to my TV for home entertainment purposes, and I use that to run Spotify, YouTube, Transcribe! iReal Pro, MuseScore, GuitarPro and any other software relating to practising and learning.  The laptop is used only for recording, because it's not practical to do that in the living room on a computer linked to the telly.  Based on past use levels it feels like a bit of an extravagance.

My wife's started using the laptop and I'm now thinking of getting a Mac to replace it. I always have intentions of doing more recording and I'd like to think this time it will get more use.  But until I know that for sure it's hard for me to justify spending more than the price of a basic Mac Mini.

Stratavarious

I still hammer a 2011 mac with 8gb (upgraded to 12gb last year) with 18-20 live band multitracks, real time reverb, etc. and a couple of amp / cab sims.   I don’t even bother freezing tracks as i have no reason to.

You really need to be doing loads with samples and plugins to push a DAW.