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Anyone Using a Mac Mini for Music Production?


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Don't do much music production on it, but my 2011 Macbook Pro died, and I replaced it with a 2012 Mini, quad i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and the rebuilder (BlueMax Computers in Virginia Beach, who did a very fine job in the rebuild at a reasonable price, and also took the MBP off my hands for a bit of price reduction) left the original l1TB "Fusion Drive" which has 128GB SSD and balance is HD in as well.

I don't have Logic, but do have MainStage 3. Also have a Focusrite 18i8 USB midi/audio interface for it.

A bit faster than the MBP, but what I really like is USB3 instead of USB2.

Had it shipped with High Sierra, what I had on the MBP, to make sure there were no compatibility issues, May update to Mojave, probably won't to Catalina, and it won't do Big Sur. Took 3 days to install everything new (I have a bootable SuperDuper backup from the MBP, but wanted a fresh clean install.

I also run Parallels 15 on it, with 4 Virtual Machines, 3 of them Windows 10 specific configurations, the 4th is Mint Cinnamon Linux. This computer is primarily for my business, since I specialize in making Apple and Microsoft stuff work together. Can access files either way, PC/Mac or Mac/PC.

 

For day to day sound generation, my iPad 5 with various apps does just fine.

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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My MacBookPro is 5 years old now. While working I was getting a new Mac ever 5 years. Now that I am retired I am not in as much of a hurry, and looking for more budget options. The M1 Air is $400 cheaper than the same size M1 Pro. For that $400 I can upgrade the memory and the internal SSD.

This post edited for speling.

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I'm surprised at how many Mac Minis (and other Macs) have died. I'm running PCs, mostly Dells, that are over 10 years old and still going along fine. One thing I think helps is that one is still at WinXP, the others are at Win7, and if I try some new software that won't run on one or the other, I just don't use that software. I realize that not everyone can, or is willing to work (or not work) that way, but it works for me.

 

I do want to get a fresh laptop for travel to replace my Toshiba netbook, but that's just to get a bigger screen to rest my aged eyeballs. But I'll still have to get an old one because the newer ones are too big.

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I've only had one Mac die, my very first MacBookPro. It suffered from the expanding battery problem. I sent it off and had the battery replaced but then found out that the pressure from the expanding battery damaged the touchpad. It is at least 15 years old and still works if you attach a mouse or track pad. I consider myself lucky that I bought it because I just missed the period that suffered from batteries that would burst into flames.

 

In fact, my biggest problem with Macs is what to do with old units. They don't die and you cannot give them away. No one wants them. I have 2 MacBookPros, a MacBook Air, 4 Mac Mini's and a fairly new iMac 27". Ages range back to about 20 years. I did give away an old MacPro. It had the best case that I've ever had. The person I gave it to turned it into a server.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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I'm surprised at how many Mac Minis (and other Macs) have died. I'm running PCs, mostly Dells, that are over 10 years old and still going along fine. One thing I think helps is that one is still at WinXP, the others are at Win7, and if I try some new software that won't run on one or the other, I just don't use that software. I realize that not everyone can, or is willing to work (or not work) that way, but it works for me.

 

I do want to get a fresh laptop for travel to replace my Toshiba netbook, but that's just to get a bigger screen to rest my aged eyeballs. But I'll still have to get an old one because the newer ones are too big.

I recently sold my 2007 Black MacBook. It was working fine, except for a break in the monitor cable that would cause the display backlight to drop out at a certain angle (it would work fine at all other angles).

 

It's successor 13" MBP is now ten years old and works, but it lost Bluetooth and Wi-Fi at some point. Should be a fairly simple fix, but it's not worth bothering. That went literally *everywhere* with me for over five years, including hundreds of gigs as a MainStage machine, and took quite a bit of abuse.

 

Replaced it with a late 2016 15".

 

I've only had one "dud" Mac, and that was a 2003 12" Powerbook. Apple eventually replaced it with a refurb'ed 15".

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Sorry, but the M1 models can NOT be upgraded for either memory or internal SSD. Memory is built right into the M1 chip, SSD is soldered in place. Better buy what you want to start. (At least the current models, although a large part of where they get the speed is that the processor and RAM are right on the chip and can talk directly to each other.

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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Sorry, but the M1 models can NOT be upgraded for either memory or internal SSD. Memory is built right into the M1 chip, SSD is soldered in place.

 

Soldering SSDs in place is a horrible idea. Sure, most SSDs work fine and have a long life. But some don't. Also, not being able to use two monitors on a laptop is going to be a deal-breaker for many people.

 

If Apple wants to position the M1 as something solely for traveling, that's fine. Just don't think it can be used in a typical business environment with a dock and multiple monitors, and you're good to go.

 

This is why I'm going to wait until 2022 before upgrading. I need something I can pull into a conference room and do serious work if needed, not just take it on a plane (although an M1 laptop does sound perfect for that!).

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Sorry, but the M1 models can NOT be upgraded for either memory or internal SSD. Memory is built right into the M1 chip, SSD is soldered in place.

 

Soldering SSDs in place is a horrible idea. Sure, most SSDs work fine and have a long life. But some don't.

 

Trade-off, as always. Apple doesn't "solder SSDs in place"; as I understand it, they solder the storage chips down and tie them directly into the system controller. There is no "SSD" as such that they could modularise, as there is no extra SSD controller. This reduces cost, latency, and processing overhead, and stuff like encryption is "free" in that there is also zero processing overhead.

 

From my time in Mac support, I well remember that failing RAM, and especially the connector slots, were a really common problem that went away almost entirely when Apple switched to soldered RAM.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Apple doesn't "solder SSDs in place"; as I understand it, they solder the storage chips down and tie them directly into the system controller. There is no "SSD" as such that they could modularise, as there is no extra SSD controller. This reduces cost, latency, and processing overhead, and stuff like encryption is "free" in that there is also zero processing overhead.

 

That makes a lot more sense! Still, I much prefer designs that allow for user-replaceable parts. There are just too many situations for me that involve such tight deadlines I can't afford even 24 hours of down time.

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I'm in Mac Twilight Zone. If I'm going to take the M1 leap, I want to go all-in with another iMac. A sea-change upgrade always pulls the band-aid off only medium-fast, but I know the drill. The gain in speed and SSD power works for me.

 

The problem: M1 iMacs seem to be coming in dead last for release. I've debated Minis, but the tradeoffs don't thrill me. Laptops feel likewise compromised. Desktops suit my so-called work flow best, but I'd like to see how Apple's new everything-on-a-motherboard behaves in its first iteration.

 

Since its hard to imagine finally taking up Omnisphere without an outboard SSD to host it regardless, where is my gain in buying an M1 Mini before year's end? What's the sensible timeline for an OS shakeout period? Where are the pitfalls relative to simply getting Logic running ASAP? Slightly damaged inquiring minds would like to know.

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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I'm in Mac Twilight Zone. If I'm going to take the M1 leap, I want to go all-in with another iMac. A sea-change upgrade always pulls the band-aid off only medium-fast, but I know the drill. The gain in speed and SSD power works for me.

 

The problem: M1 iMacs seem to be coming in dead last for release. I've debated Minis, but the tradeoffs don't thrill me. Laptops feel likewise compromised. Desktops suit my so-called work flow best, but I'd like to see how Apple's new everything-on-a-motherboard behaves in its first iteration.

 

Since its hard to imagine finally taking up Omnisphere without an outboard SSD to host it regardless, where is my gain in buying an M1 Mini before year's end? What's the sensible timeline for an OS shakeout period? Where are the pitfalls relative to simply getting Logic running ASAP? Slightly damaged inquiring minds would like to know.

 

Among the likely inevitabilities is Thunderbolt 4. I wonder how far off into the future it is with Intel posting articles like this one - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/upgrade-gaming-accessories-thunderbolt-4.html

I'm sitting out for a bit in any case but it sees to me that waiting for the next shoe to fall makes the most sense right now.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Among the likely inevitabilities is Thunderbolt 4. I wonder how far off into the future it is with Intel posting articles like this one - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/upgrade-gaming-accessories-thunderbolt-4.html

I'm sitting out for a bit in any case but it sees to me that waiting for the next shoe to fall makes the most sense right now.

 

TB4 isn't that much different than TB3. It has the same bandwidth, but Intel has updated its certification requirements for internal PCIe operation. There's also improved security but I think any TB3 peripherals should work with TB4.

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Since its hard to imagine finally taking up Omnisphere without an outboard SSD to host it regardless, where is my gain in buying an M1 Mini before year's end? What's the sensible timeline for an OS shakeout period? Where are the pitfalls relative to simply getting Logic running ASAP? Slightly damaged inquiring minds would like to know.

 

The longer you wait before buying a new computer, the less you'll regret your buying decision in a year :)This article articulates why I'm waiting until at least the end of this year before taking the plunge. Then the overall performance should be closer to, if not better than, Intel/AMD-based desktops. Then again, Intel and AMD are making their own improvements, but being less public about it. So it will be interesting to see where their chips sit in early 2022.

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Among the likely inevitabilities is Thunderbolt 4. I wonder how far off into the future it is with Intel posting articles like this one - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/upgrade-gaming-accessories-thunderbolt-4.html

I'm sitting out for a bit in any case but it sees to me that waiting for the next shoe to fall makes the most sense right now.

 

TB4 isn't that much different than TB3. It has the same bandwidth, but Intel has updated its certification requirements for internal PCIe operation. There's also improved security but I think any TB3 peripherals should work with TB4.

 

I remember seeing somewhere that TB4 would be fully integrated with USB?.? so stuff doesn't get too much or not enough current anymore. I will have to wait in any case, should be able to get some more years out of my refurbished 2014 MacBook Pro even if I eventually have to get something for surfing the interwebz A Windows 10 machine can do that, I don't need anything fancy for the web.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I remember seeing somewhere that TB4 would be fully integrated with USB?

 

TB3 is compatible with USB 3.2 but not the reverse, even though they use the same connector. At least that's the theory :)

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I remember seeing somewhere that TB4 would be fully integrated with USB?

 

TB3 is compatible with USB 3.2 but not the reverse, even though they use the same connector. At least that's the theory :)

 

OK. So, who needs to fix what then? Any time you can plug 2 devices into the same connection and one will work great and the other will burst into flames, there's a problem, no?

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I remember seeing somewhere that TB4 would be fully integrated with USB?

 

TB3 is compatible with USB 3.2 but not the reverse, even though they use the same connector. At least that's the theory :)

 

OK. So, who needs to fix what then? Any time you can plug 2 devices into the same connection and one will work great and the other will burst into flames, there's a problem, no?

 

It will take a while for everything to get ironed out, for sure. TB4 does have stiffer certification from Intel than TB3, so that might help...but...if the whole idea of having a standardized power connector with USB-C is to avoid having to carry around a boatload of adapters for all your different gear, it sure seems like we're heading in the direction of "approved" adapters, which means the "one adapter to rule them all" concept is at least flawed. Or maybe the companies making the adapters are cheaping out, and not providing sufficient protection...assuming it's up to them to provide protection, rather than the company making the target device.

 

Any questions why I'm in no mood to surf the bleeding edge just yet? :)

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Any questions why I'm in no mood to surf the bleeding edge just yet? :)

 

Not from me! I am a "wait and see" kinda guy myself.

Buying behind the curve saves $$$ and torment. My brother wrote code for decades, he was a bit of a techie and he used to say "On the cutting edge, there is pain."

 

Stuff is so good these days you really don't miss much by lagging behind except the bad ideas that go away later.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I learned my lesson in the 1980's buying an early model Moog MemoryMoog. Wow, that thing was a $3700 18 oscillator headache. I would spend three hours every Sunday opening it up and tuning those 18 oscillators for tune, scale and range. If I skipped a Sunday then voices would start dropping out as they would drift so far out that autotune would disconnect them. I eventually replaced it with a DX7, waiting 8 months after their release before getting one. A big drop in sound, but a bigger improvement in reliability.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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I learned my lesson in the 1980's buying an early model Moog MemoryMoog. Wow, that thing was a $3700 18 oscillator headache. I would spend three hours every Sunday opening it up and tuning those 18 oscillators for tune, scale and range. If I skipped a Sunday then voices would start dropping out as they would drift so far out that autotune would disconnect them. I eventually replaced it with a DX7, waiting 8 months after their release before getting one. A big drop in sound, but a bigger improvement in reliability.

 

I had a brief hallucination upon reading that, wherein Rick Wakeman squirted lighter fluid on a MemoryMoog and torched it. Wasn't it Dave Stewart who quipped about the major big-name megasynth concept, but it drifted a major third if you breathed near it? Quality control is so much better now, its almost a religious thing. There are always a few flops, but some flaws in an otherwise cool design are more like a drop of lemon, not the whole rind. No tape snarls, no power supplies that catch fire and make the crowd mistake it for part of the show.

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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  • 8 months later...
I've had MacMini but never used it for music production. In fact, I never had an opportunity to start because it was stolen just after 2 weeks I go it. Imagine my shock when I lost a device like that for my parents' money...it wasn't the best feeling at all. That's why I had to use my old Asus laptop not only for music production but for music marketing and audiovisual programming. I was surprised that it survived after all manipulations I did with it. Later I got ASUS TUF gaming with amazing options which is perfect for music production or any music programming I know. It works very fast and that reduces my work time twice I think.
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I am entering the Mac Mini Music Production Zone, slowly but surely. So far, it is umpty bajillion faster than my 2014 MacBook Pro - both have 16 gb of RAM.

The fans come on fairly quickly on the MacBook and stay on, the computer gets warm. I've yet to hear the fans on the Mini.

 

As more vendors update to Apple Silicon it will improve. To be honest, I haven't used it much, yet. Too many balls in the air, not enough jugglers!!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I've had MacMini but never used it for music production. In fact, I never had an opportunity to start because it was stolen just after 2 weeks I go it. Imagine my shock when I lost a device like that for my parents' money...it wasn't the best feeling at all. That's why I had to use my old Asus laptop not only for music production but for music marketing and audiovisual programming. I was surprised that it survived after all manipulations I did with it. Later I got ASUS TUF gaming with amazing options which is perfect for music production or any music programming I know. It works very fast and that reduces my work time twice I think.

 

Sorry to hear about your Mac Mini! I had people break into where I lived previously, and clean out a ton of music gear while I was away. A lot of it was irreplaceable, like the synthesizers I hand-made back in the 60s. But, everything happens for a reason. The past is past, the present is what matters and you're making music - that's the important thing.

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I am entering the Mac Mini Music Production Zone, slowly but surely. So far, it is umpty bajillion faster than my 2014 MacBook Pro - both have 16 gb of RAM.

The fans come on fairly quickly on the MacBook and stay on, the computer gets warm. I've yet to hear the fans on the Mini.

 

As more vendors update to Apple Silicon it will improve. To be honest, I haven't used it much, yet. Too many balls in the air, not enough jugglers!!!!

 

Everything I hear about the new Apple-based products is great. I'm going to hold off as long as I can while everything matures, but I suspect it will be pretty cool when I finally get there. OTOH the Windows desktop I have now is simply astonishing. It will take Apple awhile to catch up to it using their silicon...which I guess is why they're still using Intel for at least a little while longer.

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I did some research on these late-2012 Minis, they are apparently very well regarded as later models lost clock speed & features. I'm talking about the high-end 2012 models with quad-core i7 processors.

 

 

 

My main studio computer is a late-2012, quad i7 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM and a 1T SSD. It's running Catalina, and Logic Pro 10.6 is my primary DAW. My system allows me to track up to 32 tracks of audio at 24bit, 96k resolution at once, and I regularly work on sessions that have 50-100 tracks. The Mac Mini handles them great, I never run out of processing power. There are some caveats about my system, though. It pretty is pretty much strictly working with audio, I rarely run AU Instrument plugins on it, most of those are handled on my MacBook Pro. I have 12 cores of UAD2 processors, and do most of the processing I do is through the UAD plugins, though I do use some built-in Logic plugs, and AU's from SoundToys and a few other developers. All in all, for my needs, this nearly-a-decade-old computer does everything I ask of it, and has way more than paid for itself.

 

That said, in the next year or so, I will probably upgrade to an M1 Mac Mini at the studio, Because I exchange projects with other engineers, I find I have to keep relatively current with OS's and Logic versions. I just hope my next Mini is as reliable a workhorse as the late-2012 has been.

Turn up the speaker

Hop, flop, squawk

It's a keeper

-Captain Beefheart, Ice Cream for Crow

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