opinions of the Macbook pro for recording

[rdpar]

ok, I'm about to pull the trigger on a MacBook pro to become my recording tool of choice. I am just a home recording guy, I have 35 years of recording experience at home and in state of the art studios , so I know what sounds good and run a lot of plugins. Allmost all in the box. I currently am using pc with 8gig ram 3.0ghz processor windows 8.1 pro tools 12.something :) I do a lot of traveling and sometimes settle for weeks at a time in different places , and have a lot of time to continue song writing and recording away from my home studio. I am looking at the 15" MacBook pro with maximum everything. I welcome all suggestions and opinions. thank you.

[Tiboy]

here: MBP i7 from 2015, 16 GB Ram, 1TB SSD
Recording 16 Tracks without any problems on the internal disc
mixing sessions with 60 Tacks (and more) with lots of plug ins on the internal disc without problems.
OSX el cap, PT 12.5.1
runs smooth as silk

[Darryl Ramm]

I would hold off and wait and see what next MacBook Pro Apple releases, the current MacBook Pro is long in the tooth and Apple is taking forever to ship Thunderbolt 3 technology. Lots or rumors out there about this upcoming MBP. I expect Thunderbolt 3 to open up some more interesting storage products, Thunderbolt 2 is embarassingly slow compared to current low-cost PCIe/NVMe SSDs. I would also hope for 32GB DRAM configs.

If you absolutely have to get something now max out the internal PCIe SSD drive, which it sounds like you were planning to do.

[rdpar]

nice ,,that's what I want to hear. I don't think waiting for the new "improved" MacBook is in the cards for me. I don't see much of an improvement from what I've read, except they improved the price......FOR THEM:):) thanks can't wait to see more input from others.

[rdpar]

Thanks Mr. Ramm. You may be right. Though I heard they are changing the operating system as well, which my be weird and glichy but who really knows about that. The tbird 3 sounds really good though. That may be worth the wait, but how long is the wait,,no one seems to know 32 gig of ram would be crazy good. Here is another question for you Mr. Ramm. The pro Tools hd interfaces that boast the ability to run many plugs without effecting internal cpu are very pricey . Are they or some other type thing worth the expense, or are they more for some sick bastards that use hunderds of plugs:):)literally. I have been using many many plugs with no probs.at this point. However, after watching some of these pro mixers online , I find myself using more and more. Thank you so much for your input. Oh by the way I finally got this pos u-phoria umc22 to work. what the heck ever happened to the concept of "PLUG AND PLAY" lol

[VRW]

Originally Posted by rdpar

Thanks Mr. Ramm. You may be right. Though I heard they are changing the operating system as well, which my be weird and glichy but who really knows about that. The tbird 3 sounds really good though. That may be worth the wait, but how long is the wait,,no one seems to know 32 gig of ram would be crazy good. Here is another question for you Mr. Ramm. The pro Tools hd interfaces that boast the ability to run many plugs without effecting internal cpu are very pricey . Are they or some other type thing worth the expense, or are they more for some sick bastards that use hunderds of plugs:):)literally. I have been using many many plugs with no probs.at this point. However, after watching some of these pro mixers online , I find myself using more and more. Thank you so much for your input. Oh by the way I finally got this pos u-phoria umc22 to work. what the heck ever happened to the concept of "PLUG AND PLAY" lol

If you do not want to wait, have a look into the Mid 2014 models of the Macbook Pro i7 Quad Core with the dual graphic cards.

i7 Quad Core 2,5GHz, 16GB Ram, 512GB-1TB Flash drive
http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...lay-specs.html
i7 Quad Core 2,8GHz, 16GB Ram, 512GB-1TB Flash drive
http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...lay-specs.html

They are one of the best machines for PT12 at the moment because of their dual graphics, they are really powerful yet more
affordable than the new ones or even future models.
You could get it from Apple Refurbished Store or from Ebay for $2000-2500.-.Apple Refurbished USA is offering these for example.
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/FG...Retina-Display

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/G0...Retina-Display

This particular one for example would be a great machine for on the go as it´s really powerful and does come with the 1TB Flash drive.
With this 1TB Flash drive you won´t even need any external Pro Tools session drive anymore as this drive is large and fast enough to just
handle it all.
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/G0...Retina-Display

As for Plug and Play you may try this one. A lot better than the Behringer as for audio quality, reliability and over all performance.
Still very affordable. And class compliant which truely means...plug and play with a Mac (no driver, no software needed).
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Scarlet2i2G2

https://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-i...s/scarlett-2i2

This all just as food for thought of course.
Or you just wait for the next gen of MBPs like suggested by Darryl. It´s up to you.

The best of success to you.

[Blue Ridge]

Can I piggyback on this discussion to request suggestions for the best Pro Tools 12.x interface in the price category of the Presonus 44VSL or Focusrite 2/4, etc.? (Those are the two that Sweetwater is recommending).

Right now I'm using an old Midiman USB Midisport for MIDI, and limping along with my MBox2 in Mavericks with PT 8 - I'm tired of the "limping" and realize that I qualify for the teacher discount for PT 12, so I'm ready to go to El Cap and PT 12.x but I am **sure** that the MBox2 will crash there.

My goals are the usual - low latency, best pre's, most dependable, etc., for home recording of vocals and acoustic instruments. I'm pre-Woodstock and haven't graduated to the electronic-musc age (so a lot of those PT sounds will go to waste on my rig, I'm sure).

[note: "Old Rig" with the 002 and G5 etc. is for sale cheap in DC area]

[Darryl Ramm]

Why can't you start your own thread for your question? Start at the "How to Join & Post" link up the top of ever DUC web page.

It's normally considered impolite to do this. This has nothing to do with the OP's question and you are disrupting somebody's else's effort to get advice and especially with non-threaded discussions here likely to confuse the whole thread. Just start your own.

Although that price range restricts features a fair amount, you are likely to get more useful help if you state very clearly hard specs you need, how many mic preamps, how many line-in (are the mic and line-in simultaneous or not), S/PDIF, ADAT, what hardware/no latency monitoring features you want etc. Please don't reply here. Make that clear in a new thread.

Originally Posted by Blue Ridge

Can I piggyback on this discussion to request suggestions for the best Pro Tools 12.x interface in the price category of the Presonus 44VSL or Focusrite 2/4, etc.? (Those are the two that Sweetwater is recommending).

Right now I'm using an old Midiman USB Midisport for MIDI, and limping along with my MBox2 in Mavericks with PT 8 - I'm tired of the "limping" and realize that I qualify for the teacher discount for PT 12, so I'm ready to go to El Cap and PT 12.x but I am **sure** that the MBox2 will crash there.

My goals are the usual - low latency, best pre's, most dependable, etc., for home recording of vocals and acoustic instruments. I'm pre-Woodstock and haven't graduated to the electronic-musc age (so a lot of those PT sounds will go to waste on my rig, I'm sure).

[note: "Old Rig" with the 002 and G5 etc. is for sale cheap in DC area]

[lancemcv]

I have a 2012 2.6 ghz quad core i7 MBP 8 gigs of ram and it's a great unit and has been my live recording rig for 3 years without a hitch using pro tools native thunderbolt, three HD IOs and Sync IO. You can pick one up very cheap these days. I installed an SSD for the boot drive removed the DVD drive and installed a second 7200 750 gig record drive which is where I record all my shows, you can't do that with the Retina MBP as they don't have the second drive slot.
It has one thunderbolt two USB 3 one firewire 800 SDXC card reader ETHERNET retina MBP have to use a usb to ethernet or thunderbolt to ethernet.... that stinks as it eats up one of your ports
So no need to cary an extra drive except for backup. I ususally record up to 48 tracks at 48k. Still running MT Lion and Pro Tools 11 but thats because it is so solid I am scared to update it.
I also have a updated 2009 Mac Pro 12 core 3.33 for my mixing rig in my studio that runs PT 12 and El Cap.

Here is one for $700 on eBay for example.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MacBook-Pro-...gAAOSwNuxXX2i9
Pro Tools seems to love the i7... I have recorded up to 128 tracks and it did not mind a bit. How much mixing you can get done on it I am not really sure but my guess is it will perform great.

[rdpar]

wow thanks guys. a lot of food for thought.