[Eric Lambert]

I came from a 12-core trashcan and went into a Mac Studio Ultra. I don't find the difference to be subtle; the new Mac is a monster.

And I deal with a LOT of VIs, like Kontakt, the usual instruments people have, and a lot of orchestral libraries. Most of what I do is with MIDI/VIs, and I also run video with most sessions. The new Mac handles all of it brilliantly.

As I'm sure you're aware, there's that weak part of the chain which is Rosetta. We think that these Macs will scream even louder once PT and its plugins are allowed to operate natively. But I have to say that I'm not really sensing Rosetta at all.

I've spent hours and hours and hours on this topic, and I'd want to point out the importance of installing as much of your software from scratch as you're able to. There are countless reports of issues with Mac Studios and before I got this Mac I'd guessed that migration/old plugins/incompatibilities were the culprits for those people. After getting the Mac, going through the installation, and testing thoroughly, I'm 100% certain that those were the culprits.

The New Studio seems to be happiest when it's not asked to use anything from the older machines. Obviously, I'm not referring to recorded audio or media, I'm suggesting that the Mac doesn't always like when you copy preference of config files, or apps, or app folders, or Application Support files, from the old computer. Some of that is completely fine, BUT, again, I believe that my success with this Studio has been largely due to the fact that I put two full days into the installations and then another week of tidying things up, and then another week of testing and finalising everything.

All of that out of the way, it's an absolute dream! And I'm able to open sessions my trashcan choked on, and I can continue adding to those sessions.

There are, however, a few plugins which are still hogs. Whether it's the OS or ProTools or they're simply poorly-written, some plugins still kill the CPU. El Rey from Acustica, for one. It's unusable. Many of their plugins are problematic, and their suggestion is to use a Native DAW; something other than PT. A silly suggestion from a highly egotistical company.

Install the absolute latest/greatest versions of your plugins and software, get to know these hungry plugins and avoid them, and you shouldn't have any issues.

Will there be a better machine in a year? Of course. That's how it works. But considering how speed has progressed from the first M1 Mac, to subsequent M1s, to M2... I don't believe that anything intensely amazing is coming our way in 2023, except for the MacPros which will undoubtedly be uber-expensive.