New "Mac Studio" from Apple

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by K Roche

when twice the money for computer has ever,,, equated to twice the speed in Pro Tools ?

Indeed, the Law of Diminishing Returns applies here.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by Michael Carnes

Running Native, the project took up a little over 47GB. Under Rosetta, it took a bit over 51GB.

That's a big chunk, more than I would have expected. And I suppose it suggests that people who use VIs heavily (as I do) will begin to bump against their RAM ceiling, forcing the drive to serve as RAM, slowing things down, probably without the user realizing it. This makes me wish I'd ordered 128GB. I'll have to keep a closer eye on RAM now that you've mentioned this.

[Michael Carnes]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

That's a big chunk, more than I would have expected. And I suppose it suggests that people who use VIs heavily (as I do) will begin to bump against their RAM ceiling, forcing the drive to serve as RAM, slowing things down, probably without the user realizing it. This makes me wish I'd ordered 128GB. I'll have to keep a closer eye on RAM now that you've mentioned this.

Every system has an application-dependent limiting factor. I think in my case it's the integrated memory. I suspect you can lower the prefetch amount for all of the VIs, as long as your storage is fast. That will make a difference (a big difference for stuff like piano) but I don't know the appropriate amount. The integrated memory itself is very fast--pretty much like cache memory on those old outmoded Intel machines --so if the path to the chip is fast, then it will get where it's going quickly.

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by Michael Carnes

Every system has an application-dependent limiting factor. I think in my case it's the integrated memory. I suspect you can lower the prefetch amount for all of the VIs, as long as your storage is fast. That will make a difference (a big difference for stuff like piano) but I don't know the appropriate amount. The integrated memory itself is very fast--pretty much like cache memory on those old outmoded Intel machines --so if the path to the chip is fast, then it will get where it's going quickly.

I tried decreasing the Kontakt preload buffer from the default 60KB to 24KB and it didn’t seem to adversely affect streaming performance much. It did save a big chunk of RAM. This is streaming from a fast Sonnet PCIe NVMe card in a 2019 Cheesegrater. Anecdotally and with limited testing it did seem to increase Kontakt CPU usage.

I did this to speed up the loading time of my templates and curiously it didn’t make a massive difference so I went back to the Kontakt default of 60KB.

[kings79]

Yes and and it has been said many many many many many times. The only people who are going to get any money worth from the Ultra are guys/girls using heavy load VIs. Scroll back in this thread and see. Apart from that the average Music or Audio Post person is not gonna see and real net gain from the Ultra. The goal post are still in the same spot...

[Michael Carnes]

Originally Posted by Marsdy

I tried decreasing the Kontakt preload buffer from the default 60KB to 24KB and it didn’t seem to adversely affect streaming performance much. It did save a big chunk of RAM. This is streaming from a fast Sonnet PCIe NVMe card in a 2019 Cheesegrater. Anecdotally and with limited testing it did seem to increase Kontakt CPU usage.

I did this to speed up the loading time of my templates and curiously it didn’t make a massive difference so I went back to the Kontakt default of 60KB.

That's a nice data point (2 points, actually). I can see how it might not have much of an effect on loading time. Most of that is probably opening files and getting the thing structured in RAM.

[kings79]

Originally Posted by Michael Carnes

That's a nice data point (2 points, actually). I can see how it might not have much of an effect on loading time. Most of that is probably opening files and getting the thing structured in RAM.

Maybe you guys need a new thread about VI's/RAM/ARM/MacOS?

[Michael Carnes]

Originally Posted by kings79

Maybe you guys need a new thread about VI's/RAM/ARM/MacOS?

Just ignore us. This is one of those early parts of the discussion where we can actually bring data to bear. And it may not be of particular interest to you. I'm looking forward to reports from people who've done a 2500-track job locked to 4K video. That's just as important to a full understanding of how mixers/editors are affected by this very radical architectural change. None of us on this thread are 'typical' users, whatever that might mean.

[kings79]

Originally Posted by Michael Carnes

Just ignore us. This is one of those early parts of the discussion where we can actually bring data to bear. And it may not be of particular interest to you. I'm looking forward to reports from people who've done a 2500-track job locked to 4K video. That's just as important to a full understanding of how mixers/editors are affected by this very radical architectural change. None of us on this thread are 'typical' users, whatever that might mean.

It's just a small portion of what people are doing with these new Mac Studios taking up alot of space and 'power'...

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by kings79

Maybe you guys need a new thread about VI's/RAM/ARM/MacOS?

Speaking as the co-OP of this thread, this type of data is precisely what I was hoping to gather and quite useful as I'm setting up the new computer. The thread is bound to migrate as it has, from "what will this new machine be" to "which should I buy" to "how do I best set this thing up" to "hey, why is it doing that?"