New "Mac Studio" from Apple

[kings79]

Originally Posted by diamondschwin

Just wanted to add that I had a 5.1 mix that was all done, but the client wanted to add a string pad to one section. I was able to open EW Opus and put something together really quick in the session, synced to picture at 64ms buffer so there wasnt massive lag when playing. Previously I would have just beach balled until PT stopped responding on my old build if I did something like that.

How good is that! 👊🏻

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

That's unexpected. I was able to get that session rolling without issue on an ancient (by computer's standards) 12-core trashcan. I'd love to know precisely what was derailing the train for your session, because no matter how you look at it your Studio Max has way more power than mine.

Maybe it was due to the (now fixed) aux bus CPU issue?

I don’t know what was responsible, but that aux send bug fix has allowed me to run other test session that maxed out the system before when I was using the previous version of PT. I’ll give it a try again this weekend and see if I can run it now using the latest version of Pro Tools.

[ZEUSS]

Originally Posted by Phil O'Keefe

Maybe it was due to the (now fixed) aux bus CPU issue?

I don’t know what was responsible, but that aux send bug fix has allowed me to run other test session that maxed out the system before when I was using the previous version of PT. I’ll give it a try again this weekend and see if I can run it now using the latest version of Pro Tools.

Do you know how far back this bug goes? Was it in 2021.12?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Phil O'Keefe]

Possibly, but I don’t know for sure how long that bug has been an issue. Sorry.

[glasswing]

So the consensus is 2022.5 works fine on a Mac Studio? I'm still on 2021.12 but loving it. Having jumped into a fire pit update too many times before I'm now very slow to move. And Monterey.4 is okay?
I'm well beyond happy with my Mac Studio Ultra. Only problem is getting it to sleep. Usually takes three attempts to get it to sleep. Like a hopped up race horse.

[Hillbilly Pav]

Unfortunately my Mac Studio Ultra is unusable with ProTools at the moment. Acustica plug-ins don't run under Rosetta 2 (you might get one or two to work, at most).

Since about 75% of the plug-ins I use are Acustica, I'm stuck on my old 5,1 Mac Pro (freezing most tracks as I work) until Avid gets it together and releases a native Apple silicon version.

Very disappointing when nearly every other DAW out there has this capability. Beyond disappointing when you consider Avid has known for at least two years this was coming.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by Hillbilly Pav

Since about 75% of the plug-ins I use are Acustica, I'm stuck on my old 5,1 Mac Pro (freezing most tracks as I work) until Avid gets it together and releases a native Apple silicon version.

Seeing how only one or two of Acustica's plugins currently work with Rosetta2, the onus appears to be on Acustica to get that ball rolling. You're talking about a collaboration between Apple's OS, Avid's DAW and Acustica, and the first two are functioning fine together (even if not natively).

[Carl Lie]

Originally Posted by Hillbilly Pav

Very disappointing when nearly every other DAW out there has this capability. Beyond disappointing when you consider Avid has known for at least two years this was coming.

It's not Avid. It's Acoustica. They never figured out how to spec their plugs for AAX. Even with native code for Apple silicon they will still suck.

C

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally Posted by glasswing

So the consensus is 2022.5 works fine on a Mac Studio? I'm still on 2021.12 but loving it. Having jumped into a fire pit update too many times before I'm now very slow to move. And Monterey.4 is okay?
I'm well beyond happy with my Mac Studio Ultra. Only problem is getting it to sleep. Usually takes three attempts to get it to sleep. Like a hopped up race horse.

2022.5 fixes the “aux sends use way too much cpu” issue, and that is a big improvement - especially for larger, more complex sessions. So far, it is running well for me.

As far as sleep, I disable that on all my Macs. It can cause issues with PT, and Avid recommends disabling it. The M1 Macs sip power, so I either leave it on, or turn it off whenever I’m not going to be using it for a long time. I don’t miss “sleep” at all.

[Hillbilly Pav]

Well, since I can run 8 to 10 unfrozen Acustica plugs on my old 5,1 cheesegrater without choking, ProTools' lack of native AS support is a big part of the problem. Acustica certainly shares some of the blame, as they have stated several times that their plugs don't run under Rosetta 2.

And I agree Acustica plugs are very processor intensive— they also sound much closer to real hardware than any of my hundreds of algo ones. I find them worth the trouble of freezing tracks as I move through a session to get that sound.

All reports indicate Reaper is very fast and responsive with Acustica plugs, which is why I'm seriously learning everything I can about it. If it had proper playlists, I'd probably already be doing some projects with it.

For those who have been doing this long enough, you will remember the big performance boost when the original Rosetta was replaced with native Intel code on Macs. I'm sure there will be at least as big an improvement when we get a native AS PT version.