New M2 Macs Out Today

[Steamy Williams]

Originally Posted by K Roche

Maybe but I doubt it , call me naive but I have a hard time imagining that very many sound engineers are going to actually be using microphones to record analog audio while simultaneously rendering and exporting 8K video in Premier Pro

Originally Posted by K Roche

Probably wise to wait and see what actual audio recording and mix engineers report before issuing declarations

Here is more feedback about the noisy fan in the M2 Pro Mac Mini, this time just in general use:

So how silent is the M2 Pro Mac Mini?

[HowHoffman]

I just tried the new Mac Mini M2 and it was a nightmare. I first tried 2022.9 and it refused to recognize my S1, even though EUCON was checked in Peripherals/Ethernet and it shows in EUCON settings. It simply did not converse with it. I then tried 2022.12 and it stopped loading at Initializing MIDI Engine. I tried removing those files from the Library to see which MIDI device was stopping the load, and THEN Pro Tools just plain refused to start, period. It just quit after three seconds of launch.

I had to fire up the 2019 Mac Retina (running Ventura 13.1) to get back to work.

Could be that the M2 updated to Ventura 13.2 when I started it up. But I'm sure I won't be the first and only not able to run PT in the new M2 Mini.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Steamy Williams

Here is more feedback about the noisy fan in the M2 Pro Mac Mini, this time just in general use:

So how silent is the M2 Pro Mac Mini?

"At and idle". Well that is not good news I was thinking of an M2 Pro mini for my other location,, but guess for now I will stick with my M1 Pro chip MBP

I was simply dubious at making a judgement based on the PugetBench Premier Pro test as an indicator. My intel iMac in my sig line sounds like a dam 737 warming up when I am processing or exporting 4K in Final Cut Pro -- But when recording in PT while not totally dead silent (is only noticeable with my ear right up to the iMac) and not really a factor where I record about 8 ft away ....................

[thebeatless]

Originally Posted by Steamy Williams

Have you heard the fans spin up at all when running those heavier sessions? And did you happen to experiment with low buffer settings?

The fans are definitely on and it's pretty warm. I imagine you'd hear them. I can't tell how loud they are though. It's in my "machine room" with a big NAS constantly chugging and drive bay fans on high. Makes me feel silly for using a laptop for this, but it seems like the best option currently available, and the Apple Store doesn't stock the mini with 32/1TB.

I just tested my current session at 128 and it's surprisingly playing back just fine in the background while I type this. Wow! The ultra wouldn't let me do anything while a nearly complete mix session was playing in the background. It would stop playback with a CPU overload just switching to another app while playing.

[audiolex1]

Seems the internal SSD's are slower than the 2021 versions MBP and Mini.

[hurdy gurdy]

I know nothing because I don't have an M2 (and don't know about those benchmarks) but great catch. Early on though it looks like quite the buzzkill. Hope my initial thoughts are wrong because I love seeing it all move forward.

Len

[HowHoffman]

Originally Posted by HowHoffman

I just tried the new Mac Mini M2 and it was a nightmare. I first tried 2022.9 and it refused to recognize my S1, even though EUCON was checked in Peripherals/Ethernet and it shows in EUCON settings. It simply did not converse with it. I then tried 2022.12 and it stopped loading at Initializing MIDI Engine. I tried removing those files from the Library to see which MIDI device was stopping the load, and THEN Pro Tools just plain refused to start, period. It just quit after three seconds of launch.

I had to fire up the 2019 Mac Retina (running Ventura 13.1) to get back to work.

Could be that the M2 updated to Ventura 13.2 when I started it up. But I'm sure I won't be the first and only not able to run PT in the new M2 Mini.

Fans aside, is anyone else having trouble running Pro Tools on the M2 Minis?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[climber]

Can’t post, get error message

[climber]

Originally Posted by climber

Can’t post, get error message

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/pro...e-compare-them

[thebeatless]

Sadly today didn't go as well as yesterday. I had to open several sessions from a few weeks back and I was unable to play any of them. Even after freezing most audio tracks I was getting constant CPU overloads. Whatever was happening on auxes or the final output was just pushing the cpu too hard. Once again, I really wanted this to work! I'm much more comfortable working on Mac! I think my first impression was just due to working on "smaller" sessions, and really really wanting it to be the answer.

Out of curiosity I tried opening one of these using the beta native option. Too many plugins were missing to really know, but it did seem to work well. Hopefully it's not too far off, we just need updates from several developers.

I also did a geekbench after the system got a chance to cool off. It wasn't as high as what shows up for the M2 Pro mini on geekbench.com. I got 1886 single, 14727 Multi. My PC gets 2200/24958 so I see why I'm hitting the wall on the MacBook with these sessions. I am comparing a power sipping laptop to a power hungry and very hot running desktop.

Lastly, I did a Blackmagic test to see if the 1TB drives are included in the slowdown. It seemed great and I was mostly seeing 5-6k read/write. So looks like the 1TB option is OK.

I really hope the Mac Pro one ups intel's current offerings! I've got to say it again. I wish apple kept some modern intel options until they had a Mac Pro Ready to go!