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Old 12-07-2021, 05:37 AM
teedeecee teedeecee is offline
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Default PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

Hey Folks,

I just had to share the results from my first evening's tests with a MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max. Please excuse the enthusiastic ranting.

TL;DR ( New MacBook Pro M1 Max records 1024 track Pro Tools session easily, whilst also running a 4096 channel recording session in Reaper in the background )

Most of my post work in the studio is based around PT with some Ableton or Reaper work depending on the project. However when I need to track a live show, I typically will use a few Reaper systems as they have always been stable for high track count long performance recordings. Its always been annoying to come back to the studio for post and to have to migrate the sessions over to PT.

Whilst the M1 / Monterey combination is of course not supported by PT, I felt that there could be a chance that the new silicon may offer something new in terms of overall system performance and allow me to use PT again for these live sessions.

After an evening of installing and testing, I am blown away with the results!!!

I installed 2021.10 ultimate without the naughty avid plugin pack, and then my suite of usual third party plugins ( FabFilter / Goodhertz / Klanghelm / U-He / Valhalla / Acon ) and begun setting up a testing session. (128ch session recording from an RME AVB 32 ch system with 12mics, AVBTools) Each channel had 3-5 plugins and a few typical routing folder buss tracks.

Into record and on with my other installations for the computer. PT felt the most fluid and relaxed that I have EVER experienced. The UI remains snappy nothing felt anything like a strain. CPU was around 20%

After a few hours, I was blown away to see that I had not had any issues with recording, like a -9074 error, or a disk too slow... It was just still happily recording. And this is all while I have been downloading and installing 10's of GB's worth of apps like Ableton Live, MaxMSPm FCP and Xcode. Nuts.

Thinking that this was all going too well, I thought that I should start upping the ante and boot Reaper in the backdrop and get it recording as well ( mainly to test it as a Backup recorder in the event PT stopped during an issue, I will always have a second machine for that, but this would be a very handy additional safety layer if it works)

So, I set up a mirror of the PT session in Repear, 128ch etc, and set it off recording. Reaper was indicating it was at 2% load... This is whilst I have PT recording 128ch as well. both are happy.

With this running for a few hours, I just had to try and break it. So, I created another 128 tracks ( without plugins this time) and put them into record too. Its great that you can do this whilst in record in Reaper, has saved my butt on numerous occasions. Reaper still didn't break a sweat. At 256 tracks. Again I doubled it, to 512 tracks.... then again to 1024... then 2048.... and finally 4096. I tried to add more but Reaper complained about file access, so I assume we hit some limits of concurrent file writing. I felt this wasn't fair on PT and we had some CPU left over so I added another 1024 tracks to Pro Tools ( also without plugs) and put it all into record. Now the CPU was at 90% and PT looked a little choppy. But it recorded without issue for an hour, whilst Reaper chugged along with 4096. I quit Reaper and PT became fluid again.

So now I had a laptop sitting on my lap, running on battery, with only a mild warmth emanating from the chassis after an hour of recording 4096 tracks in Reaper and 1024 tracks in protools. The fans eventually came on to 1200rpm when the CPU hit a sustained 95% and at that speed you can't hear them. They did rise to 2500rpm and where slightly audible, but nothing like the jet turbines in my Intel i9 MBP 2019.

I am sure there will be many issues to contend with whilst we wait for Avid and the other developers to migrate their applications to the new apple silicon architecture, but boy does it look promising.

PS: Happy to say that macOS 12.0.1 displayed no memory leaks for me at all.

Last edited by teedeecee; 12-07-2021 at 03:56 PM. Reason: Reduced rambling
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Old 12-07-2021, 06:33 AM
MrDibS MrDibS is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

I'm having a similar experience. There are enough plugins that are complete show-stoppers that I'm not committing to the M1 just yet, and that actually seems like a Monterey issue more than the chipset.

My plan is to continue to use my trashcan through the winter (mostly because it keeps my studio warm) and switch in the spring. Next winter I'll have to get a space heater.

Oh well.
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Old 12-07-2021, 06:46 AM
syMPh syMPh is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

Great news! i'd love to know what config of hardware you have installed in your Macbook?
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Old 12-07-2021, 07:10 AM
MrDibS MrDibS is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

USBC to Thunderbolt adaptor -> Red8Pre -> Sonnet Echo with one HDX Card -> Apple Thunderbolt Monitor.

The NIC in the monitor runs my Eucon world (S1 + Dock + AC). The NIC in my Red8Pre runs Dante and the NIC in my USBC dongle runs my Internet (and DVS when that is compatible).
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Old 12-07-2021, 03:34 PM
teedeecee teedeecee is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

Quote:
Originally Posted by syMPh View Post
Great news! i'd love to know what config of hardware you have installed in your Macbook?
This is a M1 Max / 32GB / 2TB

The internal SSD speeds are very impressive, and I think are part of the reason of my tests.
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Old 12-08-2021, 12:25 AM
syMPh syMPh is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

Quote:
Originally Posted by teedeecee View Post
This is a M1 Max / 32GB / 2TB

The internal SSD speeds are very impressive, and I think are part of the reason of my tests.
Fantastic. which GPU 24 or 32 core?
cheers !
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Old 12-08-2021, 12:38 AM
teedeecee teedeecee is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

Hi syMPh,

If I recall correctly, the M1 Max only comes in the 32 core GPU variant.
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Old 12-08-2021, 02:14 AM
dominicperry dominicperry is online now
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

Quote:
Originally Posted by teedeecee View Post
Hi syMPh,

If I recall correctly, the M1 Max only comes in the 32 core GPU variant.
No, there is a 24 core GPU option for the Max
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Old 12-08-2021, 03:53 AM
teedeecee teedeecee is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

hi dominicperry, I see, thanks.
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Old 12-08-2021, 05:09 AM
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Stephen Bond Stephen Bond is offline
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Default Re: PT 2021.10 - Monterey - M1 Max - Insane

Awesome. Tomorrow is now!

Stephen
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