Mac Studio Max and HD Native vs

[digiman57]

Hi, I am thinking of ordering an M1 Mac Studio Max and wanted a few options about options.
I have a Native PCIe card and heard that it doesn't play well with the Mac Studio right now.
Two options - 1. Buy a Native TB for using with my DIGI connection and get rid of the Native Card.
2. Give a WavesGrid card for my Burl Mothership and go that direction.

i rarely use the low latency feature of the Digi connection (Native Card) other than just the connection itself.
I know I would not have a low Latency mode if I went with the WavesGrid.
Has anyone used Waves Sound grid and not missed or needed the Low Latency mode with an M1? I also know that the Burl cards have an AVID latency switch that seem to auto adjust the hardware insert, so I bet you I will have to deal with hardware latency. I am hoping it isn't horrible. Burl has a Soundgrid daughter card, so I can convert.

Secondary concerns - 1 Terabyte drive in the Mac Studio and 64Gig of Memory is my first choice. I was hoping running sessions and VST and sample libraries from SSD external drives will not be a problem?

Thoughts and opinions to keep me from wasting my money. Retired from a day job and on a almost fixed income, so I am hoping to make this decision last a few years...smile.
I have been researching for a while and the external connection thing to a Mac Studio seems daunting. Hubs, External drives, Bays, etc.

Thanks for any feedback.
Jeff

[smurfyou]

Probably the most given advice around here is to ditch Digilink.

HOWEVER given that you have the Burl we can't tell you to get a better interface

I would definitely go for the HD Native Thunderbolt in this case. Simple solution to keep you working exactly as you're used to. I don't know much about Soundgrid but if you're not running a Soundgrid server I don't see the point.

There are reports of folks here happily running sessions on the Mac Studio internal drive. External SSD'S will be fine as well and they don't have to be Thunderbolt. NVME drives are much faster than the old standard SATA drives so look for an enclosure you can use for that.

[gives]

Originally Posted by smurfyou

Probably the most given advice around here is to ditch Digilink.

HOWEVER given that you have the Burl we can't tell you to get a better interface

I would definitely go for the HD Native Thunderbolt in this case. Simple solution to keep you working exactly as you're used to. I don't know much about Soundgrid but if you're not running a Soundgrid server I don't see the point.

There are reports of folks here happily running sessions on the Mac Studio internal drive. External SSD'S will be fine as well and they don't have to be Thunderbolt. NVME drives are much faster than the old standard SATA drives so look for an enclosure you can use for that.

I agree based on what was said. I looked at the Burl early one and decided to go with the MTRX. Much more forward thinking as far as the tech for my room.
I have a good friend who has the Burl and I really love the interface sonically, but in this world I live in, the expandable MTRX flagship was a huge upgrade for me and my ATMOS room as well. The days of need to run to an external DRIVES are really a think of the past. I dont' even use the disk caching and have not in a couple of years. Things have really changed here in my room and it has totally paid off. G

[digiman57]

Thanks for the tips. Yes, I am thinking of external drives for the sessions, but after more research, I might also kick the internal drive spec to 2 T. Also can Burl will sell me a Soundgrid card and they said I would just go straight to the computer with network cable. Beyond that, I like the comment about not messing with what I am already doing. I will look for a Native Thunderbolt and call that done, and maybe do more research on Soundgrid later…as the Burl daughter card is affordable. Burl also have MADI and Dante cards.
Anyway, your suggestions help. I know I don’t have a common setup, so thanks again for the replies.

[Eric Lambert]

Native TB and Mac Studio are working great here.

My interface offers both Digilink and Coreaudio but as much as I wish I could wean myself off Digilink it's my preferred protocol, and I did try both options.

I also have 1TB and 64GB RAM and it feels entirely adequate, and I do large orchestral sessions with VIs that stream from external SSDs. The whole system is uber fast and I don't think about any of that anymore; it's about the work itself and not the possible inadequacies of the tools I'm using.

[digiman57]

Thanks Eric,
That is what I was hoping to hear. I at least want to stream all of my sample libraries from external drives. Hoping I can run full sessions off of SSD drives also.

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by digiman57

Thanks Eric,
That is what I was hoping to hear. I at least want to stream all of my sample libraries from external drives. Hoping I can run full sessions off of SSD drives also.

I've run sessions off external SSD's for years, no problem there. Disk caching in PT is very good.

As mentioned above NVME SSD's are super fast and great for sample libraries. Some users go all in and get a Thunderbolt RAID enclosure. Overkill for me but for large orchestral libraries it probably speeds up session loading.

[paulo m]

I´m also about to buy a MAC Studio 64 GB/1 Tb. I have a friend which has one at his studios and works fine, although is running on Core Audio, no TB Native. Latest Protools Ultimate installed. The only problem is a bug with the Nexis servers related to the M1 MAX chip, but I believe it´s not your case.

I´m gonna ditch the option for more internal storage as it´s really expensive and also I don´t like to run everything from one drive. So instead I prefer to use external USB-C SSD/Nvme drives. At the moment I already ordered a Samsung T7 1 Tb.
Later if budget allows, I´ll buy an external Thunderbolt drive.

In terms of Docks/Hubs, I opted for a USB-C one, thunderbolt is out of my reach at the moment. Going for the Anker 8 in 1. Scores all my needs.

In terms of displays, I already have some HDMI ones, so I will get the Sonnet thunderbolt to dual HDMI adapter.

All the best!

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by smurfyou

I've run sessions off external SSD's for years, no problem there.

I have as well. Massive sessions even. No sweat for the drives or Mac.

These days, it's even advantageous to keep everything on the internal drive, or as much as possible, because those Apple drives are ridiculously quick. Still, SSDs are lightning fast and it would take an epic track count to bring this scenario to a halt.

[JFreak]

^ just make sure your session folder is not being cloned to iCloud if that is enabled. You may get victim of your broadband.