Wow. Huge track count and Mac not sweating!

[IAA]

I’m working on some releases, one is a 110 track monster. (For me anyway!). It’s a combination of Audio and software. My M1max shows it’s at about 20% across all cores. I’m frankly amazed at the computing power we have now.
This is the biggest project I’ve done and put it off because it was so big, but wow it’s something else.

Now mixing 110 tracks is another challenge.

So we’ve come a long way since my G4 PowerBook running logic 7.

Ian

[RichardT]

I have an Apple Silicon Mac, and my experience is the same. I don't have to worry about overloading the machine any more. Plus everything loads and renders much faster and it's totally silent.

[Luke W]

It's incredible isn't it! Certainly leaves me looking for another excuse for my lack of creative output...

I tried to make my Mac Studio fumble after getting it up and running but I lost interest before it fell over. Safe to say it's not going to limit me for a while yet:



Enjoy the setup!

[Dave Rowles]

I got an M3 Max in January (yes I'm bragging....) And It's almost like I don't have to wait for anything to happen.

I'll see if I'm still saying that in 6 years time when I'm able to afford a new one though!

[Luke W]

I got an M3 Max in January (yes I'm bragging....) And It's almost like I don't have to wait for anything to happen.

No harm in that...

I did a bit of video work for a friend recently, and did it on my home machine (a base model M1 Pro MacBook Pro) rather than heading to the studio. I finished the edit, set it to export and stood up to go and make a coffee whilst it kicked out the file, as I normally would. It finished before I got to the door.

They're impressive bits of kit.

[muzines]

So we’ve come a long way since my G4 PowerBook running logic 7.

Yes indeed! One instance of Minimonsta in unison mode would pretty much finish my G4 Powerbook + Logic off!

[SafeandSound Mastering]

Great that your system is working so well, we have such immense computing power for a decade or so I reckon.

There is little we cannot do.

[IAA]

don't have to worry about overloading the machine any more

Indeed running at 64 samples buffer too even at mixing.

One instance of Minimonsta in unison mode would pretty much finish my G4 Powerbook + Logic off!

I remember!

It's incredible isn't it! Certainly leaves me looking for another excuse for my lack of creative output..

True enough. I’ve never found the Logic/OSX/Mac to be better, it’s what I assumed my G5 replacement for my PowerBook would be like. I’ve just bounced a project down and my old intel i7 used to sound like an helicopter doing that.

And it’s all so quiet.

Not normally an Apple fanboy but I think Logic 10.8.1, Sonoma and Apple Silicon is top drawer.

Phew

Ian

[Mattsong]

I have had similar results. Started down the M1 path with the 13 inch and upgraded to the 16 inch M2 MacBook Pro for video projects. The M1 was just fine for audio work, no problems and no fans. I was working on a video project with 4 cameras at 4K for a two hour jazz concert. The M2 has ProRes encoder and decoder chips, so I transcoded the footage. Four cameras took 25 minutes and the fans were on, which is the only time they have turned on. Editing was a breeze. In comparison my first Passport sequencer for my Apple IIe took 25 minutes to quantize a piano part. We have come along way.
All of this has created a more serious problem. I have now run out of excuses of why I can’t create great music or visual art.
If the esteemed members of this forum could please provide me with some excuses it would really be appreciated!!!

[tea for two]

110 tracks by IAA 163 tracks SASM is mixing mastering
I just am not cut ooot for this level.
My stuff is solo to quartet mostly with a few upto an octet. A drum part might be 10-12 parts. That's just aboot wot I can handle.

My 2019 6core i5 imacoo chugs along alrighty although there's a project getting spinning rainbow because I've loaded the drum parts with plenty plugins.
Also when bouncing a whole piece the fans rev up.

I recall fondly my mirror drive door g4, my emac crt g4, my cheesegeater 12core, and my fave design ever in a computer my half moon dome imacoo g4.

[ConcertinaChap]

My iMac Pro bought in 2018 is still chugging along nicely and is the only example of 2017 kit that can be upgraded to Sonoma so I'm not feeling under much pressure to upgrade, except the spare computer in our household (a machine that has a much more significant role than that name suggests) is a 2012 Mac Mini that is definitely starting to wheeze and fails to upgrade to the latest versions of Mac OS that it's actually supposed to be able to (From the error messages I put this down to the fusion drive). So I'm thinking of getting an M2 Studio and moving the iMac to the spare role.

Given the M2 Ultra Studio is quite a lot of dosh more than the M2 Max, is it worth it or (as I suspect) would a hobbyist like me be happy with the cheaper but still quite whizzy Max?

CC

[SafeandSound Mastering]

110 tracks by IAA 163 tracks SASM is mixing mastering
I just am not cut ooot for this level.
My stuff is solo to quartet mostly with a few upto an octet. A drum part might be 10-12 parts. That's just aboot wot I can handle.

My 2019 6core i5 imacoo chugs along alrighty although there's a project getting spinning rainbow because I've loaded the drum parts with plenty plugins.
Also when bouncing a whole piece the fans rev up.

I recall fondly my mirror drive door g4, my emac crt g4, my cheesegeater 12core, and my fave design ever in a computer my half moon dome imacoo g4.

Don't be too hung up on track count. Amazing music is created with just 10 tracks or less.. 3 maybe. It really just depends on what the music is and how it is being comp'd together and some genres are more fiddly, highly produced (if that even makes any quantitive sense at all), than others so they sprawl. Often with one sound playing for a second per track.

Track count actually means diddly squat relative to quality, performances, emotional content etc. just a number really. I am very surprised what my ancient machine can do though but felt it had little to do with Macs so edited it out, pointless, impossible to compare sessions, 1 plug in can bring an entire CPU to its knees.

[RichardT]

My iMac Pro bought in 2018 is still chugging along nicely and is the only example of 2017 kit that can be upgraded to Sonoma so I'm not feeling under much pressure to upgrade, except the spare computer in our household (a machine that has a much more significant role than that name suggests) is a 2012 Mac Mini that is definitely starting to wheeze and fails to upgrade to the latest versions of Mac OS that it's actually supposed to be able to (From the error messages I put this down to the fusion drive). So I'm thinking of getting an M2 Studio and moving the iMac to the spare role.

Given the M2 Ultra Studio is quite a lot of dosh more than the M2 Max, is it worth it or (as I suspect) would a hobbyist like me be happy with the cheaper but still quite whizzy Max?

CC

In your shoes, unless you really need to upgrade now, I would wait for the M3 Mac Studio. It's probably going to available within 6 months, possibly earlier.

The reason is that the M3 Max is just about as fast as the M2 Ultra. I have one, in a Macbook, and it's plenty fast enough for me.

[tea for two]

Aaah tis was neat read SASM.

Also simplifying to essential elements.
Even an orchestra is essentially a septet : strings, plucked, hammered, woods, brass, perc, voice.
Seeing hearing whether the essential elements are solid : each track in the piece able to stand tall as it were when soloed.
Also if the piece conveys what we want to convey with just one instrument then no need to add anything else.

::

I was meaning : I don't know how you are able to get your head around mixing mastering 163 tracks.
20-27 tracks mixing mastering is my limit else I would fry my brain lol.

[OneWorld]

I’m working on some releases, one is a 110 track monster. (For me anyway!). It’s a combination of Audio and software. My M1max shows it’s at about 20% across all cores. I’m frankly amazed at the computing power we have now.
This is the biggest project I’ve done and put it off because it was so big, but wow it’s something else.

Now mixing 110 tracks is another challenge.

So we’ve come a long way since my G4 PowerBook running logic 7.

Ian

Blimney, 110 tracks, what's your middle name 'Wagner' I guess you would need that many tracks to do the Ring Cycle or some other monumental opera he did. Makes my PC a right old wheezer

[muzines]

It doesn't mean all tracks are playing all the time. I had a 12-track digital recorder, and I did songs that had 80+ tracks of backing vocals alone... A project needs what it needs, even if 50 tracks just make one note at one point in time...

[ConcertinaChap]

In your shoes, unless you really need to upgrade now, I would wait for the M3 Mac Studio. It's probably going to available within 6 months, possibly earlier.

The reason is that the M3 Max is just about as fast as the M2 Ultra. I have one, in a Macbook, and it's plenty fast enough for me.

Thanks for the advice. Sadly I think I'm going to have to move before that. The agitated noises emanating from my wife are beginning to suggest that last week would be the ideal time to upgrade the spare computer.

Cheers,

CC

[RichardT]

Understood CC. For what I think you will be using it for (audio recordings rather than multiple virtual instruments?), the M2 Max Studio will be plenty powerful enough.

Even for complex orchestral arrangements using dozens of virtual instruments it's probably good enough! The virtue of the M3 is more in increasing the lifespan of the machine, I think.

[RichardT]

Aaah tis was neat read SASM.

Also simplifying to essential elements.
Even an orchestra is essentially a septet : strings, plucked, hammered, woods, brass, perc, voice.
Seeing hearing whether the essential elements are solid : each track in the piece able to stand tall as it were when soloed.
Also if the piece conveys what we want to convey with just one instrument then no need to add anything else.

::

I was meaning : I don't know how you are able to get your head around mixing mastering 163 tracks.
20-27 tracks mixing mastering is my limit else I would fry my brain lol.

In orchestral music there are rarely more than 3 or 4 things going on at once so it's not as daunting as it fiest appears. Any more than that and it becomes impossible for listeners to understand.

[IAA]

Blimney, 110 tracks, what's your middle name 'Wagne

Actually it’s a track with several sections knitted together, each section has a more manageable 20 or so tracks, but I’ve chosen, with the exception of the beat, to keep them as standalone. I’ve got VCAs for each of the sections that I’m going to use to balance the song overall. So really it’s likely manageable for my (limited) mixing abilities .

In fact as Richard says reducing complexity is the trickiest part. It is what it is though!

I’m still amazed that the technology and computing power is just not an issue any more.

Ian

[ConcertinaChap]

Understood CC. For what I think you will be using it for (audio recordings rather than multiple virtual instruments?), the M2 Max Studio will be plenty powerful enough.

Good call. I think you're right.

Cheers,

CC

[sonics]

In orchestral music there are rarely more than 3 or 4 things going on at once so it's not as daunting as it fiest appears.

That seems a strange thing to say. Are you thinking about the orchestra in sections, perhaps?

[RichardT]

I mean there are normally no more than 3 or so musical ideas going on at once. Different groups of instruments will be involved in each one.

[sonics]

That may be the case, but very often the ideas are made up of many sub-elements, or supported by further parts.

[tea for two]

Also simplifying to essential elements.
Even an orchestra is essentially a septet : strings, plucked, hammered, woods, brass, perc, voice.
Seeing hearing whether the essential elements are solid : each track in the piece able to stand tall as it were when soloed.
Also if the piece conveys what we want to convey with just one instrument then no need to add anything else.

In orchestral music there are rarely more than 3 or 4 things going on at once so it's not as daunting as it fiest appears. Any more than that and it becomes impossible for listeners to understand.

In my most involved pseudo orchestral piece there's only 2plucked 2hammered 3strings 2voices : just 4 elements happening at once.
I recall Timbaland saying when he makes mega hit records he has only 4 elements going on at one time.