New Macs

For current or would-be users of Apple Mac computers, with answers to many FAQs.
Post Reply

Re: New Macs

Post by johnny h »

s_e_a_n wrote:In Ireland we're seeing up close the impact of Brexit, and it's not caused by the UK, it's caused by the EU. Brussels is like a spoilt brat throwing a tantrum because someone dared to stop playing their game. The EEC was supposed to be a common trading area which allowed us all to benefit from relaxed border controls. Funnily enough, in Ireland we were never allowed to buy a car in England and drive it back to Ireland. We had to pay a huge import tax with the value of the car decided by Irish customs and excise. Import duties and taxes are all about extracting what you can from the public. Brexit had nothing to do with Johnson, he's just the idiot that was in power(?) when it went through. As Sam Spoons says, above, it was held by Czech customs, that means EU restrictions not UK ones.

It's not about 'tantrums', it's about learning how annoying and inconvenient it is to exist under 'third country' rules instead of the single market, which we could have easily stayed in despite Brexit. Johnson knew what he was doing - trashing the economy so his hedge fund backers could make a tidy profit shorting the UK industries that would get (and have got) hammered with hard Brexit.
johnny h
Frequent Poster
Posts: 4315 Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:00 am

Re: New Macs

Post by Eddy Deegan »

This is supposed to be a thread about Macs, not politics.

Please abandon the political discussion here, keep replies on (or near) the topic of Macs and raise separately anything political in the lounge!

Thank you folks.
User avatar
Eddy Deegan
Moderator
Posts: 9549 Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:00 am Location: Brighton & Hove, UK
Some of my works | The SOS Forum Album projects | My Jamuary 2025 works

Re: New Macs

Post by Kennyscrown »

Anyone gone down the new M1 iMac route yet? Any comments?
Kennyscrown
Poster
Posts: 19 Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:47 am

Re: New Macs

Post by MOF »

Anyone gone down the new M1 iMac route yet? Any comments?

I've bought the 13" M1 Laptop. Seems to work fine.
MOF
Frequent Poster
Posts: 2434 Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2003 12:00 am Location: United Kingdom

Re: New Macs

Post by Kennyscrown »

MOF wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:13 pm
Anyone gone down the new M1 iMac route yet? Any comments?

I've bought the 13" M1 Laptop. Seems to work fine.

Ah, I'm wondering about the M1 MacAir.

However, how are you doing with the lack of ports?

I'd be interested to see what other people with an M1 laptop are doing in terms of hubs? I see really mixed reviews of the hubs/docks unless you are spending £300 on one. But for me, that defeats the object, might as well just have an iMac.
Kennyscrown
Poster
Posts: 19 Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:47 am

Re: New Macs

Post by ManFromGlass »

M1 Air here. Yes - bit the bullet for a nice hub with a lot of connection options including Ethernet as our wireless signal is mostly crap. Buying the $400 hub was the cost of entry for us, oh right, plus the monitor adapter for the still in great condition old Apple Cinema Display, oh right, plus the 4Tb Traveller external drive, oh right, plus a 2nd 4Tb Traveller drive to backup the first one.
And
It ain’t over yet I suspect.
User avatar
ManFromGlass
Longtime Poster
Posts: 7376 Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:00 am Location: O Canada

Re: New Macs

Post by MOF »

However, how are you doing with the lack of ports?

Well I don't need extra monitors, I bought the 1TB version so that I don't need external drives, except for backing up. I use a cheap basic C type adapter for usb dongles. I don't charge while using it as it uses so little power.
I bought it to take on holidays etc so I can check 4k video footage and do some composing with Logic, it's not fully loaded with all my sample libraries and plugins though.
I have an iMac 27" for work at home and do find the 13" screen a limiting factor, however I could use it with an external monitor if it was being used on a desk.
MOF
Frequent Poster
Posts: 2434 Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2003 12:00 am Location: United Kingdom

Re: New Macs

Post by MarkOne »

1TB/16GB MacBook Pro here.

Very impressed so far, but I guess I would be coming from a 2012 MBP.

I'm a little irritated by the tardiness of some plugin manufacturers in getting updates out (I get that there is recoding effort involved here but I'm missing some of my favourite instruments. It's been 9 months since the release of the platform and presumably several months more since developers got hold of dev platforms, yes I know, COVID, lockdown, etc. Still irritated)

Hopefully it will force me to do more with my hardware synths and actual programming rather than lazily pulling up an AU instrument.
MarkOne
Frequent Poster
Posts: 2988 Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:00 am Location: Bristol, England, Earth, Perseus Gap, Milky Way
My Music on Apple Music
My Music on Spotify

Re: New Macs

Post by Murray B »

I'm a little irritated by the tardiness of some plugin manufacturers in getting updates out (I get that there is recoding effort involved here but I'm missing some of my favourite instruments. It's been 9 months since the release of the platform and presumably several months more since developers got hold of dev platforms, yes I know, COVID, lockdown, etc. Still irritated)

I am no defender of the plug in manufacturers but have you tried running your Daw with the Rosetta thingy? - I have had to do this in order to use the Sienna Rooms Free Version in Logic (my first non stock plug in :shifty: ). With the Sienna Rooms plugin the system can overload momentarily if you make lots of changes to the settings during playback but otherwise remains stable. I've seen videos with other people running Logic with Rosetta and the overall limit on track / plugin count is a little smaller but otherwise nothing untoward is going on.
User avatar
Murray B
Regular
Posts: 428 Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:00 am Location: Staffordshire

Re: New Macs

Post by tea for two »

Desmond (Ben) hasn't posted since May middle of.
I am aware various forumees including some mods are friends with Desmond.
I hope it's alright to enquire is Des safe and sound? No details necessary. Just a yes suffices.
tea for two
Frequent Poster
Posts: 4015 Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2002 12:00 am

Re: New Macs

Post by Guest »

tea for two wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 5:13 pm Desmond (Ben) hasn't posted since May middle of.
I am aware various forumees including some mods are friends with Desmond.
I hope it's alright to enquire is Des safe and sound? No details necessary. Just a yes suffices.

He is still posting on gear space I think, so I guess he is ok.

Probably just had enough of some people here jumping down his throat while he was trying to help them.
User avatar
Guest

Re: New Macs

Post by Guest »

...
User avatar
Guest

Re: New Macs

Post by ConcertinaChap »

Some of us miss his good sense, lucid explanations and helpfulness a lot.

CC
User avatar
ConcertinaChap
Jedi Poster
Posts: 14231 Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:00 am Location: Bradford on Avon
Mr Punch's Studio
In my defence I was unsupervised at the time.

Re: New Macs

Post by Kwackman »

[ACCOUNT DELETED] wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:16 pmProbably just had enough of some people here jumping down his throat while he was trying to help them.

A great shame.
His help with Macs was very useful, and his knowledge of Logic was almost legendary.
I really hope he returns.
User avatar
Kwackman
Frequent Poster
Posts: 3456 Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2002 12:00 am Location: Belfast
Cubase, guitars.

Re: New Macs

Post by IAA »

Yes indeed, certainly miss his knowledge and approach.
IAA
Frequent Poster
Posts: 1413 Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:00 am

Re: New Macs

Post by tea for two »

[ACCOUNT DELETED] wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:16 pm
tea for two wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 5:13 pm Desmond (Ben) hasn't posted since May middle of.
I am aware various forumees including some mods are friends with Desmond.
I hope it's alright to enquire is Des safe and sound? No details necessary. Just a yes suffices.

He is still posting on gear space I think, so I guess he is ok.

Probably just had enough of some people here jumping down his throat while he was trying to help them.

Aaah.

I sometimes wish SoS forum had a block function just so that we can ignore posters posting things uncalled for.

Des' Mu:Zines was one of the best reads during lockdown for me.
tea for two
Frequent Poster
Posts: 4015 Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2002 12:00 am

Re: New Macs

Post by redlester »

ConcertinaChap wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:24 pm Some of us miss his good sense, lucid explanations and helpfulness a lot.

CC

Amen to that. Desmond and your good self were invaluable to me when I switched to Mac a few years back, and I continued to enjoy learning from his wealth of knowledge. I really hope he returns.
redlester
Regular
Posts: 234 Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:50 pm Location: East Midlands, UK

Re: New Macs

Post by Rich Hanson »

Another vote of support for Desmond - he was one of this site's most helpful contributors (and hopefully will be again some day)
User avatar
Rich Hanson
Frequent Poster
Posts: 3471 Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 12:00 am Location: Sort of near Rochester, Kent, UK

Re: New Macs

Post by Kennyscrown »

Just checking back to see if anyone is actually using a new iMac for music production yet.

I'm a bit financially challenged, but updating my 2013 21.5 iMac is becoming a bit critical now. I'm labouring over refurnished vs new, and a new iMac vs an M1 MacBook Air. I probably won't be able to afford my new Mac for a month or two, probably after the M2/M1x chip is release, but I have significant doubts that I'll be able to afford whatever machines they are used in!
Kennyscrown
Poster
Posts: 19 Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:47 am

Re: New Macs

Post by IAA »

I’m not on Apple Silicon yet, but my last 3 studio macs have all been from the Apple refurb shop. All were identical to new and 2 turned out to have more RAM that stated!

So if you can I’d certainly check there first.

I’m waiting another couple of years (fingers crossed) before I make the switch. I remember the transition to Intel.
IAA
Frequent Poster
Posts: 1413 Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:00 am

Re: New Macs

Post by Forum Admin »

Once Apple start selling their M1x (or whatever the 2nd gen chip will be called) lots more will switch.

M1 Mac mini plus generic 4K 42” display might be cheaper, flexible option?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
User avatar
Forum Admin
Moderator
Posts: 4567 Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2003 11:00 pm Location: A studio deep in the fenlands of Cambridgeshire, UK
Search 17,620 🆘 Reviews+Techniques web articles + 6,520 News stories (more added every day): www.soundonsound.com/search
===== SUBSCRIBE to SOS Print / Digital magazine ====
www.soundonsound.com/subscribe - help support your favourite content provider in the Music Technology & Recording space.
SOS Podcasts - Listen to 180+ ear-grabbing episodes across 3 SOS Podcast channels - more added Weekly.

Re: New Macs

Post by S2 »

Hi

I've just bought a new Macbook Air M1 for my wife and I to use as a general purpose laptop. The basic bottom of the range one - 8gb and 256gb SSD.

I have an older (late 2013) iMac with Logic on that I use for all music stuff. However reading these threads it seems I might be able to make use of the Macbook at rehearsals and gigs (should they start again properly!) to record the odd gig or two. It seems that I am allowed to download a second copy of Logic from the Apple store (without all the extras as they seem to add a huge amount of hard drive space) and then use it to record a maximum of 16 tracks (more likely to be 10) at once. No plugins, no synths or anything like that. Then transfer them to the main machine. Is this feasible?

Secondly if I wanted to add an external SSD to record the tracks onto, what should I be looking for - any particular models that people use/recommend?

Thanks.
User avatar
S2
Frequent Poster
Posts: 3917 Joined: Sat Jun 18, 2005 12:00 am Location: Surrey

Re: New Macs

Post by Luke W »

S2 wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:01 pm It seems that I am allowed to download a second copy of Logic from the Apple store (without all the extras as they seem to add a huge amount of hard drive space) and then use it to record a maximum of 16 tracks (more likely to be 10) at once. No plugins, no synths or anything like that. Then transfer them to the main machine. Is this feasible?

Yes, that's absolutely fine.

S2 wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:01 pm Secondly if I wanted to add an external SSD to record the tracks onto, what should I be looking for - any particular models that people use/recommend?

Pretty much any external SSD will be fine for the task, especially if you're running low track counts. You'll probably need to re-format the drive to something that Mac OS/Logic likes, but that's not a problem. I'm using a Samsung T7 for my audio drive, it's bus powered, not expensive and has been great so far.
User avatar
Luke W
Frequent Poster
Posts: 1647 Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:00 am Location: Northamptonshire, UK

Re: New Macs

Post by S2 »

That’s great thank you.
User avatar
S2
Frequent Poster
Posts: 3917 Joined: Sat Jun 18, 2005 12:00 am Location: Surrey
Post Reply