I think for music producers specifically (even smaller bedroom recording artists) it can't be understated how beneficial the quietness of this laptop is. There's nothing worse than trying to record an instrument or vocals and it sounds like an airplane jet is trying to fly off the airport terminal. Having a whisper quiet system like this doesn't get in the way of your creative process and the few times the fans do kick up is usually during exporting when you wouldn't be recording anything anyhow. Great device!!
I was gonna get the mac studio but people have complained about a high pitched whine (aswell as constant fan noise). I didn't want to chance it (i record a lot with laptop in room) ... so, ordering the 16 inch mbp m1max instead... yes, its costing more for the same specs, but silence is, literally, golden ...
Most helpful review for producers I've seen yet. I have the maxed out specs too for the M1 Max and everything is great except I constantly get big CPU spikes while recording anything in Ableton 11 no matter how big or small the project is and no matter what buffer size. It's really bizarre and unfortunate. I'm assuming it has to do with not everything being optimized yet.
I haven't updated to Live 11 because I've read that some people in the Ableton subreddit have been running into issues with plugins and what not. Like you said, it's probably to do with not being fully compatible with the M1 hardware and Live 11.
Just run it in Live 10 and everything in emulation for now. I know, it's not ideal, but it's clearly not the end of the world either and there's still plenty of power imo. And it doesn't spike like 11.
You're on the right track. Take this with a grain of salt, I'm just an amateur DSP software developer, but do you have any plugins on your channel and/or on the master while recording when you get those spikes? If yes, do you get any better result if you open a new project with a single channel and record (no plugins at all)? Sample rate doesn't matter. The second test could be to disconnect your external audio card (if you have one) and do the same as option 1.
Improved performance, 120hz display, long battery and quick charging are all sweet but the lack of heat and fan noise is such a high quality of life improvement, in my opinion. Producing music (or doing anything really) without that constant wooshhh is so much more pleasant :)
Using M1 Max since it came out. Cubase works flawlessly in Rosetta, Logic has lots of issues with plugins both in native and Rosetta mode. So I use Cubase for now, very happy overall.
Logic has issues when it's made by Apple? 😂 it's rather a matter of the plugins you loaded that are not M1 natively compatible. But Cubase runs both itself and the plugins in Rosetta mode which means there's no architectures salad going on like in the Logic scenario.
You can save a little money by getting the 24-core GPU if you get the Max chip. You don't sacrifice much performance but you save money and heat and battery. If you get the 14" with the Max, definitely don't get the 32-core GPU. Thanks for a good video.
For OBS streaming/screen recording while simultaneously doing heavy music production, do you think I need 1. 32gb ram and 2. the m1 max chip? Would they make a difference do you think?
I had this show up on my RU-vid Homepage and clicked because I am a little Apple Geek and Fanboy. I have never produced any Music or worked on any. I also dont have much Idea about it but this Video is sick! Super interesting even the ads for you Beats are amazing, I watched the advert twice. You have got a new subscriber!
Thank you for this well thought out and comprehensive review Reid, you answered all the questions I was personally wondering about when it comes to the new M1 MacBook Pro line. Cheers 💯
That’s the first video I ever watched of yours. I was so impressed I immediately gave you a sub. Now I’m going to go look through some of your other videos while I dream about owning a M1 Pro MacBook.
Well I no longer have to dream as I just got my MacBook M1 Pro this weekend. I have to admit that no video can truly explain the feeling you get when using this thing. How incredibly amazing the sound of the speakers are. The beauty of the screen while watching HDR content. I actually traded in my beloved iPad so I could have just enough to afford this, and it was worth it.
Your channel is my new fave. Top notch production, content and done by a puppet! I got away from production over the years but your channel makes me want to get back into it again. Love your channel! Keep it up!
Finally M1 test by an Audio guy...thanks Stefan 👍 Hope you'll repeat the test as soon as the Software Updates all out...without Rosetta...just bought an 12700K last week...Apple is too expensive 😔
I was about to buy it when they announced it And now I'm definitely about to. Those speakers have so much more dynamic range and depth. Holy. Disagree on the mic, personally. The mic is totally usable in a pinch. Andrew Huang also explored it. It already does some processing (or high-passing, which you're going to likely do anyways) that you'd expect to hear on modern tracks. I highly appreciate your test comparison though, as the intel mic seems to have a wider and more honest range. But unless you're going to be sampling bass or drums, or manipulating bass frequencies in sampling, you're not going to need the intel version. The M1 is perfect for the producer "on the go" and the artist who just needs it out there. That said, if you're expecting to use a built-in laptop mic to record/sample/manipulate any kind of quality low-end, you're already in trouble as a producer. I wouldn't mind the option though.
Great vid! Can you do a session video with Karra using native plug-ins at a low buffer size with the laptop in the same room? Been hearing that these macs have killed dsp, wanna see if you agree 🙏🏾🤘🏾
I use FL Studio, just bought an M1 Max. Definitely regret it. Sytrus, one of FL's most popular synths does not export properly. Some of the Sytrus presets sound ENTIRELY different upon export. I still have to use my old macbook in order to properly bounce my songs.
I have a mac mini M1 2021, running on Big Sur. You've just convinced me to NOT get the Max. at least not yet. No serious music producer uses the internal mic, not even for field recording and the fan noise is a huge put off. The Mac mini is silent. We don't monitor without a pro sound card either, so the Max intermnal sound/speakers are not really an important consideration. Also. with all the many reports of glitches and problems running plugins etc, I'd recommend waiting for a year or maybe even two before considering a 5k upgrade! I like your channel but this is not the best advice for budding producers Reid, imo.
I agree, half my plug-ins didn’t even load on my 14 inch MacBook Pro. Once I started downloading plug-ins, ProTools wouldn’t even open. I probably needed to update the latest version of ProTools, but still I wasn’t gonna pay $200 for something I couldn’t use plug-ins I need it on Every Production Session I do.
I think compatibility is the BIGGEST issue with the new MacBook, I've decided to hold onto my iMac for a few extra months whilst stuff becomes compatible. But as things are becoming compatible I'm seeing CRAZY results on my 16" M1 Max. In a few months, this power, portable will be undeniable.
The Karra song “Superpowers” is Unreleased. Hip Hop track “Old School” is the demo song for my new vocal pack at Whole Loops wholeloops.com/product/easy-party-vocals-1/
Really good review for music! What about 6 months later review? Is it better now compare to intel with some plugins being updated for M1? I saw only better performance on Logic but rarely on others daw :(
I think the only thing missing in this review is a comparison between the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips for music production. I ended up buying an M1 Pro because the Max seems like overkill if you don't do video editing, but it would've been nice to see a producer's perspective on this because most laptop reviewers only talk about video and not music production
Did you ever try the Mac studio M1 Ultra? I'm a bit torn between getting a Macbook Pro M1 Max 64gb min. 2TB vs. Mac Studio M1 Ultra. I'm using Ableton and I always use a lot of channels and a loooot of third party plugins.
Hey Reid! I'm about to purchase a Macbook Pro 16" with the M1 Max 24-gpu chip, but I don't know if I should go with 32GB ram or 64GB of ram as a content creator/producer. I plan on doing video editing, live streaming my production process using Ableton and may use some Spitfire libraries which are known to have large libraries, as well as Omnisphere, Keyscape etc. What would you recommend as a content creator/producer? I'll be pushing out to a 2K and 4K monitor as well. Appreciate any feedback you have!
I was and am still holding back because of plug-in compatibility. Is that an issue? I heard that the UAD Console still isn’t supported natively, did you have any problems? Thank you in advance and thank you so much for your content! 🙏🏼✨
Do you think an MacBook Air would have enough processing power for music production 🤔 I'm not sure if the full power of the new MacBook is really needed 😅 and it's like 2k less 🤑
I’d recommend a used 2019 Intel 16” for anyone who needs to save $2000 but also have a powerful laptop. The air laptops aren’t ideal if you need processing power
Thank you for the wonderful review. I'm a voice over artist and I was looking at using a laptop like this for recording voice over (using my MKH 416). The fan noise is of course extremely important. If I want to record a simple voice over in Adobe Audition will the fan make any noise? Will it be completely silent or is it still there? I don't want to have any fan noise at all. It's something I have to deal with on my desktop and it's definitely sub-optimal. Regarding the built-in microphone, I can hear the difference between the M1 and Intel MBP. The M1 definitely has more presence.
I'm using Asus ROG as my main machine and now planning on shifting to MacBook Pro with M1 chip... Just wanted to know if they are supporting all audio main plugins and softwares like omnisphere, kontakt, serum, Ableton etc or I should wait???
Do you think the 14” base model 8 core cpu would be enough for production, mixing and mastering with no crashes? I usually use like 10-30 tracks. Thank you
Somewhere in youtube they did tests on the M1 Air. That little beast got 98 tracks in logic, and then another test had like 45 instances of Serum. That's a $1,000 laptop !!! So since 99% of us creatives are truthfully in the "hobbyist" category and don't make a penny off of this you have to ask yourself "if you can't make a meaningful musical statement in 98 tracks, what do you need a 187 track $3,000 machine for ?"
@@thomaskatt4450 it’s crazy how a MacBook Air is a viable option for music production in 2022, technology has come so far However, the MacBook Air doesn’t have an internal fan, which will wear on the battery/cpu health, impacting the laptops overall longevity, still impressive nonetheless
@@TheEviltaco666 what i've picked up from different youtubes so far is that unless your use-case is video or gaming the fans are irrelevant for a music use case, all cpu cores full blast simply will not turn on the fans on a mb pro with these 5nm cpus, the aluminum chasis warms up and thats all that is needed to keep the chip cool, to get the fans really rolling you need the gpu on a long ass sustained video render running 10-20-30 minutes, thats a far cry from a 5 minute pop or edm project on logic,. ive been tinkering with a base model air i got on ebay for $700, realistically i can create more tracks than i know what to do with, the only thing i would havr changed was.to pick up a 16gb model to have some breathing room for large sample libraries
Is the M1 max worth it for music production? Not sure if the 400gb/s bandwidth is a big enough advantage to upgrade. I will occasionally game and I will start editing videos for youtube so that could justify it a little more. I am leaning towards the 14" 32gb 24-core M1 max because of the previous stated reason and because i really dont wanna carry around the big 16"
I just bought that and then immediately cancelled to get the 16". Too many reviews of people wishing they had a bigger display. In a backpack carrying is not much different.
@@jeausy I just got mine like 3 weeks ago and I'll be honest.. im glad I went with the 14".. it IS smaller but still feels much bigger than the 13" and the trackpad is larger as well. I use this for live performance so it helps that its lighter and when I work at home I just plug into an external display. All preference though!
I’m having a hard time deciding whether to switch to MacBook Air M1 or stick with my windows pc. My main concern though would be plugins compatibility on the M1, are they fully optimised to run effects and instruments plugins likewise? I’d very much appreciate your advise. Thanks
It honestly just depends what daw you’re running and which plug-ins you rely on. I currently have the M1 Air 16GB and my windows PC. I use fl studio primarily and have had to sacrifice a few great plugins that aren’t made for Mac and have had to use and save more custom presets with plugins bc some of the VST plugins that I use like Serum needed to be changed out to the AU variants to work on M1 versions of FL Studio. And when I go back and forth that becomes an issue bc of which version of the plugins I’m using, be it AU or VST. If you’re comfortable with having a flexible system where you can go back and forth between devices, I just recommend going through your plugins list and checking which ones are compatible with macOS and weigh that list with the pros and cons of switching. And while the air is phenomenal and silent, I would suggest the M1 13in pro (for the fan) or the base 14 (for the… everything else.)
@@ReidStefanMusic I ended that nightmare relationship about 8 years ago. After Windows 7 Professional - it all went downhill from there. While OSX isn't without issues, Windows just got too messy for me.
Hi Reid, I’m getting latency & drop out w/ my Komplete Audio 6 interface, so I’m debating upgrading the laptop to M1 vs upgrading the interface to something w/ USB C or even a Apollo Twin X. Just doing one mic w/ Maschine beats (no live instruments / multiple mics)
SSD drive would help open Plugins Faster. CPU Speeds would help run plugins faster. CPU Cores will help you with multiple channels of long plugin chains
Hey man, I’ve bought my own M1 Max and transferring my stuff over using time machine this week! QUICK QUESTION: did you have to de-activate plug-in licenses or anything before transferring everything over? thank you!
Would you recommend this over getting a Mac Pro tower? I asked as I think some of my plugins may not be M1 ready. What specs would you go with on the tower? Looking to see what is the least amount of core I can go with.
I’m currently running Propellarhead Reason on a 2013 stock settings MBP. Full production with ~50 vocal tracks edited/comped all in the same session usually maxes out my RAM headroom. Should I order a maxed out 64gb RAM M1 if I want to be able to track higher quantities of vocal takes, or would 64gb be overkill?
Reid! 🗣For the love of Pete GET A TAPER! Please. LA full of barbers! 😏 On the serious side, I’m in love with my 24c 14” MBPM. Smoove as butter and handles Multiple displays!
Hey Reid what OS X version were you on on the Intel? Monterey for both? I've noticed bad performance on Ableton on my Intel 16". I finally got tired of all the bugs (specifically CPU spikes on start and stop on playback and the unreal CPU spikes on plugins like Roland Cloud) and went to Windows. Performance has been almost double on my new Ryzen gaming laptop.
@@ReidStefanMusic Thanks so much for the response. I'm running that as well with the latest version of Ableton. Have you had the issues with the CPU spikes on stop and start playback?
Quick question, were you able to run Antares autotune on the m1 max ? I got one recently and my acoustic plugins crash every time, so I didn't try Antares yet !
Dumb question but were all those instances of Kontakt in the session or was it b-roll? I ask because it's apparently not supported and causing DAWs to crash for a lot of people but if they work here just simply not as efficient per their lack of native M1 status then that's a way more reasonable scenario. (mostly regarding Monterey)
Hey man thank you for the video. I'm all in the box recording producer. I rely heavily on CPU. when I finish making a beat, sometime my artist want to jump in booth right the way, and I'll be forced to recording with my vsts on. I have a decent PC. so with few plugins and instruments I can get away with 256 Buffer size. would M1MAX PRO handle 32 - 125 buffer?
Yes. Mac handles low latency audio better than any PC with the best specs due to bad operating system limitations in Windows. This is why you rarely see windows in serious recording applications, mostly just beat makers and MIDI composers using windows for DAW
@reidstefanmusic now when companies has come put with M1 friendly plug-ins, are the M1 faster then the intel? In your video they were the same speed or the intel was faster, it would be great to know the M1 one was winning now:)
@@LetLifeLive517 The speed of the computer hasn't changed since uploading this video. All these computers are extremely fast. It would be hard to tell the difference in a blind test
@@ReidStefanMusic Thank you for answering. I really hope the M3 Max 128 gb is faster or else I have wasted 4401$ by not getting the M1 Max - To late for me to anything now:)
