MacBook Pro M2 - Logic, fractal users

[JoeW-NC]

Rookie question - does the laptop have to be open to run (At home I'd use bluetooth keyboard and trackpad).

It CAN be closed. . . I don't recommend based on my experience with 2017 Quad i7 MBP. I found my laptop would get hot in closed "clamshell" mode, so I assume the entire aluminum surface of the laptop is a key to passive cooling before the fans kick in. With the lid closed, they ran constantly. They're not too loud, but still kinda annoying. I dim the laptop display to "off" so it's not distracting, and use the built-in keyboard and excellent, oversized track pad to zoom in tight to any area I'm working on. I lay out my Digital Performer interface essentially in quadrants - Transport and main editor, mixer, floating plugins. . . and zoom in wherever I need. It's far more efficient than dealing with stacked windows once you get the hang of it.

Rather than paying Apple display prices, I opted for a 32" 4K Samsung monitor that currently sells for $339 at Bestbuy (model# U32J590).

 

[iaresee]

I don't recommend based on my experience with 2017 Quad i7 MBP

The ARM64 MBPros are ultra low heat. I run my M1 MBPro closed 99% of the time. It'll be fine.

 

[nathan_393]

The ARM64 MBPros are ultra low heat. I run my M1 MBPro closed 99% of the time. It'll be fine.

Completely agreed. This was a big issue from 2016-2019 or so with Apple laptops, but it's become a non-issue since the arrival of Apple Silicon. Frankly, their chips have solved a lot of the issues I had with using a laptop as a desktop before. Clamshell works great now. Their laptops haven't been this good in 10 years.

 

[Luth2000]

Ok, have had the MBP M2max 32 gb 4tb internal ssd for 2 days! Have installed all software and up and running perfectly so far. indeed a rockin machine.

Glenn may recall extensive questions on FM3 USB issues on my iMac, got to say ZERO issues on this new MBP. Have indeed dropped the apogee element from my rig, and the sound is phenomenal.

Still undecided on monitor, but traveling again in a week so won’t rush that decision (and bank account).

Question: If Im to use a USB hub, what’s the best performing hub for a home studio?

Thanks again for your experiences and sharing!
Luther

 

[kptkarl]

Question: If Im to use a USB hub, what’s the best performing hub for a home studio?

CalDigit…Thunderbolt 4 or Element hub

 

[marsonic]

Question: If Im to use a USB hub, what’s the best performing hub for a home studio?

I use an OWC Thunderbolt Hub Pro, mostly for the 10GbE combined with the other things (my primary display is DP). I also have an old 7-port USB 2 hub from way back in the day for controllers, iLoks, etc.. I bought it back when there was only one chipset that anyone used for a 7-port hub and it was one of the ones that caused no issues with audio....at least back then, the answer was "any 7-port hub". I don't know if that's still true.

FWIW, I was getting some dropouts and glitches when I had a very low buffer set when I plugged my audio interface into my Mini's USB ports. They're on a hub that's shared with other things. I switched the Audio Interface to a TB to single USB adapter, and the problems went away. It feels silly to dedicate a whole TB port to just the USB2 audio interface, but the mini has 4 of them and it works better. So, whatever.

 

[∞Fractals]

Well, I just crippled my M2 w/ 32Gb …

With this many plugs, I’m getting some kind of timing disparity between midi and sample rate says the error msg.



11x comps
7x instances of Neutron4
1x Ozone10
5x Exciters (not incl. the ones in Izotope)
6x Reverbs!

Oops

(I’ll consider more consolidation of neutron but I love this mix.)

 

[iaresee]

Well, I just crippled my M2 w/ 32Gb …

With this many plugs, I’m getting some kind of timing disparity between midi and sample rate says the error msg.

View attachment 123248

11x comps
7x instances of Neutron4
1x Ozone10
5x Exciters (not incl. the ones in Izotope)
6x Reverbs!

Oops

(I’ll consider more consolidation of neutron but I love this mix.)

Are any of them running under Rosetta or are they all native ARM64? Had issues with Rosetta translation on plugins slowing them down. Qemu can only go so fast...

 

[∞Fractals]

Are any of them running under Rosetta or are they all native ARM64? Had issues with Rosetta translation on plugins slowing them down. Qemu can only go so fast...

I took Logic off of Rosetta about three months ago… I thought I got a note from Native Instruments saying everything was Apple Silicon compatible IIRC

I ran Rosetta for a few months, but it’s smoother in apple native

 

[GlennO]

Just because Logic is running native, that doesn't mean your plugins are. The Pluginfo app can show show you which plugins are native.

 

[∞Fractals]

Just because Logic is running native, that doesn't mean your plugins are. The Pluginfo app can show show you which plugins are native.

Thank you Glen. I’ll give this a go!

 

[∞Fractals]

Ok, $3 confirms we’re good … just need to be smarter; moar busses lol


Thanks Ian and Glenn

 

[rossipedia]

The best monitor I've found for the Apple Silicon Macs so far is the Gigabyte M32U. 32" 4k. It also comes in a version that has a desk-mounted arm rather than a stand. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Amazon product ASIN B0BF5FFDH8

 

[rossipedia]

CalDigit…Thunderbolt 4 or Element hub

I have the TS4. Top choice, highly recommended

 

[Luth2000]

CalDigit…Thunderbolt 4 or Element hub

Another question on hubs: I bought the Mac Studio display, which has 3 additional ports. Am I better off buying the Caldigit hub, or using the Studio display ports for USB (Yamaha Midi keyboard, AXE FX Xl+, external HDs)? Thanks for experienced guidance...

 

[kptkarl]

The Studio Display ports will be just fine for keyboard and AFX. If you’re only using a HD for file transfers it will be ok as well. Depends on HD speed and use case if you need thunderbolt.

 

[marsonic]

Another question on hubs: I bought the Mac Studio display, which has 3 additional ports. Am I better off buying the Caldigit hub, or using the Studio display ports for USB (Yamaha Midi keyboard, AXE FX Xl+, external HDs)? Thanks for experienced guidance...

So....the actual answer to this is that you need to look into the USB and Thunderbolt trees inside System Information. You switch things between different ports until you get what you want out of it.

The only really important things are that a USB audio interface should ideally be on its own bus, not so much because of speed but just so the controller doesn't have to do any work to prioritize audio. The only convenient way for me to do that was to use a Thunderbolt -> USB dongle.

Other than that, you kinda just have to know what you're working with and look for signs of extra latency, slow-downs, or other weird issues. In general, most things are fine "sharing" a USB/Thunderbolt bus. There aren't any single SSDs (and not many RAID enclosures) that can actually saturate a 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt connection.

 

[Rex Rox]

I'm kinda surprised no one mentioned a touchscreen monitor for working with a DAW. I have a 24" Dell touchscreen that I would hate to be without. Unfortunately Dell doesn't seem have them right now but companies like Viewsonic, Planar, Acer and Asus do. Viewsonic makes a 27 inch one if you want to go a little bigger. I have 3 monitors and my touchscreen lays almost flat on my studio desk just like a mixing console would.

Being able to drag faders with your fingers is like being on a motorized fader mixing console only way better. Once you use a touchscreen you will never go back. Now mixing using a mouse/keyboard just irritates me - so inefficient!

The touchscreens are typically HD to 1440k so no scaling issues on any platform. My other 2 monitors are much higher resolution for gaming, video and photo editing, etc. So I'm fine with the lower res on the touchscreen.

Amazon product ASIN B081FJRQJL

 

[marsonic]

I'm kinda surprised no one mentioned a touchscreen monitor for working with a DAW.

The thought has crossed my mind.

My big hesitation is that they're pretty much all glossy (for good reason) and I freaking hate glossy displays.

How precise do you find it?

 

[Rex Rox]

The thought has crossed my mind.

My big hesitation is that they're pretty much all glossy (for good reason) and I freaking hate glossy displays.

How precise do you find it?

Yes the glare on glossy screens is always an issue. I can't speak for the other brands but my Dell has anti-glare treatment which helps. It's still glossy but not so bad it bothers me. In a more flat orientation on your desk I would imagine overhead lighting could be an issue. I only use bounced lighting in my studio (torchieres with dimmable, full color LEDs controllable from my phone) so glare isn't an issue.

As far as precision goes it's plenty precise for mixing and recording (dragging faders, turning on/off monitor and record switches, etc.). You still have to go a mouse/keyboard for badly designed plugin interfaces. Some make the buttons and sliders ridiculously small. No touch screens have the precision for those.

15 to 20 years ago, I used to have a Tascam FW 1082 interface (like the one below). It had motorized faders on it. So I got spoiled. Moving to a touchscreen made me happy again.