Mac M1 Max Chip

[KevWind]

Ok so as they promised in the other video

Max Tech Buyers guide to the new MacBook Pro

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by KevWind

And I don't know that peoples work flows are "crying out" for more processing power.. More likely just acknowledging that it is available...

Actually, even "bedroom producers" are routinely working with, say 40 tracks of background vocals and a kick comprised of 8 elements, and so forth. Taking just the BGV example, most people don't currently have the processing power to have 40 instances of Autotune and 40 instances of Soothe going at once, so they have to tune and Soothe and render and comp in batches, which makes backtracking after the fact really tough. Just the note-taking and record keeping is a pain.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by KevWind

And I don't know that peoples work flows are "crying out" for more processing power..

Mine does sometimes when I have a lot of virtual instruments running. I think of it this way... given the choice between having way more processing power than I need most of the time OR the occasionally coming up short and having to find workarounds, give me the power overkill.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

Actually, even "bedroom producers" are routinely working with, say 40 tracks of background vocals and a kick comprised of 8 elements, and so forth. Taking just the BGV example, most people don't currently have the processing power to have 40 instances of Autotune and 40 instances of Soothe going at once, so they have to tune and Soothe and render and comp in batches, which makes backtracking after the fact really tough. Just the note-taking and record keeping is a pain.

Originally Posted by jim1960

Mine does sometimes when I have a lot of virtual instruments running. I think of it this way... given the choice between having way more processing power than I need most of the time OR the occasionally coming up short and having to find workarounds, give me the power overkill.

One need only look at the specs of my system to see I tend also to the "the more power the better" category ....

But to clarify a bit further I am guessing Frank (since he mention audio only and "in this thread") , And I certainly was thinking more about the Average AGF home recordist, here on "Show and Tell" where most are posting recordings of an acoustic guitar solo, or acoustic guitar and vocal, or even the relatively few of us who actually add a VI or two. So I'm guessing the average post in AGF ""Show and Tell" probably does not have even 6 tracks,,,,, let alone 10 or 20 - 40

That said however :::
One interesting thing I have noticed on "Show and Tell" though that would indicate a trending towards wanting at least more Graphics power,, is the steady shift towards posting Youtube videos as opposed to audio only streaming like Sound Cloud et. al

And no doubt in the world beyond AGF,,,, there is definitely an interest in ever more powerful lap tops,, as it was reported that the Apple web site became bogged down just after the event on Monday

[stephenT]

Ordered a 16" MBP w/ the M1PRO chip last night. My wife's an educator so ordered through the Education store and saved a few bucks.

I went w/ 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. After studying on Logic Pro's requirements and the fact that i use very few plug-ins, the 16BG appears to be fine, particularly w/ the new chip.

I've found the new M1PRO MBP to be roughly the same price as previous MBPs. I paid slightly over $3k for my 13" 2018 MBP new and my ordered 16" unit is $2500. Plus I got $690 trade in from Apple on the old MBP. I might be able to sell it outright for a few bucks more, but selling to Apple is hassle free.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by stephenT

Ordered a 16" MBP w/ the M1PRO chip last night. My wife's an educator so ordered through the Education store and saved a few bucks.

I went w/ 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. After studying on Logic Pro's requirements and the fact that i use very few plug-ins, the 16BG appears to be fine, particularly w/ the new chip.

I've found the new M1PRO MBP to be roughly the same price as previous MBPs. I paid slightly over $3k for my 13" 2018 MBP new and my ordered 16" unit is $2500. Plus I got $690 trade in from Apple on the old MBP. I might be able to sell it outright for a few bucks more, but selling to Apple is hassle free.

Very cool ,,,Be interested in your thoughts once you get it up and running
Do you know if it will be coming with Monterey OS (releasing on the 25th ) or Big Sur ??

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by KevWind

One interesting thing I have noticed on "Show and Tell" though that would indicate a trending towards wanting at least more Graphics power,, is the steady shift towards posting Youtube videos as opposed to audio only streaming like Sound Cloud et. al

Yep. If you want your video to display right in real time, even in the "internet-res" 1080p, you need a bunch of ram and a fast processor. Otherwise, for example, your dissolves will look shaky and your sync (important for us!) can look out, even when it's not. And the trouble's compounded if you're using stuff like real-time LUTS plugins, which pretty much everyone is these days. The only way to see what you've really got is to render it. Meaning hit the button and go do the dishes, take out the trash and clean the cat litter.

I say all this being, still, a total newbie to video. Lots of you folks here have been doing it for a while and are very good at it, and could probably inform the discussion.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by KevWind

But to clarify a bit further I am guessing Frank (since he mention audio only and "in this thread") , And I certainly was thinking more about the Average AGF home recordist, posting here on "Show and Tell" who are recording an acoustic guitar solo, or acoustic guitar and vocal, or even the relatively few of us who actually add a VI or two. So I'm guessing the average post in AGF ""Show and Tell" probably does not have even 6 tracks,,,,, let alone 10 or 20 - 40

True, but today's needs are not always tomorrow's needs. The person doing three track recordings today might have their interest peaked and expand their sonic palette upping their track count quite a bit in a year or three. I know in my case, if I add Superior Drums to any song it means at least another 8-12 tracks depending on the kit I use. Add to that a bass track, stereo acoustic, vox, perhaps electric guitar... I can be at 16-17 tracks and that's before I start getting creative with any other virtual instruments.

There's also the issue of software requirements. Things in this industry move pretty rapidly sometimes and there's no way to know what your preferred DAW's upgrades or any other future software purchases will need to run smoothly.

Five years ago I scoffed at the notion of buying any outboard gear other than mics and preamps. That has no bearing on computer power needed but my point is that we can feel pretty certain today about what we need and also feel pretty certain those needs won't change anytime soon but there's no guarantee that we don't change our minds. Buying a computer is a long term commitment and it makes a lot of sense to future-proof oneself as much as is affordable.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

Yep. If you want your video to display right in real time, even in the "internet-res" 1080p, you need a bunch of ram and a fast processor. Otherwise, for example, your dissolves will look shaky and your sync (important for us!) can look out, even when it's not. And the trouble's compounded if you're using stuff like real-time LUTS plugins, which pretty much everyone is these days. The only way to see what you've really got is to render it. Meaning hit the button and go do the dishes, take out the trash and clean the cat litter.

I think you're pretty much on the mark. Video takes orders of magnitude more power than audio. 10 months ago I upgraded my computer, since I was starting to have to render *every* change, even to preview at 1/2 resolution. The new machines (not top-of-line but still way better, latest Ryzen 7 with 32G RAM but no good graphics card 'cause I *still* can't get my hands on one) was working great... until my last video. 1/2 resolution preview was okay but I still can't do full-res preview without rendering. It takes about 10min to power through a full 4min video.

I'm not a Mac user (I have my issues with the Apple ecosystem) but I can see how having the absolute blazing fastest processor can be important.

Don't forget the graphics card, tho (if you can get one). Even if you're not using Resolve, other programs like Premiere Pro are starting to offload more and more onto the GPU.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

Yep. If you want your video to display right in real time, even in the "internet-res" 1080p, you need a bunch of ram and a fast processor. Otherwise, for example, your dissolves will look shaky and your sync (important for us!) can look out, even when it's not. And the trouble's compounded if you're using stuff like real-time LUTS plugins, which pretty much everyone is these days. The only way to see what you've really got is to render it. Meaning hit the button and go do the dishes, take out the trash and clean the cat litter.

I say all this being, still, a total newbie to video. Lots of you folks here have been doing it for a while and are very good at it, and could probably inform the discussion.

Originally Posted by jim1960

True, but today's needs are not always tomorrow's needs. The person doing three track recordings today might have their interest peaked and expand their sonic palette upping their track count quite a bit in a year or three. I know in my case, if I add Superior Drums to any song it means at least another 8-12 tracks depending on the kit I use. Add to that a bass track, stereo acoustic, vox, perhaps electric guitar... I can be at 16-17 tracks and that's before I start getting creative with any other virtual instruments.

There's also the issue of software requirements. Things in this industry move pretty rapidly sometimes and there's no way to know what your preferred DAW's upgrades or any other future software purchases will need to run smoothly.

Five years ago I scoffed at the notion of buying any outboard gear other than mics and preamps. That has no bearing on computer power needed but my point is that we can feel pretty certain today about what we need and also feel pretty certain those needs won't change anytime soon but there's no guarantee that we don't change our minds. Buying a computer is a long term commitment and it makes a lot of sense to future-proof oneself as much as is affordable.

Make no mistake I basically agree with all of the above, I was simply observing what the current situation is on AGF and what the majority of those posting in Show and Tell, are typically doing and or not doing..

Moving on ::

I agree Brent , Personally I can attest what a faster processor and more RAM does . Even still on intel for comparison,, my new iMac compared my previous Mid 2010 Mac Pro 3.2 GHz 6 core with 24 Gigs of RAM (on which I never really had any processing load issues for audio , perhaps because of being on PCIe HD native and the fastest PCIe SSD for storage )
But the Video rendering in FCPX is maybe 1/2 the time on my new iMac machine . Rendering edits is faster and rendering FX depends entirely on the specific FX but is still faster relative to my old machine. So I can only imagine what these new M Pro and Max chips will be capable of .....

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Make no mistake I basically agree with all of the above, I was simply observing what the current situation is on AGF and what the majority of those posting in Show and Tell, are typically doing and or not doing..

I know you agree with what was said. I just thought it important to remind people that when you buy a computer, you really have to consider possible future needs and not saddle yourself with limitations that you'll come to regret in a year or three.

Originally Posted by KevWind

But the Video rendering in FCPX is maybe 1/2 the time on my new iMac machine . Rendering edits is virtually instantaneous and rendering FX depends entirely on the specific FX but is still faster relative to my old machine. So I can only imagine what these new M Pro and Max chips will be capable of .....

I suspect they'll have your video rendered yesterday.

[stephenT]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Very cool ,,,Be interested in your thoughts once you get it up and running
Do you know if it will be coming with Monterey OS (releasing on the 25th ) or Big Sur ??

4-5 weeks they say, I would be surprised if it isn't a bit sooner. I expect these new MBP are already loaded up w/ an OS so I'm guessing it'll be Big Sur.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I know you agree with what was said. I just thought it important to remind people that when you buy a computer, you really have to consider possible future needs and not saddle yourself with limitations that you'll come to regret in a year or three.



I suspect they'll have your video rendered yesterday.

Ya too bad they won't do much for all my umms and ahhs when doing dialog

[gfirob]

I do a lot of multi-camera 4k video with music and my fairly late model iMac seems to do pretty well with this, though usually editing at the proxy level. But I can see how an improvement in rendering time, import time and export time and other functions might be nice with the new systems. And the current Logic Pro seems to function fine at the level I operate it (for tracks under video) in my old system.

I don’t think I need the new model yet, but we always yearn for higher speed functions, and then when we get them we quickly take them for granted. I have an older iMac which was once my high speed, cutting edger computer and it is still working fine, but seems glacial in every operation.

I will wait until these new guys have been out for a year or so to let them shake the bugs out.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by gfirob

I do a lot of multi-camera 4k video with music and my fairly late model iMac seems to do pretty well with this, though usually editing at the proxy level. But I can see how an improvement in rendering time, import time and export time and other functions might be nice with the new systems. And the current Logic Pro seems to function fine at the level I operate it (for tracks under video) in my old system.

I don’t think I need the new model yet, but we always yearn for higher speed functions, and then when we get them we quickly take them for granted. I have an older iMac which was once my high speed, cutting edger computer and it is still working fine, but seems glacial in every operation.

I will wait until these new guys have been out for a year or so to let them shake the bugs out.

Wow 4K interesting >>> I am not all that savvy with FCPX so for example I was just playing around doing a quick little (maybe 5 min) screen recording video which even in 1080 p quicktime has to go thru transcoding to work in FCPX (which makes no sense to me) which took about 4 or 5 minutes --would it be faster to do Proxi ??