The Best Apple Computer For Music Production In 2019
The next step is to check the program's official system requirements you will run. This will help you determine the minimum required specs your Mac should have. For music production, a Mac should have at least a 2.2Ghz i7 quad-core processor. The process determines how fast your music projects would run (and usually they are huge). Will sims 3 run on macbook air. Because of its great price-performance ratio which makes it the Best Apple Computer For Music Production. For only $799 you already get a Quad-Core 3.6 GHz processor. Add another $300 and you.
Organizing music-related programs on a Mac I'm in the process of transferring all my plug-ins from a PC to a M1 Mac Mini (I love this little machine!). Since this is the. In this article we bring you ten of the best music-production packages for Mac, as well as key specs and download links. But a computer keyboard can be mapped to trigger the various Clips.
It's not easy to buy a new mac for music production. Many models are just too expensive and many of them are too slow because Apple is still using dual-core CPUs on some of their models.
If you want to produce music without any compromise I would really recommend you at least a mac with a 6 core CPU in 2019. We had 4 core CPUs for the last 6 or 7 years and I think it's time to step it up. If you analyze Apple's recent lineup there is a clear winner in terms of price/performance ratio but let's save that one for later
Let's start with Apple's Laptops:
The first model we're going to look at is the Macbook 12 inch.
If you analyze the specs it offers either a 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 or a 1.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with only 8GB Ram and a 256GB or 512GB SSD. While this laptop could be a great portable office machine it just won't be able to keep up with modern DAWs and Plugins. The biggest bottleneck is the dual-core CPU followed by only 8 GB of RAM.
Now let's look at the MacBook Air
You pretty much have the same problem with the 'Air' models because they only have a dual-core CPU and only 8 GB of RAM. I wouldn't recommend those for music production.
Let's move on to the MacBook Pro
Here you need to differentiate between the three different 13-inch models and the two 15 inch models:
The MacBook Pro 13 inch starts with a 2.3 GHz Dual Core model and offers a 2.3 GHz Quad-Core at the top configuration that even can be upgraded to 2.7 GHz which will increase the price to up to $2099. But if you can afford to spend 2k on a laptop I would strongly advise you to get the 15-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar. For only $300 more you get a strong 6 Core CPU, 16GB Of Ram and a 256GB SSD.
Conclusion:
If you want to get yourself an Apple laptop and you want to make music you either can get the MacBook Pro 13 inch with a Quadcore for $1799 or the MacBook Pro 15 Inch with a 6-Core for $2399. I really wouldn't recommend you to get the MacBook Air or the Macbook 12 Inch. While they're great and portable machines, they can't give you the power that you need for music production.
What about the iMacs?
If you want a desktop solution Apple offers their iMac line that combines the processing unit and the display in one single device. My decision is pretty easy here:
The first 21.5 inch model with the dual core is slow. Forget about it. The next model with a 3.6 GHz Quadcore is decent but it costs $1299 while the 6 core iMac starts at $1499. Trust me, invest $200 more for the 6-Core CPU and thank me later. If you decide to get a 27 model, choose any model because they're all great with 6-Cores. The only upgrade I would recommend is increasing RAM from 8GB to 16GB, especially if you use large Kontakt libraries or plugins like Spectrasonics Omnisphere
iMac Pro:
There is not really much to say about the iMac Pro. Great machine that has its price starting at $4999. You can even configure it with 18 cores. If you have that money you probably don't need to read my guide here and don't need my help
Apple Music Production Software
Mac Pro:
The Mac Pro is pretty much outdated in 2019 and will be soon replaced with a new model in 2020 (If I believe the rumors) so no need to spend so much money on an outdated model.
Edit: June 22rd, 2019, Apple announced the new Mac Pro starting at $6000. Just like with the iMac Pro if you can afford that machine go for it!
Mac Mini:
This is the most interesting Apple computer for music producers? Why? Because of its great price-performance ratio which makes it the Best Apple Computer For Music Production. For only $799 you already get a Quad-Core 3.6 GHz processor. Add another $300 and you have a 6-Core. You can even upgrade the RAM yourself if you're careful as Apple uses SO-DIMM sockets in their recent Mac Minis. Another advantage compared to the iMac is that you pretty much get the same computing unit but can pair it up with any monitor you want. Want to connect a 34 inch widescreen Monitor? No Problem! Want to take your Mac Mini with you when traveling to make music in a hotel room? No Problem. Now imagine having an iMac and not being able to take it with you on a trip or to your friend's music studio. There are even small portable screens available for people who want to be as mobile as possible.
Music producer @theonlydanja is using such a setup that consists of two portable Asus Zenscreens, one Mac Mini, and a UAD Arrow audio interface
A post shared by DANJA (@theonlydanja) on
And that's why I think the Mac Mini is the Best Apple Computer For Music Production in terms of performance, price, and mobility.
Drey Andersson
Music Producer & Founder Of TheMusicProducersBlog
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Working on a music production project on a slow computer can be very stressful. Imagine getting system dropouts everytime you hit play when composing. That's an instant creative killer.
In this article you will learn some tips to optimizing your Windows & Mac computer for music production. These tips may get you a small speed boost, without having to buy a new computer.
That said, sometimes you're better off simply upgrading your computer. However, if you want to squeeze out a little more life out of your computer or a little strapped for cash right now, here are 9 tips to optimize your computer for music production.
1 – Increase buffer size & allow multithreaded processing
The first thing you should do is to adjust your audio settings in your DAW.
Go to audio settings and increase the buffer length/size as high as possible to allow your CPU more time to process the audio.
Generally, keep the buffer size small when recording, to avoid latency. But when you mixing, you can allow a higher buffer size as you load more plugins and effects into your project.
Next make sure to allow multithreaded processing in your DAW, so that all of your CPU cores can work together and not leave all the work to a single core. It's worth checking it, in case you left it unchecked.
Fl Studio feature: If you are on Fl Studio, turn on 'Smart Disable' – a feature in FL Studio that allows you to disable plugins that are not used. Don't worry, you can re-enable them as soon as you need them again.
2 – High-performance mode (Windows)
If you're using a laptop running on Windows, go into your computer power settings and make sure that you've selected high-performance mode.
Then go into the advanced settings and check that you've set your minimum processor state to 100%.
Sure, your computer will use more energy and get hot – but you wouldn't want to do music production a slow processing computer anyway. Although, make sure to keep your laptop cool by placing it on a laptop cooling pad.
3 – Audio & effects housekeeping
With the experimentation you do when arranging and producing music, you'll quickly fill up your project with unused effects, audio files, loops and tracks.
These items takes up space and RAM on your computer. So every now and then, it make sense to clear off audio clips and effects that you're not using, such as old vocals tracks or any samples you are not using in your track.
Depending on the DAW you use, there is usually a way to clear unused audio clips.
For example, if you're on Logic Pro X, go the ‘Project' tab by clicking the ‘Browsers' in the upper right hand corner. Click ‘Select Unused' then head to Project Management and click ‘Clean Up'.
Brian li shows how to delete unused audio files in Logic Pro on his blog.
Andhere's a example on FL Studio:
Go to 'Tools', select ' MACROS' then choose 'Purge Unused Audio Clips'.
Depending on the DAW you use, the steps may be different. However the reason we do this is the same. Clear out junk and redundancies whenever you don't need them. Apple os 10 6 8 download.
4 – Turn on your internet and background apps
When you produce music, it's advisable to close all apps and turn off your internet connection.
Why? Any app that is running on the background actually uses RAM and CPU processing. Especially if you're on an older computer, it's probably a good idea to free up processes as much as possible – so turn off any apps that you're not using while making music.
A common CPU-hog is caused by file sharing applications, such as Onedrive, Dropbox or Google Drive. The file syncing that happens in the background, often takes up a fair bit of CPU processing. So if you have those types of apps on your computer, try to pause syncing and turn off your internet connection to momentarily save up some processing juice for your DAW.
Besides, doing this also enables you to focus better without finding yourself scrolling on social media – which can turn into a bad habit.
5 – Bounce your MIDI tracks to audio
If you use lots of software instruments and MIDI tracks, you might quickly run out of processing juice on your computer. When you playback a software instrument track with MIDI tracks, your computer has to process quite a lot – converting MIDI data, sequencing and playing it back into audio – all real-time.
It's a good practice to bounce your MIDI tracks into audio whenever possible.
You'll lose the ability to go back and change things, but this is one of the best computer processing saver with music production. What I recommend is to create different project file versions of your track, so you can go back to older project anytime, should you need to adjust a certain MIDI track.
If you're on Logic Pro, the ‘freeze' track does exactly this – with the exception that it allows you to unfreeze your track and work on your MIDI file.
And on Studio One – you can do this by using the ‘transform to audio feature'.
6 – Use Group/Bus tracks for compressing and EQ
Sometimes you don't need to use effect inserts in each of your individual tracks. Instead, you may even gain more control over your mix and reduce your computer's processing load by using group or bus tracks for compression and EQ-ing work.
If you find yourself running out of processing power, sending individual tracks to a reverb bus (with one effect), rather than inserting the reverb effect on every individual track.
Sure this might limit the way you do mixing – but mixing with bus tracks can sometimes proof rewarding when you're able to get a more controlled sound.
7 – Invest in a solid-state hard drive
If you're on an aging computer or laptop for music production, consider upgrading its hard drive from a mechanical hard disk to a solid state hard drive (SSD).
The performance benefits are huge. The main culprit that makes older computers slow is often the hard drive, which quickly turns into a bottleneck for speed.
A faster SSD hard drive enables your computer to process information faster, which is important for music production as your DAW reads & playback audio files from your hard disk in real-time. SSDs are now quite affordable these days, and depending on the computer you use, it can be fairly easy to replace it yourself.
Some SSD recommendations for music production:
SSDs for desktop PC
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus – one of the fastest M.2 SSDs in the market.
- WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD – no more loading screens.
SSDs for laptop/notebooks
- Samsung SSD 860 QVO – SATA interface, goes up to 1TB.
- ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro – Reliable and fast M.2 interface SSD
8 – Invest in more RAM
Not quite a optimization tip, but when buying a computer or looking to upgrade for speed, besides upgrading your hard drive to SSD – consider getting more RAM for your computer.
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) are RAM-hungry applications. In fact, at this point of writing, most DAWs recommend having a minimum of 8GB RAM on your computer.
Generally, the more tracks, instrument samplers, effects and VSTs you have in your arrangement, the more RAM you are going to need to run smoothly.
Apple Music Desktop App Pc
The good news is upgrading your computer's RAM is often the cheapest, best upgrade you can do (unless you're on a Macbook Pro 2016 & above, then you're out of luck). If your computer has an empty RAM slot or can be upgraded – it's worth spending that small bit to upgrade the RAM.
9 – Monitor your computer processes for rogue applications.
Over time of using your computer, regardless of whether you use a MAC or PC, you might have applications or services that you no longer use, running in the background, hogging the processor.
In fact, with some use and online browsing, some computers eventually get infected with malware and adware that can potentially use up processing power.
Make sure to monitor your system usage on a regular basis.
Simply launch ‘Activity Monitor' on a Mac or ‘Task Manager' on a PC and see if there's any apps that is using your computer's resources, RAM and CPU. If you find an app that is standing out, investigate the app. If you don't use the app, uninstall it.
A word of advice is to Google the name of the processes that you don't recognize on your task manager and see where it originates from. Before you kill any processes, always verify what they are (and do).
Stream Apple Music On Desktop
There are many third-party applications like CCleaner that helps you pin-point apps or processes that are hogging your system resources and gives you recommendations to quit or remove them. Again, be extra careful when using third party applications like this and double-check before you delete anything.
Conclusion
Follow the few tips above and you should see some improvements in your system's performance, helping you get a bit more out from your computer without having to buy a new one so soon.
Although eventually, it may make more sense to simply upgrade and buy a new computer – so that you stay productive on producing more music and not fixing processing issues on your computer.
Music Producer & Founder Of TheMusicProducersBlog
TMPB Bag Of Goodies
Get
- Sounds And Patches
- Music Production Tips
- Music Business & Marketing Tips
..and more
..For Free!
Thank you for subscribing. Please check your email and confirm the subscription.
NO SPAM! I hate it myself with a passion. Expect 1-3 emails a month with good value!
Working on a music production project on a slow computer can be very stressful. Imagine getting system dropouts everytime you hit play when composing. That's an instant creative killer.
In this article you will learn some tips to optimizing your Windows & Mac computer for music production. These tips may get you a small speed boost, without having to buy a new computer.
That said, sometimes you're better off simply upgrading your computer. However, if you want to squeeze out a little more life out of your computer or a little strapped for cash right now, here are 9 tips to optimize your computer for music production.
1 – Increase buffer size & allow multithreaded processing
The first thing you should do is to adjust your audio settings in your DAW.
Go to audio settings and increase the buffer length/size as high as possible to allow your CPU more time to process the audio.
Generally, keep the buffer size small when recording, to avoid latency. But when you mixing, you can allow a higher buffer size as you load more plugins and effects into your project.
Next make sure to allow multithreaded processing in your DAW, so that all of your CPU cores can work together and not leave all the work to a single core. It's worth checking it, in case you left it unchecked.
Fl Studio feature: If you are on Fl Studio, turn on 'Smart Disable' – a feature in FL Studio that allows you to disable plugins that are not used. Don't worry, you can re-enable them as soon as you need them again.
2 – High-performance mode (Windows)
If you're using a laptop running on Windows, go into your computer power settings and make sure that you've selected high-performance mode.
Then go into the advanced settings and check that you've set your minimum processor state to 100%.
Sure, your computer will use more energy and get hot – but you wouldn't want to do music production a slow processing computer anyway. Although, make sure to keep your laptop cool by placing it on a laptop cooling pad.
3 – Audio & effects housekeeping
With the experimentation you do when arranging and producing music, you'll quickly fill up your project with unused effects, audio files, loops and tracks.
These items takes up space and RAM on your computer. So every now and then, it make sense to clear off audio clips and effects that you're not using, such as old vocals tracks or any samples you are not using in your track.
Depending on the DAW you use, there is usually a way to clear unused audio clips.
For example, if you're on Logic Pro X, go the ‘Project' tab by clicking the ‘Browsers' in the upper right hand corner. Click ‘Select Unused' then head to Project Management and click ‘Clean Up'.
Brian li shows how to delete unused audio files in Logic Pro on his blog.
Andhere's a example on FL Studio:
Go to 'Tools', select ' MACROS' then choose 'Purge Unused Audio Clips'.
Depending on the DAW you use, the steps may be different. However the reason we do this is the same. Clear out junk and redundancies whenever you don't need them. Apple os 10 6 8 download.
4 – Turn on your internet and background apps
When you produce music, it's advisable to close all apps and turn off your internet connection.
Why? Any app that is running on the background actually uses RAM and CPU processing. Especially if you're on an older computer, it's probably a good idea to free up processes as much as possible – so turn off any apps that you're not using while making music.
A common CPU-hog is caused by file sharing applications, such as Onedrive, Dropbox or Google Drive. The file syncing that happens in the background, often takes up a fair bit of CPU processing. So if you have those types of apps on your computer, try to pause syncing and turn off your internet connection to momentarily save up some processing juice for your DAW.
Besides, doing this also enables you to focus better without finding yourself scrolling on social media – which can turn into a bad habit.
5 – Bounce your MIDI tracks to audio
If you use lots of software instruments and MIDI tracks, you might quickly run out of processing juice on your computer. When you playback a software instrument track with MIDI tracks, your computer has to process quite a lot – converting MIDI data, sequencing and playing it back into audio – all real-time.
It's a good practice to bounce your MIDI tracks into audio whenever possible.
You'll lose the ability to go back and change things, but this is one of the best computer processing saver with music production. What I recommend is to create different project file versions of your track, so you can go back to older project anytime, should you need to adjust a certain MIDI track.
If you're on Logic Pro, the ‘freeze' track does exactly this – with the exception that it allows you to unfreeze your track and work on your MIDI file.
And on Studio One – you can do this by using the ‘transform to audio feature'.
6 – Use Group/Bus tracks for compressing and EQ
Sometimes you don't need to use effect inserts in each of your individual tracks. Instead, you may even gain more control over your mix and reduce your computer's processing load by using group or bus tracks for compression and EQ-ing work.
If you find yourself running out of processing power, sending individual tracks to a reverb bus (with one effect), rather than inserting the reverb effect on every individual track.
Sure this might limit the way you do mixing – but mixing with bus tracks can sometimes proof rewarding when you're able to get a more controlled sound.
7 – Invest in a solid-state hard drive
If you're on an aging computer or laptop for music production, consider upgrading its hard drive from a mechanical hard disk to a solid state hard drive (SSD).
The performance benefits are huge. The main culprit that makes older computers slow is often the hard drive, which quickly turns into a bottleneck for speed.
A faster SSD hard drive enables your computer to process information faster, which is important for music production as your DAW reads & playback audio files from your hard disk in real-time. SSDs are now quite affordable these days, and depending on the computer you use, it can be fairly easy to replace it yourself.
Some SSD recommendations for music production:
SSDs for desktop PC
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus – one of the fastest M.2 SSDs in the market.
- WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD – no more loading screens.
SSDs for laptop/notebooks
- Samsung SSD 860 QVO – SATA interface, goes up to 1TB.
- ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro – Reliable and fast M.2 interface SSD
8 – Invest in more RAM
Not quite a optimization tip, but when buying a computer or looking to upgrade for speed, besides upgrading your hard drive to SSD – consider getting more RAM for your computer.
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) are RAM-hungry applications. In fact, at this point of writing, most DAWs recommend having a minimum of 8GB RAM on your computer.
Generally, the more tracks, instrument samplers, effects and VSTs you have in your arrangement, the more RAM you are going to need to run smoothly.
Apple Music Desktop App Pc
The good news is upgrading your computer's RAM is often the cheapest, best upgrade you can do (unless you're on a Macbook Pro 2016 & above, then you're out of luck). If your computer has an empty RAM slot or can be upgraded – it's worth spending that small bit to upgrade the RAM.
9 – Monitor your computer processes for rogue applications.
Over time of using your computer, regardless of whether you use a MAC or PC, you might have applications or services that you no longer use, running in the background, hogging the processor.
In fact, with some use and online browsing, some computers eventually get infected with malware and adware that can potentially use up processing power.
Make sure to monitor your system usage on a regular basis.
Simply launch ‘Activity Monitor' on a Mac or ‘Task Manager' on a PC and see if there's any apps that is using your computer's resources, RAM and CPU. If you find an app that is standing out, investigate the app. If you don't use the app, uninstall it.
A word of advice is to Google the name of the processes that you don't recognize on your task manager and see where it originates from. Before you kill any processes, always verify what they are (and do).
Stream Apple Music On Desktop
There are many third-party applications like CCleaner that helps you pin-point apps or processes that are hogging your system resources and gives you recommendations to quit or remove them. Again, be extra careful when using third party applications like this and double-check before you delete anything.
Conclusion
Follow the few tips above and you should see some improvements in your system's performance, helping you get a bit more out from your computer without having to buy a new one so soon.
Although eventually, it may make more sense to simply upgrade and buy a new computer – so that you stay productive on producing more music and not fixing processing issues on your computer.
Did you find any tip useful in this post? What are some good computer optimization tips for music production we've missed out? Let us know in the comment section below and we'll add your tip right up.
About the author
Anna Grant is a music aficionado and content writer at Supreme Tracks – an online recording studio where you can buy beats online. She plays keys and guitar and has many years of experience writing for the music industry.