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I am seriously thinking of moving from my trusty old (but aging) studio PC to a Mac Mini Pro.

The PC is about 7 years old, dual 10 core Xeon, 128 gig of RAM. Mac Mini Pro will be 32 gig of RAM and 1TB storage (I will add more external myself). The Mac will not be just for Music recording, but also to run Photoshop and Lightroom etc for photography.

My main question is, will all the songs I have created on the PC load on the Mac, providing I have all the same plugins installed?

Also, is anyone using the Mac Mini Pro with S1? If so, what is their experience with it?
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by Tacman7 on Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:32 pm
I'm not leaving the PC but I wanted to get into these things, they are amazing.

I used to build my computers but now I shop sales for last years computer when I need a new one. Usually about $799 area.

Looking at what you get for your money the mac is amazing and now the $599 M2 is even cheaper.

That was what I bought was the plain Jane model M1, that and an Apollo solo, very tight package for audio and latency and I get to use my UAD plugins.

I use the mac like a remote audio workstation. I have a 6TBusbDrive that can flip back and forth from PC and Mac with a button push.

So I do everything like I used to but when I want to track vocals I jump over to the mac and record a track and then bounce back to the PC and put it in the song.

I have some problems with plugins as far as I put a Xenon on the master in the song on PC but it's not found on the mac, or vice versa, it's on both computers but it's not being recognized as the same thing. Hasn't bothered me enough to take the time to fix it I just work around it.

Never owned a mac so took a few weeks to get up and running but I'm liking everything. When I record my vox it prints the effect I use for a preamp so I'm not using my hardware preamp or compressor like usual. Haven't been doing it every long but not having problems doing what I want to do. Surprised the software preamp works in place of hardware,

It's pretty neat and all but I just jumped into it and got what I needed so I don't really know mac, I don't even know how to speak it!

Good to put your specs in your signature, click below in my signature.

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by tpittman on Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:56 pm
philangus wroteI am seriously thinking of moving from my trusty old (but aging) studio PC to a Mac Mini Pro.

The PC is about 7 years old, dual 10 core Xeon, 128 gig of RAM. Mac Mini Pro will be 32 gig of RAM and 1TB storage (I will add more external myself). The Mac will not be just for Music recording, but also to run Photoshop and Lightroom etc for photography.

My main question is, will all the songs I have created on the PC load on the Mac, providing I have all the same plugins installed?

Also, is anyone using the Mac Mini Pro with S1? If so, what is their experience with it?


i just this week purchased a used 2018 Mac mini. i did so because of the 4 thunderbolt 3 ports and 2 USB ports & HDMI. I also purchased a xmac sonnet mini server, used that is a thunderbolt 2 version. Sonnect as an upgrade to thunderbolt 3 card which i purchased already and installed in Mac server.

the reason for the xmac server is it holds 2 PLCE cards. One full length and 1 half length (UAD Cards) Which is what i have in my old 2011 desktop. I have to pull those and make the exchanges. This all fits (computer and PLCE cards in a 1IU rack). Easy access to everything via two thumbscrews at the rear.

I am hoping i can put it all together this weekend. i surly do hope it all works out ok. so far so good!!

As far as windows to Mac, once you have a Mac you will not go back to windows. IMHO. There will be people that totally disagree with me but i could care less. IMO Mac has the best operating system to be had!!

Studio One Pro 6.5.2 Mac mini Monterey OS Midas 32 Board / Interface
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by Blame Karma on Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:09 am
I use both Mac & PC and it interacts great. Important is that the plug-in ID has to be identical for the plug-ins to load correctly, which seems no issue with the most common developers.
You may get a performance difference, as 40 cores + 128GB RAM should handle more than an M2 Pro + 32GB, even if it is 7 years old.
S1 songs do not care about the platform, they can be juggled back and forth.

Mac Mini M1 / Ryzen 1700X - W10 / Sphere / 1810c / Apollo Twin
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by PreAl on Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:50 am
By no means am I against Mac. Windows 11 however with a decent system is extremely stable and you get far better bang for your buck, plus it's far less likely to become obsolete, and with Windows there are simply far more choices and flexibility, and with PC hardware a lot more options when you want to upgrade.

I don't think one is better over the other in regards to usage, it's just your personal preference with the OS UI. Personally I prefer Linux, but when it comes to DAWs it's not a realistic option.

Intel i9 9900K (Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE motherboard), 32GB RAM, EVGA Geforce 1070 (Nvidia drivers).
Dell Inspiron 7591 (2 in 1) 16Gb.
Studio One Pro 6.x, Windows 11 Pro 64 bit, also running it on Mac OS Catalina via dual boot (experimental).
Presonus Quantum 2626, Presonus Studio 26c, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, Faderport Classic (1.45), Atom SQ, Atom Pad, Maschine Studio, Octapad SPD-30, Roland A300, a number of hardware synths.
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by SwitchBack on Thu Mar 23, 2023 6:23 am
For me (and most likely also for software/interface developers) an important advantage of Mac is that there are way fewer variables regarding computer components and the drivers for those components. Out of the box a very high level of integration is a given, tested for quality, stability and performance. This ensures fewer or no system issues at first installation of new software or peripheral devices. You don’t have to be a computer wizz to get the best from a Mac, which is saving - me at least - a lot of grief.

So potentially Mac and PC should preform equally well. But a (Windows/Linux) PC may require a few skills not needed with a Mac :)
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by PreAl on Thu Mar 23, 2023 6:42 am
SwitchBack wroteFor me (and most likely also for software/interface developers) an important advantage of Mac is that there are way fewer variables regarding computer components and the drivers for those components. Out of the box a very high level of integration is a given, tested for quality, stability and performance. This ensures fewer or no system issues at first installation of new software or peripheral devices. You don’t have to be a computer wizz to get the best from a Mac, which is saving - me at least - a lot of grief.

So potentially Mac and PC should preform equally well. But a (Windows/Linux) PC may require a few skills not needed with a Mac :)


Disagree. Windows (esp 10/11) should work out the box too. The issue with Windows is generally having too many options available. People tend to tinker without knowing what they are doing, and install all sorts of crappy apps. If they just leave it alone (like Mac users do - as they have limited options) they would be fine.

The thing is that the options and scope Windows offers makes is a much better and flexible OS (with the same great performance, although you pay a lot less with Windows). I guess if you can't help yourself from tinkering and if you don't know what you are doing, then Mac is the better option, but that does offer limitations (which is why I hardly use it).

Ultimately people stick with the OS they are used to, it's what they know. I notice when people change OS's because they think the other OS is better, they very often revert back to whatever they were on originally.

Intel i9 9900K (Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE motherboard), 32GB RAM, EVGA Geforce 1070 (Nvidia drivers).
Dell Inspiron 7591 (2 in 1) 16Gb.
Studio One Pro 6.x, Windows 11 Pro 64 bit, also running it on Mac OS Catalina via dual boot (experimental).
Presonus Quantum 2626, Presonus Studio 26c, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, Faderport Classic (1.45), Atom SQ, Atom Pad, Maschine Studio, Octapad SPD-30, Roland A300, a number of hardware synths.
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by tpittman on Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:34 am
Ultimately people stick with the OS they are used to, it's what they know. I notice when people change OS's because they think the other OS is better, they very often revert back to whatever they were on originally.[/quote]

I would say I agree with that Al. However, when i switched from PC to Mac to was no looking back. No more of the crap Windows wants to throw at you. i switched in 2011, i purchased a Mac Monster desktop and a 17 inch mac Book Pro. These 2 machines have lasted all this time (it was spendy tho)

Because of the age of both computers, Presonus now requires at least 10.14 for 6.0 which my old Macs cannot upgrade to. It is all good as both computers run like a charm and still kick bleep to this day on Studio One 5.4

i got all those years of use. Maybe i got lucky with all those years of service. I surly do not expect
to get that extended life out of my pre-owned Mac Mini. I have no doubt that todays PCs are much better than days gone past. I do use windows for my Business stuff and everyonce in a while after a Windows Update I have to go into a couple of programs and reset the PDF printer spool. Not hard to do but why??

Anyways good discussion. Loving 6.1 and can't hardly wait to get going completely in X few days

Studio One Pro 6.5.2 Mac mini Monterey OS Midas 32 Board / Interface
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by SwitchBack on Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:40 am
PreAl wroteDisagree.
Sorry, but what I wrote is true.

There is a limited number of Mac models around, using an even more limited number of processors, mobs's, video cards, wifi/ethernet interfaces, types of memory etc. etc. Each model in its completed state is tested for all the KPIs I mentioned before it is released, with the OS it is released with. And OS updates before release get tested equally rigorous on that limited number of Mac configs too.

Compare that to the PC world where the choice in video cards alone is as extensive as the total number of Mac models available. Add to that the choice in mobo's, memory, storage, protection software etc. etc. and it becomes impossible to test every combination with every version of Windows or Linux released. As the end-user you're delivered to your own skills and luck to make it work with every new release of the OS, which makes a lot of PC users shun away from updating at all. Just saying.
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by Blame Karma on Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:45 am
Can we please not get into a Mac vs Windows discussion?
It also does not answer OP's questions.

Mac Mini M1 / Ryzen 1700X - W10 / Sphere / 1810c / Apollo Twin
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by j0001s on Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:38 am
It can be done, but there is effort to make sure that you're 100% transportable between the two, if that's important to you. It is to me...

I have a 9900K DAW and a M2 Air that I move between. Surprising to me is that Studio One performance is slightly better on the Air, which is nuts for a laptop with no fan.

I've settled on a set of VST3 plugins that I use on both the PC and Mac, which means I have had to leave some old favorites behind.

Unfortunately, not all developers have completed their transition to M1/M2, so not all plugins are Apple Native. It IS much better now than a year ago. Though Intel plugins can run under Rosetta, YMMV, and I avoid non Native as much as possible. Occasionally, some can misbehave, and they can cause slowdowns. I strongly recommend the Pluginfo app https://www.thinkersnacks.com/as-pluginfo.html to see if your installed plugins are Apple Native or not.

Plugin Alliance plugins are (still!!!) not approved to run under Ventura. They cause crashes with Logic. I'm still on Monterey, so I can't say whether they are fine with Studio One.

One thing that is cool about the new Macs is that they have powerful and standardized GPU and Neural engines, as well as strong developer support for them in the OS and dev environment. Developers are targeting the GPU for plugins, and the Neural engine for AI based tools. This is where the standardization pays off, at least for now.
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by PreAl on Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:55 am
PreAl wroteDisagree.


SwitchBack wroteSorry, but what I wrote is true.

There is a limited number of Mac models around, using an even more limited number of processors, mobs's, video cards, wifi/ethernet interfaces, types of memory etc. etc. Each model in its completed state is tested for all the KPIs I mentioned before it is released, with the OS it is released with. And OS updates before release get tested equally rigorous on that limited number of Mac configs too.

Compare that to the PC world where the choice in video cards alone is as extensive as the total number of Mac models available. Add to that the choice in mobo's, memory, storage, protection software etc. etc. and it becomes impossible to test every combination with every version of Windows or Linux released. As the end-user you're delivered to your own skills and luck to make it work with every new release of the OS, which makes a lot of PC users shun away from updating at all. Just saying.


See my previous response, which for people who have just joined us, wasn't just one word (top marks for that edit :roll: ).

Intel i9 9900K (Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE motherboard), 32GB RAM, EVGA Geforce 1070 (Nvidia drivers).
Dell Inspiron 7591 (2 in 1) 16Gb.
Studio One Pro 6.x, Windows 11 Pro 64 bit, also running it on Mac OS Catalina via dual boot (experimental).
Presonus Quantum 2626, Presonus Studio 26c, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, Faderport Classic (1.45), Atom SQ, Atom Pad, Maschine Studio, Octapad SPD-30, Roland A300, a number of hardware synths.
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by Blame Karma on Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:18 am
j0001s wrotePlugin Alliance plugins are (still!!!) not approved to run under Ventura. They cause crashes with Logic. I'm still on Monterey, so I can't say whether they are fine with Studio One.
Logic uses AU which you cannot use on Windows, so that is a non-issue. VST3 versions on Ventura run fine here. The installer has a filter for native Silicon versions, as not all plug-ins support Apple Silicon natively.

Mac Mini M1 / Ryzen 1700X - W10 / Sphere / 1810c / Apollo Twin
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by philangus on Thu Mar 23, 2023 12:06 pm
Is anyone using the M2 Pro Mac Mini with 32 gig though. I am led to believe it will out perform my PC.
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by FaveDave on Fri Mar 24, 2023 1:25 am
I have been in the business here in Los Angeles for decades, and I have NEVER been in a studio or post production facility that used Windows. Never.

The main reason: stability. Macs are more stable. If you run a Windows machine, you better like to tinker with it and drill down into the settings. I'd rather spend time making music than running antivirus software and figuring out how to stop Windows from updating whenever the hell it wanted!

BTW, I've built a dozen PCs and know them well. That's why I use a Mac to get work done. Macs are not perfect and have their own issues, just not as many as Windows. If a new OS came out tomorrow that was better than Mac or Windows, I would switch in a heartbeat -- I have zero brand loyalty.

This Quora thread explains it all very nicely:

https://www.quora.com/In-99-of-music-sh ... -of-PC-fit

Studio One Professional 6.5.2, Faderport 2018, Apollo Twin, UAD Octo x 2, iMac Pro Monterey 12.7.3 w/ 64 gigs of RAM, Genelec 8341A monitors.

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by philangus on Fri Mar 24, 2023 2:37 am
It would appear no one uses the M2 Mini Pro though and can answer my question. The only reason I want to change over is because of size (it’s tiny) and I’ve heard such great things about it with it handling so many VSTs. My PC is rock solid, and never crashes but seems to show high CPU usage after a good few virtual instruments and VST effects.
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by Blame Karma on Fri Mar 24, 2023 3:26 am
FaveDave wroteI have been in the business here in Los Angeles for decades, and I have NEVER been in a studio or post production facility that used Windows. Never.

The main reason: stability. Macs are more stable. If you run a Windows machine, you better like to tinker with it and drill down into the settings. I'd rather spend time making music than running antivirus software and figuring out how to stop Windows from updating whenever the hell it wanted!

BTW, I've built a dozen PCs and know them well. That's why I use a Mac to get work done. Macs are not perfect and have their own issues, just not as many as Windows. If a new OS came out tomorrow that was better than Mac or Windows, I would switch in a heartbeat -- I have zero brand loyalty.

This Quora thread explains it all very nicely:

https://www.quora.com/In-99-of-music-sh ... -of-PC-fit
The Quora article talks about laptops, in that case I absolutely agree. Especially since the M1 and due to hardwired UEFI energy saving in Windows laptops, there is a major difference between the 2.

When it comes to desktops, it is a matter of the right vendor. There are hundreds if not thousands of terrible PC vendors who just assemble the cheapest crap together, but only a few are really good at building a rock solid audio/video/3D workstation that simply runs solid without any user administration required. AAVIM in Australia, SCAN UK, XI-MACHINES in Germany, to name a few.

Note that outside the audio world, Windows is huge.
Especially in LA, where Digidesign set foot ages ago, it has a history of using Pro Tools on Apple and that has established itself.

Anyway, I use both platforms, don't care on which one I work and wouldn't mind any other OS either if it is better than these 2.

Mac Mini M1 / Ryzen 1700X - W10 / Sphere / 1810c / Apollo Twin
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by Lokeyfly on Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:41 am
FaveDave wroteI have been in the business here in Los Angeles for decades, and I have NEVER been in a studio or post production facility that used Windows. Never.

The main reason: stability. Macs are more stable. If you run a Windows machine, you better like to tinker with it and drill down into the settings. I'd rather spend time making music than running antivirus software and figuring out how to stop Windows from updating whenever the hell it wanted!

BTW, I've built a dozen PCs and know them well. That's why I use a Mac to get work done. Macs are not perfect and have their own issues, just not as many as Windows. If a new OS came out tomorrow that was better than Mac or Windows, I would switch in a heartbeat -- I have zero brand loyalty.
........


Well, on the music front, you are 100% correct. I have been attending AES conventions since the mid 70's. Upon the creation of the Mac, and not long after, basically from Digidesign on, Pro Tools and Mac's have been 99.95% of every show the AES has put on. That's hundreds of computers at every event. No exceptions. This includes broadcasting, recording studios, and production houses. That is still going on today. However, it is not due to reliability. That last card was used years ago. In the music professional end of the industry, Apple prevailed on industry standard norms. Not reliability. So please don't sell anyone on Macs being more reliable today. That tide has changed. Both platforms are as far as reliability goes, are very much dependent on the user, choice of hardware and best practices. In other words, they're equal.
True the Apple software has more streamlined conventions and simply plays nicer from 3rd party support. PC's with ASIO drivers and such are quite tight, though one will always hear the exception when users are gaming, doodling, drawing, and whatever is not realistically efficient for their business, or serious priority. It's not about the platform or architecture, which is really quite even.
I've built way too many systems here as well (including UNIX mainframes for a company I worked for). I won't bore anyone with all the Apple breakdowns users had, or the Apple stores with lines out the door, with helpless mouths open saying "feed me...... feed me".
There's two side to every story. I don't buy the reliability over another claim.

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by j0001s on Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:45 am
Blame Karma wrote
j0001s wrotePlugin Alliance plugins are (still!!!) not approved to run under Ventura. They cause crashes with Logic. I'm still on Monterey, so I can't say whether they are fine with Studio One.
Logic uses AU which you cannot use on Windows, so that is a non-issue. VST3 versions on Ventura run fine here. The installer has a filter for native Silicon versions, as not all plug-ins support Apple Silicon natively.

Thanks! Good to know that it's an AU only issue. Time to update to Ventura, then.

The frustrating thing about Plugin Alliances non-native plugs is that native versions are available for some directly from the original developers (such as Lindell).
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by Blame Karma on Fri Mar 24, 2023 9:23 am
j0001s wrote
Blame Karma wrote
j0001s wrotePlugin Alliance plugins are (still!!!) not approved to run under Ventura. They cause crashes with Logic. I'm still on Monterey, so I can't say whether they are fine with Studio One.
Logic uses AU which you cannot use on Windows, so that is a non-issue. VST3 versions on Ventura run fine here. The installer has a filter for native Silicon versions, as not all plug-ins support Apple Silicon natively.

Thanks! Good to know that it's an AU only issue. Time to update to Ventura, then.

The frustrating thing about Plugin Alliances non-native plugs is that native versions are available for some directly from the original developers (such as Lindell).
Well, you can filter the native plug-ins when installing, Lindell plugs are all native I think.
Note that some plug-ins indeed are not native, such as Metric AB, which I love.

Mac Mini M1 / Ryzen 1700X - W10 / Sphere / 1810c / Apollo Twin

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