10 Core vs 12 Core for Ableton/audio production?

[Anttt]

Hi everyone. New to the forum. I recently picked up a M2 Mini Pro with 32gb Ram and 1tb SSD and was wondering if I should upgrade the CPU as well? I mean how much of a difference would two extra cores really make? I know that the CPU will help with certain aspects of audio, but would you guys say that the jump from 10 to 12 would be a worth-while upgrade? I know "worth" is subjective both in terms of price and also in terms of what you'll gain in return and so perhaps I'm not asking the right question, but I'd what I'd essentially like to know is whether or not there would be a noticeable difference for someone in my position. And if so, would that difference be negligible? I would imagine the latter, but I don't quite know much to make an informed decision.

Is it possible to provide a general example of about how much more you think would be gained by the extra 2 cores? What are we looking at here? 20 extra channels full of effects? 10? 5? 50? Is that not the way to look at it? Help me out here.

Oh and not sure how much this affects the CPU, but I'll probably also have a ton of tabs open. Maybe not so much other programs, but definitely Ableton and Firefox with up to, say, 20 or 30 tabs? Perhaps watching Youtube, so active content as well? What are your thoughts?

 

[Basic75]

You say "recently picked up", so you already have the Mac mini with M2 Pro? If yes, just run your Ableton and use Activity Monitor, or top(1) and powermetrics(1) in the Terminal, to see how close you are to maxing out your current machine. Be sure to check which bars are for P-cores and which are for E-cores in the CPU Usage window of Activity Monitor.

 

[gazwas]

If you already have the 10 core machine, surley you are the only one in a position to actually answer your question?

My only answer would be what do you feel a 12 core Mini will do that your 10 core won't?

 

[Anttt]

You say "recently picked up", so you already have the Mac mini with M2 Pro? If yes, just run your Ableton and use Activity Monitor, or top(1) and powermetrics(1) in the Terminal, to see how close you are to maxing out your current machine. Be sure to check which bars are for P-cores and which are for E-cores in the CPU Usage window of Activity Monitor.

By “picked up”, I meant “purchased.” So no, I haven’t received it just yet.

That said, I’m not so much trying to figure out how much the current configuration can handle, but rather how much more the extra two cores will be able to handle. I understand that I can try to emulate one of my sessions, to see if I truly need more or not, but in all honesty, I’d still like to get an idea as to the level of difference between the 12 and the 10.

 

[Anttt]

If you already have the 10 core machine, surley you are the only one in a position to actually answer your question?

My only answer would be what do you feel a 12 core Mini will do that your 10 core won't?

Handle more? 20% more channels, EQ’s, effects, etc? Without overloading the CPU?

 

[gazwas]

No idea for Ableton as never used it but for tests I've seen with Logic the difference between a 12 core Mini Pro and 10 core M1 Max but with more memory was I think 2 or 3 tracks extra in favour of the older M1 Max.

I really don't think you'll have any issues with the 10 core machine you've ordered and if you need a bigger performance bump you'll have to wait for the Ultra processors in the Studio or Mac Pro that can be configured with lots more memory.

I would just wait for the machine and test it out with your regular workflow. It sound like you are buying the machine with the idea of what it might be able to do rather than what you actually need it to do.

If the 10 core can run 150 tracks without problem but you usually only run 30, why worry if the 12 core can to 160?

 

[Basic75]

Handle more? 20% more channels, EQ’s, effects, etc? Without overloading the CPU?

The 12-core M2 Pro gains 2 performance cores over the 4 efficiency and 6 performance cores of the 10-core version making the performance increase slightly larger than 20%.

That said, it always depends on the application how much additional cores help with performance/throughput, and even whether they help at all (beyond a certain point).

If nobody here knows or cares you might have more luck asking about Ableton's CPU scaling characteristics in a forum dedicated to that software.

 

[Anttt]

I really don't think you'll have any issues with the 10 core machine you've ordered and if you need a bigger performance bump you'll have to wait for the Ultra processors in the Studio or Mac Pro that can be configured with lots more memory.

I think this is more a case of want rather than need. I'm pretty sure I'll be okay with what I have, but just wanted to get the "most" out of this machine, since it can't be upgraded later. But if "most" means only a track or two, then no, that's not worth it for me.

If the 10 core can run 150 tracks without problem but you usually only run 30, why worry if the 12 core can to 160?

If that were the case, then yes, you're right. There would be no need of worry. However, I oftentimes use 200+ tracks and my 2015 Mac (which, to be fair, has less ram) can be very picky about when it starts to stall. As much as I enjoy certain plugins, I don't even bother using them because they're total CPU hogs. So maybe this is not the right way to approach this, but squeezing that extra bit out with the extra 2 cores (if it actually allowed me to have more than 2 or 3 extra tracks) "just in case" is something I personally wouldn't mind paying extra for.

 

[Anttt]

The 12-core M2 Pro gains 2 performance cores over the 4 efficiency and 6 performance cores of the 10-core version making the performance increase slightly larger than 20%.

Thanks for the breakdown. I appreciate it. I don't quite know what what 20% would break down to exactly, which I guess is why I was hoping to find someone on here that may have tried both and could have shared their experience.

That said, it always depends on the application how much additional cores help with performance/throughput, and even whether they help at all (beyond a certain point).

Right. I know. I guess I just wanted someone's general experience as to how much more they did or didn't gain.

If nobody here knows or cares you might have more luck asking about Ableton's CPU scaling characteristics in a forum dedicated to that software.

Yea', I'll do that. A lot of the Ableton/Logic questions that are on this site popped up on Google, so figured I'd start here first. But either way, thanks for your help.

 

[CausticPuppy]

Handle more? 20% more channels, EQ’s, effects, etc? Without overloading the CPU?

How big are your Ableton projects?
Unless you’re running benchmarks, or you have massive projects with an enormous number of tracks and plugins, even an M1 Mac Mini would be able to handle 99% of projects just fine. If you’re worried about system performance, it’s generally a good idea to not run any programs in the background when using a DAW or anything else with time-critical processes.

The M2 Pro 12/19c might be useful if you’re recording tracks in Ableton while also simultaneously editing 4K ProRes video on your other two monitors because you’re a next-level productivity ninja and time is money.

If you’re just looking to treat yourself, then you don’t need a justification… just do it.

 

[Think77]

How big are your Ableton projects?
Unless you’re running benchmarks, or you have massive projects with an enormous number of tracks and plugins, even an M1 Mac Mini would be able to handle 99% of projects just fine. If you’re worried about system performance, it’s generally a good idea to not run any programs in the background when using a DAW or anything else with time-critical processes.

The M2 Pro 12/19c might be useful if you’re recording tracks in Ableton while also simultaneously editing 4K ProRes video on your other two monitors because you’re a next-level productivity ninja and time is money.

If you’re just looking to treat yourself, then you don’t need a justification… just do it.

It depends on the definition of "big projects". You can have a project with 50 tracks and only very few demanding plugins; this will run smoothly on a standard M1. On the other hand, you can have a project with 25 tracks that each makes use of loads of CPU-demanding plugins; this can easily bring Logic to its knees. I know because I've used an M1 Mac mini for over two years. So, personally, I would go with the 12 core any day, since I would consider it more future proof (relatively speaking) – but of course, other music producers may only use very few plugins (maybe they use external hardware mixing/mastering gear that take over some of the processing, or they just fancy more simple projects without a lot of plugins/effects, which I totally get).