Upgrading Mac Mini M4 Pro 14 core to Mac Studio

[LogicLoad]

I bought M4 Pro Mac mini with 14 core chip, 64GB ram, 1TB purely for Logic. I was coming from an M1 pro laptop 16GB ram.
I was intillay using UAD plugins, Arturia synths. I didnt know it at the time but these are cpu intensive. Projects would overload with very few tracks. It was unworkable. After ditching UAD (amzing how CPU intensive they are) overload was still a common issue.

I bought M4 Pro Mac mini with 14 core chip, 64GB ram, 1TB. Though it’s better, once I get to around 25-30 tracks with many bus sends and effects, it starts to overload. I discovered bussing tracks routes to a single core, so if I bus 6 tracks to the same reverb bus, all those tracks are going to 1 core which can cause core spiking. Also having effects chain on a track as well as bussing can cause core spiking.

Yet, taking this into consideration and playing around, bottlenecking is still such an issue that projects become unworkable.
I’m selling the Mac mini M4 pro to ugrade to a Mac studio.

I initally intended to go for the M3 Ultra with 96 GB ram, but from threads I’ve read for Logic single core performance is more important than multicore. Because of this I wonder will upgrading from a 14 core M4 Mac mini with 64GB ram, to a 16 core M4 Max Mac Studio with 96 GB - purely for Logic - really improve performance that greatly? I use Arturia synths, Slate Digital Plugins, VSL pianos (and intend to get some orchestral at some point). It's pop production. Any advise on this would be hugely appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[123123123]

Just FYI, M4 Pro and Max have identical single-core benchmarks.

 

[MajorFubar]

I don't think you're going to like my answer.
But if you're bottlenecking with such a low track-count you need to seriously have a look at your workflow.
I've got projects 100+ tracks that play fine even on just my M1 Max Studio. That's not me saying "sucks to be you because i'm alright", I'm saying we're doing something fundamentally different.

Couple of suggestions:

- Maybe you are using all VSTs, which by their nature are resource intensive, especially modern ones. Freeze those VST tracks you have finished recording and editing, or better still convert them to audio.
- If you've got several tracks with the same plugin effects e.g. eq/compressors/delays/reverbs, put the effects on their own aux channel and route the tracks to it. This too will save resources.
- If you've finished recording, increase the buffer size to e.g. 512 or higher. This will increase latency, but it doesn't matter if you've finished recording and it will reduce the strain on Logic playing any remaining live VSTs.

I was running projects with 50+ tracks on a 2011 iMac until 2022 when I bought my Studio, and I rarely had issues. Your M4 Mac Mini would swallow it for breakfast.

 

[LogicLoad]

No I think your answer is correct MajorFubar, many thanks. When I first got the M4 PRO 14 core I did performance test for how many Arturia tracks, VSL (sample based) piano tracks, and Logic producer kit drum tracks I could get on. This was without adding effects and buses. I could get aroud 100 tracks before crackling began. (The drum tracks would be routing to the same bus, so that would maybe cause some issue)

When I came to properly work on the project my attitude was simply, this is super powerful computer, I can just load the tracks up with lots of effects and have lots of bus sends, all on cpu heavy VSTs. Everybody always says the same thing. M4 pro chip screams through logic etc. But I found I hit wall quite quickly. I went back to look at the specific project and maybe it’s more like 50 tracks. Yet within that things turn off and dont play back and it just becomes unstable before it gets to that point.

 

[LogicLoad]

1231 thankyou for this. No I didn't know this. So i'd be getting 16 cores in the M4 max, 96GB as opposeed to 14 cores and 64GB, which would offer some uptick, i would expect.But, fundementally, one shouldnt really need it, one would expect

 

[MajorFubar]

When I came to properly work on the project my attitude was simply, this is super powerful computer, I can just load the tracks up with lots of effects and have lots of bus sends, all on cpu heavy VSTs. Everybody always says the same thing. M4 pro chip screams through logic etc. But I found I hit wall quite quickly. I went back to look at the specific project and maybe it’s more like 50 tracks. Yet within that things turn off and dont play back and it just becomes unstable before it gets to that point.

As you've discovered, just because it's a powerful computer doesn't mean you shouldn't structure your projects in an efficient way. Even if your computer was coping with the resource requirement, it sounds like what you have created is an incredibly resource-inefficient badly-structured mess, and is not the way you would be able to work if you were sat in a physical studio at a desk surrounded by outboard gear and you had to route the audio through it.

For the sake of your own sanity when you pick up your projects in 1 year or maybe 5 years from now, it's best to structure them in an efficient manner. It also makes it easier if you ever hand your projects to someone else to do a remix, which I know most of us amateurs do not, but if you come at it from the perspective that you might do, it will help you to focus on efficiencies and structure.

We walk in the shadows of greats who made million-selling records with reel-to-reel tape recorders which used 1" and 2" tape and had between 4 and 24 tracks. If we're hitting walls, then the walls are of our own making.