BEST FOR WORKING WITH AUDIO SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE

However, using the terms entry-level and pro-audio in the same sentence can feel like an oxymoron.The next best music player for Windows 10 is Dopamine. What hasn't helped is that in the early days the Mac mini was sold as an entry-level machine, which helped many people with limited funds to get on the Apple Mac train. By comparison, those of us using a PC have traditionally been chained to the desktop format, but that has changed considerably in recent years.The Mac mini has an image problem, it's very small, which means a lot of people are going to write it off as a serious machine when it comes to audio production. As the only portable platform for Logic Pro X, the Apple MacBook Pro is synonymous with the craft of music-making. For years now, Apple has produced some of the best laptops for music production.

Geekbench ScoresWhen it comes to Geekbench scores, the Mac mini is equally impressive. Pro Tools Stress TestMac Pro 5,1 2 x 3.33GHz 6-Core Xeon (12 Core), 32GB RAM.Ran the test with 25 instances of Eleven IIMac mini 3.2GHz 6вЂ‘core 8thвЂ‘generation Intel Core i7 (6 Core), 32GB RAMRan the test with 20 instances of Eleven IIMac Pro 6,1 3.5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5 (6 Core), 64Gb RAMRan the test with 15 instances of Eleven IIAs you can see from this test, the Mac mini held it's own against the 12 Core Mac Pro 5,1 and beat the 6 Core Mac Pro 6,1. So we could compare it with Mike's HDX1 Mac Pro 5,1 12 core machine his system has a voice limitation (HDX) and could not go above 15 additional instrument tracks before it ran out of voices, so we stuck with that session.Then we inserted instances of the Eleven II plug-in into the audio tracks until Pro Tools stops playing and screams 'CPU Error.'So in summary 128 tracks of heavily edited audio, 15 tracks of VIs, then an instance of channel strip, Dverb on every audio track and then as many instances of Eleven II until the session falls over.The test helps us to benchmark machines against one another, in this case, we put the Mac mini 2018 against a 12 Core Mac Pro 5,1 cheesegrater with updated CPUs and a 6 Core Mac Pro 6,1 Late 2013.We felt this was the best test to run as many looking at the Mac mini are on a Mac Pro 5,1 and wondering what Mac to buy next. You may use a different DAW, but to be blunt, Pro Tool is a fussy bugger, and if Pro Tools runs on a machine then you can be pretty sure anything else will run like a dream.Our Pro Tools Expert Mac Power Test Session has 128 audio tracks with audio that is edited every second, each with an instance of the Avid Channel Strip and D-Verb.

We looked at all the scenarios where users said they are experiencing audio glitches we even watched YouTube videos of users showing issues happening. One site claims 'all T2-based Macs, that is all Mac models from the 2018 generation, are evidently unusable with USB 2.0 audio interfaces, irrespective of vendor.'We tested the Mac mini 2018 with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB2.0 interface, a Kii Control USB2.0 interface and also an Avid Eleven Rack USB1.0 audio interface. USB-2 Audio IssuesWe have been alerted to possible USB-2 audio issues by community members, forum posts, and other news websites, so we were keen to get to the bottom of this. With all that said If you are used to everything being shoved inside a tower, then the Mac mini may not be for you.

Best For Working With Audio Software And Hardware

Geekbench scores put it ahead of the two other 'pro' machines in our test. In our test, the new Mac mini 2018 may be mini in name and size but that's where it ends.The Mac mini 2018 is a mighty little atom which as you can see from our tests holds its own against two Mac Pro machines, one of which is a 12 core machine. SummaryWe started this article saying the Mac mini has an image problem and that's its size and the mini name, especially when professionals are considering buying a new Mac. This conclusion may not help those struggling with issues, but a wrong diagnosis of the problem is worse than no solution and sends people desperate for an answer off down all sorts of rabbit holes.As we have already said, we are taking these claims seriously, so we are talking to both experienced Apple third-party software and hardware developers to try and get to the bottom of the problems some users are experiencing. However, in our test using the interfaces at all sample rates (for example the Kii Control was used at a sample rate of 384 KHz) and using the examples shown by those experiencing difficulties we could not reproduce any of the issues.Whilst we appreciate that some users are experiencing issues with certain USB audio interfaces and sincerely hope they get to the bottom of the problems and resolve them, we are not able to say with any factual basis that there is a consistently reproducible problem caused by the Apple T2 chip, that will affect every USB interface on the market, as has been claimed.

Best Mac For Working With Audio