Mac users: any advantages to ARM for Music Production?

[paulm12]

Hey everyone, I was curious if anyone knew the advantages (if any) that Apple’s switch to ARM would mean for music producers. From my understanding, single core performance is super important for music production, and while ARM can theoretically boast a higher clock speed due to its RISC-y architecture, this may or may not offset the ability for x86-64 to perform certain instructions in a single cycle. Additionally, if Rosetta 2 is going to be emulating x86-64 based VSTs and AUs, there may even be a performance drop compared to a native x86-64 system. Any thoughts? Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge can help me understand what this means and what some of the benefits and drawbacks are.

As for me, I’m due for a new Mac soon, but my eye is on the rumored iMac with the 10th generation i9. I personally don’t have any desire to be the first adopter of a new system like this as I rely heavily on existing plugins that work fine on x86-64.

[Passing Bye]

Oh great, another rumors thread, dunno, wait until any of that stuff actually comes out...

[paulm12]

Oh great, another rumors thread, dunno, wait until any of that stuff actually comes out...

It’s not a rumor that Apple is switching to ARM, so I don’t see what your point is.

[BertKoor]

Point is, this was discussed to death which made us part already. Lmgtfy: apple arm kvraudio.com

[Passing Bye]

Oh great, another rumors thread, dunno, wait until any of that stuff actually comes out...

It’s not a rumor that Apple is switching to ARM, so I don’t see what your point is.

It’s not even out yet in public, nobody really knows anything for sure, especially concerning another rumored model, don't know what you expect from this thread more than bunch of guessing and speculation...

[Tronam]

Since the new family of SoCs they’ve developed for the Mac have yet to be seen, it’s anyone’s guess at this point. I’m relieved to hear that Thunderbolt isn’t going anywhere and Logic has already been recompiled for Apple silicon. Steinberg just released their VST 3.7 SDK with support for ARM processors, many devs already have transition kits, including U-He and Reason Studios, both feeling pretty confident about a swift transition. Devs like Fabfilter and AudioDamage who have already ported their plugins to iOS will probably be way ahead of the curve. It’ll be interesting to see how this first year goes.

[jancivil]

Hammering on a single core isn't applicable for what I do, and clock speed easily means less than core distribution and capability. It certainly applies to some things. I wouldn't like that to be the case for an MBP because heat.

I bought the MBP 16.1 in June, my 15.1 was a 2.9ghz 6-core, this a 2.3ghz 8-core which is a faster machine for some reasons...
Certainly this go-around is seriously helped by my audio interface (which actually uses Thunderbolt 3 tech, Direct Memory Address - "The lowest latency on Earth").

as to the ARM, cross that bridge when it's necessary to, I wouldn't know how to gauge any of this hypothetically, above my pay grade anyway. Good to see Steiny anticipating like that, thanks for the info.

[whyterabbyt]

Advantage : You'll be on the bleeding edge of everything
Disadvantage : You'll be on the bleeding edge of everything

[superscan]

Short term- (hybrid mode using Rosetta 2, Universal 2) cooler machines, less noise and longer battery life.

Longer term - (Native Arm, AU 3) - promise of more consistent performance gains and powerful machines.

[revvy]

Advantage : You'll be on the bleeding edge of everything
Disadvantage : You'll be on the bleeding edge of everything

It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.

[buzz1]

Advantage : You'll be on the bleeding edge of everything
Disadvantage : You'll be on the bleeding edge of everything

It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.

Maybe the switch will be a far far better thing.

[CodeMonkey]

I personally don’t have any desire to be the first adopter of a new system like this

that is exactly what i would advise.

[UltraJv]

Another question is will you be able to run the same amount of plugs you are currently? I suspect not.

[Tronam]

Another question is will you be able to run the same amount of plugs you are currently? I suspect not.

Pure speculation, but I wouldn’t expect them to release any Apple silicon Mac unless it meets or exceeds the performance of the system category it replaces. They love making a big to-do about performance with their iPhone/iPad marketing and Mac will likely be the same. For plug-ins, especially in the very beginning, it might depend greatly on whether they’re recompiled for ARM or not. Some reports have shown Apple chips running emulated x86 code pretty fast, but I’m not holding my breath.

[jamcat]

The advantage is Apple will be able to design CPUs that fit the needs of their computers, rather than having to design their computers around the available CPUs from a 3rd party (Intel.)

Intel's roadmap is diverging from Apple's needs. Since Apple's focus is on computers for creative fields such as music and video production, their CPUs will be designed specifically for those purposes, rather than the server and IT purposes that Intel in increasingly focusing on.

On top of that, Intel is missing their target dates, missing their production targets, and becoming increasingly costly due to low supply of CPUs vs. high demand from Apple.

So the most obvious advantage we'll see is faster Mac Pros with a lot more cores for a lot less money. That's a win all around.