compatibility of MacBook Air M1 8GB RAM with Maschine

Milian919191

hey guys,

does a Mac Book Air M1 (7Core with 8 gb RAM) have enough power to run Maschine fluently? Currently I use a Mac Book Air 2017 (2,2 ghz with 8 gb ram) and the cpu-usage is a bit high sometimes, especially by using more VST-instruments. my sessions got up to 18 tracks, including drums, 2-3 instances of Serato Sample, 1-2 Kontakt Instruments and a few Sends like reverb and delay. I'd like to use a buffersize of 256. got all my samples on an external harddrive. They say the M1 models are more powerfull... what do you think?

peace

olafmol

I wouldn't know. I guess a lot of it depends on what you run in your projects. If you run a lot of large samples, I assume you would need more RAM (unless your plugins support disk-streaming sample playback). You could check in your activity monitor to see how much CPU and RAM your projects typically consume.

M1 architecture doesn't require less RAM afaik, but is more efficient with memory-swapping. If you use a lot of RAM heavy large samples i think the more RAM the better, I would go for at least 16GB or even more, budget permitting.

tetsuneko

It looks about the same as when I'm running Maschine+ in standalone.. usually 1 banks worth of groups at the most.. I dont really need more than that, not really into maximalist styles. I dont use VSTs, I tend to use what comes and works with M+ in standalone also, this allows maximum project compatibility between Maschine desktop and standalone. If I need something more exotic, I connect my hardware synths and resample them into the project as oneshots or loops

I've had my macbook air for a bit over a year now

tetsuneko

Ok, so running Maschine 2.17.5 here on Monterey.

one of the factory songs, some sort of benchmark I guess? "Hang Solo" - takes up less than the first CPU bar (ie the bar is flickering on and off), on peaks it lights up maybe 4-5 bars? I'd read that as less than 5% base load, with CPU spikes hitting around 20-25% max?

I'd say you should be good in most cases.. Remember that people were using Maschine to make full tracks 10 years ago LOL

olafmol

I should say, depending on the CPU efficiency of Maschine and the plugins you're using, you should expect somewhere between 2-5 times more performance.

Milian919191

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/159422#Comment_159422

I thought the RAM was more important on the intel-based systems. They say that M1 is more efficient even if your RAM is not that high.

olafmol

I wouldn't know. I guess a lot of it depends on what you run in your projects. If you run a lot of large samples, I assume you would need more RAM (unless your plugins support disk-streaming sample playback). You could check in your activity monitor to see how much CPU and RAM your projects typically consume.

M1 architecture doesn't require less RAM afaik, but is more efficient with memory-swapping. If you use a lot of RAM heavy large samples i think the more RAM the better, I would go for at least 16GB or even more, budget permitting.

Milian919191

ok! thanks for the advice.

Milian919191

would be interesting to read what other users of the M1 with 8gb experienced. there are a lot of Logic and Ableton-users talking about it online, but not really producers using Maschine.

tetsuneko

I am running Maschine(+) with an M1 macbook air 8GB RAM. Works like a charm!

I am using macOS Monterey, latest build. Not touching Sodoma for a while, still too new IMHO..

Milian919191

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/159496#Comment_159496

what does your standart project in Maschine+ looks like? Tracks, VST's etc.

how long do you use this setup?

tetsuneko

It looks about the same as when I'm running Maschine+ in standalone.. usually 1 banks worth of groups at the most.. I dont really need more than that, not really into maximalist styles. I dont use VSTs, I tend to use what comes and works with M+ in standalone also, this allows maximum project compatibility between Maschine desktop and standalone. If I need something more exotic, I connect my hardware synths and resample them into the project as oneshots or loops

I've had my macbook air for a bit over a year now

Milian919191

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/159499#Comment_159499

did you ever check the activity-monitor while running your ususal project?

olafmol

I think we're confusing Maschine Mk3 and Plus a little bit here? I assume the original question is about using Maschine MK3 with the Maschine software running on a Macbook.

Milian919191

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/159501#Comment_159501

oh, yes! I actually use the Miko MK 2. But like I described, my projects are not so big. got up to 18 tracks, including drums, 2-3 instances of
Serato Sample, 1-2 Kontakt Instruments and a few Sends like reverb and
delay. using a buffersize of 256.

tetsuneko

Ok, so running Maschine 2.17.5 here on Monterey.

one of the factory songs, some sort of benchmark I guess? "Hang Solo" - takes up less than the first CPU bar (ie the bar is flickering on and off), on peaks it lights up maybe 4-5 bars? I'd read that as less than 5% base load, with CPU spikes hitting around 20-25% max?

I'd say you should be good in most cases.. Remember that people were using Maschine to make full tracks 10 years ago LOL