Maschine 3 on Intel Macbook pro, Sequoia

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PortableDJs
PortableDJs Member Posts: 55 Member
in Maschine

Hi guys, hope you are doing great.

I mainly use Maschine 2.x on Windows 11, and decided to get an Intel, I5 2020 Macbook Pro with Sequoia, 16gb of ram to have something portable to run Maschine on the go and to play live sometimes.

My questions are:

  1. Is the Macbook I am about to get able to run Maschine 3.0 smoothly (even sacrifying 3rd party VSTs)?
  2. What's the situation with Intel Macs and Maschine? Does the software run smoothly?
  3. Do you think that Intel Macs will be dropped by Native Instruments soon?

Thank you in advance

G.

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Best Answer

  • maniacintosh81
    maniacintosh81 Member Posts: 949 Expert
    Answer ✓

    Getting an Intel MacBook in 2025 was a bad decision. If it is a model with only 2 Thunderbolt ports it doesn‘t get the OS update to Tahoe this fall. And with other Intel Macs still getting Tahoe it will be the last upgrade for them. But as you already got it I expect you cannot change anything about it anymore. There is only one reason for Intel Macs by now: You have old Mac software that doesn‘t run ob Apple Silicon and got no update to Apple Silicon. If you need native x86-Windows: Get a Windows computer.

    Should run with Maschine 3 - did that 5 years ago as there weren‘t any other Macs. And there weren‘t essential changes to Maschine in that time.

Answers

  • 6xes
    6xes Member Posts: 941 Guru
    edited June 29

    get a cheap m1 mac variant… ideally a 16gb ram, 512gb, better a 1tb ssd

    a 8gb ram 256ssd is not ideal… although its quite usable with maschine, the trouble you will run into is memory pressure issues when running additional applications in the future, think DJ applications in sync with maschine + DAW

    the m1macmini is preferable over m1macbook pro or air becos of the port selection… also they are cheaper

    the i5 versus the m1

    the advantage of working with a m1 ..is stem separation especially if you are wanting realtime stem separation (djay pro)

  • PortableDJs
    PortableDJs Member Posts: 55 Member
    edited June 29
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/232407#Comment_232407

    Hi, thank you for bothering replying.

    I got a 2020 Macbook Pro, with a 2 ghz quad core 10th gen Intel I5, 16 gb of ram, 512 ssd.

    I know that the only advanges of I5 over M1 is the native compatibility with some older plugin and the possibility of installing windows.

    I plan to use this mac for Maschine with some samples library (i do mainly urban music) and light use of synths, I have Maschine Jam and Mk3. In this scenario (light synths use, stock plugin mainly) I though I could also use it for some live too, am I wrong?

  • 6xes
    6xes Member Posts: 941 Guru
    edited June 29
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/232408#Comment_232408

    stress test your mac, with everything you intend to use it with… and then add some more on top…. at that point you will know how much milage you will get…

    a system is capable within set boundaries… however knowing those boundaries, will tell you how much headroom you have, to grow… should you wish to expand

  • maniacintosh81
    maniacintosh81 Member Posts: 949 Expert
    Answer ✓

    Getting an Intel MacBook in 2025 was a bad decision. If it is a model with only 2 Thunderbolt ports it doesn‘t get the OS update to Tahoe this fall. And with other Intel Macs still getting Tahoe it will be the last upgrade for them. But as you already got it I expect you cannot change anything about it anymore. There is only one reason for Intel Macs by now: You have old Mac software that doesn‘t run ob Apple Silicon and got no update to Apple Silicon. If you need native x86-Windows: Get a Windows computer.

    Should run with Maschine 3 - did that 5 years ago as there weren‘t any other Macs. And there weren‘t essential changes to Maschine in that time.

  • PortableDJs
    PortableDJs Member Posts: 55 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/232425#Comment_232425

    Mine will get Tahoe, still got your point though. I am aware of the M series processor anxiety among the Mac users, just wanted something portable that could run mac os and Maschine (or other comparable tool). In addition when purchasing a 2nd hand laptop there are many things to consider which I don't want to go through right now, still I can safely say that a whatever used M1 based Mac with 8 gigs ram and 128/256 ssd will cost me something like 30-50% more than what I paid mine in my country, and that considering that mine come from a first buyer, never opened open unit with double the ram and disk space. Still got your point though.

  • maniacintosh81
    maniacintosh81 Member Posts: 949 Expert

    Your choice and if you are fine with it, I am too. As your Book at least still gets Tahoe Maschine should be supported some years on this machine. Usually Apple still delivers security patches for the last three major releases - from fall this would be macOS 14 Sonoma, macOS 15 Sequoia and macOS 26 Tahoe. Native Instruments often drops their support for macOS versions no longer supported by Apple. If Apple an NI continue to follow these strategies this will an issue for your MacBook from 2028 when macOS 29 should be released. Will still work with old versions but don't expect any updates from this date.

  • PortableDJs
    PortableDJs Member Posts: 55 Member
    edited June 29
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/232444#Comment_232444

    The original question was more or less "any of you have experience using Maschine on I5 10th gen, 2020 Macbook pro, (does it run ok)?", every system will get obsolete at a certain point, i am fine with it. I am not asking other users to be fine with my decisions or other aspect implying my decision, given that my orignal answer was more about performance. Thank you for trying to help, but the best observation you shared is that considering Maschine has not evolved much should work ok on older system too. Take care man 👍

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