M1 Mac mini Performance mode with Maschine Vst & Host applications + Xreal glasses

6xes · 2024-01-24T03:39:34+00:00

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With the advent of the XReal glasses, and having the ability to now tether your viewing experience to multi monitors, using multiple music applications, is entirely a possibility..

This advancement multi monitor support via Xreal glasses in my view will make the standalone models of the Maschine+ or Ableton push 3... useful but limited

I'm personally envisaging...

m1 Mac mini 16gb (big Sur 11.2.3)

X2 Maschine jam controllers

audio4c interface

Xreal glasses tethered to m1 Mac mini

as a means of creating a fully functional multi display/multi application

applications ranging from Maschine/Reaper/VirtualDJfree/Loopy pro/Ableton live/Remixlive all running in the m1 Mac mini....

currently I can run a iPad Air 1 as a default monitor without any need for a wireless network, so mobility is a thing with this the Yam Air iPad application and from my testing I can also use a secondary iPad Air 1 in tethered mode to give me a dual display...

so basically x2 Ipad air running alongside the m1 Mac mini!!

add a 422WH battery source and everything can be powered for up to 6-7 hours

Having Xreal glasses tethered to a m1 Mac mini will enhance the size of the displays to keep track of everything & will eliminate one of the iPad air's in my current setup , this is a Giant step forward when you know how to integrate audio applications on the m1 mac's!!

the beauty of the Xreals is the fact you can see through the glasses to see your midi controllers & see your screens simultaneously... this is huge in my view!!

I have tried a quest 2 to see how practical it would be.... as the quest 2 had passthrough & with the Immersive app you could do multi monitor... however a connection to the immersive app needs a internet connection, which is a limitation///

so while the quest 2 worked... practically speaking it is not ideal... on the other hand Xreal is the direction forward(I'm guessing here)... with respect to performances and multiple music application...

if anyone has experience with Xreal glasses and m1 Macs... I'd love to hear of your experiences as I'm still on the fence about purchasing one re music performance!!

cheeRs!!

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6xes

heres some context for practicality of the Xreal Glasses

imagining the practical applications with a DAW/Maschine/VST/virtualDJfree with these Xreal glasses, makes displays on controllers somewhat becoming redundant, requiring mainly tactile midi-controllers always an asset

The value of the M1 mac mini's is becoming more and more apparent with the advent of these Xreal glasses, at least for me...

im envisioning m1 mac mini/xreal/x2maschine Jam's/keystation49/AC-powerbank(practical portable setup)

heres a video merely demonstrating the Xreals... just imagine the practical implications in a music performance context!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBbbnp8Wfw

D-One

Be aware it's a sponsored video, he starts by saying he was skeptical but then says that everything is amazing, no flaws, no problems, no cons... at 299$ I find it a bit hard to believe.

If the multiple displays thing really works that well then I'll buy one right now, I'd need to test it in a store or something first.

6xes

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/129722#Comment_129722

fair comment!

i did some research looking into forums, peoples experiences... as well as the source of experience from first hand users in the tech space on youtube...

i do think in some circumstances peoples expectations are quite high... but as i've came out of the virtual reality camp of oculus VR headsets.... im suprised this hasnt developed faster!

that said, i've seen enough reviews and comments to know this is the next big thing coming within the audio monitoring space! take peoples comments with a grain of salt, but know what works and what doesnt

in fact my nephew left his quest2 headset with me to try it out.. and oh boy its so damned uncomfortable from the original oculusCV ...

i've used these in a number of applications to see where the multi display capabilities were at with headsets... as the integration of displays with multiple audio applications is all to real for me... but it always came down to being tethered or tied to being online, which in of itself is a limitation

this limitation is being overcome with these Xreal glasses to a point where... the m1 mac mini is light enough to be portable alongside maschine controllers... which highlights my excitement in this space....

im suprised no one has ventured down this road to reveal how minimisation & practicality can work hand in hand with the right gear....

one need only think of ableton push 3 & maschine+ ... and how this is going to be surpassed by a modular midi setup with spatial displays!! this is huge in my view...

and from my summation of whats out there and the means of portability re midi controllers there would be only a handful of controllers that would be weight friendly & provide versatility.... in a fully configured portable setup alongside a M1 mac mini with these Xreal's

6xes

heres just a couple of thoughts... for exploration in the triple monitor display

with the use of obs... you could crop only what you want to see and fix these into position for the purposes of monitoring... doing this with multiple applications of course allows for some unique monitoring work flows, with VST's or DJ applications where you may only need to see the timeline... so the possibilities for monitoring aspects on smaller hardware based screens... will become slowly somewhat redundant, still useful...

but you have to wonder about the value of smaller screens versus multi displays connection via Glasses!!

D-One

It's still a bit early, musicians and new tech often don't mix, I mean look at the number of people here who will flame other users for requesting Hi-Res/4k/retina support, 15yr+ technology, yet people make fun of you for asking for a GUI that is not blurry and say everything is fine because they are still using a 1080p monitor... "I'll keep my CRT monitor, if it ain't broke don't fix it." lmao.

Hate it or love it seems it will be Apple who will peak people's (average non-techy people) interest in this stuff, I just watched the early 'reviews' of the Vision Pro and it looks like an episode of Black Mirror, quite amazing, especially because the front cameras allow for others to see what the one wearing it sees. Since VP is a luxury device (full on M2 computer with tons of HW) I think it will increase the market for affordable VR/AR from companies like the XReal.

I just bought a Mac Mini M2 Pro for "portability" instead of a PC mini-ITX build because it's much smaller but AMD does also have some small pre-builts around the size of a mac mini... My purpose is moving between 2 houses tho, so I will have dupes of some things (keyboard, monitor, etc..)

I am not sure how portable your idea really is tho, a mac mini + external drives + MIDI devices + VR Glasses + power + all the cables adds up, are you really gonna carry all that around often?

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/129733#Comment_129733

From what I've seen in reviews for Xreal to fix things in place and allow head moving and other modes and multi-monitor you have to buy an extra 150$ dongle box that looks like a powerbank, I have no idea why... If it helps process the video stream or If it's really a dongle/drm unlocker. This is a bit concerning.

6xes

I am not sure how portable your idea really is tho, a mac mini + external drives + MIDI devices + VR Glasses + power + all the cables adds up, are you really gonna carry all that around often?

i been looking at things in terms of size, weight, lengths, widths heights.... with weight being a big factor

1.2 kg = m1 mac mini

2.7 kg = maschine Jam

2.1 kg = keystation49 mk3 (no aftertouch)

2 kg = x2 minirig3 + sub (speakers)

300grams zoomu-24 audio interface

120 grams = xreal air pro 2 + cables

200 grams headphones

(estimate) 300 grams = m1 mac mini dock for added ports

(estimate) 300 grams = x3 usb cables (estimate)

(estimate) 3-4 kg portable battery 422 wh

approx 16kgs of weight

as im looking at a setup i could literally take out onto the street, fixing things into a maschineJam box & house the m1 mac mini and m1 hagabis hub

the 2 peices of equipment im missing out of this list... is xreal pro2 and the minirig3 speaker set...

D-One

wow, holy cow.... Well, that's is oddly interesting. May ask what are you doing with all this? Some kind of one-man-band live electronic music show on the street or what?

6xes

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/130006#Comment_130006

just a get out there in the community... showing people whats evolving in the music/techspace

play music/jam with people/record people/entertain/DJmixing but nothing set in stone... just enjoying music either in my own world or with others

basically just making people aware of the gear thats out there... and how it can all come together...

6xes

heres a video highlighting some of the challenges in the Apple vision pro for music production within the ableton enviroment.....

it does make you wonder why Sanjay C is not using the push3 integration, as this would get around some of the challenges he faced....

this of course highlights the value of tight integration of hardware and software coupled with a customised setup.... add triple screen displays that are provided in the Xreal space.... you really have a performance based environment to boot with a m1 mac mini on hand!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwg1dOF1RLE

6xes

okay coming back to revisit this thread!!

i found this video... which should highlight to m-series mac mini users the validity of these Xreal - Glasses...

moreover... if you program your midi devices with such programs as Bomes midi translator pro...

making use of multiple screens in a musical performance context is really quite exciting, when you intergrate many applications which are sync'd!!

huge potential in my view

watch from 14:50 to see a m1 mac being tethered by a single USB-C to see the glasses sporting x3 displays!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNb26B6wev0&t=885s

6xes

imagine… DJ software in its own window… Maschine in its own window!! Reaper in its own window… and just moving your head to see each… instead of clicking a button to switch between screens!!

with a little bit of customisation with moom you could "somewhat save positions of screens".. haven't tried this as i dont own a pair of the Xreals yet… but knowing tools are available to customise screen realestate and manage it better… alongside midi controller customisation… you could get away with making various keyboard shortcuts on a midi controller to give you enough control for most situations!!

6xes

Wow.... this is a great solution for the Augmented reality/Spatial arena!!

now... where did i put my Xreal glasses?? LOL (i wish)

cheK this out!!

i wonder can M1 Mac maschine users see the potential of these devices in a performing context... when additionally coupled with Keyboard Maestro or Bomes midi Translator pro or ipad integration or virtualhere!!

game changing?? Yes/No

Maschine controllers will still have their place in performing.... but this type of wearable tech seems especially practical in the X-real space!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFoEOfmdoTA

6xes

I have managed to test the Xreal Glasses on my m1 mac mini.

i went with the Xreal 1 glasses

i must admit the clarity and brightness inside the home is really great. it really is a step in the right direction for the future of Screens on glasses!!

comfortable enough & light compared to VR headsets

Triple screens on the m1 mac....with the Nebula app works well(you are tethered via usb-c cable)

with some clever apps that are available for the Mac... you can basically route the video stream of a PC or Ipad directly into the triple screens

i should note... the USB-C cable that is provided with the unit, is far too short and having another longer cable for triple screen use is a must, if wanting to use in the musical performance context....

as the problem is solely based on where you Mac is positioned, so this has made me re-arrange my setup to cater for the shortish cable, and given you dont want a cable to be in the way of your gear, i have positioned mac, under my maschine gear, so the cable is coming from below... and this is the best positioning as the cable only comes up from below....rather than across all your gear!!

6xes

i should also note... i tested with both Big Sur and Ventura...

big sur OS doesnt work with the nebula application properly... as a result you cannot do triple screens, but you can still do a mirrored or extended display, the trouble is it follows your head movements, when using Big Sur

on the Ventura side... with nebula

the triple screen displays is fixed in the position you set it to... and can be reset to another position if required! there is enough functionality to make it useful, even though the nebula app is still in beta

now to be clear... you dont need nebula for the glasses to work...

and the glasses will act as a mirrored or extended display as soon as you plug in the cable... but the screen remains centred...

i never bothered to purchasing with a beam... as i never intended to use it with other gear, whats more is i suspect a beam 2 will eventually come about during the course of time

D-One

What about the nitty gritty? How do things actually look? What's the resolution of the 3 virtual displays? Clear and sharp? Im confused on how that even works since I don't think any cable can provide 3 streams of hi-res/4k, not even Thunderbolt4, I could be wrong tho.

How does it feel to wear that thing for extended periods, like 5-8 hours straight?

Whats the latency like?

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