LOW-End MacBook Air M1/8GB in Music Production (Ableton 11/12 & Logic)

[@iamyila]

More than enough, end video

[@bosonbreeder]

Great video! Setting the number of available cores in Logic to 8 instead of "auto" makes a huge difference as well. Also, freezing a couple of tracks your're not currently editing never hurts.

[@Auldhelm]

I have been using an M1 Mac Mini (8gb) for audio (Ableton) and video editing HD video (Davinci) - No problems at all - My audio projects are not huge. - 10 - 15 tracks not a ton of plugins

[@samgruse3824]

I've been using a 2013 Macbook pro with 8gbs of ram for the last 10 years for Ableton. It's lasted me soooo long and I've made some good songs with it but now it's showing its age. After watching your videos I just ordered a Macbook pro M2 pro chip with 16gbs of ram. Looks like the M2 chips run Ableton better than M3 which is why I opted for the 1 year old Mac

[@DPMProject]

This is totally truth great choice

[@GalaxiaDeFavio]

I actually saw the contrary that m3 runs better than m2

[@samgruse3824]

@GalaxiaDeFavio the guy at the mac store looked at me like I was crazy when I told him my logic lol. My M2 has been great but I think any new Mac with the right specs will do just fine. My M2 has been great though.

[@GalaxiaDeFavio]

@@samgruse3824 what's your new mac? and what made you upgrade? any problem with your current m2 thought?

[@samgruse3824]

@@GalaxiaDeFavio the specs are im my previous comment and no problems so far. Ableton crashes from time to time but I think that'll happen regardless

[@8washburn8]

Super helpful video! Theres a ton of misinformation out in forums, but this is a real proof that theese machines still cut the edge. Thank you!

[@_boof]

Ive had my MBA m1 8gb since 2021 and i find it ot be very capable. The type of music I make is purposefully made to sound lofi. Ive only run into issues with software that isnt optimized well.

[@jborrelli34]

Hey man, Im a melodic edm freak, Im a fan of your track Gliese 581c. I am also a space nut. Theres nothing more interesting and compelling about the cosmos and I feel like a euphoric melody creates an incredible marriage with the wonders of outer space. I have been researching the best bang for the buck budget friendly laptop for a beginner in music production/EDM and I am opting for the Air m1 (2020), it seems like an absolute no brainer. Good video

[@bjornark]

Thank you, good choice! :)

[@Schrodingerscomment]

I bought the M3 iMac 24' (Full Spec), when they released at end of October last year, for uni, but also with the intent of learning to use 3D Modelling/Printing software, video editing, and most importantly, music production programs such as Garage Band. Every time I see one of these "Can you do ......, on a base model MacBook Air?", I grow happier with the fact I didn't hold back when configuring my iMac at purchase, and that I opted to "Spec Out" the M3 iMac, instead of going for a lower end M3 Pro/Max chip in the MacBook Pro. Great Vid! 👍🏻 ✌🏻from🇦🇺

[@bobbysbeats5249]

Thanks for your video, exactly my Mac book, 2020 M1 - is enough making music

[@kieran0000]

Thanks for this video, I just ordered the new Mac mini m4 24 ram. I trust it will do the job !

[@bjornark]

Sure it will!

[@MadelnMachines]

Thanks for this. Very helpful. I'm sure an M3 Air with 24gb ram and 2TB could handle any electronic music project i'd want to make. It's always tempting to spend more though - for £1000 extra you can more than double the cpu power and get 12gb more ram. Seems worth it. I don't think the 16 core is worth it over the 14 core but if you want more than 36gb ram you don't have a choice. I'm not really sure the pro chip is worth it over the 8 core but the max certainly is.

[@raw_pc]

Exactly what I needed right now :) M1 Air is a small beast. Thank you for sharing!

[@bjornark]

You are welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@robertsimondj]

Agree, have you video, from your mastering process?

[@bjornark]

I could make one, but I feel I am not the most qualified one to show it.

[@Keybman]

Performance testing should be done in recording mode. Try recording an additional audio track from a microphone into this 40-track project. In this case, the sound subsystem works with minimal delays. Only in this case will there be a peak load on the equipment. Thanks!

[@PredragRisticMKD]

I did not notice any impact. Used a 16 track mid-size project and added two additional audio recording tracks. The usage on the p-cores did not move at all, while the e-cores increased usage initially and then went back to same (as in play mode) after 10/15 seconds.

[@officialspaceefrain]

I only use stock plugins and I suggest anyone considering mac to do the same. Logic is incredibly powerful.

[@bracajp]

Thank you so much for the video. I think I am absolutely convinced 8gb ram is more than enough for me :)

[@SERJACINESCOPES]

Tbh this is more than enough for me..becs I don't produce that heavily..My maximum tracks be like 30/40 maybe..and I use studio one which is probably the lightest among daws..

[@bjornark]

Yeah, then its good enough for you most likely. :)

[@Andrea.Zechmeister]

I had Windows 10 and 16 GB a long time ago My first Mac Book Pro since 2013 which still runs with Ableton 11 and 2000 Mb bufferby 47 Sample and sometime 60 samples into project have little bit drop out by headphone is all better Mac Book Pro 2015 /2 Core 16Gb ram

[@MichaelSmith-on1ig]

Be mindful though, when the RAM is full, it shovels data onto the main SSD, using up lots of write-cycles. This might deteriorate the life-time of the SSD faster.

[@bjornark]

While true in a technical sense you would never reach that point before the Mac itself is old enough for replacement.

[@MichaelSmith-on1ig]

@@bjornark hopefully

[@thomasolender3427]

Could you also try to play along some notes with e.g. Diva via midi while a track is running to see, if there really is no latency?

[@Jojo37122]

Progressive House ❤❤❤❤

[@H-4-D3423]

Always enjoy these vids... I think my start system would be built around Logic and M1 Mac Mini. Used, but with 16GB & 1TB for some headroom... :) A used Studio M1 Max also looks wicked in the Logic benchmark scores too, but it still holds a high value which puts it out of reach...

[@bjornark]

I think that when Apple release updated Mac Studios with M3 we will see discounts on the older Mac Studios. Then it might get to a reasonable entry price for used/discounted models.

[@H-4-D3423]

@@bjornark It will be interesting too, to see how the M3 version of that does once released too. It's all interesting regardless :)

[@ElectroPanPipes]

Getting an M1 at those specs is difficult and people want prices close to what you'd pay for M2 mini. I bought an M2 Pro, so it came with 16GB. I just use external SSD's for sample libraries. It generally runs 100-150 tracks in Logic no issue.

[@H-4-D3423]

@@ElectroPanPipes I've seen several M1 Mini's with 1TB+16GB sell for £750 and under in the UK. £685 including postage. You have to be prepared to look daily and wait. To save 45% off retail price, it's worth it.

[@ElectroPanPipes]

@@H-4-D3423 Like anything, things come up if you wait. I opted for an M2 Pro as the performance and warranty was worth it to me. Storage not so much, as I have 10TB externally already.

[@budgetkeyboardist]

My 8 GB M1 Mac Mini is more capable than my 16 GB 2018 MacBook Pro by a pretty good factor. If your needs are modest, 8 GB of RAM on an M1 can work fine. People who say "It's not enough" are not taking into account any variables. It's enough for many uses, but not for all.

[@Marco-ek8wu]

Same here. M1 Mac mini, 8GB ram, 500gb hardrive. Ableton 12. More than enough.

[@Gibson1976uk]

I have a 2016 Mac pro and it just struggles with vst stuff now! Has 16 ram

[@budgetkeyboardist]

​@@Gibson1976uk I believe it. Some of the VST stuff is really power hungry. Cherry Audio Mercury 6 comes to mind. I own it and I love it, but it was killing my Intel Mac.

[@Gibson1976uk]

@@budgetkeyboardist damn! I meant Mac Pro! not max pro :) changed it now, thanks

[@budgetkeyboardist]

@@Gibson1976uk I went back and changed my comment appropriately, too. Totally agree that the old Intel Macs aren't keeping up with today's power hungry virtual synths.

[@twitchbook-1]

cheers always very helpful

[@bjornark]

Thanks!

[@nerdpunk8922]

I wish somebody would do one of these tests with this MacBook in Reaper.

[@danielmiller5521]

You'd get similar results.

[@peterdiabo223]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fITUiWeYqZ6npZYsi=9oMDFEvFCCXunfwD

[@peterdiabo223]

There’s the video where the KZbinr compares 7 different daws with all of the M1 chips. Reaper is the best optimized for all of the silicon based chips out of all of them. If you use reaper; consider yourself the luckiest out of the bunch lol

[@GalaxiaDeFavio]

You'd get better results since reaper can use the eficiency cores too

[@MediaMusik777]

It’s a parallel design so really 8 is 16 and 16 is 32 so forth

[@bjornark]

Apple-math :D

[@davidpickett3546]

Can you elaborate please

[@rmselector]

im using the lowest end macbook air. It works better than the m2 pro base models

[@Aless6996]

I just recieved a macbook pro m1 8gb and I was curious if I could use Logic Pro safely with only 8gb and this video has been very enlightening. I am now ewncouraged to pick up music production again after some years of halting. My only question would be if it handles audio recording with ease, since I want to record some vocals. I would be using an audio interface (UA Volt 2) Many thanks

[@bjornark]

Yes, should work just fine.

[@hasenakkhaya]

ok great video but i d like to see the cpu temperature values as well. since air models dont have a fan cooling system, after certain amount of high cpu usage time, the cpu starts throttling to cool down the system. why is this important? not all the ableton users are in home producers, some of us doing live looping performances and djing with the macbooks and sometimes it is in hot weather in summer beach etc

[@bjornark]

Noted, I will implement temp-monitoring software in the future.

[@hasenakkhaya]

@@bjornark with long term usage please. Not just 3-5 minutes, maybe 30 minutes or more? İ dont know but you are such nice person thanks for the reply

[@sloeesloee]

@@hasenakkhayait’s pretty hot.

[@victorrivero8527]

So my 2015 MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM is not compatible with Ableton 11? 😢

[@bjornark]

Not sure, check the minimum specs needed for Ableton

[@GalaxiaDeFavio]

14" or 16" for music production with ableton??

[@chumza7498]

Don't you get confused on with DAW to use since to many DAWS can lead to unfinish projects how do you cope with that?

[@bjornark]

Yes that can be a problem….I have a strong urge to finish projects tho.

[@chumza7498]

@@bjornark I'm struggling to focus on one but trying to focus on Cubase

[@ChakrabortyRaja]

can it be handle above 70 or 80 tracks with external plugin ?

[@bjornark]

Have not tested that, so not sure.

[@ChakrabortyRaja]

@@bjornark ok.

[@soARTofficial]

Well heres the thing, i do music too, on a late 2013 that was top end at the time, with 32gb ram. Thing works amazingly well with new plug ins, can have 50 tracks without a sweat. But i should upgrade. Im just poor, so its either a mac mini like this or a souped up windows mini pc (just got a push 2 ) and going to start using ableton and get performance down. Any input?

[@mojito6629]

It's not mac mini in the video, LOL.

[@mojito6629]

After watching this video (which topic actually I was requested to Bjornar few months before haha).. I think I'm gonna bute the bullet, there's one near me selling his 2nd hand MacBook Air M1 with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. I will try it with Ableton Live 12, hopefully it'd be enough for me, but if it's not, I will sell it. I see the resale value/price is good

[@KevinBenjaminMusic]

i admit that for musicians that records music out of the box and not working fully in the box with virtual instruments and alot of effects you can get away with a base modal and thats pretty awesome ....BUT ! apples sales tactics and still selling 8 gb of ram in pro models and the uprade pricing is still the worst thing about apple

[@bjornark]

Agree with everything you say. Especially the upgrade prices. Going from 8GB to 16GB or 512GB to 1TB storage. Those prices are too high IMO.

[@konrad.conrad.conrado]

Would improve efficiency if instead of use Vst format, go for AU??

[@bjornark]

Depends on the plugin I believe. VST3, AU, CLAP is the modern ones.

[@danielribeiro4618]

Im actually searching a new macbook pro 16" to replace my old late 2014 macbook pro laptop. Would you recommend to buy the 16" M3 max over the M2 max (mostly for ableton 11) if the price are +- the same?

[@bjornark]

If the price is the same? Then yes, go for the M3.

[@danielribeiro4618]

@@bjornark yes, for the 14 core... I had the chance to buy a new M1 max 16" but I was afraid about less apple support (-2 years) so decided to go with the M2 pro or M2 max almost same price. And now the M2 max is almost the same price as for the M3 max (14 c).

[@petehuda7457]

Please open two logic pro x instanced, does it stillt works?

[@andriyaniliev3344]

Hello! Thanks for the information you share! my english is not very good and i can't play subtitles in my language and that's why i want to ask for sure what macbook with what chip is the best to buy because i never understood. I recently started learning in ableton and I would like to pay as little as possible but to be enough

[@bjornark]

Get the cheapest MacBook Air. They also come with 16GB of RAM now.

[@andriyaniliev3344]

@ thank you

[@andriyaniliev3344]

@ which chip, m1 pro?

[@richertz]

Jumped from M1 air to M2 pro, so much better, more power, more ports, and a much better screen, even though 14 inch the contrast was so much easier in the eyes.

[@bjornark]

The 14 Inch is more or less the perfect laptop. You get some more performance cores as well if you get the right one. Good choice.

[@richertz]

@@bjornarkyes I got the 12 core (8 performance cores). It’s definitely the best overall for DAWs.

[@partlysimpson5154]

u shouldn't have any issues with that. Imagine that people made music 8 years ago with intel i7 4 core ones, so some fools run out 12 core cpus wich I cant understand how do they work...

[@davidpickett3546]

Ive just bought the new m3 air 8gb. Will this suffice for just audio tracks with minimal plugs

[@bjornark]

Absolutely!

[@nukenoly8751]

Yeah that MacBook Air M1 is a jewel 💎 and best Air ever. The base model can do everything but get 16GB if you can

[@jasonshrestha]

i want to use keyscape and other vst with the lowest latency possible, which is possible with 32 sample. does it click and pop in this setting ?

[@AmbivalentMind]

Is the 13 inch screen large enough for comfortably using Logic? I don't want to get a 16 inch MBP, it's way too chunky, but I am considering a 14 inch MBP.

[@bjornark]

I think 13 Inch gets a little tight.

[@felixbr26]

Hello, is this 48khz or 96khz?

[@bjornark]

48khz

[@felixbr26]

@@bjornark Thank you 😊

[@mojito6629]

I subscribe, but just see this and watch. Nice.. At last you do it LOL. Thanks!

[@TonyThomas10000]

They are actually selling that model again exclusively at WalMart for $699.

[@bjornark]

Not bad!

[@Chast74]

$599 now

[@TonyThomas10000]

@@Chast74 Yeah, they are really trying to get rid of them. The M4 Mini is a much better value at that price.

[@sidsmusic991]

LOL.. calling the m1 low end is another kind of level OF HUMOUR

[@bjornark]

I am glad you find the facts of reality entertaining. :)

[@bondjam8]

compared to the pros? its def low end

[@omapots]

In Cubase (the best DAW) all cores, performance and efficiency cores, are utilised effectively

[@bjornark]

On VSTs as well?

[@omapots]

@@bjornark I believe the VSTs follow the DAW core system, so in that case it should be fine. But I have not read about it or seen it demonstrated, so I can't say. James Zhan has some videos about it

[@igorsim8170]

Thanks for video. What you think of Pro m1 16gb Ram? Thanks.

[@bjornark]

You are welcome! The answer you seek are at timestamp 14:37 in the video... ;)

[@BlueshellGamer]

Can you help me choose? I will donate a sample pack that has 500mb of rare samples. All high quality. If you can help, I need a macbook for running ableton 11. I also use logic. Id really appreciate it. My budget however, is 3000au dollars. So I cant afford the best. Id appreciate it.

[@bjornark]

Its difficult, I dont know how your market is where you live. But focus on getting a mac with the most amount of performance cores you can afford.

[@wazmand]

Don't do it in logic 11 :( CPU issues .

[@SuperAnatolli]

It has 4 times more RAM than I have on my DAW-computer (that works just fine)...

[@jasperruddock5155]

Is this Logic 11?

[@bjornark]

No, this is Logic 10.

[@RobertSimon-b8e]

Macbook Pro 2020 M1, still banger with Ableton

[@bjornark]

For sure!

[@mizzstarr510]

Hi, I have a few questions. I have a regular MacBook Air. Would it still work for me? Also, if I have a 2015 Mac air with Monterey OS, it’s still okay to download the newest version of the Pro or would it not work, I have a FL-X4 controller, do you think it’ll be compatible to use? I didn’t see it on the Monterey “compatible” list.

[@synthetic144]

just dont do it ! even your grandma needs more than 8 gb ram these days

[@bjornark]

Haha, nope. My mom and mother in-law is doing fine on 8GB :D

[@GoutamSingh]

😊

[@FynnFTW]

"cause 8gb in our MACs is like 16gb on other systems" 🤣😂

[@bjornark]

8GB is absolutely not 16GB. :D But macOS might manage the memory better in some cases, compared to windows.

[@FynnFTW]

well. i just quoted apple@@bjornark

[@bjornark]

Yeah I know, that was peak-Apple PR. :D

[@typ0_music]

He's not wrong though, it's always seemed that way to me between various Mac and windows machines, now since the M1 in 2020 released its even more apparent

[@KC-lg8qf]

No....not enough