Hi there!
I’m thinking about switching from Windows to a new Mac Studio for Cubase and my every day tasks.
Knowing that the SSD inside the Mac Studio cannot be upgraded, and increasing it´s capacity is a very expensive option, I would like to know the most common drive configuration to work with these systems.
Do you use an external drive for the sample libraries and the projects are written into the internal disk?. Please give some advice regarding RAM and SSD configuration.
Thanks!
I have a M2 mac Mini with 1 tb and 24 gb RAM, but I also use an external drive for all my VSTi files., archived backups and so on. Your best option is using a very fast external case for an external SSD.
I have an M2 Pro Mini with a Thunderbolt hub with attached storage (2 x 2tb drives).
I keep all the samples, project files and sounds on the external drives. On the M2, I only keep the application files and access email via a web browser.
I also have two monitors on the m2 via the hub as well.
With the Apple Silicon machines, my advice is:
1 - Figure out the RAM you need, this is the most important decision IMO since you obviously can’t upgrade RAM. If you are doing large orchestral projects with very large templates, then a minimum of 64GB RAM is suggested, and massive templates will certainly require more. However, if you are NOT doing huge templates with hundreds of instances of memory-eating plugins, then frankly the 32GB RAM base model Mac Studio is surprisingly good with tons of power. Frankly, depending on your use case, even the base 16GB Mac Mini M2 Pro (10 core) is an excellent machine which will go a lot further than many people might think. I think that model is a bargain for most DAW users who don’t do orchestral work.
Anyway, the key is to figure out your RAM first.
The BEST thing you can do is to fully test your largest possible session on someone’s Apple Silicon Mac if you can, so you can examine the memory pressure numbers. Look closely at memory pressure, and you may be surprised by how well even 16-32GB RAM works for many kinds of projects. This was an unexpected positive surprise to me, where the conventional wisdom on Windows was to throw more RAM in there.
I’ve got multiple Apple Silicon machines in the studio. Windows is long gone from my studio - all my Intel and AMD PCs have been converted over to Linux DAWs, which I love and is my long term goal for my whole studio - and I only run Steinberg on Apple Silicon now. Before I converted the machines to Linux, I tested my own sessions and compared to Apple Silicon of different levels. I was quite surprised that even a lowly inexpensive base Mac Mini with a tiny 8GB RAM could handle a decent real-world Cubase session with plenty of VST/VSTi power (but note, limited Kontakt and UVI sample playback instances) without breaking a sweat. Of course I would NOT be able to load a complex memory-hungry Kontakt-based session on an 8GB Mac Mini, obviously, but no one expects that. However, this underscores the importance of really understanding your own precise needs for your own projects. Figure that out now for yourself, and buy your Mac with the appropriate amount of RAM.
2 - Internal solid state storage is obviously way overpriced from Apple, and a waste of money IMO, spend it on external storage and other things in your studio. I run huge sessions off external SSD with no problem.
3 - Apple Silicon CPU is excellent all around, but make sure you buy the appropriate CPU. I have found a semi-reliable rough correlation of REAL WORLD CPU performance in Cubase on PCs vs Macs by looking specifically at the Cinebench R23 multi-core performance numbers, plus or minus about 5-10% for my projects. This is anecdotal testing on my part, NOT scientific, and I don’t use DAWbench any more since it’s not similar enough to my usage. I use my own sessions which may be very different than your sessions. So YMMV!
Good luck!
Thank you all! Specially to Uarte, who clarified very well the things to observe and decide.
In my case, I think it would be enough with 32GB, I do not create very large projects. I was thinking of a Mac Studio M2 Max, 32GB RAM, 1 TB disk.
That’s a great machine, you’ll be able to do an enormous amount of creative work with it. Since you are transitioning over from Windows, best first advice I can give you as a macOS DAW user is to NOT upgrade to the next version of macOS for a minimum of 4-6 months after it is released (or longer if you want, there’s no rush!). Right now the current version is Sonoma 14.4.1, which I think works fine with Cubase for my projects and plugins. However, it was a little rough at the beginning when Sonoma launched. I held back and stuck with Ventura (macOS 13) on all my machines until recently, and I avoided the main headaches some other people faced who updated earlier.
So wait until the dust has settled and all your DAW and plugin developers have released confirmation and/or patches for your software so you know they all work fine with the next macOS, which will be macOS 15 this fall. Keep in mind that Apple usually supports three concurrent versions of macOS with security patches, so you have plenty of time to move to the next version of macOS after the early adopters already went through the headaches! Right now, 12, 13, AND 14 are all supported with security patches. MacOS 14 only recently got cleared and patched for most DAW apps and plugins I use.
Your Mac Studio will likely come preinstalled with macOS 13 Ventura, depending on when your machine came out of the factory, so you can stick with 13 for a while longer if you want to, or switch to 14 (Sonoma) and you should be fine, BUT when 15 comes out later this fall, do NOT update to it until the dust settles. Stick with 13 or 14 for a while longer.
Hope that all makes sense.
Good luck!
That’s great to know, I’ll follow your advice!
Hi again, I wanted to ask you if you are using the Apple Studio Display with the Mac Studio.
Because the native resolution of this Mac is 5K.
I don’t waste money on Apple displays TBH, but everyone has their preferences, needs and priorities. I think they are way overpriced, and there are lots of great monitors on the market to fit any need. Since I also use Linux in the studio, I use a variety of “normal” monitors on all the machines, with no problems… from LG, HP, Asus, Samsung, BenQ, etc… your Mac will work with pretty much any monitor and scale appropriately. Don’t get hung up 5k. MacOS does a nice job scaling IMO. Just pick the monitor that fits your needs and budget, and you’ll be fine. Good luck!
No point upgrading storage. Spend that on a TB3 dock with 2x NVMe slots in it. One 1-2TB SSD for projects and another 2TB SSD for sample and library data.
Install applications and plug-ins to the stock 512GB SSD and install + move all content and library stuff to the external drive.
You’ll still have close to 400GB free after you install everything.
Logic, Cubase, Bitwig, Reason, Absolute 6, Komplete 13UCE, Maschine, most of iZotope, Arturia V/FX Collection + Pigments, FCPX, Motion, Conpressor, MainStage, etc.
Move all content to the sample drive: 380GB+ Free Space on a 512GB System SSD. If i uninstall Reason, 390GB or more.
On a PC Laptop with a 2TB system SSD I can install all of that on the system drive (use Resolve/Fusion Studio over Apple Apps, etc.) and still have well over 600GB of space free. I always upgrade there cause it’s dirt cheap and I can install it myself.
Spending money to upgrade to 1TB internal storage is kind of wasteful, unless youre on a laptop, are co stantly mobile and absolutely need the bulk data internal to the machine. That storage cannot be repurposed when the machine is replaced and its an awful upcharge for what you get anyways.
With a dock you can duplicate the installation on a DT and Laptop and simply use it on whichever you’re using at that time.
Those TB3 Docks have a consistent, maintainable 1.35 GB transfer speed for each drive, so they’re way faster than a Samsung T7 connected over USB-C. In the real world its about twice as fast.
And, of course, you get all the extra ports.
Honestly, even a 256GB system drive would do with the TB Dock setup.
Could you please send me a good example of a Thunderbolt 3 Dock for NVME disks of the characteristics you mention? I didn´t know about this products.
Thank you, best regards.
Intel had a super sale several months ago. $70 per 2TB PCIe3 NVMe SSD. So, I picked up 2 and put them in one of these 
I’ve been using it for over a year with an M1 Pro MBP, and haven’t had a single issue.
Also works with Windows machines (with a TB3 connection).