Has anyone purchased the new Mac Mini M4/Pro to use with Cubase 14 Pro?
What configuration did you opt for?
How do you find its performance?
I just ordered the base model so will let you know
Congrats, i look forward to you views.
I bought the Mini M4 Pro basic configuration, Cubase works wonderfully well, I am very satisfied with the use of the practically non-existent CPU, I always work with a 128 buffer and I don’t have any problem with overloading even if I load many instruments.
It depends on what you have to do with it. I didn’t want to leave room for doubt and I opted for the Pro version precisely because I don’t have regular use of the daw. Sometimes I have to mix many mainly audio tracks with third-party plugins (Uad, Plugin Alliance…) and other times I work on my projects with many instruments. I am very satisfied and I could not recommend otherwise for those who want a powerful computer for serious work.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask
Thanks for your input.
I’ve got the Mini Pro 14 core with 64gb and 2tb in my basket with my finger hovering over the checkout button.
I’ve always thought it’s better to future proof, but is it overkill?
No, if you can reasonably afford it (i.e. don’t have to starve, take on a mortgage or sell your kidney for it) 
If I didn’t buy M2 Pro MBP 14’’ in May, I’d be now on the market for M4 Pro, because the price difference is basically equal additional CPU performance boost, i.e. ~15-30%. (vs. M4 12 and 14-core respectively).
1 Like
I’m curious to know if any heavy duty Cubase users with an M4 Pro Mac Mini are struggling with the 64GB memory. I’m still using an older iMac with 128GB, and I’m really reluctant to drop back to 64GB. However, the Mac Studio is a financial bridge too far. The iMac is still solid, so I’m not in strife … yet.
M4 Mac Mini: Insane Value for Music Production, But… | M4 vs M4 Pro vs M3 Pro vs M1 Pro
and apparently Cubase (together with Reaper) are the best performing DAW on Mac’s
I bought a Mac Mini M4 24GB RAM /512GB SSD. Cubase runs well and fast, but I have a problem: I have most of my projects with artificial instruments from the PC, most of them are on Sforzando. I normally have 8-15 SFZ tools in a project. It seems that when the total number of notes in all tracks is exceeded, Cubase crashes when exporting. Just grease a few tracks and the export will go through. I ran it down to the individual notes, and there is a limit to how I delete the notes, that I come across a border note, which if I delete, the export no longer falls.
Otherwise, if free Sforzando is not used, Cubase is perfectly stable. And very fast indeed…
So i have the base model M4 mac mini with 16gb ram on logic everything seems fine but on cubase asio keeps clipping even on a not so heavy project , like i have a film project with 30 or so audio files and two instruments loaded yet it still clips i have to run it on 512 to get it to work properly im unable to find what to do ive done everything available online all basic settings and steinberg audio power scheme is unavailable in my cubase 14 it says its not available for mac i have no clue what to do im pretty sure my system can handle much more but somehow cubase has an issue on m4
1 Like
Are you sure the VST plugins you’re using with Cubase are Apple Silicon native? AUs in Logic probably all are, so that could explain the difference in performance.
Also, what exactly do you mean by “it clips”. There might be a problem with gain staging & mix, if you mean audio clipping, completely unrelated with CPU performance.
Lastly, Steinberg power scheme is only relevant for Windows, AFAIK.
Hey what i mean is the disc cache clips or peaks and i saw some videos displaying that method for mac i did read it only applies on mac what i wanted to ask was if there was an alternative to that relevant on mac systems
1 Like
Ok
Have you tried increasing Disc Preload option (bottom right)?
Audio System Page • Cubase Pro Help • Reader • Steinberg
yes its 3 sec still didnt work
Increase it then?
even upto 5 seconds doesn’t work
Question for all of you who bought M4/Pro, did you stay on macOS Sequoia v15 or did you downgrade to version 14? I read that there is still a compatibility problem with some plugins. What are your experiences? It’s a bit, I don’t know, funny that you buy something new and then go back to the old OS 
I’m a long-time PC Windows user and this would be my first Mac computer. Mac Mini M4 16/512 has a very nice price
Cubase 13 pro (13.0.51 version) no problem for me using mac mini M4 pro (24/512) using sequoia 15.3 in apple silicon native mode.
Using Native instruments komplete 15, arturia v collection x, korg collection 5, superior drummer 3.
The topic fits my question, so please don’t say I’m hijacking the thread.
Are there parts of Cubase 14 Pro that can be installed on external disk? Particularly on a USB 4 disk. I’m referring to a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB in a Zike enclosure.
I’m about to get Cubase 14 Pro and put it on a base model Mac Mini. I’ll completely eliminate GarageBand and its Sound Library. The Sound Library alone only partially installed was using 18GB of disk space. That doesn’t include the space that the GarageBand app is using.
I won’t have any other DAW on it. Thanks for any advice!
Hey there - the Cubase 14.0.20 app package itself is only 1.9gig. That you can run from an external drive if you choose to.
There are other file system dependancies such as:
/Library/Application Support/Steinberg (mine is 1.82 gig but I have most products)
~/Library/Preference/Cubase (mine is only about 54 meg)
If possible, I would leave your system /Library and user ~/Library folders where they are. You can move them with symlinks, but I don’t know how product updates will react and/or replace that. Best to leave that be.
Note that your VST3s will have to stay in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 as you can’t assign an additional VST3 path in Cubase 14. Again, you can symlink that a different location, but I wouldn’t try to do that for the same reason as above.
The bulk of your storage requirement will be in the Steinberg “vstsound” sample/content libraries themselves. Those, by design, can be defaulted/installed, and moved wherever you want them, and on a content-library basis:
Meaning, you can choose where you want the “Bösendorfer Close” vstsound collection stored separately from where you want the “Bösendorfer Player” collection stored, but not where you want “Bösendorfer Close (1),(2),(3)” components of that collection stored (not easily, anyway).
There are other things you can do to conserve space, like deleting your VST (not VST3) folder, and Components folder (AUs) if you don’t need them, but you’ll most likely need to continue looking at those folders as you install other 3rd party plug-ins that don’t give you a choice of formats being installed.
Also, you said “USB 4” - if you can use Thunderbolt 4 instead, that would give you better performance.
You should be good to go, and you’ve got a lot of options on how to proceed. Folks are here should you have any issues when you get this up and running 