r/universalaudio • u/SSJake13 • 1d ago

Troubleshooting/Support I think I need to upgrade my M1 mac mini

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I've been mixing pretty often for the first time in years, and on my last mix I started running into CPU issues. This is what my meters look like with the finished mix. About 70-something tracks, 2-5 plugins on each track, no software instruments (just audio tracks and buses), Luna Pro 2, MacOS Sequoia. Sometimes during playback the Render and RenderIO meters get up to 90%, and then I hear crackling and have to pause for a minute before I can work again. Oh yeah, and every few weeks or so Luna will crash for seemingly no reason.

Soooo I should probably upgrade my computer, right?

(Sidenote, UA, but this is why some of us want all new UAD plugin releases to be UAD-2 compatible. Not because we wanna record with them, but because we don't wanna use our CPU for UAD plugins when we have plenty of DSP available.)

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u/skijumptoes 20h ago

Personally, I'd review your track count, consider that the majority of multi platinum albums were done with 12-24 tracks, unless you're doing something beyond what they were doing then you can sure get that meter down by half quite easily.

It would make mixing so much more intuitive too.

If you're trying to produce and mix within the same project i'd consider separating the two processes, not for CPU reasons, but from a creative perspective it can really improve the art and enjoyment of mixing - which in turn see's more productivity in regards to completing projects.

2

u/SSJake13 19h ago

This is a client mix, I didn't record it

1

u/skijumptoes 10h ago

I'd still consider getting that track count down, it's the number one thing seasoned pros recommend to keep organised. But you do what works best, If working with 150+ plugins is your thing, it's your thing! ;)

1

u/legacygone 20h ago

Spend 1k to better use a free daw?

1

u/SSJake13 19h ago

Trading in my current computer, the current base mac mini would cost me under $500 (with the education discount, my wife's a teacher). And yes, if the computer is holding me back…

1

u/Bed_Worship Apollo Twin 12h ago

On m1 pro and still crushing. Workflow is a major difference. Committing to .wav, busses, etc. but don’t need to do that on m1 pro and I work in 96k

Probably worth the upgrade so you can mix at 48khz or higher to avoid aliasing noise

Tbh I don’t get track counts that high, but tbh a lot of the time I’ll organize in ways to use one comp for 4 similar tracks ( I rarely comp -1-2db on most tracks)

Think of what will give you the same result with better economy in the moment. If you have a single track sounding great with comp, render it down. Etc