Need to rebuild home studio. Mac Mini content...

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

I'm at the point (beyond it really) where this computer is making me want to throat punch strangers.

Current setup:
Hackintosh (dual boot for Windows) i5 2500k (2011).
Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 (and 24) firewire.

Yes, firewire (stop laughing)

2 x 24 inch VGA/DVI monitors, and 40" TV via HDMI

JBL 305 monitors.

Looking at a Mac M2 Mini. Definitely sticking with the base model. Apple upgrade prices are ludicrous, and the 8 GB of unified ram will be enough for my needs.

For port and SSD additions I'm looking at this:

Stand & Hub For Mac Mini / Studio With NVMe SSD Enclosure

satechi.net

Also considering a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4

Thinking of a 32" (or similar) 4k monitor to replace the 2 old monitors.

Will want a new keyboard mouse combo. Blue tooth or USB I assume.

So pretty much the JBL's and the TV as a secondary monitor will remain.
I'm not sure of exactly what I need to make sure I've got 2 monitors and the USB interface covered properly with the ports available. I haven't thought about this stuff in over 10 years, and the tech is totally different.

I'd love some recommendations for:

A hub for extra ports (if the one I posted isn't optimal)
USB interface (2 mic inputs + 2 line mandatory)
Budget friendly monitor (No gaming, photo/video editing).
Basic functional keyboard and mouse.

Just want to state that I'm looking to do this as wallet friendly as possible. Not interested in things like UA interfaces and Mac Studio monitors even though they're awesome.

 

[DrewJD82]

FWIW, I’m not sure what i’ll do if Apple ever stops making the Magic Mouse or doesn’t replace it with something with the same features. When the battery dies and I have to use a regular mouse I feel like I turn into our members with UI complaints.

 

[laxu]

I say try to aim for at least 16 GB RAM on the Mac Mini. And definitely go for M2 over M1 just for the better display support. See if you can get for example a refurbished model.

The extra memory will help the computer last you a much longer time. 8 GB RAM is straight up bullshit as a base spec and there's tests that show Macs can struggle with only that memory.

For the audio interface you can get 2nd and 3rd gen Focusrite audio interfaces pretty cheap on the used market so maybe you can save in that and put the money towards more memory. I still use a 2nd gen 6i6 because I haven't found a good alternative for it.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Motu M4. Fair price, low latency, quality AD conversion and sound.
I agree with @laxu about the RAM though.

 

[Whizzinby]

I have an M1 16GB mini that runs pretty awesome now after the last of my plugs got native support.

I would definitely go with 16gb on the M2. You will eventually want/need that extra memory.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

LOVE the Satechi keyboards - Feel a lot like the Mac laptop keyboards: https://satechi.net/products/slim-x1-bluetooth-backlit-keyboard

Also, this trackball was more than game changing, it was genuinely life changing for me: https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/m575-ergo-wireless-trackball.910-005868.html

On the RAM -- I dunno. I got an M1 air this time last year and swore I was not gonna pay for extra RAM that I was certain I didn't need and wound up...still spending the money to bump up to 16 "just in case" and...I have no idea if I regret it or not because I have no experience of an M1 with only 8 doing what I do. I do kinda think I would have been better of spending money on bigger SSD instead of RAM though -- my workflow doesn't use 50 tracks at once, all with plugins on them, etc. I do use Superior Drummer 3, though, and a few other sample library based things that eat up a TON of storage space and am kinda stuck lugging an external drive around with my laptop now...wouldn't be an issue if I were using a fixed workstation.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

On the audio interface front, I've been very curious about these: https://evo.audio/products/audio-interfaces/evo-8/overview/

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

Motu M4. Fair price, low latency, quality AD conversion and sound.
I agree with @laxu about the RAM though.

I used Digital Performer on a PowerMac G4 with a pair of firewire OG 828's back in the day. How is the MOTU app for mixing the inputs these days? I use Saffire Mixcontrol right now that gives the ability to route input/outputs etc.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

Exactly this. M2/M4, and try to go 16GB RAM. Get the base storage, and then the Satechi dock (I've got the previous one, it's awesome), and stick a beefy NVMe in there.

Thanks. All the videos I've watched tell me the base unit will do everything I need without breaking a sweat. I feel like these units are almost disposable products at this point. 2 bills for 8G of ram is 1/3 the price of the whole box. Apple upgrade prices are criminal. I won't pay it. I'll put the money in to extra storage. If I ever need a high performance box for audio again, I'll just build a PC. But I don't think I'll ever need to.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I used Digital Performer on a PowerMac G4 with a pair of firewire OG 828's back in the day. How is the MOTU app for mixing the inputs these days? I use Saffire Mixcontrol right now that gives the ability to route input/outputs etc.

I just use it as a simple interface for Studio One. There's very little routing involved with the M4, and I just do that within Studio One. The latency is very low, and when I track I'll have the buffer at 64 and it's great. If I ever need a lot more inputs at once I still have an older presonus studio 192 with the routing software for latency free monitoring.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

Completely agree. But as long as people pay it, and even worse, people defending the practice on forums (there's a guy ranting about how it's not overpriced on one of the Mac forums I'm on), they'll keep doing it.

One thing I've learned is that the 256G drive runs off of 1 chip, and the 512G drive runs off of 2 chips and is faster. So that's the upgrade I'm (kind of considering). But I think for running programs, the 256 is really big and fast enough.

 

[AlbertA]

For monitors, Presonus has updated their Eris Series (https://www.presonus.com/en-US/eris.html) - they have 3 categories now - I'm curious about the Eris Pro series (I currently use the Presonus Sceptre S8s so it's more a curiosity)

For the Mac mini - yeah I would spend the +200 for the 16GB RAM (unless you will never use sampled instrument libraries)

That Satechi hub is popular - just like the Focusrite interface so looks pretty good to me.

One thing I've learned is that the 256G drive runs off of 1 chip, and the 512G drive runs off of 2 chips and is faster. So that's the upgrade I'm (kind of considering). But I think for running programs, the 256 is really big and fast enough.

Won't really matter for a DAW.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

For monitors, Presonus has updated their Eris Series (https://www.presonus.com/en-US/eris.html) - they have 3 categories now - I'm curious about the Eris Pro series (I currently use the Presonus Sceptre S8s so it's more a curiosity)

I've got JBL 305's. I meant display monitor, not audio. Appreciate it though!

 

[laxu]

Thanks. All the videos I've watched tell me the base unit will do everything I need without breaking a sweat. I feel like these units are almost disposable products at this point. 2 bills for 8G of ram is 1/3 the price of the whole box. Apple upgrade prices are criminal. I won't pay it. I'll put the money in to extra storage. If I ever need a high performance box for audio again, I'll just build a PC. But I don't think I'll ever need to.

Apple's upgrade prices are absolute robbery, and they very well know it by providing a shit tier base spec. When you can't even upgrade these things later you basically have to buy into a higher spec right from the start.

I recommend you watch this as it shows a bunch of real world scenarios where the 8 GB clearly becomes a bottleneck.



It's also worth mentioning that Apple shares its RAM with both the CPU and GPU so the amount available becomes even less than you'd find on a 8GB RAM + discrete GPU PC.

And if you think you don't actually use those really demanding apps or don't think you multitask that much...most of us tend to have at least a lot of browser tabs open at once. I bought my spouse a M1 Macbook Pro 16 GB on sale last year primarily because I knew she is the type to have literally 100 tabs open of various stuff. I didn't want her to have to think about anything but just using her computer.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Yep. 16GB minimum for sure, even if you don't run huge projects.

 

[marsonic]

One thing I've learned is that the 256G drive runs off of 1 chip, and the 512G drive runs off of 2 chips and is faster. So that's the upgrade I'm (kind of considering). But I think for running programs, the 256 is really big and fast enough.

So...the thing about this is that the speed scaling implies they're using RAID 0 between the chips under the hood. So, yes, when you upgrade the storage on a mac, it gets faster...but it also increases the probability of failure linearly with the number of chips. E.g., upgrading from the base model to 2x the storage also doubles the chance that your storage will fail. 4x the storage, 4x the chance of failure.

IMHO, no one should ever upgrade mac storage unless you really can't use an external for some reason. There are reasons to use RAID 0, but Apple forcing people to do it without even telling them is.....well....I'm trying to think of a better word than immoral.

It's also irrelevant for a DAW. Any SSD is plenty capable.

 

[JasonE]

FWIW, I’m not sure what i’ll do if Apple ever stops making the Magic Mouse or doesn’t replace it with something with the same features. When the battery dies and I have to use a regular mouse I feel like I turn into our members with UI complaints.

I have one of the old ones that uses two AA batteries in it. I have twice now had the batteries blow up inside of the mouse. I was able to clean it out and resurrect it the first time. The second time, I was able to clean and resurrect it but it only lasted about two or three hours and then gave up the ghost. I found the newer version with the rechargeable battery in it. I bought that one. Hopefully this one will make it longer since it is much less likely to have the battery causing it to die.

 

[DrewJD82]

I have one of the old ones that uses two AA batteries in it. I have twice now had the batteries blow up inside of the mouse. I was able to clean it out and resurrect it the first time. The second time, I was able to clean and resurrect it but it only lasted about two or three hours and then gave up the ghost. I found the newer version with the rechargeable battery in it. I bought that one. Hopefully this one will make it longer since it is much less likely to have the battery causing it to die.

I’ve got the rechargeable one, seems I go about 2 months before I have to charge it up. It just always dies while I’m in the middle of a session and using Logic with it at this point is like removing a limb!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Thing is, there's a huge amount of file swapping and caching between RAM and SSD going on with those silicone machines. As a result, you can get away with noticeably less RAM than before, real life tests show around the same performance on memory intensive tests when comparing Intel machines with M1/2 machines featuring just half the RAM. But, while you could now go like "great, let's save some RAM", all this is a taxing process for the SSD and will possibly reduce its life span, maybe even noteworthy (from all I know, the jury's not yet out on that, but "worn out" SSDs are a thing). You can read a bit about it here:

M1 Mac SSD wear probably won't kill your machine - 9to5Mac

Concerns about excessive M1 Mac SSD wear may be exaggerated, suggests a piece today. Reports had earlier suggested that some machines ...

9to5mac.com

I'm not saying you need to go for 16GB, but if I was to buy a Mini, the minimum specs would be 16GB and a 512GB SSD - even if you take a lot of care, many things default to using the internal drive to save data and having to move things all the time is a chore. Also, in case you'll be using Logic, the library coming with it by now is something like around 100GB - and even if there's options to move it, that doesn't always seem to work too well, so I'd defenitely keep that on the internal drive.

 

[JasonE]

I’ve got the rechargeable one, seems I go about 2 months before I have to charge it up. It just always dies while I’m in the middle of a session and using Logic with it at this point is like removing a limb!

I hear you. Once you get used to the features it gives you, it is hard to not have it. That is what made me immediately go looking for what they replaced it with when mine died. I was thankful to find the one I bought. I was afraid they had stopped making it.