Mac Mini?

January 28, 2022 7:48 PM

I have an old iMac and it might be time to replace it.

I currently have this:
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
Processor: 2.8 GHz Inter Core i7
Memory 12 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics: ATI Radeon 4850 512 MB
Storage: 1TB HDD

I have it running the latest Mac OS that it can (High Sierra)

I am using as a home recording studio, with GarageBand and Audacity to record music. There is latency in the playback and the recording quality is poor in both GarageBand and Audacity. So I'm looking at getting a new mac, maybe this Mac Mini

Will this be enough of an improvement to use as a home recording studio?
Can I use the old iMac as a display for the Mac Mini?

posted by falsedmitri to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

It's definitely time to replace the old Mac. The new Mini definitely has enough CPU power for that (vastly more than your old one), and I understand that the M1 macs aren't as touchy about low memory as the Intel macs were. But for recording? I don't record, but especially since you've kept the old one for twelve years, I'd want at least 16gb RAM and 1 TB of storage unless you've got a reason to be absolutely sure you don't need those.

I'm pretty sure (85-90% - the ability went away with the 5k iMacs) you can use your old Mac as a monitor, but I'd be worried that the old Mac would draw enough power that buying a new monitor would pay for itself over a couple years.
posted by wotsac at 8:06 PM on January 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I can't speak to the audio workload, but buying an intel mac right now seems like a mistake.

The newer M1 Mac Mini is very well regarded.

You can use your iMac in "target display mode", but that's not as good as a traditional monitor, and I'm not sure if you can set it up without a display on the Mac Mini.
posted by genrand at 8:08 PM on January 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

target display mode has some caveats.
posted by mce at 8:40 PM on January 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I have a Mac mini that I've been using with Logic since last summer, and it's great. But DO NOT JUST GET 8 GB OF RAM. It's 1000% worth it to spend the extra money to get 16gb. I have 16gb, and it's generally fin (although i run some large sample libraries that push it). I also have an M1 MacBook Pro with just 8GB, and I wouldn't want that to be my main music making machine.

Also, recording quality has nothing to do with the computer itself. You don't mention an audio interface, so I'm wondering if you're just using the mic jack and headphone jack on the iMac. You need a proper audio interface. It doesn't need to be expensive, but getting one that lets you monitor the live inputs will let you avoid any latency when recording.
posted by jonathanhughes at 5:39 AM on January 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

To expand on and summarize mce's comment/link, if you buy a new Mac mini, I don't think you can use the iMac as a target display.
posted by fruitslinger at 7:53 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @jonathanhughes: Audio interface is a Scarlett 2i2 which works fine with a middle aged windows 10 machine.
posted by falsedmitri at 8:19 AM on January 29, 2022

That's great. So you can monitor your live inputs with no latency. If you're using virtual instruments, and your software is at a high buffer setting, that could cause some latency when playing the instruments, and of course, with the new Mac mini, you'll be able to run the buffer much lower to get less latency. I'm running Logic with the buffer at 128 samples, and there's no latency with virtual instruments. I've only had to up it to a higher setting once, when I was working on a big project.

The sound quality should be the same as on your Windows computer, so you might want want to post a separate question about that.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:56 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Here is a recording to show the poor sound quality. The same happens with Audacity and GarageBand. Live acoustic/electric guitar. No effects. Works fine on windows. Can you say anything based on this?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RoXgj7kGyhn3A6QlHLHl3NErLjfsXwrq/view?usp=sharing
posted by falsedmitri at 9:44 AM on January 29, 2022

Wow, I've never heard anything like that (unless I was listening to a Victrola). Does it sound like that when you record into Garageband and Audacity? Does audio that you know in good sound okay through the interface?

My guess is that there's an issue with the the Core Audio settings on the computer. I suppose I would try zapping the PRAM first (hold down command, option, P and R during restart until you hear the startup chime a second time), but reinstalling the system software should take care of it. A waste of time if you're just going to get a new computer, anyway.
posted by jonathanhughes at 10:17 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It sounds fine just playing through (in and out) the 2i2.
The recording you listened to is from Audacity, but it sounds exactly like this from GarageBand.
I installed High Sierra on this machine just 2 weeks ago.
I tried your suggestion cmd+option+P+R, but it made no difference.
posted by falsedmitri at 12:35 PM on January 29, 2022

Don't get an Intel Mini. The M1 destroys it on performance, and is the future of the platform. A current M1 with 16GB of RAM will be a HUGE upgrade from your current machine (which honestly I'm surprised even works at all for you—my 2014 machine was utterly unusable for music production by the time I replaced it). Personally, I'm fine with 8GB, but I know this will have to replaced sooner than a 16GB, and I'd probably be a little limited if I were using a ton of instruments.
posted by General Malaise at 12:37 PM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Do you have the correct version of the Focusrite software installed?
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115005073725-Focusrite-product-compatibility-with-macOS-10-13-High-Sierra
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:57 PM on January 29, 2022

Response by poster: @jonathanhughes:
I've tried both FocusRite Control 3.6.0 for macOS 10.12.6 or newer and 3.7.4, with no difference. I'm not clear on the driver issue in that the 2i2 playthrough works without installing any driver. Perhaps it is the case that recording does require a driver and playthrough does not (as you suggest). Even so, I'm not sure that the FocusRite Control tool is installing a driver, though I could be wrong, and I don't see a place on their website to explicitly download drivers. Fwiw, this is a 2i2 3rd generation. Thanks for your help! If i can avoid buying a new machine that would be great (though only forestalling the inevitable) and also I would hate to buy a new machine and have this same problem. Also, I just noticed the playing a youtube video with output to the 2i2 results in poor quality as well, then switching output to speakers and it is good.
posted by falsedmitri at 7:51 AM on January 30, 2022