Yes, Im kindof baffled why they insist on a mac mini with such a tight budget. There are linux options too
Another aspect is that the audio stack on MacOS is truly outstanding, with a whole host of professional audio applications and utilities on the platform. Hardware drivers are up to date and also well supported. Connectivity is also well supported by audio hardware vendors.
Finally Mac Minis have had a stable hardware form factor for well over a decade. If you go for a small form factor generic Pc system there’s no guarantee anything like it will even exist a year or even 6 months later. Hardware specs and specific component choices change with the breeze as availability and relative pricing fluctuate continuously.
> Another aspect is that the audio stack on MacOS is truly outstanding, with a whole host of professional audio applications and utilities on the platform. Hardware drivers are up to date and also well supported. Connectivity is also well supported by audio hardware vendors.
I absolutely appreciate how Macs don't really need you to play with the drivers... I've been using them for years and haven't once needed to do so.
The larger point here is that the M1 is not as revolutionary as it's being made out to be. The "flagship killing" multi-core performance is embarrassed by the Ryzen 4800u, which can be found in NUCs that cost significantly less than the Mac Mini. If price were a limiting factor in the industry, we'd probably see more people reaching for those Ryzen machines: but we don't. That's why this article is ultimately self-defeating.
Sometimes a DJ or bedroom producer is using Windows. So it's quite surprising to hear you say that Linux is the standard.
Can you point me to any producers, artists, sound engineers, studios, or production houses that use Linux? I would love to know...
I have never seen anyone using CALF tools in this profession. Looking at what that does - the functionality is available in a number of rock-solid applications native to Apple (MainStage, Ableton, Logic, etc). So there's no reason why it would need to be ported to MacOS.
How are you measuring audio stack superiority? And in terms of "stack", are you talking about something separate from the suite of professional audio / MIDI tools that come standard on every Apple computer that don't seem to have any comparison on Linux or Windows?
Are you taking into account the availability of hardware drivers on these different platforms? What is your experience in setting up a Linux-based audio production system with a lot of outboard gear? This is one area that seems to be a major source of headaches and motivation to not use Linux for producers and engineers.
Even looking through the comments on this page - there's people talking about the difficulty of setting up a functional audio production environment in Linux compared to Apple. I've noticed this sentiment is repeated over and over again on HN (going back to previous articles on audio production, Ableton, etc).
This topic stands out to me as I've sincerely wanted Linux to be much less of a headache with audio so I can get off the Apple ecosystem entirely.
Audio on Linux can definitely work well, but other comments here mention Mainstage as the live performance software driving this decision, and offhand I can't think of a comparable app on Linux; you'd either live with different/worse UX, or have to code up something, which is not really in the scope of the quoted budgets.
I’m guessing they want orchestra sounds, and not just analog/subtractive, FM or other digital synth sounds.
With consumer and professional software, it’s never as simple as switching to Windows or Linux to get the job done when your entire back catalog of work and the training for the entire team is invested in a specific software package.
It is true that if you're (still) using PCI devices, drivers can be an issue, but there are several high end companies, including RME, with PCI device support on Linux.
Ardour, Mixbus, Bitwig and Reaper all run natively on Linux. Yes, that's a tiny subset of those available on proprietary platforms.
"Popular VSTs" feels like a wierd thing to say. I would doubt there is enough overlap in people's plugin use to every really create particularly popular ones. There are thousands of plugins available on Linux, both libre, gratis and proprietary. And even if I do not recommend the approach, many (not all) Windows VST plugins can be used on Linux. Yes, you cannot use plugins from companies that choose not support Linux without some hurdle hopping, and yes, that means that "well known" and not-easily replaceable plugins like those from Izotope and Native Instruments are generally out of reach.
The bigger point isn't that audio production isn't possible on Linux, it's that you have to make significant compromises to make it work. I count switching DAW as a significant compromise.
The cost difference between a Mac mini and Linux hardware of similar performance isn't worth those compromises to many creatives, outside of CG
That's why Ardour runs on more platforms that any other DAW, so you don't have to make that compromise :)