Re:The impact of Apple Silicon Macs on Broadway
by blymd on Saturday December 26, 2020 @12:30AM
(#25541633)
Actually RAM is not the issue. Most samplers only load the attack portion of samples into RAM anyway. SSDs are so fast now, we can stream the rest without issue. The problem has always been CPU-related as we have to set a low buffer size to minimize latency. The previous Mac minis we've worked with struggled with some of the more high-CPU plugins (VSTs as well as FX), so we had to compromise in many cases. I did some testing with an M1 MacBook Air, and it blew the old Mac minis away in terms of performance and stability. Very much looking forward to see how the M1 will be used in these live production situations.
Re:The impact of Apple Silicon Macs on Broadway
by scns on Friday December 25, 2020 @04:30AM
(#25535369)
You beat me to mentioning the sheer size of those libraries. If they reside on multi TB SSDs connected via Thunderbolt, taken along for the tour, i can easily imagine, that a Mac mini would a good solution. Apple embraced Thunderbolt early, it was even exclusive to them IIRC. If i were responsible for playing those sounds, i would want one stable platform too, instead of several diverging implementations on standard pc hardware and the fun (/s) that i'd have (drivers, windows updates etc...).
Re:The impact of Apple Silicon Macs on Broadway
by megameter on Friday December 25, 2020 @04:26PM
(#25539159)
The first "gigabyte" multisampled libraries appeared in the 2000's, when memory was even tighter and spinning disks were the norm, so you're underestimating the technique here - it's always been streaming-intensive, and the software is doing a lot to mask I/O latency. A faster disk goes a long way in this respect, letting you run more instances with smaller buffers.
Memory does pose a bottleneck for huge arrangements in the studio, but in the live setting you literally don't have enough performers at the keys for the same constraint to apply. The stuff they might trigger can be bounced out into multisamples, so the remaining bottleneck is with effects processing.
Re:The impact of Apple Silicon Macs on Broadway
by exged on Friday December 25, 2020 @05:55AM
(#25535714)
I get that all else being equal, it's better to put everything in RAM, but what point is it just poor software design? 1TB of RAM is nothing to sneeze at. Is there really such a great need for sub-100us read latencies that commodity NVMe SSDs are insufficient?
But M1 designs that max out at 16GB don't have the memory to handle plenty of sample libraries, so I don't understand how a Mac Mini is supposed to be up to the job.
It's not just about raw cycles but about cached access to the samples. The biggest libraries can run up to 1TB and you'll probably have more than one. Obviously you don't keep everything in RAM at the same time, but even so - 16GB is a serious limitation for this kind of work.
And if you're using a computer instead of a synth rig you cannot afford to have problems, because any stuttering or glitching is painfully obvious and distracting in a live setting.
It also makes no business sense for a Broadway show that may be grossing $25m a year with a multi-year run to cut costs to the bone on its musical hardware. Considering the cost saving involved in replacing real players (for better or worse...) it makes far more sense to spend twice as much initially for a no-risk professional setup than to pinch pennies and risk glitches.