The new trends in Apple peripherals is that they provide ecosystem benefits that you would not find in 3rd party vendors like TouchID, Spatial Audio and Center Stage. As the products go, they are on the premium side on both quality and price, but based on usability, 3rd party solutions provide a better deal for your dollar. But if you do not have any of the items, do not worry as Apple got you covered with their own official products.
Like the Mac Mini, Apple expects you to bring your own Keyboard, Mouse and Display to use the Mac Studio. I will get a cut from each transaction without any extra cost to you. The lower end starts at $500, medium end starts around $1000 and with a high end budget, you are able to splurge from $2000 and more.ĭisclaimer: every link to the product list goes to my Amazon Affiliate. While most people idea of modularity means that you can switch out components inside the Mac Studio, what Apple means by modularity is that it has enough ports, bandwidth and processing power to switch out external modules be it a high resolution monitors, external network card, music or video equipments, cameras and many other things.Īs we explore the many ways you can set up your Mac Studio, we set different levels of budget to suit your needs and also provide a path to upgrade. The great thing about Mac Studio is what makes Mac Mini great: modularity. The Mac Studio also fills the gap in the desktop Macs: users who wanted more from their Mac Mini but were unable or unwilling to purchase the expensive but versatile Mac Pro. So the theory goes, anywhere that the Mac Mini goes, the Mac Studio can also go. What is more intriguing is it occupies the exact same footprint as the Mac Mini but significantly taller. As everyone would know, the potential specs are quite impressive: a brand new Apple Silicon called M1 Ultra which essentially stitches two M1 Max and act as a single die with double of everything, up to 128 GB memory support, 8 TB storage, 10 Gigabit ethernet as standard, up to 6 Thunderbolt 4 ports which means each port has a bandwidth of 40 gigabit per second, and a HDMI 2.0 port which support up to 4K60 video. For more information on buying headphones, check out our guide to picking the perfect pair.With much fanfare, Apple unveiled a new Mac at Apple’s March “ Peek Performance” event: the all-new Mac Studio. Again, mixing with headphones is not the best idea but having a good pair for reference is. For a little more you can grab the HD25-1 IIs. They make for a good reference set, but you could get away with mixing with them if you absolutely needed to.
Sennheiser's HD series are very good and a pair like the HD555s can be acquired for little more than $100. (Referencing just means checking what the mix is going to sound like on equipment that isn't designed for mixing and will be more like what people will hear in the real world.) While you're definitely better off mixing with studio monitors, as headphones will not give you a realistic representation of a stereo mix, if you're intent on doing it for some reason just be sure to pick a good pair. If you're purchasing studio monitors, you can go a lot cheaper and just use your headphones for reference purposes. Digital KeyboardĪ really good pair of headphones will run you about $300, but you can get by with something less.
For Windows (and Linux, of course), check out LMMS.
(Thanks Dane!) On the free side, Ardour is a nice option for Mac and Linux. Reaper is a slightly cheaper option for Windows, coming in at $60. Sequel is another option and is cross-platform, but it's a bit more expensive ($80). It's also a good way to learn how things work when you're new to mixing since it holds your hand quite a bit. While it might seem a little limited, it's actually capable of quite a bit once you get into it. On a Mac, Garageband ($15) is really your ideal option for cheap mixing. If not, you can pick up some other stuff on the cheap or for free.
Many interfaces come with Cubase LE, ProTools LE, or a free version of some other popular software that will provide you with a means of recording, playing some digital instruments, adding effects, and creating a solid mix. You need software to utilize all this equipment, and the nice part is that if you bought an audio interface you probably got some for free.