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I feel like this article is FUD. Nearly every professional audio interface for Mac, iPhone, or iPad has a 1/4" stereo headphone output for real studio monitor h

by eddieh 10y ago

I feel like this article is FUD. Nearly every professional audio interface for Mac, iPhone, or iPad has a 1/4" stereo headphone output for real studio monitor headphones. No pro is concerned that they lost the 1/8" output for bargain headphones on their iPhone. Any iMac or MacBook Pro from the last 5 years is sufficient for any pro audio workflow. A Mac Pro is still sufficient and is way overkill. A lot of people can be pretty productive on an iPad too. New Macs are coming, Apple isn't abandoning the Mac. I just updated to macOS Sierra and all my pro audio equipment has either kept working as is or the manufacturer released a driver update within days of the macOS Sierra release.

readymade 10y ago
You'd be surprised how many people play live with 1/8" jacks. It's also a useful backup when someone spills beer on your RME Fireface.
- eddieh 10y ago
  You're right, I would be surprised.
wwweston 10y ago
If the article were just about the headphone jack, maybe you'd have a point. Maybe not, though. For one thing "pro audio workflow" isn't the limits of concern here. 1/4" mono ain't exactly a dream interface from an audio engineering POV (ground? what ground?), but it's sure a popular one and a lot of musicians don't know/care. If iOS devices are now instruments, just because producers/sound guys might spend hundreds on their headphones (and I have) doesn't mean there aren't going to be would-be performers using what came with the device. Or that there shouldn't be. But the article is not just about the headphone jack, there's an additional half-dozen considerations that you haven't said anything to address other than "works for me." I can assure you that this is not everyone's experience.
wrigby 10y ago
> Any iMac or MacBook Pro from the last 5 years is sufficient for any pro audio workflow. Just a few days ago, Pro Tools popped up the annoying "A CPU Overload Has Occurred" dialog box while I was working on a mix. Mid-2015 rMBP, 2.5 GHz. It was a pretty simple session, too - nothing that breaks any rules, like reverbs on inserts. 12 or so tracks and three stereo effects (on their own busses). I'm amazed every day at how much capability my MBP puts into my hands, but it is not without limitations. To say it's sufficient for any pro audio workflow is a bit of a stretch.
- willtim 10y ago
  The problem with the ultrathin MBP, like all ultrabooks, is that it is not designed for sustained CPU use. It overheats quickly and the CPU will be throttled. You will be better off with a proper mobile workstation like the Lenovo Thinkpad P50 or P70 with Xeon CPUs and better cooling.
  - dijit 10y ago
    We should be boycotting Lenovo for their absolutely abhorrent business practices, not promoting them.
    - willtim 10y ago
      I use them only as an example I'm familiar with. What abhorrent business practices are you referring to? I find Apple's 0.005% European corporate tax arrangements abhorrent personally. EDIT: the HP ZBook Studio G3 also looks quite good
      - pascal_cuoq 10y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfish “On February 20, 2015, Microsoft released an update for Windows Defender which removes Superfish.” Microsoft has to uninstall the malware that Lenovo had put on the computers it had sold. Lenovo did not remove it on its own. Let that sink in.
charlesism 10y ago
The state of Apple may be okay for you personally, but the rest of the Pro market is famously neurotic about maximum power and maximum stability. A video editing shop isn't content with rendering on three year old hardware, or having frequent updates and bugs to mess with their workflow. The article's not just sewing FUD.
walshemj 10y ago
Depends just how many plugins you want to run Apples lack of grunt at the high end is going to hurt pros (Ie Air 1 or Abby Road)
TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
>Any iMac or MacBook Pro from the last 5 years is sufficient for any pro audio workflow. Pro audio workflows can include more than a hundred tracks, all running demanding plugins. A MacBook Pro can be good enough for bedroom studios and simple mixes without many tracks, but no one is going to record and mix a film score on one.

by eddieh 10y ago

readymade 10y ago

You'd be surprised how many people play live with 1/8" jacks. It's also a useful backup when someone spills beer on your RME Fireface.

eddieh 10y ago
You're right, I would be surprised.

wwweston 10y ago

If the article were just about the headphone jack, maybe you'd have a point. Maybe not, though. For one thing "pro audio workflow" isn't the limits of concern here. 1/4" mono ain't exactly a dream interface from an audio engineering POV (ground? what ground?), but it's sure a popular one and a lot of musicians don't know/care. If iOS devices are now instruments, just because producers/sound guys might spend hundreds on their headphones (and I have) doesn't mean there aren't going to be would-be performers using what came with the device. Or that there shouldn't be. But the article is not just about the headphone jack, there's an additional half-dozen considerations that you haven't said anything to address other than "works for me." I can assure you that this is not everyone's experience.

wrigby 10y ago

> Any iMac or MacBook Pro from the last 5 years is sufficient for any pro audio workflow. Just a few days ago, Pro Tools popped up the annoying "A CPU Overload Has Occurred" dialog box while I was working on a mix. Mid-2015 rMBP, 2.5 GHz. It was a pretty simple session, too - nothing that breaks any rules, like reverbs on inserts. 12 or so tracks and three stereo effects (on their own busses). I'm amazed every day at how much capability my MBP puts into my hands, but it is not without limitations. To say it's sufficient for any pro audio workflow is a bit of a stretch.

willtim 10y ago
The problem with the ultrathin MBP, like all ultrabooks, is that it is not designed for sustained CPU use. It overheats quickly and the CPU will be throttled. You will be better off with a proper mobile workstation like the Lenovo Thinkpad P50 or P70 with Xeon CPUs and better cooling.
- dijit 10y ago
  We should be boycotting Lenovo for their absolutely abhorrent business practices, not promoting them.
  - willtim 10y ago
    I use them only as an example I'm familiar with. What abhorrent business practices are you referring to? I find Apple's 0.005% European corporate tax arrangements abhorrent personally. EDIT: the HP ZBook Studio G3 also looks quite good
    - pascal_cuoq 10y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfish “On February 20, 2015, Microsoft released an update for Windows Defender which removes Superfish.” Microsoft has to uninstall the malware that Lenovo had put on the computers it had sold. Lenovo did not remove it on its own. Let that sink in.

charlesism 10y ago

The state of Apple may be okay for you personally, but the rest of the Pro market is famously neurotic about maximum power and maximum stability. A video editing shop isn't content with rendering on three year old hardware, or having frequent updates and bugs to mess with their workflow. The article's not just sewing FUD.

walshemj 10y ago

Depends just how many plugins you want to run Apples lack of grunt at the high end is going to hurt pros (Ie Air 1 or Abby Road)

TheOtherHobbes 10y ago

>Any iMac or MacBook Pro from the last 5 years is sufficient for any pro audio workflow. Pro audio workflows can include more than a hundred tracks, all running demanding plugins. A MacBook Pro can be good enough for bedroom studios and simple mixes without many tracks, but no one is going to record and mix a film score on one.