Mac Pro 2012 Reason 12

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Fusion
Posts: 128
Joined: 24 Mar 2017
Location: UK

15 Jul 2022

I currently have a 2015 MacBook Pro 2.8 i7 16gb ram, which is struggling to playback smoothly without audio glitches and the Fan noise is getting unbearable.

Am thinking a 12 core Mac Pro will be a good cheap upgrade, does anyone still use one of these and no if it will be a significant upgrade or should I save for a newer model. Ideally I do not want to spend more than £500.

The 2018 i7 Mac mini or the i9 iMac 2019 look similar to the Mac Pro benchmark wise , but of course running a project in reason is the real test.

Am hoping to have multiple instances of CPU heavy instruments and effects like europa, pigments etc

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QVprod
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15 Jul 2022

I used to run a 2006 Mac Pro that replaced my 2010 MacBook Pro up until 2018. The 2012 may run decently but you’ll be fighting against operating system obsolescence for a 10 year old machine. Especially now with M1. Eventually newer software stops being compatible with the older operating systems.

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parma
Posts: 61
Joined: 19 Feb 2015

15 Jul 2022

Yeah, don't waste your money on a 2012 Mac Pro. That's what I'm running now and while it's still capable in terms of CPU, it's stuck at OS High Sierra and I can almost guarantee Reason 13 won't support High Sierra. Almost all newly released plugins aren't supporting High Sierra.

Fusion
Posts: 128
Joined: 24 Mar 2017
Location: UK

16 Jul 2022

I am aware of the software issue.

Currently running Mojave and that is the max supported by a 2012 Mac Pro. You can patch most Macs to run past that also https://github.com/dosdude1/macos-catalina-patcher. As long as it is powerful to run big projects , I will be happy. Wondering how big a difference it is to my current MacBook Pro.

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QVprod
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16 Jul 2022

Fusion wrote:
16 Jul 2022
I am aware of the software issue.

Currently running Mojave and that is the max supported by a 2012 Mac Pro. You can patch most Macs to run past that also https://github.com/dosdude1/macos-catalina-patcher. As long as it is powerful to run big projects , I will be happy. Wondering how big a difference it is to my current MacBook Pro.
I’m aware of patching. That’s how my 2006 worked for so long. There are still limits to it though and occasional bugs. The M1 change will eventually cause the same issue. But you may be safe for a while if a patch for Big Sur is possible

As far as power. The single core performance is obviously much lower but you have more cores so you may have better performance but it’s hard to say if It’d be extremely better.

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stillifegaijin
Posts: 250
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16 Jul 2022

Yes, the 2012 Mac Pro will be faster and handle more than the 2015 MacBook Pro. That's the easy answer. But the 2012 is already obsolete any base model M1 computer will probably be faster, including the Mac Mini, the MacBook Air, iMac, and definitely M1 MacBook Pros. - Especially when we eventually (please, please, please) get Native M1 support for Reason. And if you even dabble in Logic I wouldn't get anything but M1.

Where can you even get a 2012 Mac Pro for $500? I'd be very cautious about who you buy such an old used machine from. It looks like OWC has base models starting just under $500 but the moment you do any real upgrades, which you will want, probably need for it to work as you want it to, you will be well over $500. Also, do you have a monitor or monitors or do you need to consider that expense on top of the machine?

I have a 2010 Mac Pro that is very upgraded. 12 core 3.46 processor upgrade, 64GB of RAM, upgraded 8GB video card etc. I am running Mojave. I also have a 2015 MacBook Pro. The tower is more powerful but I still can't run extremely VST or track intense projects on it without issues and as software progresses, and it's progressing quickly, it will only get worse. There are already programs I could not update on that machine.

I recently replaced my Mac Pro with a Mac Studio. The base model Studio is out of your desired range but I would suggest looking into the M1 Mac mini. Assuming you do have monitors and that's not an issue and you don't need more than two displays The Mac Mini is impressive, will handle more than a 2012 Mac Pro, and will last longer. I would have gotten the Mini except that I require 3 displays for work. I was waiting on a higher end Mini with support for 3 monitors but Apple dropped the Studio instead so I went that route.

I think a 2012 Mac Pro is a pretty short term and overly complicated fix for your problem. You'd be better to spend a little more and get something better that will last longer.

Best of luck...

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geronimo
Posts: 627
Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: France

19 Jul 2022

Same for me; I still have a working 2010 MacPro.
I recently acquired a 24" Imac M1 with the 1 TB SSD + 16 GB of RAM memory. I absolutely don't regret my purchase, especially for the quality of the Imac M1 screen.
The MacPro serves me as a test machine but I rarely include new features...

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StephenHutchinson
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19 Jul 2022

I have a 2009 MacBook Pro 17" with Catalina installed on a 1TB SSD drive I put in. Reason 12 runs pretty smoothly despite the 13 year old hardware. To be fair, it doesn't hold a candle to my Mac mini M1 with a 1TB SSD and 16 GB of ram, but the MacBook pro is no slouch either. I never seem to feel any lag when using Reason. The thing is a heavy beast though and I absolutely love the 17" "matte" screen... back when you could order one of those...

I used to take it to the hospital 3 days a week when I was on dialysis for 2.5 years starting back in 2013. Although I'm super careful with my equipment in general, I guess I "abused" it enough taking it back and forth, that it eventually died. A couple years back I discovered you could swap out the old spinny hard drive, shove in some new ram an a logic board and voom... back to life it came.
20200912_014808.jpg
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:reason: Reason User Since Version 1.0
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Fusion
Posts: 128
Joined: 24 Mar 2017
Location: UK

22 Jul 2022

Thanks for everyones opinion.

The 12 core trashcan Mac, looks like it could be another option. They seem to be going for cheap as most people are probably upgrading to Apple silicon ( something I am not interested in).

If someone wants to let me know how many instances of europa you can have before crackling audio , would be appreciated. Or maybe someone knows a better comparison?

On my current MacBook I can get about 17 instances of the "Full Poly" patch at 128 buffer size using Traktor Z2 as the sound card.

Fusion
Posts: 128
Joined: 24 Mar 2017
Location: UK

22 Jul 2022

StephenHutchinson wrote:
19 Jul 2022
I have a 2009 MacBook Pro 17" with Catalina installed on a 1TB SSD drive I put in. Reason 12 runs pretty smoothly despite the 13 year old hardware. To be fair, it doesn't hold a candle to my Mac mini M1 with a 1TB SSD and 16 GB of ram, but the MacBook pro is no slouch either. I never seem to feel any lag when using Reason. The thing is a heavy beast though and I absolutely love the 17" "matte" screen... back when you could order one of those...

I used to take it to the hospital 3 days a week when I was on dialysis for 2.5 years starting back in 2013. Although I'm super careful with my equipment in general, I guess I "abused" it enough taking it back and forth, that it eventually died. A couple years back I discovered you could swap out the old spinny hard drive, shove in some new ram an a logic board and voom... back to life it came.

20200912_014808.jpg
I upgraded to this 2015 15" i7 16gb from a 2012 i5 12gb and the performance seemed quicker on my older machine. This was around the time when they added VST support and maybe a big change in Mac OS had something to do with it.

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QVprod
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22 Jul 2022

Fusion wrote:
22 Jul 2022
StephenHutchinson wrote:
19 Jul 2022
I have a 2009 MacBook Pro 17" with Catalina installed on a 1TB SSD drive I put in. Reason 12 runs pretty smoothly despite the 13 year old hardware. To be fair, it doesn't hold a candle to my Mac mini M1 with a 1TB SSD and 16 GB of ram, but the MacBook pro is no slouch either. I never seem to feel any lag when using Reason. The thing is a heavy beast though and I absolutely love the 17" "matte" screen... back when you could order one of those...

I used to take it to the hospital 3 days a week when I was on dialysis for 2.5 years starting back in 2013. Although I'm super careful with my equipment in general, I guess I "abused" it enough taking it back and forth, that it eventually died. A couple years back I discovered you could swap out the old spinny hard drive, shove in some new ram an a logic board and voom... back to life it came.

20200912_014808.jpg
I upgraded to this 2015 15" i7 16gb from a 2012 i5 12gb and the performance seemed quicker on my older machine. This was around the time when they added VST support and maybe a big change in Mac OS had something to do with it.
Retina display MacBook Pros had some performance issues in Reason before 12. Possibly the cause.

Fusion
Posts: 128
Joined: 24 Mar 2017
Location: UK

02 Sep 2022

Given up with the idea of a Mac Pro . I saw a logic benchmark where it compared similar to i9 iMac or iMac Pro, so should still be capable but the problem I have is they use a lot of power even at idle it is over 100w.

DJ EVON
Posts: 5
Joined: 14 Aug 2020

08 Jun 2023

Hi all, hope all is well. I myself is in the process of purchasing a new desktop mac and was looking at the M2 Pro Mac Mini & the Mac studio M2 max. what's everyones thoughts between these two? which should I get? I don't wanna spend more $2,500 but want the best to work with reason.

Thanks in advance+

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QVprod
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08 Jun 2023

DJ EVON wrote:
08 Jun 2023
Hi all, hope all is well. I myself is in the process of purchasing a new desktop mac and was looking at the M2 Pro Mac Mini & the Mac studio M2 max. what's everyones thoughts between these two? which should I get? I don't wanna spend more $2,500 but want the best to work with reason.

Thanks in advance+
The Mac mini is enough. But there’s nothing wrong with more power if you can afford it.

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Re8et
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Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

08 Jun 2023

DJ EVON wrote:
08 Jun 2023
Hi all, hope all is well. I myself is in the process of purchasing a new desktop mac and was looking at the M2 Pro Mac Mini & the Mac studio M2 max. what's everyones thoughts between these two? which should I get? I don't wanna spend more $2,500 but want the best to work with reason.

Thanks in advance+
I just sold my M1 mini for a M2 mini. Both base model.
I was worried I would lose a lot in value now that the M2 is out at 599 on my M1.
So I traded my M1 for an M2. I lost some SSD speed apparently, not very noticeable in RWU.

I can bend my M1 to its knees with just a couple of Viking 2 in polyphony mode if I want...
For comparison my Xeon X64 W10 PC can handle at least 20 Viking 2 ( Or Spire, Legend, etc) at max polyphony
without a hitch...
I have no idea how many more a M2 PRO could handle. There are no video of people doing reviews
for us musicians/Djs/composers except some random Logic Pro dude, which is Silicon Native...
If you'r workflow is more about sampling... that's another world entirely....

A basic M1 mini, or M1 Air 8gb, will suffice for most hardcore usage, even in Rosetta. Swap memory is insanely efficient. NOW the best is not a M2 Studio max yet. Reason is not yet Native.
For me, a base M1 or M2 mini, is more than enough for 99% of my projects.

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stillifegaijin
Posts: 250
Joined: 27 Oct 2020

08 Jun 2023

DJ EVON wrote:
08 Jun 2023
Hi all, hope all is well. I myself is in the process of purchasing a new desktop mac and was looking at the M2 Pro Mac Mini & the Mac studio M2 max. what's everyones thoughts between these two? which should I get? I don't wanna spend more $2,500 but want the best to work with reason.

Thanks in advance+
Either should be more than capable of doing the job. If you go with then Mini I would consider upping the ram to 32GB. And with either I would recommend upping the storage to 1GB. That would put the Mini + ram + storage at $1899 vs the Studio + storage at $2199.

I have the Studio M1 Ultra and I love it. I know it's hard to believe but if I try real hard I can still push it to the limit in Reason (admittedly I'm still running in Rosetta mode for most sessions right now due to plugins I'm using to finish some jobs - once I'm fully in M1 mode it should be harder to hit the limit).

I don't know what kind of sessions you run, but if you want as much power as you can get for your budget I would suggest the Studio Max between the two options. But both are great options.

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stillifegaijin
Posts: 250
Joined: 27 Oct 2020

08 Jun 2023

Re8et wrote:
08 Jun 2023

A basic M1 mini, or M1 Air 8gb, will suffice for most hardcore usage, even in Rosetta. Swap memory is insanely efficient. NOW the best is not a M2 Studio max yet. Reason is not yet Native.
For me, a base M1 or M2 mini, is more than enough for 99% of my projects.
Huh? Reason is not yet Native? Yes, it is. Maybe you aren't using it Native?

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Re8et
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Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

08 Jun 2023

Fusion wrote:
22 Jul 2022
Thanks for everyones opinion.

The 12 core trashcan Mac, looks like it could be another option. They seem to be going for cheap as most people are probably upgrading to Apple silicon ( something I am not interested in).

If someone wants to let me know how many instances of europa you can have before crackling audio , would be appreciated. Or maybe someone knows a better comparison?

On my current MacBook I can get about 17 instances of the "Full Poly" patch at 128 buffer size using Traktor Z2 as the sound card.


First pop a 56 instances of Europa on M2 mini base model. @512 samples
@128 samples 38 instances
Here is the Benchmark song. Try it yourself.
Europa Benchmark song V1.reason.zip
(555.04 KiB) Downloaded 29 times
If you find an offer on a MacBook Pro M1 or Air M1 go for it, if the price is right, it's a good choice, unless you don't run 3.000 legacy plugins which run only on X64 arch...

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Re8et
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Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

08 Jun 2023

Also an Air M1 can be found for around 700 Eur on ebay, which is around 600 pounds?
Might be worth considering.


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