Mac Pro 2019: Testing the 28-Core Model for Music Production

Testing the Fastest Mac Pro with Logic X

We acquired the top-of-the-line 28-core Mac Pro released in late 2019 and put its capabilities to the test with music-production software!
The YouTube livestream was scheduled for February 23, 2020, at 8:00 p.m. Japan time.

Video: Testing the Top-of-the-Line 28-Core Mac Pro

Selected Questions and Answers from the YouTube Video

I always learn a lot from your videos. Are there any virtual instruments that still do not support macOS? I am unsure whether to update.

We have confirmed that the software featured in our articles launches and runs. At the time of this test, software support seemed to be largely in place, but we had heard that some hardware, such as audio interfaces, was still unsupported. We therefore strongly recommend checking the manufacturer's website to confirm compatibility for the products you use.

I always watch your videos and have a question. Can I produce fully finished tracks on the latest MacBook Pro available at the time, with the top CPU option, 32 GB of memory and 1 TB of storage? I make EDM, idol pop and anime-style songs. I plan to install large plug-ins on an external SSD. If that setup is not sufficient, would using my current custom-built Windows PC, with an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and 48 GB of memory, as a VEP 7 server make it possible? Thank you.

We think the MacBook Pro configuration you describe should be capable of this. If your track count grows, using features such as track freezing can help keep production running smoothly.

Mac Pro Specifications

The Mac Pro we purchased has the following specifications.

• CPU: We chose the maximum 28-core configuration.
• Memory: It supports expansion to 1.5 TB (1,500 GB), but we chose 96 GB because we felt more was unnecessary for music and video production.
• Graphics: Although graphics have relatively little impact on music production, we chose the top graphics-card option with video production in mind.

After using it for a while, we were surprised by how quiet the machine was.
Even under heavy processing loads, the fans did not ramp up excessively, and it remained quiet.

Comparing It with the Previous Mac Pro in Logic X

During the livestream, we compared it with our older Mac Pro.

To monitor CPU usage, we used Activity Monitor, which comes with macOS.

You can launch it from Applications → Utilities.

You can also display CPU meters by clicking and holding the Activity Monitor icon.

The new Mac Pro has a 28-core CPU, and 56 meters are displayed.

We set Logic's buffer size to 64 samples, aiming for comfortable real-time recording as well.
This is a desirable setting for keeping latency very low during real-time recording.
To use all the available CPU resources, we set Processing Threads to the maximum value of 56.

For the test, we used SERUM, a relatively CPU-intensive software synthesizer. We also used plenty of unison voices and effects within SERUM to increase the load further.
We suspect few software-synth configurations would be more demanding than this one.

While watching the CPU meters, we duplicated this SERUM track to increase the track count.

The older Mac Pro began producing noise at 10 tracks, which was its limit in this test.
We also tried recording, but noise and latency made the experience difficult.

The new Mac Pro was much stronger by comparison.
It ran without any problems, so we increased the track count further.

Here it is running 30 tracks. Being able to load this many was very impressive.

Since it seemed to have capacity to spare, we added Ozone 9, a CPU-intensive effect plug-in, to all 30 tracks.
Even then, operation and playback were completely unaffected.

We then tried recording guitar in real time on top of this.
For the guitar effects, we used AmpliTube 4, which also places a relatively high load on the CPU.

In this setup, recording remained comfortable, with no noticeable latency or noise.

To simulate a band arrangement, we duplicated the guitar track nine times, making 10 guitar tracks in total, and it still ran without problems.
We think ordinary production work would rarely impose a heavier load than this.
Being able to continue working smoothly even under these conditions exceeded our expectations.

Additional Tests Requested by Viewers

We also carried out tests requested in the video comments. The results are below.

Testing Studio One and Cubase

We tried the same test conditions in Studio One.

CPU resources were used differently from Logic, as the meters show.
Once we went beyond approximately 26 tracks, noise appeared, controls became sluggish and playback became unstable.

Next, we tried Cubase.

As we duplicated tracks, we encountered noise and other issues, although playback would settle down after running for a while.
MIDI playback sometimes drifted out of time, and around 20 tracks appeared to be the stable range.

Based on these results, we concluded that Apple's own Logic X was the best choice for getting the most performance from this Mac Pro in our tests.

Testing the Massive X Software Synthesizer

We received a request to test Massive X.

With the unison voice count set to its maximum, it was indeed demanding.
Four tracks were the limit; noise and playback errors began with the fifth track.
It looked as though the CPU's logical cores were not being used at all, which might be related to Massive X's design, although this was only our impression.

The Omnisphere 2 Software Instrument

After testing CPU-intensive synthesizers, we also tried Omnisphere 2 as a sample-based instrument.
Sample-based instruments tend to use more memory when loading sounds, so we checked memory usage too.

Its CPU load was lighter than that of the demanding synthesizers above, so it handled 100 tracks with room to spare.

Memory usage depends heavily on the presets used, but our 100-track test used 11 GB.
There was plenty of memory headroom as well.

Power Consumption

The Mac Pro is known for high power consumption, so we measured how much electricity it used and what that cost under our test conditions.

We used an ELPA EC-03EB electricity usage meter.
Continuously playing the demanding project above resulted in a cost of approximately ¥8 per hour.

The 2018 MacBook Pro measured approximately ¥0.5 per hour.
A hair dryer running at maximum power measured approximately ¥26 per hour, so the Mac Pro's approximately ¥8 per hour was relatively high. These figures reflect the electricity-rate settings used for the original test.

That concludes our tests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Do you really need the 28-core Mac Pro 2019 for music production?

The tests in this article demonstrate the benefit of 28-core performance when using several CPU-intensive software synthesizers and effects simultaneously. It offers considerable processing headroom for typical production work.

Q2. Can DAWs other than Logic X, such as Studio One and Cubase, not make full use of the Mac Pro 2019?

Under the test conditions, Studio One was stable up to around 26 tracks and Cubase around 20. We concluded that Logic X used the Mac Pro's 28 cores more efficiently in these tests.

Q3. I have heard that the Mac Pro 2019 uses a lot of power. How much does the electricity actually cost?

Continuously playing a demanding project cost approximately ¥8 per hour under the original test conditions. This was higher than the approximately ¥0.5 per hour measured for the 2018 MacBook Pro, but relatively economical compared with the approximately ¥26 per hour measured for a hair dryer.

Q4. How many tracks of a sample-based instrument such as Omnisphere 2 can the Mac Pro 2019 handle?

In our test, it comfortably handled 100 tracks while using around 11 GB of memory. Sample-based instruments with lighter CPU demands suited this Mac Pro well.

Q5. What settings help avoid latency and noise during real-time recording?

For this article, we set the buffer size to 64 samples and Processing Threads to the CPU's maximum of 56. Under our test conditions, this provided a comfortable real-time recording setup with minimal latency.