Job openings in music tech this month: Recording studios, music brands, and moreMusicTech’s jobs in April fall across education, marketing, retail, studio management, and more. There is room for hobbyists looking to step into the professional realm for the first time as an in-store product specialist for Roland’s London shop, as well as the most experienced professionals looking to shift towards some of the most prominent tech brands in the world such as L-Acoustics.
Read on to check out MusicTech’s April job openings.
Marketing and Content Manager at GForce Software
GForce Software is the developer behind VSTs of classic synths such as the Novation Bass Station and the Oberheim OB-1. The Marketing and Content Manager role is perfect for synth experts who can discuss the instruments with both general and advanced audiences, and also create videos and other content for social media.
A producer or sound designer with 3 to 5 years of experience in marketing, content creation, community management, or similar would be well-suited here. GForce is looking for a candidate capable of coordinating multiple workflows and with a keen eye for authenticity when building out campaigns. The core GForce team is small but creative and fast-moving; you’ll be working with freelancers and contributors a lot, too, so skills in communicating and collaborating are key here.

Salary: Dependent on Experience
Location: Remote UK
Required qualifications: 3 to 5 years of experience in relevant field
Best for: Synth lovers, bedroom producers, sound design nerds

Credit: Novation/GForce
Studio Manager/Engineer at Helix Records
Helix Records and Payday Publishing, home to such respected artists as Jamie Jones, San Holo, and Snakehips, have opened new studios in Central London. It needs someone to oversee operations as it brings in exciting new artists and songwriters to shape the new generation of electronic music. This job is for someone who knows how to run a studio session end-to-end and ensure there’s everything an artist needs to stay creative..
An experienced sound engineer or studio manager familiar with all manner of equipment, gear, and tech. That could include everything from recording techniques and studio operations to Pro Tools and Logic Pro, to recording consoles and outboard gear. You must be able to troubleshoot issues in real time and support clients. Excellent communication, organisation, and a passion for music are also required.

Salary: £36,000 to £60,000
Location: Central London
Best for: Studio experts. Music retail shop managers. Back-end producers.

Sound Designer – Rocksteady Studios
When it’s time to bring unforgettable characters under the Warner Bros. umbrella to video games, Rocksteady Studios answers the call. The developer behind classics such as Batman Arkham City is looking for a sound designer for a new AAA project. Specifics are sparse at the moment, but the right candidate could build the sound of the Batmobile revving towards the next battle with The Joker.
This role is for someone who has already designed audio for completed interactive media projects. You should know how to create a variety of different sounds, including SFX and environmental sounds, while also assisting with tasks related to field recording, music, and dialogue. Pro Tools is the primary DAW, but Reaper, Ableton, and analogue outboard gear are also used. Being able to identify and address issues and bugs throughout the development process is ideal as well.
Location: London hybrid
Best for: Sound design experts, video game composers
Software Tester – Music Technology at InMusic
InMusic is home to some legendary music tech brands, such as Akai, Moog, and Rane, and more. The Software Tester will get to ensure the upcoming digital products function properly by the time they become available for purchase, and also work out the kinks in any existing products.
Testers must know the deepest ins and outs of digital production products: how they’re made, and what needs to happen before they hit the shelves. They’ll also know how to clearly communicate what works and what doesn’t by developing testing parameters.

Location: Cambridge, UK
Best for: Synth lovers, bedroom producers.

Education Specialist, Americas at L-Acoustics
L-Acoustics supplies live sound for everything from the Olympics to Coachella to the Super Bowl. The Education Specialist will ensure that its global userbase understands how to use its full range of products, including loudspeakers, immersive audio, and staging software. They will teach and ensure education partners have the most up-to-date information and curriculum to pass along through their programs as well.
This is an educational role, so candidates must have an expert understanding of the products and the ability to explain them to audiences of all skill levels. Previous professional experience in teaching is ideal to ensure proficiency in commanding a room and developing education programs across dozens of courses.

Location: Nashville, Hybrid
Best for: Audio experts, production tutors

Marketing Co-ordinator (Permanent) at AlphaTheta
AlphaTheta CDJ-3000X. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
AlphaTheta is an iconic DJ gear brand, but it also manufactures speakers, headphones, production hardware, and more. The Marketing Co-ordinator will have a hand in campaigns across the full line, working closely with the Marketing Director to take care of whatever needs to be done.
This is a multifaceted role that combines product management, influencer and artist seeding for campaigns, social media, public relations, contracts, and budgeting. Working under the Marketing Director, the Co-ordinator will work on all elements of marketing campaigns, so organisational skills and time management are essential. Education in marketing will also help candidates understand the full range of campaigns.

Location: Remote, UK
Required qualifications: Degree in marketing or related discipline
Best for: DJ hobbyists, learned ravers

Roland London Store Product Specialist (Part Time) at Roland
Roland’s Denmark Street location is in one of the busiest districts in London, so these Product Specialists will be talking about Roland gear with all manner of customers. The store sells everything from brand-new synths to MIDI keyboards and electronic drum kits, so widespread expertise and enthusiasm are a must.
This is a customer-facing, retail position, so on top of in-depth product knowledge, a sunny disposition will go a long way. The ability to work with the public is essential as this is a high-traffic location that will see casual browsers and studio professionals come through the door. There will also be events in store that specialists will assist with, and supporting work, such as store maintenance, is part of the purview as well.

Location: Roland Showroom on Denmark Street, London
Best for: Synth experts, bedroom producers

DJ Instructor at Guitar Center
As DJing becomes more and more popular, more and more prospective jockeys are looking for help from experts. That’s where you come in. These are private lessons, so it’s possible you could be training the next DMC champion or the next Glastonbury headliner.
Instructors will teach lessons and also be responsible for increasing the number of students taking lessons. This will require working with the store on outreach and ensuring each student has a positive experience to fuel word-of-mouth recommendations. As such, prior professional teaching experience is ideal, but if you’ve taught your buddies how to DJ, that can be helpful, too. Guitar Center provides the curriculum as well, so you should be able to understand and communicate it to turn beginners into intermediates.

Salary: $16.90/hr – $19.90/hr Non-Teaching Rate and up to $29.70/hr Total Teaching Rate depending on background and experience.
Location: Multiple stores in the US
Best for: DJ enthusiasts

Additional Resources
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Electro-Harmonix partners with MixWave to bring its classic pedals to plugin formElectro-Harmonix pedals are legendary in the guitar world, and now, the brand has partnered with MixWave to bring a selection of its classic units to plugin form.
Comprising four plugins – offering six classic EHX circuits in total – the EHX Classics collection features, first up, the Big Muff Pi Fuzz. This includes three classic Big Muff fuzz/distortion circuits: the Big Muff Pi, Ram’s Head Big Muff and Russian Big Head.
“From smooth sustain to aggressive low-end punch, the plugin captures the unique response and tonal differences that made these variations so widely loved,” says EHX. “Switch between circuits to explore the full spectrum of Big Muff tones in a single plugin.”

READ MORE: Cherry Audio revives an oddball 1978 Italian synth with the Crumar DS-2: “A true example of ‘vintage digital’ technology”

The collection also features a plugin version of the Deluxe Memory Man Analogue Delay – the “pinnacle of BBD analogue delays” – as well as the Electric Mistress Flanger/Filter matrix, and Small Clone Chorus.
Each of these plugins has been created using “detailed component-level modelling” in order to faithfully capture the analogue circuitry of the original pedals.

“Few companies have shaped the sound of modern music like Electro-Harmonix,” adds EHX. 
“From soaring fuzz to lush chorus, sweeping flanger and expansive analogue delay, our pedals have defined countless recordings for generations of musicians and producers.”
The EHX Classics are available now, both individually, and as a bundle with an introductory price of $109 (normal price $149). You can also sign up to the MixWave newsletter to save 15%.
Learn more at MixWave.
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Audio Assault releases Amp Locker 98, a FREE guitar amp sim in full Windows 98 style
Audio Assault has released Amp Locker 98, a free guitar amp simulation plugin dressed head-to-toe in Windows 98 aesthetics. Yes, it’s an April Fools’ release, but no, it’s not a joke. Well, it is, but it’s also a real guitar amp plugin. If you grew up in the late 90s like me, this will be [...]
View post: Audio Assault releases Amp Locker 98, a FREE guitar amp sim in full Windows 98 style

Cherry Audio revives an oddball 1978 Italian synth with the Crumar DS-2: “A true example of ‘vintage digital’ technology”Cherry Audio has unveiled Crumar DS-2, a synth plugin that “faithfully recreates” the quirky, digital-analogue character of the 1978 original alongside modern feature upgrades.
The original Crumar DS-2 was an early hybrid synth, combining a monophonic synth engine with a 44-note fully polyphonic section for a distinctive layered sound. Its digitally controlled oscillators avoided the tuning drift of typical analogue synths, but produced deliberately “stair-stepped” waveforms, giving it a gritty, harmonically edgy tone. The Poly section used a single filter and VCA to generate unique sawtooth-like waves, and shared modulation settings with the Synth engine.
The result was a sound unlike anything else at the time: neither smooth digital nor buttery analogue warmth, but jagged, raw, and slightly raspy, with a bold harmonic bite that gave the DS-2 its signature character.

READ MORE: Cherry Audio’s new SH-MAX instrument plugin fuses together three vintage Roland synth emulations

“DS-2 is a true example of ‘vintage digital’ technology, and it’s been an exciting journey to revive it in collaboration with Crumar Instruments,” says Cherry Audio.
That character remains intact, but the plugin pushes things further with a suite of modern upgrades.
The Synth section now offers monophonic modes, unison, multi-voice options, oscillator sync, and a stair-stepped sine waveform for OSC 2. Meanwhile, the Poly section is fully polyphonic, supporting up to 32 notes, and both sections can be layered or split across the keyboard. Three assignable LFOs include sync, retrigger, one-shot, and reverse waveforms, with discrete delay knobs for each, while envelopes now feature initial delay stage, looped modes, and velocity sensitivity.
The plugin also incorporates a VCA release control, both 12dB 2-pole and original 24dB 4-pole options with polarity and key follow, assignable pitch bend and mod wheel functions, plus a dynamic arpeggiator with four pattern modes and randomisation options.
Three independent customisable effects chains – one each for the Synth and Poly sections plus a global layer – host 20 studio-quality effects, each with its own modulator. Over 300 professionally designed presets are also included, with an extra 100 sounds available via the new Deep Space Preset Pack for DS-2 ($9.99). Complete MIDI control and DAW automation are also supported for all controls via easy-to-use MIDI learn and mapping.
As Cherry Audio puts it, the DS-2 delivers “the fun parts of owning a strange vintage synth, without the less-fun parts.” Priced at $59, it’s available in AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and standalone formats.
Learn more at Cherry Audio.
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Robotaxi companies refuse to say how often their AVs need remote helpAurora, May Mobility, Motional, Nuro, Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox all refused to cough up a number during Senator Ed Markey's recent investigation.

Wall Street moves benchmarks onchain as S&P tokenizes Treasury indexS&P Dow Jones Indices puts its iBoxx US Treasuries Index on the Canton Network, allowing institutions to access bond benchmark data through tokens rather than feeds.

Tokyo Dawn Labs OD LimenOD Limen – named after the Latin word for "threshold" – is a high-frequency acceleration limiter designed for mixing and mastering. Rather than limiting the full signal, Limen isolates and processes only the high-frequency content above a user-defined crossover point: Depth controls the intensity of the limiting process, from subtle taming to aggressive control. Crossover sets the split point using a linear-phase filter with adaptive slope for perfect signal reconstruction. Tilt shapes the spectral balance of what the limiter sees, controlling the focus between low and high frequencies. Recover preserves your tonal balance – ensuring Limen only affects the dynamics, not the character of your sound. Values above 100% add a silky high-frequency quality that conventional EQ cannot achieve. Traditional high-frequency limiters rely on a fixed threshold and require careful calibration to match the input level. Limen instead responds to high-frequency acceleration directly, adapting automatically to any input level. The processor features Focus Listen for soloing individual frequency bands, an external sidechain input, configurable keyboard shortcuts, and flexible L/R or M/S channel processing. Ohlhorst Digital is a brand by Jan Ohlhorst. Initially developed exclusively for his work as a mastering engineer, these well refined products are now being made publicly accessible. Read More

How Small Can A Linux Executable Be?With ever increasing sizes of various programs (video games being notorious for this), the question of size optimization comes up more and more often. [Nathan Otterness] shows us how it’s done by minifying a Linux “Hello, World!” program to the extreme.
A naive attempt at a minimal hello world in C might land you somewhere about 12-15Kb, but [Nathan] can do much better. He starts by writing everything in assembly, using Linux system calls. This initial version without optimization is 383 bytes. The first major thing to go is the section headers; they are not needed to actually run the program. Now he’s down to 173 bytes. And this is without any shenanigans!
The final tiny ELF file
The first shenanigans are extreme code size optimizations: by selecting instructions carefully (and in a way a C compiler never would), he shaves another 16 bytes off. But the real shenanigans begin when he starts looking for spaces in the ELF header that he can clobber while the program is still accepted by Linux: now he can move his already tiny x86_64 code into these “vacant” spaces in the ELF and program headers for a final tiny ELF file weighing in at just 120 bytes.
P.S.: We know it is possible to make this smaller, but leave this as an exercise to the viewer.

Kevin Mayer, former TikTok CEO and Disney veteran, joins HYBE board of directorsMayer's appointment comes amid significant changes at HYBE America.
Source

New Edition, Boyz II Men, and Toni Braxton at the State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GAOne of the hottest tours of the year, New Edition, Boyz II Men, and Toni Braxton stopped at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA for the first of two sold out shows March 29. All three performed together on one stage. Following an intro video, the show began at 7:45 p.m. following a DJ set. New Edition hit the stage where they were then joined by Boyz II Men and Toni Braxton performing “We Going Out Tonight.” Rather than being three separate sets, it was a 38-song setlist lasting nearly three—each artist took turns on stage, backed by New Edition’s live band and, at times, a shared ensemble of dancers. Boyz II Men would take over for one of their biggest hits, “Motownphilly,” followed by Braxton on “He Wasn’t Man Enough for Me." With a New Edition show you get Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, and Ralph Tresvant's solo hits “My Prerogative,” “Rub You the Right Way,” “Sensitivity,” Bel Biv DeVoe hits like “Poison” which was the closing song, and even an LSG hit “My Body” (Gill's supergroup). The New Edition hits included “If It Isn’t Love,” “Can You Stand the Rain,” “Boys To Men,” and a medley of early hits “Mr. Telephone Man,” “Candy Girl,” and “Cool It Now.” Boyz II Men performed hits like “End of the Road,” Please Don’t Go,” and “4 Seasons Of Loneliness.” Toni Braxton’s hits included “Just Be A Man About It,” “How Many Ways,” and “Un-Break My Heart.” The finale of "Poison" included all of New Edition and Boyz II Men.

New Edition, Boyz II Men, and Toni Braxton will return to the State Farm Arena on April 2nd.

Photos by Arielle "Scoot" HollowayThe post New Edition, Boyz II Men, and Toni Braxton at the State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

“More expressive. More you”: Suno adds voice cloning in its v5.5 updateSuno v5.5 has arrived, with the AI music creation platform touting it as its “best and most expressive model yet”.
Front and centre among the new updates for Suno v5.5 is the addition of Voices, a new feature which enables users to clone their own voice and create new music with it. 
Available on Suno’s Pro and Premier tiers, Voices entails a verification process whereby the singing voice in your live-captured audio is matched to a random phrase Suno asks you to speak, after which you’re free to create.

READ MORE: The Apple Mac Pro – the go-to computer for high-end music production – has been discontinued

Suno emphasises the importance of keeping each user’s uploaded Voice private: “Only you can use them to create new songs,” it says, also sharing future plans to “add voice sharing, but rooted in the principle that you stay in control of what you create”.
“The human voice is the oldest instrument we have,” Suno says. “Before notation, before strings, before drums carved from wood, there was the voice. Every culture on earth has used it to sing, celebrate, and tell stories across generations.
“The voice is the one instrument that every person carries with them, and yet most people never sing or share it with the world. With Suno, you can now capture your voice and create music with it.”
Also new to Suno v5.5 are two new ways aimed at making Suno “feel like yours”: Custom models and My Taste.

Custom Models let you tune the platform to the music you’ve created, meaning when you upload tracks from your original catalogue, it builds a personalised version of the model that knows your style. Similarly, Suno uses My Taste to learn the kind of music you’re drawn to over time, like your favourite genres and moods.
“From the beginning, we’ve built Suno around a simple belief: the best music starts with a human,” Suno explains. 
“Our tools exist to expand what people can create – to amplify the instinct, taste, and feeling that only a person brings to music. v5.5 is our deepest expression of that belief so far, a model that doesn’t just help create music, but fully reflects the person making it.
“This update also reflects something we’re seeing more and more: artists, producers, and music professionals are using Suno as part of their creative process. v5.5 was built with them in mind  because we believe the best version of Suno is one that works for anyone who makes music, from first-time creators to working professionals.
In November, Suno announced it had raised $250 million in its latest funding round, leading to a total valuation of $2.45 billion.
The post “More expressive. More you”: Suno adds voice cloning in its v5.5 update appeared first on MusicTech.

Two notes unveil the Captor X+ The Captor X+ offers deeper control, enhanced stereo functionality and some new tone-shaping tools, all of which have been designed specifically for real valve amplifiers and modern silent stage/studio rigs. 

dBdone releases Glas, a FREE spectral chaos engine for macOS and Windows
Developer dBdone has released Glas, a free spectral chaos engine for macOS and Windows. dBdone has been a fairly busy developer early in 2026. In January, we looked at Pentimento (a collaboration with the musician and YouTuber TAETRO), a texture-layering plugin available in both paid and free versions. In February, we covered AI Chords, a [...]
View post: dBdone releases Glas, a FREE spectral chaos engine for macOS and Windows

The Apple Mac Pro – the go-to computer for high-end music production – has been discontinuedThe Apple Mac Pro – long-regarded as the go-to machine of choice for high-end music production – looks to have been discontinued, and is no longer available on the Apple website.
The apparent discontinuation marks the end of a 20-year reign for the Mac Pro at the top of the performance hierarchy for Apple computers. 
Launched in 2006, the Mac Pro originally boasted a tower-style design, before adopting a cylindrical design from 2013, and subsequently being colloquially labelled the “trash can Mac Pro”. Six years later in 2019, Apple returned the Mac Pro to a “cheese-grater”-style tower design.

READ MORE: Which Apple Mac computer should you buy for music production?

During its 20-year tenure, the Apple Mac Pro became a staple of sophisticated recording studios and music-making setups. Its price tag rendered it prohibitive for more hobbyist producers, with the most recent model having a $5,999 base price, easily rising to five figures with custom configurations.
The Mac Pro’s dethroning now makes the Mac Studio the king of the Apple lineup in terms of performance, with the latest model billed as the “ultimate pro desktop”, sporting M4 Max/M3 Ultra chips. 
The base M4 Max Mac Studio starts at £2,099, while the M3 Ultra-equipped version starts at £4,199. For a fully configured M3 Ultra Mac Studio – with a 32-core CPU, 80-core GPU, 256GB memory, and 16TB storage – that’ll set you back a mere £12,299.
It’s fun to dream about owning a machine that powerful, but the truth is, for music producers, you don’t need nearly that much computing power.
Earlier this month, Apple unveiled its latest round of Apple laptops, including its M5 Pro and M5 Max-equipped MacBook Pros, and its cheapest MacBook model ever, the iPhone chip-loaded MacBook Neo. 
Even the new M5-loaded MacBook Pros might be overkill in terms of performance for the average music producer; generally speaking as a baseline, it’s recommended to have at least a quad-core processor plus at least 8GB RAM (with 16GB recommended as optimal). 
Those MacBook Pros would easily handle even the most demanding DAW projects, but what of the Neo? That comes with 8GB RAM as standard – meeting that baseline RAM requirement, but it might start to slow down as you get into the realm of more complex projects.
Fortunately, though, unless you’re a professional music producer working regularly with vast and demanding projects, springing for a kitted out Mac Studio is probably unnecessary, and you’ll get by just fine with a MacBook Pro.
Shop the latest range of Mac computers at Apple.
The post The Apple Mac Pro – the go-to computer for high-end music production – has been discontinued appeared first on MusicTech.

Which Apple Mac computer should you buy for music production?Arguably the best system for music production and professional audio work, Apple Macs and macOS are a strong choice for your studio, but some models carry an intimidating price tag. The shift to Apple Silicon in the last half-decade has seen huge gains in performance across all Macs, but finding the right model for you, whether a lightweight MacBook Neo or the fully spec’d Mac Studio, will depend on a few important factors. We’re here to help you choose the right Mac for your music project.

READ MORE: Which operating system is best for music-making in 2026?

Every Mac purchased directly from Apple comes with a bunch of customisable components. However,  unlike in the past, features such as RAM and hard drives can no longer be upgraded after the fact. It’s incredibly frustrating, yes, but also means it’s essential that you understand the most useful features before you buy. Also, remember that many of Apple’s most expensive CPU upgrades focus on boosting graphics performance, which is less crucial for audio work. RAM, meanwhile, is a major factor in DAW and plugin performance. You can also choose to include Logic Pro in your purchase from the Apple Store, but if you’d prefer a different DAW, there are plenty to choose from once you’ve set your Mac up.
Apple’s  Mac machines all carry M-series processors — now from M4 up to M5 Max. It breaks down broadly like this: an M chip is in the more affordable Macs, while Pro and Max chips are built into the more professional models, while Ultra chips are exclusive to the top-end Mac Studio, which has replaced the now-discontinued Mac Pro as Apple’s flagship workstation. The higher-spec chips have more processing and graphics cores, support more RAM, and can drive more external displays – but also cost more, of course.
Here, we’ll guide you through which Mac is best for your style of work, and when you might want to upgrade its components to get the most out of your budget.
Best overall: MacBook Pro
Credit: Apple
A true portable powerhouse, Apple Silicon has transformed the MacBook Pro into a supremely capable workstation with an immensely respectable battery life. The 14-inch model with an M5 chip is the most affordable option, but an M5 Pro or Max will give you more muscle for running larger DAW sessions, while the 16-inch model also adds valuable screen space. There are Thunderbolt 5 ports, which are compatible with USB-C, so connecting fast drives and interfaces is a breeze. These laptops can run serious pro audio and video projects with a ton of plugins.
Apple will charge you a lot to boost the specs, but it’s well worth aiming for more RAM if you’re a professional and buying a future-proof computer to last you a long time. This adds up to £400 to the overall price, but is a better investment than increasing the SSD storage drive when you can connect an affordable external SSD — there’s no external RAM you can add to a MacBook. Any new MacBook Pro will be an excellent production workstation, with the M5 Pro hitting a sweet spot for price vs performance.
Pros and cons
+ High-end desktop power in a laptop
+ Impressive battery life under load
+ Gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR displays
+ Solid selection of physical ports
– Upgrades get pricey very fast
– Expensive machines, even as Macs go
Best budget Mac for music production: MacBook Neo
Credit: Apple
Apple surprised everyone with the MacBook Neo this year, at almost half the price of the next most affordable Mac, the MacBook Air. There are compromises involved in hitting that price point, but it’s still the cheapest a new Mac laptop has ever been in real terms. Powered by the same A18 Pro chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro, it has the same 8GB of RAM as the phone — it sounds crazy, but it’s surprisingly capable. However, you’ll notice a strain when running heavy projects. Note that the only upgrade option is to boost the 256GB SSD to 512GB for an extra £100, with no option to increase RAM.
There’s a USB-C port offering speeds of up to 10Gbps, one at 480Mb/s for connecting peripherals, and it can drive a single 4K external monitor. With real-world performance similar to base-level M1 MacBooks, it runs Logic Pro and similar apps surprisingly well for less intensive tasks, though you’re not going to experience the snappy performance of a higher-end Mac. If your needs are moderate — perhaps a hobbyist, student, or someone looking for an all-round budget laptop — it’s an affordable and effective way to get into Apple’s ecosystem.
Pros and cons
+ Most affordable new portable Mac ever
+ Runs full MacOS, connect peripherals
+ Solid performance with audio software
– 8GB RAM is limiting for some producers
– Slow USB compared to other Macs
– No real upgrade options
Best for professional music producers: Mac Studio
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
Now officially the flagship Apple workstation since the demise of the Mac Pro, the Studio is the machine to get to sit at the heart of any professional studio setup. It has the highest physical port count of any Mac, with four Thunderbolt 5, an extra two on the Ultra and two USB-C on the M4 Max. The Studio Max can drive up to five external displays, and the M3 Studio Ultra a staggering eight, meaning that complex multi-monitor setups are handled with ease.
Performance is exceptional, since running off mains power rather than battery lets the system really fly, but operating noise is close to silent even under load. When the Studio gets its M5 Max and Ultra upgrades, it will become easily the most powerful Mac ever made. As ever, it’s worth using any extra budget on more RAM when ordering, then using external SSD storage later if needed. There’s no longer a new Mac that can accept PCI cards, but solutions exist to use a chassis connected over Thunderbolt for legacy studio audio interfaces.
Pros + Cons
+ Outstanding performance with virtually no noise
+ As many physical ports as you can now get on a Mac
+ Base models are powerful but relatively affordable
+ Drive a ton of external displays
– Upgrading components gets expensive
– Currently stuck on slightly older CPUs
Best for home music–making setups: Mac Mini
Apple Mac Mini. Image: Apple
Greatly improved from the Intel era, the new Mini is a kind of compact version of the Mac Studio with specs closer to a midrange MacBook Pro. Incredibly popular thanks to their combination of affordability and performance, the Minis really are a fantastic music machine with few compromises. Two USB-C ports on the front and three Thunderbolt 4 (M4) or Thunderbolt 5 (M4 Pro) on the back mean hooking up high speed peripherals is easy, and there’s ethernet and HDMI for extra connectivity.
For many musicians the M4 model is an excellent performer though it’s recommended to up the RAM to at least 24GB from the base 16GB to handle larger projects. The Pro model increases the price an awful lot but is quicker and supports more RAM while retaining the same small footprint. The Mini’s price to performance ratio makes it a firm favourite with musicians and producers who need a powerful desktop Mac that won’t break the bank.
Pros + Cons
+ Excellent price-to-performance ratio
+ Very compact, essentially silent
+ Can be boosted up to serious specs
+ M4 runs all but the heaviest DAW projects smoothly
– Small size means a bit less physical I/O
– SSD upgrades are expensive
Buying a second-hand Mac for music production
Credit: Apple
Buying a second-hand Mac is a very viable option. An established reseller is perhaps a slightly safer proposition than an online marketplace, but there are also often B-stock or refurbished Mac models from Apple-certified stores. While Apple’s Refurb Store offers fairly meagre discounts, better deals can be found if you look around. You generally won’t be able to change anything about the specs of these Macs so it’s important to read all the numbers regarding SSD and RAM sizes.
Apple generally provides between a minimum of five and seven years of software support for its products, meaning a three-year-old MacBook Pro M2 laptop, for example, will be able to run the latest OS for several years to come. You can save a lot by getting a Mac with an M2 Pro chip, as it’ll still perform very well for the vast majority of tasks. Even going as far back as a base M1 will offer decent performance, though nothing like what a newer model can offer. Aim for the Pro or Max systems if possible, as these will offset the older technology with better speed.
Pros + Cons
+ Save a lot of money by getting slightly older tech
+ Apple provides at least 5-7 years of software support for every product
+ An M2 or M3 Mac is still an incredible system
— Though cheaper, older models are less powerful than new ones
— Shorter warranties with refurbed or used Macs
— By definition, an older Mac will become obsolete sooner
 
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