The Apple MacBook Pro M1 audio power test is a series of tests we are conducting on various DAWs, to see how they perform at this early stage. We have already run the Audio Power Test with Apple Logic Pro and Space Designer, and Audio Power Test in Pro Tools, if you want to see how that performed.

This time we are running a power test in Studio One, which is arguably the most recent codebase of the three and therefore gives us high hopes for the results.

Our Test Apple Mac

• Apple MacBook Pro 13" M1 2020

• Apple M1 SoC chip

• Memory 16GB

• 1TB SSD

Our Benchmark Machine

• MacBook Pro 16" 2019

• 2.4Ghz 8 Core Processor

• Memory 32GB

• 1TB SSD

The Studio One Power Test

However, we are not aware of any current Studio One benchmark test for power so we created our own. The test involved the following. We created a track that has an instance of;

• Mai Tai virtual synthesiser triggered by an Arpeggiator pattern.

• An instance of Ampire running Amp STV

• An instance of Fat Channel running Tube Comp and Passive EQ

Then we simply copy and add as many instances of the track until Studio One stops working reliably. Note this is not an audio test so audio is muted throughout the test, this is simply to see how powerful the computer is.

If you would like to run the test on your machine then download it here.

It is important to remember that in one way this test is entirely unfair. On the Intel machine Studio One is running on a supported OS. For the test on the new Apple Mac M1 Studio One is running on Big Sur using a Translation layer so it can work on the new Silicon M1 chip. Furthermore these tests are not an endorsement or recommendation of using an M1 powered Apple Mac right now, simply to give you an indication of the kind of power you should expect to get once Studio One is ported to run on Big Sur on the new Apple M1 computers. You can read more about what software is supported with Big Sur using our Big Sur compatibility guide.

Song settings including sample rate, buffer, dropout protection were identical on both machines. Internal sound card was used in both tests.

The Results

• MacBook Pro 16" 2019 - Ran 43 tracks before Studio One become unstable.

• Apple MacBook Pro 13" M1 2020 - Ran 86+ tracks before Studio One become unstable.

You will see we say the M1 ran 86+ tracks before Studio One became unstable, in fact we kept adding tracks and couldn’t get Studio One to fall over, so we stopped at 100.

These numbers correlate with the other tests we have run, that the new 'entry level' M1 Apple Macs are showing remarkable performance gains over much better spec Intel Macs. Furthermore, we also found that even when we increased the track count on the M1 machine Studio One kept running, albeit with the CPU meter at 100%.

Another thing to note, again as has been the case in all our other tests, is that both heat and fan noise were world's apart. The Intel Mac was running at 99 degrees C when pushed hard, with the fan running hard enough that the machine was likely to take off. The M1 powered Apple Mac didn't rise above 28 degrees C, again the fan was silent and the machine slightly warm.

Summary

As has been the case in all our DAW power tests so far, these results are simply incredible. We are putting two machines against each other which on paper show the Intel to be vastly superior. In reality the Apple MacBook Pro M1 is performing better every time, albeit running Studio One on an unsupported OS, using a translation layer with Rosetta 2.

If this is what we are getting from these early Apple Mac M1 machines with Studio One, then just imagine the possibilities once Apple release the next generation of Apple Macs with more power and Studio One fully supports both M1 and Big Sur.