Despite having only been released recently, there’s already an amazing Amazon Prime Day deal on the MacBook Neo. It’s down to just $549 in the Prime Day sale, which is spectacular value considering the performance it offers as a laptop for music production.

I recently gave it a solid four stars out of five in my MacBook Neo review for MusicRadar, and it genuinely surprised me with how ably it performs for music-making tasks, far outstripping what I expected for what is a budget Apple laptop in relative terms.

For me, the key takeaway from reviewing the Neo was that Apple machines are so powerful now that they needed to create a lower tier that is affordable for more people. Today’s MacBook Air M5 is as powerful as yesterday’s MacBook Pro, and thus, the MacBook Neo was born. It uses the same chip that’s found in the top-of-the-line iPhone 16, but that doesn’t mean it’s a slow coach.

From the moment I switched it on, I found the performance to be just as slick as that of my MacBook Pro M3, with it responding keenly to installing plugins, my DAW, and dragging over all my audio files from my external hard drive. I began using it with Logic, dragging in a shedload of audio tracks from a session I recently tracked at Spirit Studios with Josh from Squid Audio, and began by organising my tracks and adding in myriad busses to ensure that the session was neatly organised.

I then set about my usual mixing process, using oodles of spectral EQ, multi-band compression, de-noising treatments, and plenty of multi-band saturation to get the mix where I needed it to be. The MacBook Neo didn’t blink once in this entire process. From start to finished product, there was nary a hiccup in the entire process, which I have to admit was a complete surprise. Once I was done, with over 90 tracks and something in the region of 50 plugin instances, I was able to play back the entire track using the onboard audio driver at the lowest buffer setting, without any errors.

Now there are a few caveats here. First of all, I was using Logic, which is very well integrated into the Apple ecosystem, so it performs better than something like Pro Tools or Cubase does. Second, I only used stock plugins for the test so it can be recreated across multiple machines, which again are well-honed to ensure they perform at the optimum in Logic. This doesn’t mean it’d be rubbish with another DAW, just that the results you get might not be exactly the same as what I got. Also, if you’re using virtual instruments, then I imagine the track count would be a lot lower, as these are far more CPU-intensive.

I still think that the MacBook Neo is the best budget laptop for music production available right now, and with the extra £50 discount in the Prime Day sale, absolutely worth picking up if you need a machine that performs well without having to spend loads. In my experience, it massively outperforms Windows laptops at the same price, and for the student music producer or budding singer-songwriter, it’s a brilliant laptop to start your music-making journey on.

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• Plugin Boutique: Bag loads of free software
• Waves: 200 plugins down to only $34.99

What is it?

Probably the most recommended machine when it comes to PCs for music production, the Apple Mac Mini M4 is the latest version of an absolute studio powerhouse. Pretty much every professional studio I’ve worked in has something similar at its heart, whether it’s a Mac Mini or a Mac Studio, and particularly for home studios, the Mac Mini is a great value option.

There are a lot of options when it comes to ordering a Mac Mini, but for posterity, my review model features an M4 Pro chip, 24GB of Unified Memory, a 512GB SSD hard drive, and shipped with macOS Sequoia 15.1, which will set you back $1,399. Of course, you can spec yours much cheaper if you don’t feel you need the additional power, with the lowest model coming in at a very reasonable $799 with the standard M4 chip and 16GB of Unified Memory. You’ll need to factor in screen, mouse, and keyboard if you don’t already have these to hand.

Specs can go well beyond this, of course, and with everything maxed out, the Mac Mini comes in at a whopping $4,499, with the most powerful chip, 48GB of Unified Memory, 8 TB of storage, and a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port. Undoubtedly overkill for music production tasks, the ability to tweak for your particular use case, or to future-proof yourself, is a useful one.

On the front of the Mac Mini M4, you’ve got two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the rear displays three Thunderbolt 5 connections, an HDMI port, an Ethernet connection, and the figure-8 socket for the IEC C7 cable. It comes with one in the box, but it’s compatible with 3rd party cables, too. One thing to note is that, unlike Apple laptops, you can’t power the Mac Mini M4 with USB-C as stock, but some users have managed to mod it to do this.

On the underside of the Mac Mini is where you’ll find a fan, and the housing for this raises the aluminium body up from whatever surface you place it on in order to provide good airflow. It’s also where the power button is, rather awkwardly placed. If you’re installing this in a permanent space out of the way in your studio, then you’ll want to utilize the sleep mode versus shutting it down completely every night.

Performance

Taking it out of the box, my immediate impression is that it’s shockingly small. It’s like the smallest personal pizza box you’ve ever seen, with dimensions that make it more akin to something like an audio interface rather than a fully-fledged PC. It’s an impressive build, and like all Apple products, it features the aluminium unibody design that will be instantly familiar. It’s lightweight too, so you could use it on the go, with it weighing much less than my MacBook Pro M3.

One initial point of confusion is the location of the power button, which, it turns out, is on the bottom of the unit, and at the back to make it doubly hard to get to. It’s because the design has shrunk so much since the M2 version that the button had to be placed here, but it’s something to be aware of if you’re planning on hiding it away somewhere in the studio.

Loading up a project in Logic I’ve been working on, the Mac Mini M4 handles anything I throw at it with aplomb. Using the Core Audio with the buffer size on 32, it doesn’t even blink as I start loading up multi-band compression, spectral EQ, or quickly run the built-in stem splitter in Logic to separate the demo guitars from the drums. Everything loads up super quickly, making it an absolute pleasure to work in.

The track count runs to more than 90 by the time I’ve finished, including buses and sends, but I don’t see the CPU meter go higher than a quarter during this time. It plays back the whole thing without any issues, with around 70 plugins in the project. Granted, these were all Logic stock plugins, which are very well integrated, and of course, Logic itself works very well in macOS. That means it probably wouldn’t be this simple if you’re using a DAW like Pro Tools or Cubase.

I duplicate the project twice to stress test the Mac Mini M4 and see what it’s capable of. With 291 tracks running concurrently, the CPU meter shoots up, but it manages to play back the full duration of a four-and-a-half-minute song without any errors. You probably wouldn’t get this performance with this number of virtual instruments, but it speaks volumes that this is a very capable machine that will handle pretty much anything you throw at it. I can’t imagine many hitting this high a number of tracks in the real world unless you're scoring for film.

Verdict

With the latest M-chips, Apple is going from strength to strength in the music-making world. The Apple Mac Mini M4 is so insanely powerful that I could see it lasting a decade or more in home recording studios. Paired with a solid audio interface, you’ll have a very capable machine indeed, one that’s powerful enough to handle most tasks and stable enough to be used in a working environment.

You should consider your initial spec very carefully, though, because this isn’t an easily upgradeable machine. In particular, the hard drive size should be a concern, especially as OS updates often end up taking up more room, and you’ll likely be adding more plugins and programs as time goes on. You won’t feel a huge jump between the 16GB and 24GB RAM versions, but if you can, always go for the higher spec.

MusicRadar verdict: For me, the Apple Mac Mini M4 is a no-brainer for the producer or recording engineer who wants a permanent home setup. Its small size makes it well-suited to fitting into a variety of spaces, and the performance is simply superb, making it a very capable companion for music making. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the power button placement, but apart from that, there’s very little to complain about here.

Hands-on videos

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Specifications

What is it?

There’s an issue with the latest line of Apple silicon processors in that they’ve gotten too powerful for their own good. The huge leap in processing power we've seen over the past few years means that a MacBook Air is now just as powerful as the MacBook Pros of yesteryear. Ever-increasing costs, driven by AI and geopolitics, mean the MacBook Air may no longer be the budget-friendly machine it once was for the cash-strapped modern musician. With that in mind, the low price of the Apple MacBook Neo makes total sense. But is it actually any good as a laptop for music production?

Priced at just $/£599 (or $/£499 for students), it’s significantly cheaper than any other MacBook the company offers. It doesn’t feature an ‘M’ chip, instead opting for the A18 Pro processor, which is similar to what you’d find in the iPhone 16 Plus. It’s got 8GB of Unified Memory, and isn’t configurable for larger sizes to help keep the costs down. You can, however, configure the SSD with options for 256 GB or 512 GB, adding an extra $/£100 to the price.

The display is a 13-inch liquid retina, with an impressive 500 nits of brightness. The keyboard isn’t backlit like you get on the other MacBooks, but on the face of it, the design looks largely similar. The multi-touch trackpad features here, too, with Touch ID for quick and easy signing in and out. It’s also got a 1080p web camera to ensure you’re looking your best in meetings and video calls.

Dual, side-firing speakers provide the onboard sound, and it also has dual microphones to ensure your voice is captured clearly. Connectivity is limited, with just two USB-C ports, one of which can only handle USB 2.0. It also has a 1/8-inch headphone jack, but most users will need to factor in the additional purchase of a USB hub, particularly if it proves powerful enough for music creation tasks.

Performance

My review model is in Citrus, which is certainly distinctive when I pull it out of the box. It feels very much like an Apple product, though, with the smooth aluminium body and rounded edges of their more expensive models. The logo on the back is more subtle than you get on other designs, with a shade slightly darker than the rest of the body, but still lightly debossed as you’d find on a MacBook Pro or Air.

Opening it up, the keyboard is also colour themed, looking like a sort of mint-green nestled in amongst the Citrus background. After installing some programs and downloading some project files to test with, I feel that while the keys and touchpad are not exactly the same as those on the MacBook Airs I’ve tested and my own MacBook Pro, it’s really not far off.

It’s the typical comfortable experience with short travel keys that feel smooth and precise, and the layout is exactly the same, so if you’re coming from another Apple machine you’ll be able to dive in straight away. The trackpad also offers a similarly precise experience, although on the Neo you only get a single press, not the double press 'Force Touch' offered on the more expensive models.

It’s plenty responsive though, and as I load up a Logic Pro project I’ve been working on, I find I can quickly and accurately get around the session without having to adapt coming from my own MacBook Pro. It’s a pretty seamless experience moving from one to the other, although I’m sure users will miss the light-up keys when working in low light.

Getting stuck into my project, it’s around 90 tracks of recorded audio, including busses and aux sends, which is a reasonable amount for a modern rock production. Starting with my drums and working through the project while keeping an eye on the CPU monitor in Logic Pro, I can see it gradually starting to fill as I make my way through the mix, adding copious amounts of EQ, compression, and multi-band compression.

I started on about half battery, and after a couple of hours of tweaking, it had run down so completely that it switched itself off while I went to get a cup of tea. It’s a far cry from what I’m used to with my MacBook Pro, but then this is a machine that’s really designed for students or business owners sipping vanilla lattes in coffee shops.

With the charger plugged in and my mixing done, I’m at around 70 plugins and ready to commence some stress testing. Setting the sample rate to 32 and using the Core Audio device on the Neo, I play through the track with no issues. The CPU meter spikes between halfway and three-quarters full, but it gets through the entire song, which is around 5 minutes, without any issues. Duplicating the entire project and trying again, I hit my first snag.

As soon as it gets to the middle 8, which features lots of additional tracks for atmospherics, I get the dreaded system overload. It’s over 180 tracks and around 140 plugins, which is not too shabby at all considering this laptop is designed for light use. Removing tracks one by one, I get to 171 tracks before any errors occur during a full playthrough. It’s a remarkable performance for a budget laptop.

There are some caveats to this though, the first of which is that Logic is extremely well integrated into MacOS, so it will enjoy superior performance to other DAWs. I highly doubt I'd get the same performance with my usual Pro Tools. The second is that I only used stock plugins for my testing, and that more advanced programs will consume more CPU power, so your real-world performance may well differ from mine. AI tools, virtual instruments like synths and drum kits, are a lot more power-intensive, so those working exclusively in the box will probably find they hit a lower track count.

That said, if you’re a beginner or student, I think this is a great laptop to cut your teeth on. Adding an audio interface will give a slight performance improvement, perhaps even more so if it features DSP, and for simple demos and recordings, I see no reason you couldn’t use the MacBook Neo as a production machine. It’s not going to satisfy power users, but then it isn’t really designed for that, is it?

Verdict

I had high hopes for the MacBook Neo when it was first announced, and I’m very happy to say it does not disappoint. It’s really great value for money considering the amount of processing power you get, and for simpler recording tasks, it performs admirably. It’s lightweight, looks great, and has many of the features of the more advanced and costly MacBook Air, making it well worth considering if you want an Apple machine on a budget.

Of course, it won’t satisfy professional producers or those who need insane track counts and huge plugin numbers. It doesn’t have Thunderbolt, which limits connectivity with more advanced hardware, and some users will definitely feel limited with just two USB 3.2 and 2.0 connections.

MusicRadar verdict: For beginners and students on a budget, the MacBook Neo can absolutely do a job as a budget laptop for music production. It’s not going to set the world of the professional musician on fire, but for those taking their first steps into the world of music creation, there’s no reason this can’t be your first laptop to start building up from.

Hands-on videos

Alternatives

Specs

A few years ago, I decided to make the switch from a PC to a MacBook Pro for music production duties, and to be totally honest, I haven’t looked back. Despite its flaws, the MacBook is without a doubt the best laptop for music production by a country mile, and thus far I’ve found music-making on one an absolute joy.

If you’re thinking about taking the plunge yourself, Amazon has just given you the best excuse possible with some excellent discounts in its Big Spring Sale. There’s not a huge amount on offer, but what is there is definitely worth your while if you’re the creative sort. It includes the latest MacBook Pro M5, too, so if you’re looking for a top-tier machine, then this is a great chance to pick one up for less.

I’m not sure how long these deals will be around for, so if you’re in the market, now’s the time to pull the trigger. Here are the three best deals I spied on MacBooks that are perfect for music-makers.

Shop more sales

• Save up to 35% on live sound at Sweetwater
• Over 25,000 deals at Musician’s Friend
• Save 15% on Spark Neo at Positive Grid

What is it?

It’s a bit of a left-field choice in a field dominated by MacBooks and the Mac Mini, but if you’re after a PC for music production, then you might well want to consider the convenience of the all-in-one Apple iMac M4. While admittedly not the first thing that comes to mind for musicians, as we’ll find out, it makes a rather stellar case for being the next centrepiece of your home studio.

The latest iMac design hasn’t changed all that much from the previous M-chip iterations, featuring a super-thin design attached to a stand. Essentially, it’s a 24-inch monitor with a computer built into it. It’s available in 7 colours, with my review model coming in a rather fetching pink number, and this is matched in the peripherals, which also feature pink accents, even down to the USB cables.

The 24-inch monitor delivers 4.5k performance, which means those waveforms will look crisper than ever, although it’s not as bright as the equivalent MacBook Pro with 500 nits to the Pro’s impressive 1000. Still, with over a billion colours, it’ll be absolutely fine for any music production needs, and you’ll still be able to watch your favourite shows on it with impressive clarity.

Aside from the base model which only features two Thunderbolt ports, all the other versions now have four Thunderbolt connections, perfect for pairing with a high-powered audio interface. Depending on which model you go for, these ports can support up to two external monitors at 6K, or one external monitor at 8K, should you wish to plug a large high-resolution screen in for those projects with massive track counts.

Apple’s Unified Memory is configurable from 16GB up to 32GB depending on how you spec it out, and storage space ranges from a 256GB SSD right through to a full 2TB. The 12MP webcam records in full 1080p, so you should look sharp as a tack when chatting to clients remotely, and while you wouldn’t want to mix on them, there’s a six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers, which in plain English means two woofers firing away from one another in perfect unison to prevent unwanted vibrations.

Performance

Unboxing the Apple iMac M4 turns out to be a surprisingly laborious task, and the word over-designed comes to mind when I think of the box it comes in. Most people will only be doing this once, but I’m already dreading the thought of having to put my review model back inside when it comes to it.

Inside is a full-size Apple Magic keyboard with Touch ID and number pad (great for Pro Tools users), and a Magic Mouse. Both look rather striking with their usual white design offset by soft pink accents, with the keyboard having white keys and a coloured frame, while the mouse features the standard white top while being coloured pink on the underside.

Pulling the computer itself out of the box I wouldn’t call it lightweight, but it’s impressively skinny. I have an old Intel iMac at home and it’s much thinner than that. The attached stand manages to be quite skinny, but feels very solid once I place it on my desk. There’s a white bezel that runs all the way around the screen which runs counter to MacBooks which typically have a black bezel.

The power block has an Ethernet port built into it, and a pink cable that works similarly to the MagSafe charging cable you get on a MacBook. It’s quite a chunky thing, but the plug end clicks in satisfyingly and easily, feeling very robust once in place. In the box, there’s also a USB-C cable for charging the peripherals, coloured pink, of course.

Sitting the iMac on my desk and powering on, I’m greeted by the usual ultra-smooth Mac workflow. The screen is sharp yet has a silky glow to it, with the white bezel adding to the feeling of lightness. The Magic Keyboard keys are similarly soft, offering a very quiet typing experience that’s comfortable, although there are no legs to prop the keyboard higher up if that's your preference.

The Magic Mouse also feels fluid in use, adapting to your hand movements by zipping across the screen when you move quickly but staying steady when making incremental changes. It feels great and becomes an extension of my hand almost immediately, but I still can’t fathom that USB-C port placement. It means you can’t use it while it’s charging and for those running professional studios, the last thing you’d want is the inability to use your mouse while working with a client.

I also find myself getting frustrated with the scroll action, which I frequently set off accidentally as I go to click on things. Without a specific button to press on the mouse, it feels little too easy to set off without meaning to. As I go to click on something on screen, I instead end up scrolling down or up by mistake. Also by default there’s no right click enabled, so I have to press control and click, which doesn’t really work for my workflow. You can change this in System Settings though.

Downloading Pro Tools takes much longer than actually installing it, with the grunt of that M4 processor easily dispatching with such a simple task. With my DAW installed, I plug in my Audient iD4 MKII interface with my studio monitors and studio headphones to set about stress testing the Mac to see what it’s capable of with the D-Verb test.

This consists of playing a 1k sine wave for five minutes through a selection of audio tracks, each running 5 instances of the D-Verb reverb plugin on the insert. While this isn’t a realistic way people will be using their machines for production, it is a quick and easy test to see what a computer is capable of.

At the baseline level of 50 tracks, the iMac M4 barely got into its stride, hitting around 32% in the total system usage window in Pro Tools. Moving on up to 150 tracks, which is 750 instances of D-Verb I hit 40% of system usage, which is very impressive. Doubling that number to 300 and we start to see the needle moving higher, hitting around the 72% mark. Once I hit 400 tracks, which is a pretty astonishing 2,000 instances of D-Verb, it starts touching 90%.

With another 50 tracks added I finally get it to 100% capacity, which as it turns out is around the same as the MacBook Air M4 that I recently tested. It is a ridiculously high ceiling and as with all the Apple Silicon chip-equipped machines, more than enough performance for the vast majority of music producers.

Verdict

So is the Apple iMac M4 the right music-making machine for you? Well, it’s a bit of niche Mac for music production in my opinion. Yes, it has plenty of power for all your production tasks but buying a Mac Mini M4, a separate monitor, mouse, and keyboard will still be considerably cheaper than the iMac if you’re frugal with your choices of peripheral. The ability to separate your monitor and computer in the studio itself also makes this setup a lot more versatile.

If you’re short on space however, the iMac M4 would be a really good choice as it combines the two main elements into one. It is however, not as compact as a laptop, which then gives you the advantage of being able to take your music-making on the road with you. Depending on how you spec’d it, a MacBook could also be cheaper. It leaves the iMac in limbo a bit when it comes to music production, as I can’t really see it appealing to traditional recording studio work or the modern, mobile music maker.

MusicRadar verdict: While the Apple iMac M4 is more than powerful enough for the vast majority of music-making tasks, its form factor means that it sits in between the studio staple Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro or Air. For the majority of producers, the iMac probably isn’t the right choice, but for a specific bracket that work from a home studio and doesn’t need something mobile, it’s a fantastic way to save on space versus a traditional PC, and get an all-in-one workstation that looks and feels incredible.

Hands-on videos

David Lewis

SPACE DESIGN WAREHOUSE

Simple Alpaca

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Specs

What is it?

It used to be that music-making machines were better left to the realms of desktops, because laptops simply didn’t provide enough horsepower for larger tasks. Thanks to the recent breakthroughs in neural processing chips though, laptops like the Apple MacBook Air M4 make a strong case for not just assisting you to make music on the move, but becoming the centre point of your studio entirely.

Priced at £/$1,399, the MacBook Air M4 15-inch makes a great case for being the most versatile music-making machine on the market right now. Its M4 chip delivers over 38,000,000,000,000 (that’s 38 trillion) operations per second, which means it will make mincemeat of projects with 50+ tracks and CPU-draining plugins. It also has a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to assist with AI-specific tasks like stem separation and sample management.

16GB of unified memory might not sound like much if you’re used to needing as much RAM as possible, but the difference here is that unlike traditional builds, there’s no separate memory for the CPU and GPU, which is a big bottleneck when it comes to performance. Here, the RAM is shared between the CPU, NPU, and GPU, which results in a much more efficient and speedy performance, as there’s no duplication of data going back and forth. It also means lower latency because every component has access to the same information.

The MacBook Air M4 boasts up to 18 hours of battery life, which thanks to the efficiency of the combined CPU, GPU, NPU, and unified memory means you’ll be able to run off your charger for a lot longer. It’s lightweight at just 1.51kg too, so easy enough to pack into a backpack to take on the go with you. It includes a 35W dual USB-C port compact power adapter, and a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable in the box.

Performance

Unboxing the MacBook Air M4 I’m immediately taken aback by the new Sky Blue finish, which is a bit more Ice Blue to my eye. It’s very close to the traditional silver of a MacBook, but in the right light, the blue tinge looks very evident. Like most MacBooks, the anodised aluminium finish makes it a fingerprint and dirt magnet versus a more traditional plastic laptop.

The last MacBook Air M1 that I tested was a lot different in its design, whereas here the Air is much more like its bigger sibling in the MacBook Pro, offering a rounder and blunter design. As my MacBook Air M1 had a habit of sliding around and feeling quite sharp with its slim aluminium edges, this design change is a welcome addition for me. Despite the slightly broader build it still feels very lightweight, easy to carry around with one hand and barely there when I chucked it into my backpack to take to the studio with me.

The backlit keyboard is the usual comfortable MacBook experience, and the only thing I can see that’s changed from previous iterations is that the mute function key now has a slash through the speaker icon, not that I ever had trouble differentiating them before. It feels wonderful to type on, with a soft feel that’s not as clacky as some keybeds can be. The backlighting also means you can work easily in the often dark, moody light of a studio, with it being bright enough to be easily visible but not so bright that it blinds you.

The Force Touch trackpad feels exactly the same as the one on my MacBook Pro M3, providing a responsive feel that’s really easy to get to grips with. I wouldn’t rely on it for precise editing, and it can be awkward when dragging tracks and WAVs around in the DAW, but these are natural disadvantages rather than anything Mac-specific. The single touch to click and two touches to right-click work spectacularly well, and in all my testing, they never failed to provide me with the correct response.

The glossy liquid retina display looks fantastic, even if you’re only looking at the rather dated GUI of Pro Tools. Colours are vivid, lines are crisp and clear, and it’s super bright when you max out the setting. Of course, I’m primarily testing it for music production, but if you are dabbling in video editing or just want to watch the next episode of Alien Earth, it’s very adept for visual media.

There are only two Thunderbolt 4 ports however, which means once you’ve got essentials like your external hard drive and audio interface plugged into it, there’s no more space for MIDI keyboards, charging devices, or any other peripherals you might need. This means that investing in a decent USB hub is a must. It does have a 3.5mm headphone output though, which when combined with the generous processing power means it's entirely possible to mix using the default playback device and a pair of studio headphones.

With my DAW of choice Pro Tools installed in rapid fashion, I set about testing the limits of the MacBook’s capabilities by running the tried and tested D-Verb test. I create a session at 48 kHz and 32-bit float, with the buffer size set to 64. I then generate a sine wave over five minutes, before recording it onto 50 tracks, each with 5 instances of D-Verb running on the default preset. As expected, the MacBook ate this test up with just a measly 33% of CPU use.

Next I up the stakes, adding 200 tracks each with 5 instances of D-Verb, which is 1,000 plugins running at the same time. The System Usage window displays a steady 50% all the way through the five-minute track, and monitoring through a pair of headphones I don't hear a single pop or crackle the entire time. Doubling the count, I start to see some signs of strain showing, with 400 tracks resulting in the CPU usage bar bouncing between 83 and 96%.

It was only once I got to 512 tracks, the limit of my Pro Tools Studio license, that I got it to throw an error. While the D-Verb test isn’t wholly representative of how any music-maker would use a PC or laptop, it is a quick and easy way to determine what any machine is capable of, and the result is that MacBook Air M4 is an absolute beast for music production.

Verdict

There’s a reason you see Apple machines in studios all across the world, and even prior to the developments in Silicon-based chips, Apple ruled the roost. With this latest wave of M4 chips, an already iron grasp on the music market will no doubt be strengthened. No longer the realm of musicians working exclusively in the box, a modern laptop could now become the centrepiece of a more traditional home studio, allowing you to take your projects and plugins wherever you go.

The MacBook Air M4 isn’t perfect, the lack of connectivity being a particularly big factor if you use a lot of peripherals. With the price of USB hubs being relatively low it’s not a huge barrier to music-making, although if you need additional Thunderbolt connectivity the price could potentially stack up. It’s also still not upgradeable, although an M4 chip will easily last you ten years at the current rate of advancement.

MusicRadar verdict: As far as modern music-making machines go, the Apple MacBook Air M4 is an amazing choice for any kind of musician or producer. It’s got more than enough power to keep you in business for at least the next 10 years, whether you’re crafting EDM in the box with a pair of headphones, or recording a full band with an audio interface and set of monitors.

Hands-on videos

Bjørnar Kibsgaard

Thozi

L.Dre

Alternatives

Specs

In recent years there’s been something of a disconnect between the universal ease of streaming music for listening purposes and the convoluted process of streaming music for the purpose of DJing.

That’s not to say that streaming isn’t a thing in the DJ realm – the likes of Beatport, Beatsource and Soundcloud each offer streaming subscriptions aimed specifically at DJs, and AlphaTheta’s recent emphasis on Cloud services means that Rekordbox users can access their library of tracks remotely. But for the most part there’s been no way for users of streaming giants Spotify or Apple Music to make use of their subscriptions for DJing.

That’s set to change with the launch of DJ with Apple Music, a new functionality for the streaming service aimed at making the platform’s library available to DJs.

This manifests in a few ways. Firstly, as a new section within Apple Music’s own interface that hosts a variety of curated DJ-focused playlists. This has playlists built around genres, as well as those curated by DJs and DJ gear brands.

More significantly, it also means that Apple Music will now be integrated into a variety of different DJing platforms including Serato, AlphaTheta’s Rekordbox, and inMusic’s Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark, and RANE DJ.

While functionality is a little different across different platforms, this means that Apple Music subscribers can mix with tracks from the service’s library within their chosen DJ platform, as well as apply tags, set cue points and build playlists.

On the AlphaTheta front, Apple Music arrives in the desktop version of Rekordbox (v7.1), along with rekordbox for iOS, and will also be implemented into two of the brand’s all-in-one DJ systems, the XDJ-AZ and Omnis-Duo.

The company also tells us that integration should roll out for the CDJ-3000s and Opus-Quad in the near future, and will be present in all future product releases.

With Serato, users can access Apple Music tracks from the downloads pages of both Serato DJ Lite and Serato DJ Pro.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Apple Music has been integrated into a DJ platform – users of Algoriddim Djay can already stream tracks from Apple Music. Rival streaming platform Tidal is already integrated into several DJ platforms too. However, today’s announcement is certainly the most high-profile crossover we've seen between a streaming platform and the DJ realm.

A notably absent name from the list of integrated applications is Native Instruments’ Traktor, which is a shame, as the latest iteration – Traktor Pro 4 – impressed us when it finally arrived last year.

“Apple Music is committed to supporting DJs,” says Stephen Campbell, Global Head of Dance, Electronic & DJ Mixes at Apple Music. “With this latest integration, we’re taking that commitment even further – seamlessly connecting Apple Music with the industry’s leading DJ software and hardware. This innovation brings the full power of Apple Music into the creative workflow, making it easier than ever for DJs to access, play, and discover music in real time.”

It’s worth noting a couple of major caveats that mean this functionality is likely to appeal primarily to beginner and hobbyist DJs, at least for the time being.

Firstly, there’s no offline functionality for DJing with Apple Music tracks. This means you can’t download and save tracks added to your DJ platform of choice, and won’t be able to access them without a stable internet connection – something we’d be wary of when it comes to playing any high-profile sets.

Secondly, Apple Music’s terms of service state that music can only be used for noncommercial purposes, which means that using streamed tracks for any paid DJ gigs – including weddings, club gigs, parties, etc – would be a violation of said terms.

To point out the obvious too, making use of Apple Music within any DJ platform will require both a subscription to Apple Music and subscription to/license for your DJ software of choice.

On the positive side, closing the gap between the streaming services we use for listening to music and DJ software libraries is a massive step forward for beginner and at-home DJs. In the past, when DJing relied on physical media like vinyl or CDs, or even in more recent times when a library of purchased tracks or dedicated subscription was required, getting started as a DJ could be a prohibitively expensive process.

Integration like this will certainly make it cheaper for beginners to try their hand at DJing, as well as explore new styles and genres.

Speaking as somebody that no longer DJs in public regularly, but has been roped out of retirement to play at a few friends' weddings in recent years, this functionality would have saved me hours of prep time if it had been available a few years ago. (It's not a violation of the terms of service if you're getting paid in free drinks, right? – I'll have our lawyers look into this).

The launch of DJ with Apple Music follows the platform’s introduction of DJ Mixes back in 2021, which integrated streamable mixed sets into the library.

Explore Apple Music’s new DJ playlists at the DJ with Apple Music homepage.

Find out more about specific platform integration with Serato, Rekordbox, Engine DJ and Djay.

I’ve been producing music for a long time, and I was always a die-hard PC user. My main recording PC has been going for a long time now and is finally starting to show its age. With the cost of upgrading my CPU, RAM, motherboard, and adding some more hard drive space, I’m starting to think it’s time to take advantage of the Black Friday MacBook deals and jump ship to the Apple bandwagon.

It’s not been an easy decision, but I feel like the timing is perfect for me to make my move. I’ve got my eye on a MacBook Pro M3, which combines the best in future-proofing, value for money, and the portability a laptop for music production provides. It’s a big change from my current PC, but here are the reasons that I’ve decided to switch allegiances.

1. Portability

Switching to a MacBook is going to allow me to make music anywhere, and in the modern age, this is a really useful function. Thanks to the Apple Silicon chips a laptop is now powerful enough to compete with a desktop, which means I can take my music-making anywhere. Armed with a compact audio interface I can even record on the go, which certainly makes my work trips a lot more interesting.

2. Efficiency

A MacBook with a Silicon chip is infinitely more powerful than my old Intel, and while there are Windows laptops with similar capabilities, there’s no doubt that for a lot of music-making tasks, the Mx chips are superior. The neural engine is great for audio tasks and it’s very energy efficient, meaning you can get better use out of your laptop when you’re on battery power.

3. Integration

I recently began studying a music production course and every studio is equipped with an Apple machine, which meant integrating with my Windows machine was essentially impossible. It’s not just my place of study though, every professional studio I’ve been into runs on the Apple OS, so ultimately if I want to be able to integrate with these places, then I need to be part of the Mac ecosystem.

4. Future-proofing

Even at this point, the M1 Apple chips are more than powerful enough for the majority of music production tasks. That means if I go for my favored MacBook Pro M3, I should be future-proofed for a good while yet. My Windows PC lasted me a long time, and with any luck my MacBook should do the same keeping me with plenty of processing power for at least the next ten years.

5. Connectivity

If you’ve ever been PC shopping with audio in mind, you might have noticed that not many PCs carry Thunderbolt natively. Plenty of laptops do however, which means you can use more powerful audio interfaces as part of your rig. As I like to do my work within the Universal Audio ecosystem, having Thunderbolt as part of my rig is a must-have, which is another tick in the box of an Apple machine.

6. Usability

Despite there being a slight bedding in period switching from Windows to Mac, overall I’ve found the Mac user experience to be super smooth when I used one for work a few years ago. For me, my chosen DAW Pro Tools just works better on a Mac and I’ve found that overall the experience is a lot less intrusive than Windows with fewer popups. Everything feels a little smoother and a little more creative-user friendly, particularly as the Mac built-in audio driver is far superior to its Windows equivalent.

Conclusion

Interestingly despite all the reasons listed here, it’s actually a pretty close call between the two. I very nearly decided to stick with PC but ultimately for my circumstances, the benefits outweighed the cons. I do understand this will be a matter of personal preference for most people, and that some might feel my reasons aren’t just, and that’s okay.

Ultimately the main kicker for me was that the wider recording industry uses Macs for the most part. Much like if you want to work in the industry you need to learn Pro Tools, your life will be a lot easier if you’re working on an Apple machine whether that’s collaborating with others or just giving yourself access to better monitoring and purpose-built rooms.

Black Friday MacBook deals

To be honest, we weren’t really expecting much in the way of Cyber Monday deals on the new M3 MacBook Pro models - let’s not forget that they were announced less than a month ago - but competition for your laptop dollar/pound has never been fiercer, which means that retailers are offering discounts left, right and centre.

And the good news is that not even the very latest MacBook Pro has escaped the price-trimming scythe, so if you want a powerful Apple music-making machine that should be good for several years into the future, read on.

Predictably enough, Apple claims that M3 chip can deliver “dramatically increased performance”, thanks in part to the fact that the chips are built using 3-nanometer process technology. For the uninitiated - which is probably most of us - this means that more transistors can be packed into a smaller space, improving speed and efficiency. So now you know.

There’s lots of talk about M3’s new GPU, which offers dynamic caching, mesh shading, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing, while faster performance cores should mean that you can use more tracks, effects and instruments in your DAW projects. The M3 Max offers support for up to 128GB of memory, too, if you’re prepared to pay for it.

The M3 chip comes in three configurations - standard, Pro and Max - and is available in both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Here are the best deals around right now...

• Want a different model? Check out the best Cyber Monday MacBook deals

Apple MacBook Pro M3 US deals

Apple MacBook Pro M3 UK deals

We all know how important TikTok has become when it comes to breaking a song - in fact, it’s where some people go to discover a lot of their new music. It’s not the only place they listen to it, though, and the good news is that it just got easier to add tunes on TikTok to a playlist in your streaming service of choice.

The Add to Music App feature is pretty self explanatory and easy to find. An option to ‘Add Song’ will now appear next to the track details at the bottom of videos - just click this and choose your service. Songs will either be added to a default playlist or you can put them in existing or new ones. The Add to Music App feature is also available in an artist’s Sound Detail Page.

All of which should mean that you’ll no longer be kicking yourself when you hear a song you like on TikTok but then forget to go and put it in a playlist elsewhere and can’t later remember what it was called (though, of course, you still need to remember to press the button).

Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify are all supported, and the Add to Music App feature is being rolled out in the US and UK from today. It’ll be rolled out further in due course.

With a relative lack of fanfare, Apple has released new versions of both Logic Pro for Mac (10.8) and Logic Pro for iPad (1.1). Don’t let the lack of a big marketing splash fool you, though, as both are pretty significant updates.

Let’s start with the desktop version of the DAW which, as many predicted it would, gets a couple of nice features that debuted in Logic Pro for iPad.

Specifically, we’re talking about Sample Alchemy, which enables you to make an instrument out of a sample in seconds, and Beat Breaker, the time-bending multi effect that can be used to mess up your loops in creative ways. This is great fun on the touch interface; let’s hope it translates well to mouse control.

• Find a bargain with our pick of the best Black Friday iPad deals

On a more practical level, the Tools menu in the Tracks area and time-based editors now includes Slip and Rotate tools, so you can now move content within audio and software instrument regions without altering region boundaries.

There are two new sound packs, too: Hybrid Textures includes 70 patches and 80 Apple Loops that showcase Sample Alchemy, while Vox Melodics contains 475 lyrical phrases, hooks, layered harmonies, FX, and one-shots.

Next up, Mastering Assistant, which is included in both the Mac and iPad versions. There’s no mention here of AI or machine learning - a rarity when reading about any kind of new audio assistant these days - but we are told that this can analyse a sound and adjust the dynamics, frequency balance, timbre, and loudness.

Sensibly, Apple isn’t claiming that this is an instant, automatic mastering solution; the suggestion is that the settings that Mastering Assistant makes can then be fine-tuned manually.

Moving on, both versions of Logic Pro now support 32-bit float recording, and Logic Pro for iPad also gets some new features of its own. You can now record directly into Quick Sampler via the built-in mic or any audio input, and support for iPadOS’s Split View and Stage Manager features means you can now display another app alongside Logic Pro, resize windows, see multiple overlapping windows and all the rest of it.

Improvements have been made to the Browser, too - you can now drag up or down with a finger to preview multiple samples, loops, or instruments - and there’s new drag ‘n’ drop functionality from the Files app. The portfolio of in-app lessons has been expanded, and the aforementioned Hybrid Textures sound pack is included, too.

You can read about all of Logic Pro for Mac 10.8 and Logic Pro for iPad 1.1’s new features on the Apple website. Pricing for both versions remains the same: $200/$200 on the Mac, and $5/£5 or $49/£49 a year on the iPad. 

There weren’t any unexpected tricks at Apple’s Halloween-themed event, but it did offer some treats - particularly if you’re in the market for a new Mac. Not only did the company unveil its new M3 range of processors - M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max - but it also announced that it’s putting them in updated versions of the MacBook Pro and iMac.

Predictably enough, Apple claims that M3 can deliver “dramatically increased performance”, thanks in part to the fact that the chips are built using 3-nanometer process technology. For the uninitiated - which is probably most of us - this means that more transistors can be packed into a smaller space, improving speed and efficiency. So now you know.

• Best Mac for music production: the best Apple machines for your music-making needs

There’s lots of talk about M3’s new GPU, which offers dynamic caching, mesh shading, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing, while faster performance cores should mean that you can use more tracks, effects and instruments in your DAW projects. The M3 Max offers support for up to 128GB of memory, too, if you’re prepared to pay for it.

• Explore this year's best Black Friday MacBook deals

As of now, you can spec any one of the three new M3 chips in your new 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pro, though the iMac only gets the ‘standard’ M3. Prices start at $1,599/£1,699 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, $2,499/£2,599 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro and $1,299/£1,399 for the 24-inch iMac. 

All the new Macs can be ordered now and will be available from 7 November. Find out more on the Apple website. 

The Apple Mac has been the music producer's dream machine for many years now. That's not to say that PCs aren't a great choice for music production, but Macs have a slick operation system that aids the music production workflow, the power to handle the required number crunching, and the style that creative producers love. But choosing the best Mac for music production can be a difficult task, which is why we have done it for you in this guide, which has been updated to include Apple's latest M3 machines.

Apple welcomes many music producers into its hardware world through the DAW (digital audio workstation) called 'Logic Pro'. This wonder music-making package has recently hit v11, and is full to the rafters with live clip launching, AI-backed music-making features, and a heap of content that emulates just about every real and synthetic instrument out there. At less that $/£200, it's a huge draw for music producers, and one that has helped shift countless Macs for Apple as this combination of hardware and software really is a great partnership for music-making.

But whether you use Logic Pro or not, an Apple Mac is a great powerhouse machine for music production, and for this feature we'll assume that you have opted for a computer with the Apple logo, so now you just need to choose which model. We'll guide you through the Mac range, detail the pros and cons of each, and by the end you should know which one to buy according to your budget, portability and power requirements.

• Our pick of this year's best Black Friday MacBook deals, updated live

Quick list

Best overall

The relatively new MacBook Pro M3 16" tops our best Mac for music production list because it gives you the best of the mobile and desktop worlds in one machine, although as with any 'best of', you'll have to shell out for it with the 'best part' of your bank balance for it.

That 16.2" screen has enough real estate to handle a lot of DAW workflows, though, and, of course, with the 'Pro' name, you can expect more than enough power for music production.

In truth, though, the fully upgraded MacBook Pro with the M3 Max processor, is probably too much for many music tasks. We've hardly stretched our 24GB RAM Air, yet the Max's memory starts at 48GB RAM! Similarly, you shouldn't pay the extra cash for the 8TB option, as a decent separate fast hard drive will bolster the 1TB bass model for much less cash.

Both 16" Pro models offer a great music production experience, though, and while they do have a power headroom you might not require, make the investment now and you will future-proof your music-making for some years to come.

Best desktop

As with the mini, the iMac can be a forgotten star for Mac music production, with the main headlines often stolen by fancy MacBook Pros and Mac Studios. But Apple always specs these machines up well, with great screens, decent processors and attractive price tags.

There are actually two near-identical machines in the latest iMac M3 range, one offering a slightly better graphics performance (10-core compared to the cheaper 8-core), a bigger maximum hard drive capacity (2TB versus 1TB), and two extra USB 3 ports (on top of two USB 4 ports). For the extra $/£200 you'll pay, these extras might be worth considering, especially with the extra ports for the keyboards, controllers and audio interfaces you might be connecting up.

Both iMacs max out at the M3 processor - with no M3 Pro or Max on offer just yet - and the storage tops out at 2TB (not a problem, really, as we do recommend using a fast and cheap external drive if you need extra storage). Otherwise, the iMac is a superb choice for music production, with a stylish approach, fabulous 24" screen, and is a great all-in-one option, with everything you need for not a lot of money in the grand Apple scheme of things.

Best lightweight

Apple has updated all of its laptops to the latest M3 range of chips, with the Air the only machine which is also still available as an option with the older M2 processor (see below). The newer Air M3 is available in two sizes: 13-inch (13.6-inch) and 15-inch (15.3-inch). We prefer the larger 15” screen size for music production as we have found 13" laptops slightly restrictive in the past.

We carried out several official tests between the Air M2 and the newer M3. Using the Ableton Live DAW, we got a 25% uplift in performance for the M3, which rose to 30% in Logic, more than even Apple claims! Our sister site TechRadar suggests that the Air M3's multicore stats are even up there with the entry-level M3 MacBook Pro.

We therefore think that the M3 Air is a better buy than that base-model MacBook Pro, as it boasts the bigger screen and equal power, but costs less. We also discovered in our tests that the bigger 15" model has a significantly better sound from its own speakers over the 13" Air.

Combine the performance with the quiet Air operation, the sleek design and larger screen, and we think the 15-inch Air M3 is currently a fantastic option for mobile music production.

Read our full Apple MacBook Air M3 review

Best all-rounder

We've included the 16" MacBook Pro in our top position as it is the best overall Mac for music production, with the bigger screen size and power. But the 14" MacBook Pro is a cheaper way of getting that power, although you can also spec it up to a price that gets close to the 16" if you load it up with the top-end M3 Max processor.

However, if you dig deep into the MacBook Pro 14" range, you should be able to find a model that balances both power and price.

At the bottom end of the scale you can get a 14" MacBook Pro for less than $/£2,000 with an M3 processor, but in our tests the M3 Air had just as much power and also boasts a bigger screen - hence it being recommended above. So if the smaller 14" screen is something you are after, you might want to take advantage of the faster M3 Pro or Max processors, but either way you'll greatly add to the asking price.

The 14" MacBook Pro is a great machine, but you will have to decide which one you need because there's a machine for everyone in the range, but you might have to do some weighing up of specs versus price to find it.

Best on a budget

The Mac mini is Apple's no-nonsense, compact Mac where you get a choice of core computer and add the keyboard, mouse and monitor yourself to save costs on the original machine. The company's latest mini range retains this ethos - there are still cheap machines available to buy and if the spec of the latest M2 base model fulfils your needs, then $/£649 is a great price to pay. However, the range has also very much expanded upwards, and the sky is the limit in terms of power and price.

Two main types of Mac mini are now available, and are built around the M2 and M2 Pro processors, although there are many available spec options around these to choose from.

As you can now supersize the spec of your Mac mini into something altogether different, the 'mini' name almost does the range an injustice. 'Mac mini XL' or 'Mac maxi' might be a better description.

Inevitably, any upgrades and additions all come at a price and, much like the MacBook Pro, that price rises sharply as you bump up the spec of the memory and storage. Even so, and despite the non-upgradable design, there can be no denying that the Mac mini offers an excellent performance for the price.

Read our full Apple Mac mini M2 review

Best compact option

In many ways Mac Studio is a top choice Mac for music - it starts off at a reasonable $1,999/£2,099 for a base machine that has a decent 32GB memory and powerful M2 Max processor, and this standard machine sits perfectly at the top end of the Mac mini range in terms of price and specs (as Apple has clearly planned it to).

As ever with Apple, it's those tempting upgrades where things might come undone and your bank balance comes under threat. Upgrading to the M2 Ultra chip - as found in the Pro - essentially doubles the price in an instant, but is still a way away from the cost of the Pro. And maxing out the storage adds a huge $/£2,400 for 8TB, so you're seriously better off investing in a fast external drive for this.

And like the mini, you will need the extras - keyboard, mouse and monitor - with the Mac Studio so you'll need to factor these in. But this machine does perfectly bridge the gap between the mini and the excessive Pro to make it a fine choice for music production. If you are in the market for a powerful and very serious desktop Mac for music, then this is a great high-end choice.

Read our full Apple Mac Studio review

Best affordable Air

Apple's new M3 MacBook Air (see above) is available in either 13.6" or 15.3" options, but this older M2 machine could still be a great introduction to the Apple music production world as it is a relatively cheap option.

The sound emanating from the Air's four speakers (which also support Spatial Audio) is so much better than a small form device like this should be capable of. You're not going to be using it for detailed mastering, granted, but it's almost good enough to mix with and very decent just for music listening.

The battery life of the Air is good, although at a quoted 18 hours it's not quite up there with the 22 hours you get on some of the new MacBook Pros. You also only get two Thunderbolt USB 4 ports on the MacBook Air (you get three on the larger Pros), so if you want more than a monitor and interface connected, you might need to think a little outside the box.

Some have said that not having a fan to cool it down is a big disadvantage when you compare this MacBook Air to the latest MacBook Pro. As music producers we'd disagree, to a point, and say that having no fan is a huge advantage, just in terms of noise.

The older M2 MacBook Air is still a beautiful mobile option for Mac music making, and the cheapest one at that.

Read our full Apple MacBook Air M2 (2022) review

Best high-end

OK, so here we are at the top of the Apple Mac tree with a machine that, on the face of it, boasts many of the same specs as the Mac Studio – the storage and memory options are the same, and if you want to, you can even spec the processors up to be similar. The difference is that the Mac Pro boasts Apple's M2 Ultra processor as a standard (whereas it's an option for the Studio) and the Pro has many more connectivity options.

However, even Apple admits that the Pro is designed for those who require the absolute peak of processing power. So think animators, visual effects producers, 3D processing… any and all kinds of video production, basically, where the number crunching needs this kind of power to back it up. Music producers, even at the very highest level, don't really require this kind of power or, more importantly, can get much of it cheaper in Apple's existing range.

And that's where Pro slightly falls down. As incredible as this machine undoubtedly is, it's the price hike between this model and the Studio (and top end MacBook Pro) that puts it out of any league or recommendation. The base model of the Pro, for example, is $6,999/£7,199 whereas you can configure a Studio up to a similar spec for $3,999/£4,199. Yes, you get extra connectivity, but that is a huge difference in cost for that 'Pro' label.

So unless you are making more money than you can spend in music production – and if you are, we'll send you our address details – then you should really consider the Mac Studio as your Desktop Apple ceiling. And just to finish, for your information, if you want the fully maxed out Mac Pro, it'll cost you $12,299/£12,499. We'll take two.

Buying advice

How to choose an Apple Mac for music production

As we say in our introduction above, Apple has produced a Mac computer for every task and occasion. While the range can be initially confusing, there is some logic to it – of course, there is! Once you have made some key decisions, you should find that you quickly hone in on the correct Mac for your music making. So let's look at those buying decisions.

How we test Apple Macs

When testing Macs – any computer, in fact – we look at the overall product design, specs, value for money and, if relevant, how easy the system is to set up and get up and running.

With so many different Macs in the Apple range, we'll also see how they work in the environment for which they were designed, so portable Macs are tested for mobility and durability, while desktop Macs will be tested for the amount of noise they make and whether they produce excessive heat under duress.

And it's this musical number crunching that we test for the most, with a number of different tried and tested methods employed to measure a Mac's performance. The first is to download the Logic or Ableton Live benchmark projects from www.logicprohelp.com and www.music-prod.com. With these, you load up the project and then add tracks on until 'System Overload' is achieved. It therefore gives you comparable benchmark numbers for each Mac tested so we can reveal how upgrading your Mac to a better processor will impact your music production.

Similarly a music producer's DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) has a performance which can be slowed down by CPU-intensive plugins such as reverbs and software synthesisers. We therefore often insert multiple instances of Logic Pro’s ChromaVerb on multiple audio tracks to get a measure of a particular Mac's performance so we can then tell you how each Mac compares with another. See our full reviews via the links in the shorter reviews above.

Read more about how we test music making gear and services at MusicRadar.

Related buyer's guides

• Smaller budget? Explore the best budget laptops for music production
• Going the desktop route? These are the best PCs for music production
• Best budget PCs for music production: power and performance for less
• Best mouse for music production: top choice mice, trackpads and trackballs
• Best computer monitors for music production: DAW-friendly displays
• Best studio desks: budget-spanning options for organising your studio

Fresh from her performance at the VMAs, Olivia Rodrigo has released the video for her new single Get Him Back!, and it turns out that it was shot on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Launched yesterday, Apple says that the iPhone 15 has a significantly enhanced camera, with the new A17 Pro chip powering what the company says is “the equivalent of seven pro lenses”. And thanks to the new USB-C connector, it’s possible to capture video directly to an external storage drive at up to 4K 60fps.

In order to demonstrate the power of the new camera, Apple put an iPhone 15 Pro Max in the hands of Get Him Back! director Jack Begert, who commented: "For this video, we're doing a lot of advanced camera moves to create energy. I was impressed with the quality of the footage.”

Director of photography Xiao ‘X’ added that, "It takes a lot of time on set to switch lenses between shots, but iPhone 15 Pro has seven lenses in one package, including a new 5x zoom on iPhone 15 Pro Max. With just a few taps on the screen, I save time and get what I need in sharp resolution.”

Rodrigo, meanwhile, recently told Zane Lowe that Get Him Back! helped to pull her out of what she perceived to be a creative slump.

"We wrote a song that I didn't like and I had a total breakdown,” she said. “I was like, ‘God, I can't write songs. I'm so bad at this. I don't want to,’ whatever, being really negative.

“Then we took a break and we came back and we wrote Get Him Back!, and it's one of my favourite songs. So it just goes to show you, just never give up. Yeah, super fun to write. I really like the chorus. It feels sticky to me and it feels like something that I would want a crowd to sing."

The new iPhone 15 models will be available for pre-order on Friday with prices starting at $799/£799. Find out more on the Apple website.

We’d been speculating that Apple could release Logic Pro for iPad for rather a long time before the company’s big reveal a few months ago. They had, after all, been quickly upping the specs of the iPad for a couple of generations, making great strides towards turning the device into a true tablet powerhouse. 

The inclusion of the Apple Silicon chips in the latest iPad Pro range was the final signal that a full-fat version of Logic Pro could make the jump from desktop to iPad iOS, and sure enough, shortly after their arrival, Logic Pro was revealed running on the iPad in all its glory. 

But the best news is you don’t actually require a full-blown iPad Pro with those Silicon chips to run it. Even iPads with the A12 Bionic chip (and running iPad iOS 16.4) are capable of  running the app, which means devices going all the way back to the 8th generation iPad, 5th gen Mini and 3rd gen Air.

For many older iPad users, though – including us, it has to be said – running Logic Pro on iPad might mean an upgrade to the latest iPads currently on sale. Those are 9th and 10th generation iPads, the iPad Air and iPad Pros which have A13, A14, M1 and M2 processors respectively, and should run the software without any issues. 

So the question is, is this long-awaited release enough to make you upgrade your iPad? And if you already have, how can you make the best of Logic Pro for iPad? Read on!

• Find a bargain with our pick of the best Black Friday iPad deals

It's Logic... and then some

The first thing to report is that Logic Pro for iPad is very much its own beast. While it will be familiar to both GarageBand and Logic Pro users, on whatever platform they are used to making music on, the new iPad version of Logic very much does its own thing, in its way. And really the app has to forge its own path. It’s bringing in an all-touch ethos into Logic music making so will require a slight (and sometimes big) shift in thinking. So this isn’t a port of the desktop version, more a practical vision of Logic Pro that makes use of the new touch environment in which it now sits. And that means it will require some getting used to.

That said, it is also very familiar. You’ll recognise many of the 100 plugins that come with the software like ES2, Space Designer and Retro Synth. However, all-new plugins including Sample Alchemy and Beat Breaker deliver some magical audio and beat features, albeit in a very Logic(al) way. These alone really are worth trying the app out for. 

And like the desktop version, you can download as much content as you like, although the maximum is rather less than the 72GB the Mac version requires. For the iPad, you are looking at a very reasonable 15GB, so we say go for the lot.

Once you are up and running, you can enjoy full automation and a great mixing experience. The mixer itself is very familiar, you get stacks of effects in blue and the main instrument per channel in green. Some features have obviously been redesigned to make the whole touch workflow that bit easier, so simplified instruments and effects are lined up per channel in Tile View – a chain of devices -  You simply double-click on each to open the full interface with all the controls. 

Other parts are direct lifts from Logic in terms of the design. The Ableton-style Live Loops feature, where you can launch audio and MIDI clips, always in time, looked pretty much like it was designed for an iPad when it came out, so that stays very close to the desktop version, as does the Step Sequencer. Many of the plugins look very similar to the originals, too, particularly the effect devices. 

New arrivals include a tag browser for easy auditioning of sounds, but it’s that touch workflow that is the biggest difference. You’ll soon realise that you don’t need the menu system that a mouse and pointer always leads you to, and that touching, twisting and pinching gets you where you need to be, in many cases probably quicker than you might be used to with the desktop version.  

Something old, something new

It’s perhaps likely that some of those long-term Logic desktop users might be more confused by some of the new ways of doing things with this all-new Logic Pro – experienced and existing iPad users will probably find it all very intuitive and comfortable. 

So, if that long-term desktop Logic user is you, you’ve come to the right place. Over the next few pages we’ll detail some of the new workflows – some of the different ways of getting where you are used to going with desktop Logic – and also some of the great new features you can enjoy with Logic Pro for iPad.

Indeed it’s those new Logic features that make it worth trying out the new DAW. In fact we’d urge you to do just this, because you can enjoy the app totally for free for 90 days, so if you have an iPad with the power, give it a go, and use the following tutorials to immerse yourself in this new Logic touch environment, and then decide if it’s worth a long‑term purchase. 

Logic Pro for the iPad could very well be what your music-making has been waiting for. All that power, all those plugins and all those professional features on an iPad so you can make music anywhere. At last, a proper DAW in the iOS environment – yes, please! So try it for free and see if you are as excited by this new touch DAW as we clearly are.

Multi-touch functionality

The familiar approach of song tracks going from top to bottom and song arrangement from left to right still applies, but the big difference here is obviously touch operation. Using a stylus is good – not absolutely essential – but for some of the more precise moves in Logic Pro for iPad, it is recommended. 

Moving around your main project is as simple as touching the screen and swiping up, down, left or right – a single gesture will take your from one side of a project to the other. You can also highlight tracks and regions simply by touching/clicking them. 

The touch operation comes more into its own when muting and soloing. Click per track or click and drag/swipe to mute and solo several adjacent tracks simultaneously. Many tasks like this are now undoubtedly faster with touch. 

One such task which we think will revolutionise our particular workflow is the pinching of the UI for zooming in and out both vertically and horizontally. Yes, there are different ways of doing it on the desktop version, but pinching has been made to feel so natural by touch devices like the iPad that zooming is now second nature.

In the main screen, it’s just as intuitive to move parts around. Simply click and drag with either your finger or pen/stylus, just as you would that mouse and pointer. Click on the edge of the event and drag it to extend.

The plugins Tile View is a cool new feature. It’s an easier way of seeing devices on a channel and operating their most important parameters, with large enough controls to be able do this by touch. Devices on a channel are listed left to right, in an Ableton Live style.

Navigation, devices and the mixer

You get MIDI effects, instruments and audio effects, and the main controls are on show and very easy to see. Retro Synth has its Filter and Resonance controls, for example, often the most commonly used synth options.

Clicking on a device tile opens it up so you can quickly access more of its controls. You might have to make the window bigger to see them, but once again, it’s a case of swiping up and down to navigate around the plugin’s UI. Here’s Retro Synth bigger.

The Play Surfaces icon (bottom-right corner of the UI) opens a menu of performance/recording options – Keyboard, Drum Pads, Fretboard, Chord Strips and Guitar Strips – to play an instrument. Again, these are multitouch so you can play the keyboard with both hands, if they are small enough or your iPad is large enough!

By now you’ll have opened up plenty of instruments and effects but one of the neat – and necessary – workflow features of Logic Pro for iPad is that all the windows are resizable by clicking and dragging on the right-hand side so you can customise everything that is open. Here we’ve reduced the size of Retro Synth.

One such window is one of the most important: the mixer. Access this with the bottom-right-hand icon. This can be impressively resized to cover most of the UI and again you can use a single swipe to go right or left across your entire range of inputs and outputs. 

You can also select different sections of the mixer – blocks of 12 tracks at a time, say – by clicking the top panel. And, of course, as it’s multitouch, you can adjust multiple channel volumes with multiple fingers simultaneously. Try doing that with a mouse…

Creating a song part and exploring the new workflow

Start a new project (‘+’ symbol top of screen). You can load example projects, sounds or lessons or start from scratch (hit Tracks or Live Loops). As with desktop Logic this means choosing a track type. There are MIDI (software instrument) and audio options plus Drummer for beats and Pattern. Hit any to open the new browser.

The browser for loading in such sounds and instruments has been redesigned, making choosing what you want much easier. There’s an all-new filter system to choose by instrument or description. A button on the right-hand side of the browser (highlighted above) opens up a huge set of filters so you really can focus in on a sound.

As you filter, you’ll be presented with a list of suitable sounds, and you can audition by clicking the notes on each one, which is a great way of quickly identifying what you want – even if you didn’t set out with a specific goal in mind! Click and drag your chosen patch into the song and Logic automatically creates a track. Superb!

Now it’s a case of playing and recording your sound. For that we return to the Play Surfaces (bottom-right icon). Open the options by hitting the keyboard icon (bottom-left). Depending on your sound, you can choose a suitable way of triggering it here, the keyboard and drum pads being the most recognisable for melodic riffs and beats.

But one of the easiest ways to get going with a song is to create a chord sequence. That might be harder in a standard DAW but here it is easy, just use the Chord Strips option which lets you play chords with one finger to create a cycling chord progression in seconds. 

If you need to edit the notes (length or position), return to the Edit screen (the pencil icon on the left above the Play Surface). Here you can also quantise notes by opening the inspector (bottom-left centre ‘i’ icon) and choose a quantise value from the drop-down menu.   

4. Arranging your song

For the last part of this tutorial, we’ll look at arranging a song with the several parts that you could create by repeating steps 1 to 6 on the opposite page. To arrange these parts into a song, we’ll start by focusing in on the icons above the main arrangement window. The left-hand one is Trim and allows you to resize regions. 

Then the Loop icon – second from left – lets you loop parts. Simply click on the greyed our area above the whole arrangement to loop (click and drag to adjust the size), or set loop points by clicking and dragging the loop handles on each region. Easy!

The next Split tool is well implemented. You click and drag it to the place where you want to split a region and then drag it down to effectively cut that region and Logic zooms in so you can see it in close-up detail. Very neat. 

Timestretching – the next icon – is much easier than on desktop Logic. Once again handles appear on your chosen region and you simply click and drag these to stretch it to whatever you choose. This is amazing and so much quicker than you might be used to. 

The final two icons let you select and deselect multiple regions and – the important bit for arranging (!) – copy and past parts. Select this icon and simply click and hold a region and it will copy itself so you can drag it and paste it where you like. No more Option button.

That gives a quick overview on track and song creation in Logic Pro for the iPad. We think you’ll agree that the streamlined approach is superb and well implemented. It’s the same Logic… but different! 

The story of a single mum attempting to learn the guitar in order to bond with her teenage son might not scream ‘must-see movie’, but hold on, because the trailer for Apple TV+’s Flora and Son has landed and it tees up said tale nicely.

Directed by John Carney, whose previous musical-comedies include Once, Sing Street and Begin Again, we learn that the eponymous Flora (Eve Hewson) brings home a guitar after the police tell her that she needs to find something to occupy the time of her off-the-rails teenage son, Max (Orén Kinlan), or he’ll end up “behind bars.”

Disappointed to discover that he has no interest in learning to play, Flora decides to take up the guitar herself, and seeks out video tuition on YouTube. Seemingly overwhelmed by what she finds, she ends up having one-to-one online guitar lessons with down-on-his-luck LA musician Jack (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Whether romance ensues we can’t say - Flora is based in Dublin, Ireland - but we could hazard a guess.

There’s another twist, though: it looks like, rather than play the guitar, her son decides to start producing electronic music on his laptop. Could a mother/son collaboration be on the cards? Again, we can’t say, but we could hazard a guess.

Flora and Son premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and the early word has been pretty positive. Whether it can go on to achieve the same level of success as Coda, the Apple-distributed, music-focused movie that went on to win the Best Picture Oscar in 2022, remains to be seen.

Eve Hewson, of course, has some strong musical heritage, being the daughter of none other than U2’s Bono. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about Flora and Son earlier this year, she confirmed that she performed all of her character’s vocals in the film, and that producers resisted the temptation to fix any imperfections.

“It is all me singing,” she said. “The whole thing and not even with Auto-Tune when you can just fix that little bit to make it a bit better. We actually really like that. It’s sort of off and sounds like a real person. I overcame a massive, massive fear doing that. I would rather swim with sharks.”

Hewson also revealed that, although she grew up playing music, the guitar wasn’t her instrument of choice.

“I actually hated the guitar,” she confessed. “I hate the strings and the calluses and once I got to chords, I was like, fuck this. But yeah, I played guitar when I was younger but was more into the drums and piano.”

As for whether she sought her father’s advice while working on her Flora and Son songs, Hewson says that he only got to hear them when they were finished.

Known for his Gas Therapy videos, YouTuber playpm specialises in showcasing “cheap but dope musical gear solutions” that can rival more expensive ones. For his latest video, he’s taken the budget-stretching to a whole new level, showing you how it’s possible to create a complete track on a brand-new Mac for free.

After bemoaning the fact that Apple effectively ‘retires’ its older Macs by preventing them from being updated to the latest operating system, playpm explains that you don’t have to get caught up in the endless upgrade loop. Instead of buying a new Mac, he suggests, just head to the Apple Store and use one there.

Describing his method “a free service and legal”, he then proceeds to do precisely that, finding a Mac Studio and Studio Display and filming himself making a track in GarageBand using the monitor’s built-in camera.

How do you save your finished project for future use, though? playpm suggests plugging in an SD card and storing it on there, or logging in to your iCloud account (or another cloud storage service) and uploading it. Then, when you want to continue your work

Whether standing in an Apple Store is conducive to creativity is debatable - and we’re not sure how the staff would feel if you started hooking up a MIDI keyboard - but the video demonstrates that playpm’s option is definitely viable. 

And, as Apple likes to say, it’s certainly a way to ‘think different’.

Tech keynotes are many things but rocking ain’t one of them, at least, not until this year when Craig Federighi, senior vice president, software engineering, at Apple made a timely intervention with some blistering shred chops and one of the most bonkers electric guitars we have seen in the wild – and certainly in a corporate setting.

Where did Federighi get this beast? The answer could be Danelectro, Jackson or Ibanez, or all three, because this custom electric, finished in white with a rainbow stripe decal that evoked the history of Apple branding, had elements of them all. 

The first neck was a 12-string Dano, ideal for some Roger McGuinn jangle. The second looks very much from the Jackson stable, perhaps a Soloist. The third looks like an Ibanez with a reverse headstock. It looks like it weighed a ton. 

But that’s okay, because Federighi is only giving us a cameo. A little ‘80s hard rock goes a long way in the clean near-utopian aesthetic of the WWDC23 Apple Keynote, during which the new the latest MacBook Air 15” was introduced alongside new developments in software, services, and operating systems – not to mention the headline-grabbing spatial computing headset Apple Vision Pro, which look like ski goggles for real-life Tron adventures.

Federighi evokes Eddie Van Halen with a ripping two-handed tapped arpeggio line – the Marshall JCM800 full-stack giving him a tone that’s brown enough to get the job done. Then he launches into Tony Iommi’s signature riff from Paranoid to usher in the next segment. Those tech guys really know how to let their hair down, huh.

But Federighi has form. Look on YouTube and you will find him in the most incongruous of settings with a guitar in hand, riffing some Van Halen with a PRS.

Federighi’s fleet-fingered chops might grab the headlines in the guitar circles but there was more significant news coming out of Apple this week, with the updates to the 15-inch MacBook Air, Mac Studio and Mac Pro of particular interest to musicians. 

The MacBook Air is among the best laptops for music production – particularly if you want it to be portable. The MacBook Air has had its its Liquid Retina display increased to 15.3”, and it packs a M2 processor under the hood.

In other recent Apple news – indeed, in other music production on the go news – Logic Pro has finally been released for the iPad. It is the first time its flagship DAW has been made available for the platform, and is priced £5 a month or £49. 

See Apple for more details.

Well, that was a lot. Apple’s WWDC23 keynote delivered a whole raft of new products, with the Apple Vision Pro ‘spatial computer’ inevitably garnering most of the headlines.

Take off the reality augmenting/distorting goggles, though, and there was plenty for Mac-based music makers to ponder, notably the arrival of the 15-inch MacBook Air and an upgraded Mac Studio.

There’s also the new Mac Pro, a computer so powerful that some kind of ‘do you really need this?’ licence should be required if you want to buy it.

The 15-inch MacBook Air is - you guessed it - a larger version of Apple’s entry-level laptop. Its Liquid Retina display actually measures 15.3 inches, and there’s an M2 processor inside. As with the smaller model, there’s no fan, which ensures silent operation, and we’re promised up to 18 hours of battery life. Prices start at $1,299/£1,399, and you can pre-order now for delivery on 13 June.

It’s also worth noting that prices for the 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 now start at $1,099/£1,149, which is $100/£100 less than before. The M1 model is still available, too, starting at $999/£999.

• Our pick of this year's best Black Friday MacBook deals, updated live

The upgraded Mac Studio, meanwhile, is now available with the new M2 Ultra chip, which Apple says is the largest and most capable it has ever created. This supports up to 192GB of RAM - 50 percent more than the M1 Ultra. You’ll also find this chip in the new Mac Pro, which becomes the final Mac to make the move to Apple Silicon.

Prices for the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra start at $3,999/£4,199, while the base price for the Mac Pro is $6,999/£7,199 (both available 13 June). In all honesty, though, this is far more computer than the vast majority of home studio owners will need; if you’re in the market for a Mac Studio, a better and more affordable bet would be the M2 Max model, which starts at $1,099/£2,099.

Apple also previewed new versions of all its operating systems, starting with macOS Sonoma. This promises more ways to personalise with widgets and new screen savers, updates to Safari and video conferencing, and an optimised gaming experience. It’ll be available later this year alongside iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10 and tvOS 17.

You can find out more about all the new releases on the Apple website.

Logic Pro for iPad: What is it?

In the case of Logic Pro for iPad, perhaps a bigger question than ‘what is it?’ is ‘who is it actually for?’ Is this this a genuine touch-enabled alternative to the desktop version of Logic Pro - and one that could convince huge swathes of musicians to shift wholesale from the Mac to the iPad - or simply a souped-up version of GarageBand for iPad; fine for beginners, singer-songwriters and as a scratchpad for recording ideas, but not a ‘serious’ DAW for professional producers?

Without giving too much away before we’ve even got started, we can say that it’s none of these things. Logic Pro for iPad is better thought of as a completely new music production playground - albeit one that will be very familiar to both GarageBand for iPad and Logic Pro Mac users - but could easily serve as an upgrade for users of the former and a very interesting sister app for users of the latter.

• Find a bargain with our pick of the best Black Friday iPad deals

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though, so let's dial it back. In terms of specs, the good news is that, unlike Final Cut Pro for iPad, which requires an M1 processor, the tablet version of Logic Pro can run on any iPad that has an A12 Bionic chip or later and is running iPadOS 16.4 or later.

To give you some context, that means that it can be installed on not only every current-generation iPad, but also every iPad back to the 5th generation Mini, 3rd generation Air and 8th generation ‘standard’ model.

Given that many had suspected that any version of Logic Pro for iPad would be exclusive to the Pro range - a tangible point of difference between these models and all the others in Apple’s tablet line-up - this is a very pleasant surprise.

What of storage requirements, though? Entry-level iPads over the past few years have typically come with either 32GB or 64GB of space, so is that enough? That really depends on how much of that space you have left and how much of the Logic Pro content you want to install. The basic install is a relatively svelte 660MB, but download all the available sounds, loops, patches, etc, and you’re looking at more like 15GB.

We’ve seen and heard plenty of this content on the iPad before in GarageBand (the genre and artist packs, for example), but where Logic for iPad really starts to carve out its own niche is in its selection of plugins. There are more than 100 in total, many of which have come straight out of Logic for Mac (hello Retro Synth, ES2, Space Designer, etc) but some of which are completely new. There’s Sample Alchemy, which offers a touchy-feely way to manipulate samples, and the intuitive, hands-on fun factory that is Beat Breaker, a time- and pitch-morphing tool. As with all the other instruments, these can be played with a choice of touch interfaces.

Other things we haven’t seen before in an Apple-made iPad DAW include a proper mixer and comprehensive automation features. Track Stacks and Track Groups are here, too, and there’s an all-new tag-based browser, which puts all of your content in one place where it can be searched and auditioned.

The Ableton Live-esque Plug-in Tiles, meanwhile, give you fast access to all the effect and instrument controls in a track’s chain at the bottom of the display. Just double-tap one to open the full interface.

As you’d expect, there are plenty more Logic/GarageBand staples here, too: guitar amps and stompboxes; the automatic, configurable virtual Drummer; Drum Machine Designer; Live Loops; the Step Sequencer; and multi-take recording. Inevitably, there’s AUv3 support, and Ableton Link is on the guest list, too.

Apple Logic Pro for iPad: Performance and verdict

When designing Logic Pro for iPad, Apple has clearly decided that, rather than give (some) people what they think they want - a straight port of the desktop version - it’s going to give them what it thinks they actually need.

It all comes down to the interface and workflow, which have been beautifully optimised for the touchscreen experience. Logic veterans might wonder where all the menus have gone, but for a lot of people - particularly those who’ve been scared off the Mac version because they fear it will be ‘too complicated’ for them - it will feel like a breath of fresh air. 

Obviously, a lot of the plugins are familiar, but the additions of Beat Breaker and Sample Alchemy alone mean that everyone who can should check out the one-month Logic Pro for iPad trial. Both are superb, accessible sound design tools, the former enabling you to reorder, slice and manipulate incoming audio - quite literally by grabbing and twisting it with your hands - and the latter letting you apply its granular, additive and spectral synthesis engines to any sample you like.

It’s surely a case of when not if we’ll see these in Logic Pro for Mac as well, but whether they’ll feel as intuitive once you take the multitouch experience out of the equation remains to be seen.

GarageBand for iOS users, meanwhile, will likely be thrilled to finally be able to get their fingers on a proper mixer and full automation features, which become particularly enjoyable once you get the Apple Pencil involved. In fact, we found ourselves using the Pencil more and more during the course of our testing (in the piano roll and step sequencer, for example) and having a keyboard gives you immediate access to a lot of common Logic Pro shortcuts.

But this also makes things a little complicated. In the interests of full disclosure, we should say we reviewed Logic Pro for iPad on a 12.9-inch, M2-powered iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil and a Magic Keyboard. This makes for a very nice combination indeed, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that what you’ve essentially created here is an expensive touchscreen laptop.

The truth is that you could pick up a MacBook Air and a copy of Logic Pro for Mac for considerably less. You might lose the touchscreen, but you’ll gain the all important third-party AU plugin support, the lack of which is currently Logic Pro for iPad’s achilles heel.

That said, we suspect that the launch of Logic Pro for iPad will kickstart a real resurgence in the cross-platform AUv3 market, which is already showing strong signs of life. As things stand, if you load up a Logic project that contains Mac-only third-party plugins you’ll get a message saying that they’re not available, but Apple would surely love there to come a time when industry-wide adoption of AUv3 means that this becomes a non-issue.

Which brings us back to that original question: who is Logic Pro for iPad actually for? If you’re a GarageBand for iPad user who’s become frustrated with that software’s limitations then it’s a no-brainer. Your existing projects will load right in and you'll have loads more functionality - this is the touch DAW you’ve been waiting for, basically.

Singer-songwriters, too, will love it, particularly if they want to go beyond simple demo recording and have the tools they need to create material that’s approaching release quality.

Bizarrely, it’s perhaps existing Logic users for whom the question is the most difficult to answer. Yes, Logic Pro for iPad offers a pretty good facsimile of Apple’s desktop DAW in a touch-friendly mobile format, and has some excellent additions, but if you’re a power user or value third-party plugin support, it definitely won’t be a replacement for it. Which isn’t to say that it’s not worth having - simply that it will be something that you use alongside your existing DAW rather than at the expense of it.

Which is probably a roundabout way of saying that Logic Pro for iPad is actually very much its own thing, and one that every existing or aspiring musician who owns an iPad that can run it should try (it's free for your first month so there's really no reason not to). And if you do try it, make sure you check out the built-in interactive lessons, which are excellent. Spend an hour or two following these through and you’ll get a pretty good idea of how the software works and what it’s capable of, and you’ll probably be itching to get on and find out what kind of music you can make with it.

Eyebrows will be raised and complaints made about the subscription-only pricing model - as things stand, the desktop version of Logic Pro remains a one-time-only purchase, in case you were wondering - but at $5 a month or $49 a year, it’s by no means outrageous. Still, it would be nice to have the option to purchase the software outright.

Ultimately, though, Logic Pro for iPad is great not only for tablet-based musicians, but the iOS music-making scene in general. In some ways, the software feels like the culmination of everything Apple has been trying to achieve in the creative part of its multitouch universe, and offers fresh impetus to both musicians and third-party developers who are willing to explore it.

MusicRadar verdict: It might not be a replacement for the Mac version, but Logic Pro for iPad is a killer application in its own right, and one that has the potential to re-energise both your creativity and the iOS music-making space in general.

Logic Pro for iPad: Hands-on demos

Mary Spender

The GarageBand Guide

Logic Pro for iPad: Specifications

• Requires an iPad with Apple A12 Bionic chip or later and iPadOS 16.4 or later
• Requires 663MB available storage space for minimum install or up to 15GB storage space for full Sound Library installation
• AUv3 support
• Supported sample rates: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, and 96 kHz
• Audio export options: AIFF, WAV, AAC, Apple Lossless
• Class-compliant MIDI controller support
• Ableton Link support
• Apple Pencil and Bluetooth keyboard support
• GarageBand for iOS project import and Logic Pro for Mac roundtrip project support
• Contact: Apple

Apple just launched new features for Apple Music and Apple Maps that will help fans discover and enjoy live shows. 

Apple Music users are now able to browse artists' upcoming shows in their area by hitting a button within the app that launches Shazam's concert discovery service. Shazam is owned by Apple, having been acquired in 2018, and displays upcoming performances and ticket details for touring artists.

Notably, Apple will not be selling concert tickets through Apple Music or Shazam, which links the user to external ticket providers after a performance is selected. By contrast, Spotify piloted a service that would sell tickets directly to fans late last year, Spotify Tickets.

Apple has also launched a Set Lists feature for Apple Music, which features set lists from a selection of major artists' tours and offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the shows are put together.

Apple Maps users can now browse a collection of over 40 Apple Music Guides, which highlight well-known and historic venues in a number of cities across the globe, including Vienna, Brooklyn, New York, Melbourne and Tokyo. Guides will be curated by Apple Music editors, showing fans the best live music venues and giving them the ability to browse their shows directly in Maps. 

Find out more on Apple's website.

At last, Apple has released the long-rumoured Logic Pro for iPad, bringing its flagship DAW to a multitouch device for the first time.

First impressions are that, as you’d expect, this takes some design cues from the iOS version of GarageBand, but goes further by offering a range of ‘pro’ features.

Diving into the detail, an all-new sound browser puts all available instrument patches, audio patches, plugin presets, samples and loops in a single location, and you can tap any sound to audition it before you add it to a project.

And there’s certainly plenty of content to play with: Logic Pro for iPad ships with more than 100 instruments and effects, with the multitouch-capable interfaces enabling you to bring them to life. 

• Find a bargain with our pick of the best Black Friday iPad deals

One of the instruments - Sample Alchemy (below) - is brand new; an evolution of the existing Alchemy synth, we suspect, this enables you to “transform any audio sample with the tap of a finger”.

Plugin Tiles, meanwhile, put the most useful controls for any instrument or effect at your fingertips.

Other potential highlights include Beat Breaker, a new time and pitch-morphing plugin, and iPad-friendly variants of Logic Pro’s Quick Sampler, Step Sequencer and Drum Machine Designer. The Live Loops feature is here too, for those who want an alternative to the standard, timeline-based arrangement view.

Unlike GarageBand for iOS, Logic for iPad includes what Apple describes as a Pro Mixer. This offers channel strips, volume faders, pan controls, plugins, sends and automation features, and enables you to move multiple faders at once.

Crucially, Apple says that the Logic Pro for iPad is compatible with the Mac version via its “roundtrip capabilities” - we’re keen to dig in and find out how these work. A number of audio export options are available, too, including compressed, lossless and individual track stem. GarageBand for iOS projects can be opened in Logic Pro for iPad, too.

Logic Pro for iPad will be available from 23 May priced at £5 a month or £49 and run on any iPad with an A12 Bionic chip or later and iPadOS 16.4 or later, so it’s not just iPad Pro owners who will be able to get involved. 

The pricing won’t please those who are opposed to subscription models, obviously, but for people who want to make this their primary music production software, at least it’s not a huge amount to pay. 

And that, of course, brings us to the big questions: is there a demand among Apple fans for a pro-grade, end-to-end iPad DAW, and if there is, does Logic Pro fit the bill?

Time will tell, but for now, you can find out more on the Apple website.

It’s taken a while - to be honest, we sort of assumed it had happened already - but thanks to a v12.6 update, Reason now offers native support for Apple Silicon Macs.

The upshot of this is that, if you’re running Reason 12 on an M1- or M2-powered Mac, you should experience better performance. Up to 50%, according to developer Reason Studios.

“This is a must-have update for those who have purchased a new Mac with an M1/ M2 processor,” piped Martin Fridegren, Product Manager at Reason Studios, which seems like a reasonable thing to say.

But hold on, because there’s more: all 750+ Reason Rack Extensions now run natively on Apple Silicon, too, even those that are no longer being maintained by their original developers.

“Since the Rack Extension format is platform agnostic, we are able to ensure that our music makers can continue to use their favourite Rack Extension plugins even on new computer architectures,” Martin Fridegren explains. “We take great pride in making sure you can always access music you made in Reason.”

Speaking of access, Reason 12.6 also includes a new offline mode, meaning that you can now continue to use the software when your internet connection drops out or you’re off grid. This works seamlessly: once you’ve signed into Reason once, it’ll just work, and the same goes for all content downloaded via the Reason+ subscription service.

Reason 12.6 is a free update for all Reason 12 owners and is also being offered to all Reason+ subscribers. If you’re using an older version of Reason and want to upgrade, you can get a 40% discount on the price until 8 May.

Find out more on the Reason Studios website.

Apple Mac mini M2: What is it?

Apple’s Mac mini has really come of age in recent years, and like much of the Mac product line, the arrival of Apple Silicon has dramatically enhanced its performance. It makes it potentially one of the best value options if you're looking for a PC for music production in a more permanent set up.

With Apple now going full tilt with its latest M2 processor rollout, the Mac mini, much like the MacBook Pro, is having a full-on refresh. 

The result is not only more choice (with two main types of Mac mini now available), but also specs that in many cases are indistinguishable from the new MacBook Pros. 

The two different designs are built around the M2 and M2 Pro processors (note there’s no M2 Max option), and both include two USB-A ports, Ethernet, HDMI, headphone output, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. 

Where they differ is the number of Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C USB 4) ports – two for the M2 and four for the M2 Pro. The M2 model is an 8-core CPU/10-core GPU design with a choice of memory (8, 16, 24GB) and storage (256, 512GB, 1T, 2T). The M2 Pro model is either a 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU or 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU design with a choice of memory (16, 32GB) and storage (512GB, 1, 2, 4, 8TB). 

All versions have a 16-core Neural Engine and all versions can have a 10 Gigabit Ethernet configuration (£100 extra). There are some other differences between the M2 and M2 Pro models, including multiple screen capability (2 vs 3), HDMI type (2 vs 2.1) and weight (1.18kg vs 1.28kg). 

As we’ve come to expect from Apple Silicon devices, the system-on-chip (SoC) design and hard-wired SSD means none of the Mac mini is upgradeable. What’s more, this means you have many available spec options to choose from and a wide range of prices. 

To put this into context the absolute minimum base model (M2 8-core/10-core, 8GB memory, 256GB storage) is £649. Whereas the fully-maxed M2 Pro model (M2 Pro, 12-core/19-core, 32GB memory, 8TB storage, 10 Gigabit Ethernet) is a whopping £4,599, although the 8TB storage option makes up an astonishing £2,400 of this price. 

For review, we have the faster M2 Pro (12-core CPU, 19-core GPU) with 32GB memory, 1TB storage and the faster 10Gb/s Ethernet. This costs £2,399 – wow.

All the connectivity mentioned above along with the power button and fan vent is hidden around the back. The only thing on the front is a tiny power indicator. This looks incredibly slick, although from a functional perspective fumbling around the back to plug up a regular USB stick is a bit of a pain. 

You can of course use those seriously dated USB-A ports for keyboard and mouse, but Apple’s Bluetooth options deliver a less cluttered desktop. For screen connection you can use one of the USB-C ports or the HDMI port, and much like the MacBook Pro, the DisplayPort-capable ports allow additional screen connectivity as mentioned above. 

The Mac mini comes preinstalled with Mac OS 13 Ventura and this is the minimum supported OS. For music production, it’s very important to check that any plugins or apps you want to use support this OS and Apple Silicon.

Apple extras

With the Mac mini, unlike a MacBook, you need to budget for a few extras, as the box literally includes the Mac mini and its power lead. The most obvious is the screen, and there are plenty of very respectable non-Apple options out there.

However, Apple sent us the Studio Display, its glorious 27” 5K Retina unit with pixel doubling, regular and nano-texture glass options and integrated 12MP camera. One of its coolest additional features is the 6-speaker Atmos capable sound with force-cancelling woofers. 

Nevertheless, at £1,499 upwards this is a luxury few will opt for. You may also have to factor in a mouse and keyboard, and the going rate for the cheapest Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard is currently £79 and £99, respectively.

Apple Mac mini M2: Performance and verdict

To see how the Mac mini performed and to compare it to both the new MacBook Pro and last year’s Mac Studio, both of which we have tried, we ran very similar tests. 

These use Logic Pro X and its stock plugins, thus avoiding any OS support issues. On this occasion within Logic, the processing option is switched to ‘12 threads’ rather than ‘automatic’ and the buffer size set to 256 samples. 

The first test uses multiple tracks loaded with the Alchemy synth playing a series of 5-note chords. The review Mac mini managed 68 tracks consistently. The second test uses multiple audio tracks each playing the same snippet of audio and each with Logic Pro’s ChromaVerb inserted. 

The Mac mini managed 385 tracks consistently. These results are slightly lower than the M2 MacBook Pro we tried, which had the same processor. We don’t know the exact reason for this, but it could possibly be the additional hit of running an external screen. 

Interestingly, the difference affects the synth performance most, and the reverb performance is almost the same. To confuse matters slightly, the Geekbench 5 score (single-core 1964, multi-core 14995) was virtually identical to the MacBook Pro M2 we tested.

Either way, this is amazing performance, particularly for the single core, and much like the MacBook Pro, the cooling fan didn’t budge during our tests. What’s more, although we didn’t have them side by side to compare, when reasonably idle we would say the Mac mini fan is noticeably quieter than the Mac Studio, which makes it ideal for music users.

Once upon a time, the Mac mini was the slimmed down, and dare we say it, affordable Mac option, and if the spec of the latest M2 base model fulfils your needs, then at £649 that’s still the case. 

However, you can now supersize the spec of your Mac mini into something altogether different. Mac mini XL or Mac maxi might be a better description. 

Inevitably, this all comes at a price and much like the M2 MacBook Pro, that price rises sharply as you bump up the spec of the memory and storage. 

Even so, and despite the non-upgradable design, there can be no denying that the new Mac mini offers excellent performance

MusicRadar verdict: With a wealth of configuration options and prices to tempt everyone from entry-level dabblers to power users, the Mac mini has come of age.

• Our pick of the best Macs for music production

Apple Mac mini M2: The web says

"The entry-level Mac Mini is both impressively powerful and shockingly affordable making it arguably the best value computer on the market right now, but the price of spec upgrades makes more powerful models less appealing."
Tech Advisor

Apple Mac mini M2: Hands-on demos

Apple

GregsGadgets

Marques Brownlee

ZONEofTECH

Apple Mac mini M2: Specifications

• Review unit: Apple M2 Pro chip
• 12-core CPU – 8 performance cores
• 4 efficiency cores
• 19-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 32GB Unified Memory, 200GB/s memory bandwidth
• 1TB SSD storage
• I/O: Headphone output
• 4 USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports
• 2 USB-A ports
• 1 HDMI port
• 1 Gigabit Ethernet port
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3
• Wi-Fi 6E
• Size: 197 x 197 x 36mm
• Weight: 1.28kg
• PRICING: M2 from £649, M2 Pro from £1,399, As reviewed – £2,399.
• CONTACT: Apple

Apple MacBook Pro M2: What is it?

Apple’s M series processors have revitalised its Mac range. The performance leap has been more than impressive and although the non-upgradeable system on chip (SoC) design, which includes CPU, GPU and RAM, raised a few eyebrows, in Apple’s universe smaller and slicker are big drivers. 

Here we have the new 14” MacBook Pro in silver (space grey is also an option), which along with the new 16” model joins the existing 13” M2 MacBook Pro to create a trio of pro-targeted M2-equipped devices. 

While the 13” is limited to the original M2 processor, the 14” and 16” both offer the latest M2 Pro or M2 Max SoC designs and this means more CPU and GPU cores. The M2 Pro CPU/GPU options are 10-core/16-core and 12-core/19-core, with the M2 Max offering 12-core/30-core and 12-core/38-core. 

All feature a 16-core Neural Engine. Oddly, you can spec all four in the 14” model but only the three fastest in the 16” model. Further options include memory (16, 32, 64, 96GB) and storage (512GB, 1, 2, 4, 8TB), although not all selections are available for all CPUs. 

That’s clearly a bewildering array of options and prices. As a guide the base 14” (M2 Pro 10/16, 16GB, 512GB) is £2,149 and the fully maxed 16” (M2 Max 12/38, 96GB, 8TB) is an eye-watering £6,749, although to be fair £2,200 of that is the 8TB storage. Our middle-of-the-range review unit (14” M2 Pro, 12-core/19-core processor, 32GB RAM and 2TB storage) is a not inconsiderable £3,499.

• Explore this year's best Black Friday MacBook deals

Apple’s laptops are well engineered, beautiful devices that perform very well. The review model is reasonably light (1.6kg) and has a beautiful 14.2” Liquid Retina XDR display. This has a native resolution of 3024x1964, which is a real life equivalent of 1512x982 when you factor in pixel doubling. For added screen real estate you can activate a higher resolution option (1800x1169), which we found surprisingly workable given the tiny text sizing. 

This model includes three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports (two on the left, one on the right). The right side also includes an HDMI output and SDXC card slot. The left side includes a 3.5mm headphone output and the latest MagSafe 3 port. The included PSU can use the included MagSafe lead or a regular USB-C lead to power any of the USB-C ports. Battery life is quoted as up to 12 hours for wireless web use and up to 18 hours if watching Apple TV.

In addition to Thunderbolt 4, the USB-C ports support USB 4 (up to 40GB/s) and also DisplayPort, An M2 Pro-equipped machine can support up to two additional monitors and the M2 Max up to four additional monitors. Further onboard features include a backlit Magic keyboard, Force Touch trackpad, Touch ID button, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and an integrated three-mic array. 

You also get the six-speaker sound with force-cancelling woofers. These sound pretty good for a laptop and also support Spatial Audio for Dolby Atmos content, although you’ll need to position your chin over the trackpad to really get the full effect of the spatial audio.

Apple MacBook Pro M2: Performance and verdict

Having been very impressed by the Mac Studio when we tested it last year, we were interested to see how this MacBook Pro would compare. 

We ran the same tests using Logic Pro X and its stock plugins. We also set Logic’s processing option to ‘12 threads’ rather than ‘automatic’.

The first test uses multiple instances of the Alchemy synth playing a series of five-note chords. The MacBook Pro managed 78 tracks consistently, so playing constantly on a looped basis without any overloading. This is only a few less than the 85 tracks the Mac Studio (M1 Max, 10-core CPU/24-core GPU, 32GB memory) achieved. 

The second test uses Logic Pro’s ChromaVerb inserted on multiple audio tracks processing a snippet of audio. Once again this needs to be stable over continuous looping. The MacBook Pro managed 389 tracks, not far from the Mac Studio (418 tracks). 

We also ran Geekbench. The scores (1,961 single core, 14,907 multi-core) are faster than the M1 Max Mac Studio we tried. The MacBook Pro had at the time we tested it the fastest single core performance in the Mac Geekbench Chart, just above the latest M2 Pro Mac mini. What’s more, although the metal case was warm the fans did not start up during any of our tests – great news for music users.

M1 vs M2

What is the actual difference between the various versions of Apple’s M series processors? Although the underlying 5nm architecture is similar, the M2 chips have way more transistors than their M1 predecessors and this delivers a significant performance boost. 

Apple claims this gives the M2 Pro 20% faster CPU, 30% faster GPU and 40% faster Neural Engine performance than the M1 Pro. Nevertheless, the current top-end M2 Max still only has 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores, with a maximum memory option of 96GB. Compare that to the M1 Ultra’s 20-core CPU and 48-core GPU with 128GB memory and at the time of writing the M1 Ultra is still top of the tree for multi-core performance.

Verdict

Apple’s failure to incorporate Face ID into these flagship laptops is baffling. Equally confusing is that their Touch Bar is only available on the 13” MacBook Pro. You might also wonder why Apple has yet to pursue full touchscreen functionality. But these wider points aside, our review 14” MacBook Pro is likely the most powerful laptop we’ve ever used, and it’s not even close to being a maximum spec machine. Impressive stuff. 

MusicRadar verdict: Beyond the base model the price quickly creeps up, but there’s no denying the latest MacBook Pro delivers incredible performance.

• Our pick of the best Macs for music production

Apple MacBook Pro M2: The web says

"The new MacBook Pro is hands-down the world's fastest 14-inch laptop with Apple's M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Epic battery life makes it nearly perfect for creative pros."
Tom's Guide

Apple MacBook Pro M2: Hands-on demos

Apple

The Everyday Dad

Max Tech

Apple MacBook Pro M2: Specifications

• Key features (as tested) 
• Apple M2 Pro chip
• 12-core CPU – 8 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores
• 19-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 32GB Unified Memory, 200GB/s memory bandwidth
• 2TB SSD storage
• 14.2” Liquid Retina XDR display
• Dimensions: 312.6 x 221.2 x 15.5mm. 
• Weight: 1.60kg. 
• Price: £3,499.
• CONTACT: Apple 

Apple has recruited one of Universal Audio's top executives, leading to excitable talk about the impact that this could have on Logic Pro in 2023. 

Dave Tremblay has been appointed Senior Manager of Apple's Audio Systems division. Prior to his recruitment, Tremblay was Vice President of Technology and Chief Architect at Universal Audio, a position he held for over nine years.

Before his time at Universal Audio, Tremblay worked for Avid, the maker of Pro Tools. While at Avid, Tremblay was chiefly responsible for developing AAX, Avid's audio plugin platform. He has also worked at Sonoma Wire Works, the maker of RiffWorks, and the now-defunct BIAS Inc.

Although Tremblay's hire took place late last year, we were alerted to the development this week by YouTuber The Band Guide, whose video, 'HUGE news for Logic Pro X in 2023?' is embedded above.

In the video, The Band Guide's Colin Cross makes a variety of predictions based on Tremblay's hire. Cross suggests that Apple may be planning on bolstering Logic's suite of stock plugins with more analogue emulation plugins, similar to those produced by Universal Audio. Cross also raises the possibility of Apple upgrading Logic's mixer to emulate the analogue summing achieved by classic recording consoles. 

Logic Pro already contains some tools that offer analogue emulation: the Vintage EQ Collection models three classic analogue EQs, and Logic's stock Compressor plugin emulates vintage hardware like the Teletronix LA-2A and SSL Master Buss Compressor. Tremblay's hire suggests that Apple will be expanding its suite of analogue emulation plugins to provide producers looking to recreate the sound of classic gear with a wider array of options.

Cross makes some credible predictions that have us fervently stroking our chins, wondering where Apple might take Logic this year with Tremblay at the helm. Could it be developing a subscription-based platform like Universal Audio did with Spark? (Unlikely, we'd say.) Could it be developing its own audio interface that's made exclusively for use with Logic? (Also pretty unlikely, in our view.) Only time will tell. 

Subscribe to The Band Guide on YouTube.

• Read more: What’s included in Universal Audio UAD Spark? All the native UAD plugins explained

Apple has unveiled M2 Pro and M2 Max, its latest ‘systems on a chip’, and brought them to the Mac mini and both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

An evolution of the standard M2 chip, the M2 Pro features up to 12 CPU cores and up to 19 GPU cores, and can accommodate up to 32GB of RAM. CPU performance is said to be up to 20 percent faster than the 10-core CPU in the M1 Pro chip, and graphics speeds up to 30 percent faster.

M2 Max also has a 12-core GPU, but ups the ante by offering a GPU with up to 38 cores, along with a larger L2 cache. What’s more, you can equip it with up to 96GB of memory.

One of the first products to host the M2 Pro is the updated Mac mini, which is also available with a standard M2 chip for the first time. Prices start at $599/£649, though you can’t get an M2 Pro-powered machine for less than $1,299/£1,399, and there’s no M2 Max option.

The M2 Mac mini supports up to two displays, while the M2 Pro model can run up to three.

• Our pick of this year's best Black Friday MacBook deals, updated live

The same can’t be said of the revised 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, which can now be spec’d with either M2 Pro or M2 Max chips. Prices start at $1,999/£2,149 and $2,499/£2,699 for the 14- and 16-inch models respectively, while the cheapest M2 Max machines will set you back $3,099/£3,349 or $3,499/£3,749, depending on which size you go for.

The new MacBook Pros are also notable for offering up 22 hours of battery life - the longest ever in an Apple laptop, we’re told - and support displays of up to 8k via “advanced” HDMI. There’s WFi 6E support, too.

All the new Macs can be ordered from today and will be available from 24 January. Find out more on the Apple website.

Arriving just in time for the holidays, Apple has unveiled Apple Music Sing, a new karaoke-friendly feature that enables you to adjust the levels of vocals in mixed tracks so that you can replace or embellish them with your own.

Rival streaming service Spotify began rolling out its own karaoke mode earlier this year, and Apple’s effort appears to be cut from similar cloth. It offers multiple lyric views that enable you to take the lead, perform a duet or sing backup, and the original song’s vocal levels can be adjusted with a simple onscreen fader.

Apple doesn’t explain what’s going on here, but we’re guessing that some kind of realtime audio separation technology - as previously seen in DJing apps from the likes of Algoriddim and Serato - is in play. The company says that you’ll be able to use the feature on “millions of songs”, and is also preparing more than 50 dedicated companion playlists of songs that are “optimised for the Apple Music Sing experience”.

The onscreen lyrics, meanwhile, are animated and will ‘dance’ to the rhythm of the vocals. Backing vocal lyrics can be animated independently to make them easier to follow, and in the duet view, lyrics are shown on opposite sides of the screen.

“Apple Music’s lyrics experience is consistently one of the most popular features on our service,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats. “We already know our users all over the world love to follow along to their favourite songs, so we wanted to evolve this offering even further to enable even more engagement around music through singing. It’s really a lot of fun, our customers are going to love it.”

Apple Music Sing is included in the standard Apple Music subscription and will be rolling out worldwide later this month. It’s available on compatible iPhone and iPad models (there’s no mention of the Mac, strangely) and also the Apple TV 4K.

John Legend has re-recorded Spatial Audio piano versions of four songs from his latest album, Legend. These are available exclusively to Apple Music subscribers.

“The songs are about love,” John Legend tells Apple Music. “They're songs about expressing yourself and being inspired and telling your authentic truth when it comes to who you are and how you feel about the people you love. I really thought about each song and what songs I could do cool versions of on piano.”

The four songs in question are Honey, Nervous, Wonder Woman and One Last Dance. Discussing his selections further, Legend says: “Some of them, I would want to stick closer to the original vibe and energy of the original recording. But some of them, I thought it'd be fun to do a really fresh take on it. I wanted to record them in a way that was more intimate so that people could really feel and listen to every lyric.” 

The Legend (Solo Sessions) EP also includes a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s pop-gospel standard Bridge Over Troubled Water. It’s available now as part of 2022’s ‘From Apple Music with love’ promotion, which gifts subscribers exclusive content from big-name artists in the run-up to the holiday season.

Spotify invariably generates plenty of headlines with its annual Wrapped review, which lets you know what both you and everyone else has been listening to over the past 12 months, but Apple Music has beaten its rival to the punch this year by offering a redesigned Replay experience.

This adds an enhanced Wrapped-style year-end round-up with expanded listening insights and new functionality, such as a personalised highlight reel. Apple Music subscribers can discover their top songs, albums, artists and genres, and even find out if they’re in the top 100 listeners of their favourite artist or genre.

What’s more, users’ Replay stats will continue to evolve through to the end of 2022, so you’ll be able to find out if your listening habits change in December (bit more Mariah, perhaps?)

Insights can be shared with family and friends on social channels and messaging platforms.

As well as giving users their personalised stats, Apple has also revealed its global end-of-year charts. The company says that these feature a growing number of non-English-sung songs and show that genres that were once considered ‘niche’ are starting to find their way into the mainstream.

Despite being released back in 2021, the most-played song on Apple Music this year was Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s Stay, while the most-read lyrics were for the ubiquitous We Don’t Talk About Bruno, which comes from the soundtrack to Disney’s Encanto.

Joel Corry and MNEK topped the Fitness Songs chart with their collaboration Head & Heart, while the most ‘Shazamed’ song was Elton John and Dua Lipa’s Cold Heart (PNAU Remix).

Finally, the biggest album on Apple Music this year was Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti. The all-conquering Puerto Rican rapper/singer was also crowned artist of the year.

You can check out your Replay stats and the global end-of-year charts over at Apple Music.