PRODUCT
PRODUCT
TESTS
Apple MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
By Dajaun Martineau
The 2016 MacBook Pro boasts a sleek , light design , plenty of processing power , and some cool new features – so how does it stack up in the studio ?
Getting Started The first thing that I noticed when I began using this computer is its power . I ’ ve been mixing records on Mac Pro towers with Avid HD3 Accel systems for over a decade and they don ’ t even come close to the plug-in count and responsiveness of this computer . The MBP changes the game when it comes to digital mixing . DSP enhancers may soon be a thing of the past .
The newly redesigned audio system is louder , clearer , and better than anything I would expect out of such a small system ; unfortunately , being an audio professional , the amount of times I used the built-in speakers can be counted on one hand . The laptop still sports one piece of 19 th century technology : a 3.5 mm phone jack , to the joy of many users .
In Use I ’ m sure by now you ’ re all begging the question : What about the Touch Bar ?! My first instinct was to think of the Touch Bar as more of a gimmick than a feature , but as I worked with it more and more , I ’ ve found it incredibly useful .
The Touch Bar is entirely context sensitive and almost predictive in nature . Not only does it change the available functions as you switch from application to application , but also based on what you are doing . If I open a PDF , it gives me some basic rotation options , but as soon as I make a selection , a highlighter display appears with different colours or strikethrough options .
Apple ’ s DAW , Logic Pro X , had a bit of a head start developing for the MacBook ’ s new Touch Bar and has really done a fantastic job of integrating it . The new functionality is perfectly in line with Apple ’ s notoriously intuitive design .
Once I got into using it with Logic Pro , I recognized the potential for this as a musical tool . When you click on any instrument track , the Touch Bar automatically offers you Smart Controls for everything from level , reverb
sends , and tremolo controls to compression or EQ options . It even lets you cycle through presets .
The sliders , while basic in nature , are
incredibly responsive and feel very natural . Actually , using the Touch Bar is very reminiscent of using a real fader on a console . Some software allows you to customize which options are displayed by default on the Touch Bar , but that ’ s not an option in Logic yet .
There are three other modes you can flip the Touch Bar into while using logic . The first is a Timeline Overview that provides an overview of your entire session and lets you zoom around quickly . The Touch Bar is too small to provide any real usefulness here but it is still a good effort in trying new navigation options .
The next is Key Command mode , which offers customizable banks of keyboard shortcut buttons .
The last is Instrument and Track Controls , offering a virtual keyboard , drum kits , or audio track settings . Despite being tiny , the keyboard and drum pad are incredibly powerful . The keyboard allows you to set it to key specific patterns so that there is no such thing as a wrong note as long as you have a basic grasp of music theory . The drum pad offers a velocity slider and a note repeater , making it feel a lot like using an MPC .
Unfortunately , Avid ’ s Pro Tools and Ableton Live haven ’ t rolled out any functionality for the Touch Bar yet but I am really looking forward to what they put together because I can see this becoming a formative creative tool . My dream request is for someone to create an app that would allow me to easily program my own functions into the Touch Bar .
Some engineers have been vocal about the lack of port diversity on this model , so let ’ s have a look . This Mac is loaded with four Thunderbolt 3 ( aka USB-C ) ports . Thunderbolt 3 is truly one port to rule them all . USB-C boasts backwards compatibility to USB 1 and 2 , FireWire , Thunderbolt 1 and 2 , display port , HDMI , and also supports power charging . One USB-C can handle two displays at 4k resolutions .
Many have complained that you have to buy adapters in order to connect some current devices , which is true , but if you can look to the near future where all devices are USB-C , then you ’ ll anticipate the beauty of only needing one type of cable . It won ’ t matter if you ’ re connecting a hard drive , consumer audio interface , or PCIe chassis that contains an entire Avid HD3 system to run a whole studio ; you ’ ll only need one cable . I think I spent maybe $ 50 for adapters to get everything connected .
In Summary I ’ m fairly impressed by this computer and I think that despite the large price tag , it ’ s worth every penny . The most expensive thing in the computer is the PCIe-based flash memory and when you consider what you ’ re getting as far as dollars per gigabyte and operation speed , I think it is entirely worth it .
After using this computer for a while , I have to say this may be the most “ pro ” Mac- Book Pro yet .
Dajaun Martineau is a producer / engineer / writer based out of Toronto , ON , who spent the better part of a decade as a Senior Staff Engineer at Phase One Studios before going freelance . For his full discography and more information , visit www . dajaun . com .
24 PROFESSIONAL SOUND