Q: 256 Internal SSD Space for Logic and Music Production?

[davideotape]

I found a pretty good deal on a base model M1 MacBook Pro. I'm not a pro and am still learning Logic-- I basically just want to use Logic Pro with Software instruments and a few virtual plugins. I installed maybe 75-80% of the software I want and I'm down to 138gbs before even playing a note.
- Is there a workflow or are there tips for consolidating space?
- Should I return it and wait for a deal on a 512 model?
- Am I worried about nothing and that remaining space is plenty and I can just move projects over to an external drive

I want to keep this portable, so any external drives should be real discreet, and ideally not necessary for sketching out ideas (ie: "relocate sound library" maybe not a good idea)

 

[brdeveloper]

Even 512GB is not enough in the mid/long term. I wouldn't care too much. My current setup is a Mac Mini 2012 i7 with a 128GB SSD plus a 1TB hdd as a secondary internal storage. I moved all Logic Pro large libraries to the hdd by using symbolic links (actually I don't remember well which procedure I used). I keep current projects on an external SSD and older ones in the 1TB HDD. I think 512GB will just allow you to wait a bit more before switching to an external storage workflow. In your case, perhaps the upgrade price could be spent on a large external USB SSD in the 1TB-2TB range.

P.S.: I'm planning moving to an AS Mac, but only after Apogee assure my Element 46 is fully compatible. I have a few expensive plugins that I'm waiting for reviews before upgrading to AS (iZotope, BIAS, Melodyne, Apogee FX Rack...).

 

[LukeHarrison]

I found a pretty good deal on a base model M1 MacBook Pro. I'm not a pro and am still learning Logic-- I basically just want to use Logic Pro with Software instruments and a few virtual plugins. I installed maybe 75-80% of the software I want and I'm down to 138gbs before even playing a note.
- Is there a workflow or are there tips for consolidating space?
- Should I return it and wait for a deal on a 512 model?
- Am I worried about nothing and that remaining space is plenty and I can just move projects over to an external drive

I want to keep this portable, so any external drives should be real discreet, and ideally not necessary for sketching out ideas (ie: "relocate sound library" maybe not a good idea)

If you're EXCLUSIVELY using virtual instruments and plug-ins you might be alright, all the actual data is stored as MIDI and takes up very little space. As soon as you start adding real audio tracks to it though, it goes through the roof. I've got individual projects pushing 100GB. Granted, that's quite an exception and is an awful lot of audio, and most of my projects (three or four guitars parts, bass, lead and backing vocals + a few virtual instruments) tend to be 500MB-1GB a piece. Also, if you want to download all the Logic instruments and loops then that's going to chew up most of that space too. Like video, audio work will take up as much storage as you can give it.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm running Logic Pro X on a hackintosh. My system SSD is 512GB but my Logic sessions are on a separate SSD and my virtual instrument samples (over 800GB) are on another SSD. This is being handled via symbolic links as brdeveloper mentioned.

I can see that in a couple of years I'm going to have to move to a real (Apple silicon) Mac and figure out a good external storage solution.

 

[davideotape]

Thanks— I wound up keeping the 256 and buying a 1tb samsung t7 i just velcro to my laptop cover. I think thatll do the trick for now.