Updates to Aperture, Final Cut & Logic will tap into horsepower of new Mac Pro
Apple has revealed its professional application suite --?Aperture, Final Cut Pro X, and Logic Pro X --?has been optimized for the company's upcoming next-generation Mac Pro, and that the desktop computer will bring "unparalleled power" for the software.
Apple says Final Cut Pro X will make significant performance gains with the new Mac Pro
All three applications will see significant gains in loading, import, and export time thanks to the new Mac Pro's faster PCIe-based flash storage. Apple's previous generation professional tower relied on Serial ATA (SATA) technology for its drive interfaces, limiting transfer speeds --?even with speedier solid-state drives (SSDs) --?to an absolute maximum of roughly 375 megabytes per second, though that is a speed rarely achieved in real-world implementations.
The next-generation Mac Pro's new PCIe-based storage interface, however, can drive data transfer speeds up to 1.2 gigabytes per second in real-world usage, according to Apple. PCIe achieves these significant gains by attaching the flash storage "closer" to the CPU --?that is, PCIe-based storage has more direct access to the processor, while SATA-based storage must first pass through an external controller chip.
The new Mac Pro's twin AMD FirePro graphics processing units
Aperture, Apple's curation and postprocessing software for professional photographers, will especially benefit from this faster storage speed, Apple says. Photographers often work with Aperture libraries that are tens of gigabytes in size, and storage devices are often a performance bottleneck.
Final Cut Pro X has been optimized for the upcoming Mac Pro by enhancing support for the desktop's dual GPUs, which Apple says will improve real-time playback performance, speed up rendering, and decrease export times in the video editing app. The Final Cut update will also make it faster and easier for editors to monitor 4K video projects with Thunderbolt 2 or HDMI displays.
In addition to gains in project load times from the new Mac Pro's faster storage, audio editing app Logic Pro X will receive a boost from the tower's Thunderbolt 2 support. Cupertino says the Mac Pro's six Thunderbolt 2 ports, with maximum transfer speeds of 20 gigabits per second, will allow producers to add more ultra-low latency audio channels without the need for expensive internal add-on cards.
Apple says Final Cut Pro X will make significant performance gains with the new Mac Pro
All three applications will see significant gains in loading, import, and export time thanks to the new Mac Pro's faster PCIe-based flash storage. Apple's previous generation professional tower relied on Serial ATA (SATA) technology for its drive interfaces, limiting transfer speeds --?even with speedier solid-state drives (SSDs) --?to an absolute maximum of roughly 375 megabytes per second, though that is a speed rarely achieved in real-world implementations.
The next-generation Mac Pro's new PCIe-based storage interface, however, can drive data transfer speeds up to 1.2 gigabytes per second in real-world usage, according to Apple. PCIe achieves these significant gains by attaching the flash storage "closer" to the CPU --?that is, PCIe-based storage has more direct access to the processor, while SATA-based storage must first pass through an external controller chip.
The new Mac Pro's twin AMD FirePro graphics processing units
Aperture, Apple's curation and postprocessing software for professional photographers, will especially benefit from this faster storage speed, Apple says. Photographers often work with Aperture libraries that are tens of gigabytes in size, and storage devices are often a performance bottleneck.
Final Cut Pro X has been optimized for the upcoming Mac Pro by enhancing support for the desktop's dual GPUs, which Apple says will improve real-time playback performance, speed up rendering, and decrease export times in the video editing app. The Final Cut update will also make it faster and easier for editors to monitor 4K video projects with Thunderbolt 2 or HDMI displays.
In addition to gains in project load times from the new Mac Pro's faster storage, audio editing app Logic Pro X will receive a boost from the tower's Thunderbolt 2 support. Cupertino says the Mac Pro's six Thunderbolt 2 ports, with maximum transfer speeds of 20 gigabits per second, will allow producers to add more ultra-low latency audio channels without the need for expensive internal add-on cards.
Comments
BTW : The white balance tool is broken; bug in multiscreen use that screws up the secondary screen in some arrangements; users below 10.9 are shut out. No other differences to 3.4 that I can see.
Not an update to applaud. Absolutely pointless to install it.
Do we know that 3.5 is the update Apple mentioned in the keynote?
So maybe you shouldn’t have installed it, then? Quit whining.
They just released a tidal wave of software...
Well done.
Keep it coming, Apple.
Lemon Bon Bon.
He is not whining. He mentions the update isn't something to install in his opinion. You are the whiner. A whiner who should be banned from this forum for once and for all.
He is not whining. He mentions the update isn't something to install in his opinion. You are the whiner. A whiner who should be banned from this forum for once and for all.
Why not just go back to not posting? That was working really well for you.
Unfortunately, the Thunderbolt accessories from pro audio manufacturers are just as expensive as the equivalent cards, if not more expensive. And that's IF they have a Thunderbolt option. If not, you have to buy an expensive PCIe to Thunderbolt enclosure.
Another grievance I have with the Mac Pro is that, according to Phil Schiller, a significant portion of it's expense is the dual GPUs. There are some pro users, most notably in pro audio (which is my field), who don't need anywhere near that kind of GPU firepower - and no DAW software has been written to take advantage of OpenCL or CUDA that I am aware of. I would like a version of the Mac Pro that doesn't make me pay a premium for hardware that I can't and wouldn't use.
Granted, I'll probably still buy one in a year or two...
GPGPU…
As for hooks, if the software is OpenCL accelerated then we may see gains on all supported hardware.
You seem to be in a rush to criticize this update. Honestly I've never found it pointless to update software. Even bug fix releases are worth the time.
What Apple needs to do is add/upgrade the Audio Units spec to include hooks for OpenCL. All the plugin processing currently just uses the CPU. If say Waves or iZotope had hooks for their plugins to use OpenCL to do some processing%u2026..that would be huge.
Until that happens, there is really no reason for me to upgrade to 10.9 or a new MacPro. My 2008 MacPro works well with a SSD and Logic Pro X. Plus, I'm not sure drivers for my audio gear will work with 10.9 (they aren't really "supported" in 10.8 but still work).
Actually in this case Tallest was highly justified. I've seldom seen an update to any software that wasn't worthwhile. Beyond that it is expected that incremental bumps to software are required to run on a new operating system or to take advantage of new features. Frankly I would have been shocked if Apple released Mavericks without updates to any of its software.
Actually he has a point, if your computing software doesn't leverage OpenCL then the Mac Pro is a waste. Ideally that will change in the future but there is no guarantee that GPU computing will work out that well for Audio.
Not much of an Aperture update if all 3.5 (from 3.4) does is provide hooks for taking advantage of a faster machine that won't ship until Xmas.
BTW : The white balance tool is broken; bug in multiscreen use that screws up the secondary screen in some arrangements; users below 10.9 are shut out. No other differences to 3.4 that I can see.
Not an update to applaud. Absolutely pointless to install it.
You seem to be in a rush to criticize this update. Honestly I've never found it pointless to update software. Even bug fix releases are worth the time.
He's just being a jerk. By his mentality, we should just disregard any future updates and releases. "Hell, my system is working rock-solid. I'll never upgrade from Mountain Lion". Well then, good for you. Others may want whatever new features or fixes an update would provide. Sure, there may be issues as there always is, but why clowns like him don't realize that it's because of those people upgrading and actively squashing the problems that releases get solid.
Duh...
Chicken and the egg. I can’t be the only one to see this! You have to have the hardware available for people to want to write the software to take advantage of it!
Who's whining? I checked it out and went back to 3.4 and advise others to not install it.
How could you possibly have projected whining into that?
Apple's computer business is very profitable because they limit choice and upgradability. This forces consumers to buy more hardware than they need for fear of getting something that doesn't meet their needs in the future. It also saves Apple a lot of money in regards to manufacturing. It is anti-consumer to be sure but it is pro-profit and shareholders love it.
Sure, they could allow build-to-order options so that a customer could get a single, consumer grade GPU or even a standard desktop i5/i7 processor. But offering that variety would cost them extra money on the manufacturing side and result in them making less profit because customer could get exactly the power they need. In other words, it ain't never gonna happen.
-kpluck