Ryzen Hackintosh for Audio Production

[JacBazz]

Hello guys, glad to join this community.

I am planning to build a Ryzen hackintosh for audio production and recording. I am now doing this so I need recommendations for a good option under 1000. The GPU is less important for me because I will use this to run ProTools, Logic, etc. Not any gaming or video editing. The OS I will need is Mojave

For what I have read in the forum I have this:

Ryzen 7 3700X 3rd Gen 8-core / 16 thread 3.6 Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro

I need 32 gigs of RAM and any GPU that will just do the work and its stable.

Also, I don't know what Power supply or Case to buy, But I need this to be quiet.

I will appreciate any help. Thanks

 

[AudiobyBashab]

Hello guys, glad to join this community.

I am planning to build a Ryzen hackintosh for audio production and recording. I am now doing this so I need recommendations for a good option under 1000. The GPU is less important for me because I will use this to run ProTools, Logic, etc. Not any gaming or video editing. The OS I will need is Mojave

For what I have read in the forum I have this:

Ryzen 7 3700X 3rd Gen 8-core / 16 thread 3.6 Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro

I need 32 gigs of RAM and any GPU that will just do the work and its stable.

Also, I don't know what Power supply or Case to buy, But I need this to be quiet.

I will appreciate any help. Thanks

Catalina: If you use video on Protools and Waves plugins, its bad news. Everything else is working fine.
Mojave: ProTools doesn't launch at all.

 

[mita]

I've tried both Catalina and Mojave operating systems.
Logic works for both OSes, but waves often fails to install.
I ran Catalina as an external OS from an SSD connected to a real Macbookpro, installed the main software from there, and returned to Ryzentosh.

One of the characteristics of crashing is that once installed and launched successfully, it doesn't crash. Very little. The ones that don't run consistently will crash during the installation phase or on the first boot.

If you're using Mojave, you should choose an RX580 GPU. If you buy a less powerful graphics board, it will affect Logic's performance.

You can buy whatever case and power supply you want and it won't be a problem.
For parts, it's best to refer to the buyer's guide.

If possible, it's more stable to have a dual-bootable system with Windows and use a non-Logic DAW on Windows.

 

[Standeraas]

Hi, I'm planning on assembling an audio Ryzentosh as well.
However I'm mainly on Pro Tools (currently on MacBook Pro) and what you guys wrote is quite depressing..
What method of installation did you follow?
I heard that the so-called "vanilla hackintosh" is possible with AMD as well and this should make stuff work better.
Do you think that installing an older version of OS X would help?
If it's not gonna work then it's a dead end for me I don't really imagine switching to something other than Pro Tools for most of my work and it sucks ass on Windows like a lot of other things.
Thanks for you replies and sharing what you know

 

[santilky]

Hi, btw i have Mojave 10.14.6 installed and pro tools just wont start, if i update to Catalina is it gonna work at least? I don't use it for Video, i have Logic for that purpose.
I am on 3900x ryzen, with open core

thank you!

 

[ncarcagno]

Catalina: If you use video on Protools and Waves plugins, its bad news. Everything else is working fine.
Mojave: ProTools doesn't launch at all.

What about high Sierra and Pro tools ?

 

[arpiran]

I tried to run Pro Tools 2018.12 Ultimate on Mojave
But I couldn't run it with the install method provided by vanilla amd.
After some trial and error, I found out that the amd cpu cannot run 32bit app.

This is the same situation as Catalina.
Pro Tools is a 64bit app, but the QuickTime framework is a 32bit app.

If you want to run it with catalina or amd You can run QuickTime files and video engines in the Pro Tools package by deleting them.
Of course, this method disables the video engine.


For use the video engine, you need to install it the old way.

GitHub - Shaneee/Mojave_AMD_XNU: Running macOS Mojave on AMD CPUs

Running macOS Mojave on AMD CPUs. Contribute to Shaneee/Mojave_AMD_XNU development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

This way, you can run 32bit app.



Sadly, this is also not a complete solution.

Some plugins crash due to compatibility issues.
Ex) Waves h-reverb, etc.
And sometimes stuttering, slowing down situations make.


My system
CPU : AMD 3700X
M/B : MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS
VGA : SAPPHIRE RX 580 PULSE OC D5 8GB
BOOTLOADER : CLOVER 5119

 

[thepensivemonk]

I am a bit curious about this thread as I see a lot of interest from professionals in the video and audio industry looking at Hackintosh systems as an attractive option for upgrading their production platform.

When I was initially researching Hackintosh, I followed Peter Paul Chato's YouTube channel (as a fellow Canadian, old school Mac enthusiast, and comedian). One of the key points he makes is that a Hackintosh system is never as stable as a genuine Mac, and using it in production is riskier (essentially don't do it). That said, the risk may absolutely be worth the reward in performance and cost savings.

My impression is that an Intel-based Hack may be more compatible/stable for Mac software audio and video production, but I would be interested to hear from those who do this type of work what their experience has been.

pm

 

[et71]

Hi folks,

I'm running a Pro Tools HDX / Ultimate (2019.12) system on OS 10.15.2 on a Ryzentosh for half a year now on a daily basis.
First of all: You can work professionally with this setup.

Of course there are some issues: Wavelab 10 won't launch (so I'm running it on my MacBookPro), some Waves plugins will install but crash ProTools on loading. But I try not to use Waves too much anyway. I can't remember any other software that won't work.
Before you come up with that: The video engine issue is due to Avid and Catalina, not because of the AMD processor.

But admittedly there are some things I worry about. Sometimes there are things I'm not used to from my 20+ years of experience on ProTools / MacOS (and the last 7 years on a Hackintosh). Some lags here and there, even during recording, which in very rare cases (about 1x / month) end the recording. But this could very well be Avid's fault. They're not what they used to be, like many other software developers, too. ProTools used to be very expensive (esp. when you looked at that limited feature set) but it was stable. Intense testing was responsible – for the high price as for the stability. They're under pressure for quite a while now... And so is Intel. The price of the i9-9900K has dropped significantly. So maybe instead of updating the machine in December '20 to the latest Catalina and ProTools version I could end up returning to Intel, just like Peter Paul Chato (which I follow, too) did. He said that it's somehow not the same responsiveness than with an intel. And I have to agree in a way – even though my Ryzentosh is lightning fast – but can't put my finger on it. I sometimes have the feeling that exported mixes differ in the results when they should be exactly the same. Still have to do a null-test on that issue. But can it be that there is some randomness in calculations? Some that I'm able to hear? Or should I call it inconsistencies / errors? I mean: If an OS runs on a processor and everything is installable without any hickup, then you should consider it working, right? Hmm...

And before I forget: Of course I get some crashes here and there, esp. when mixing with a lot of plugins, VI, Elastique Audio enabled on some tracks etc.. But unfortunately that is normal since 10 years, when Avid / Digidesign left the "stability first" path.

In the end I wanted to restate: One can get it up and running and it's possible to professionally work with that system.

Cheers,

et71

 

[rajovo]

As a professional video editor, my take is this: real Macs have a LOT of stability issues as well. I'm using a 2015 iMac and it was never a rock solid machine. My 3900x Catalina (now Big Sur) Hackintosh is very stable. In fact, the OS itself hasn't crashed once in half a year. Big Sur/FCPX 10.5 does give me new issues but I suspect that's not the Hackintosh's doing.

If your Hackintosh has issues with:

• Bluetooth
• sleep
• USB
• wifi
• kernel panics
• thunderbolt
• anything else,

Congrats, your Hack is like a real Mac!

Bottom line: a properly configured Hackintosh can be as stable if not more (I find Apple hardware incredibly finicky and prone to weird issues, probably from being packed so tightly) as the real thing. Go Intel for broader, almost 100% compatibility.

 

[awediohead]

I agree about real macs - at least the more recent ones over the last 10 odd years. I haven't bought a mac since around 2011, as I've been hackintoshing, but I have had to provide quite a lot of tech support for friends and family. They have been getting problems with a regularity that's nothing to do with any of them being 'power users' - indeed most of them probably don't ever push their computers beyond 10% of their capability from one month to the next.
By contrast my very old cheesegrater Mac Pro runs El Capitan with flawless reliability - which I put down to it being an OS that was thoroughly developed combined with well engineered hardware at a component level and overall case design/cooling, even though those CPU's put out a lot of heat!