After four releases that cost $129, Apple dropped the operating system's upgrade price to $29 with 2009's OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and then to $19 with last year's OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. OS X continued to evolve, going through nine different iterations in ensuing years; its stability, speed and ease of use became a major selling point for new Mac users who switched from Windows-driven PCs. See the 50 best inventions of 2008. Next Dreamy Downloads.
Some time ago, in an Apple campus building, a group of engineers got together. Isolated from others in the company, they took the guts of old MacBook Air laptops and connected them to their own prototype boards with the goal of building the very first machines that would run macOS on Apple's own, custom-designed, ARM-based silicon.
To hear Apple's Craig Federighi tell the story, it sounds a bit like a callback to Steve Wozniak in a Silicon Valley garage so many years ago. And this week, Apple finally took the big step that those engineers were preparing for: the company released the first Macs running on Apple Silicon, beginning a transition of the Mac product line away from Intel's CPUs, which have been industry-standard for desktop and laptop computers for decades.Borstal mac os. In a conversation shortly after the M1 announcement with Apple SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi, SVP of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak, and SVP of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji, we learned that—unsurprisingly—Apple has been planning this change for many, many years.
Ars spoke at length with these execs about the architecture of the first Apple Silicon chip for Macs (the Apple M1). While we had to get in a few inquiries about the edge cases of software support, there was really one big question on our mind: What are the reasons behind Apple's radical change?
Why? And why now?
We started with that big idea: 'Why? And why now?' We got a very Apple response from Federighi:
The Mac is the soul of Apple. I mean, the Mac is what brought many of us into computing. And the Mac is what brought many of us to Apple. And the Mac remains the tool that we all use to do our jobs, to do everything we do here at Apple. And so to have the opportunity.. to apply everything we've learned to the systems that are at the core of how we live our lives is obviously a long-term ambition and a kind of dream come true.
'We want to create the best products we can,' Srouji added. 'We really needed our own custom silicon to deliver truly the best Macs we can deliver.'
Apple began using x86 Intel CPUs in 2006 after it seemed clear that PowerPC (the previous architecture for Mac processors) was reaching the end of the road. For the first several years, those Intel chips were a massive boon for the Mac: they enabled interoperability with Windows and other platforms, making the Mac a much more flexible computer. They allowed Apple to focus more on increasingly popular laptops in addition to desktops. They also made the Mac more popular overall, in parallel with the runaway success of the iPod, and soon after, the iPhone.And for a long time, Intel's performance was top-notch. But in recent years, Intel's CPU roadmap has been less reliable, both in terms of performance gains and consistency. Mac users took notice. But all three of the men we spoke with insisted that wasn't the driving force behind the change.
Advertisement'This is about what we could do, right?' said Joswiak. 'Not about what anybody else could or couldn't do.'
'Every company has an agenda,' he continued. 'The software company wishes the hardware companies would do this. The hardware companies wish the OS company would do this, but they have competing agendas. And that's not the case here. We had one agenda.'
When the decision was ultimately made, the circle of people who knew about it was initially quite small. 'But those people who knew were walking around smiling from the moment we said we were heading down this path,' Federighi remembered.
Srouji described Apple as being in a special position to make the move successfully: 'As you know, we don't design chips as merchants, as vendors, or generic solutions—which gives the ability to really tightly integrate with the software and the system and the product—exactly what we need.'
Designing the M1
What Apple needed was a chip that took the lessons learned from years of refining mobile systems-on-a-chip for iPhones, iPads, and other products then added on all sorts of additional functionality in order to address the expanded needs of a laptop or desktop computer.
'During the pre-silicon, when we even designed the architecture or defined the features,' Srouji recalled, 'Craig and I sit in the same room and we say, 'OK, here's what we want to design. Here are the things that matter.''When Apple first announced its plans to launch the first Apple Silicon Mac this year, onlookers speculated that the iPad Pro's A12X or A12Z chips were a blueprint and that the new Mac chip would be something like an A14X—a beefed-up variant of the chips that shipped in the iPhone 12 this year.
Not exactly so, said Federighi:
The M1 is essentially a superset, if you want to think of it relative to A14. Because as we set out to build a Mac chip, there were many differences from what we otherwise would have had in a corresponding, say, A14X or something.
We had done lots of analysis of Mac application workloads, the kinds of graphic/GPU capabilities that were required to run a typical Mac workload, the kinds of texture formats that were required, support for different kinds of GPU compute and things that were available on the Mac… just even the number of cores, the ability to drive Mac-sized displays, support for virtualization and Thunderbolt.
There are many, many capabilities we engineered into M1 that were requirements for the Mac, but those are all superset capabilities relative to what an app that was compiled for the iPhone would expect.
Srouji expanded on the point:
The foundation of many of the IPs that we have built and that became foundations for M1 to go build on top of it… started over a decade ago. As you may know, we started with our own CPU, then graphics and ISP and Neural Engine.
So we've been building these great technologies over a decade, and then several years back, we said, 'Now it's time to use what we call the scalable architecture.' Because we had the foundation of these great IPs, and the architecture is scalable with UMA.
Then we said, 'Now it's time to go build a custom chip for the Mac,' which is M1. It's not like some iPhone chip that is on steroids. It's a whole different custom chip, but we do use the foundation of many of these great IPs.
Unified memory architecture
UMA stands for 'unified memory architecture.' When potential users look at M1 benchmarks and wonder how it's possible that a mobile-derived, relatively low-power chip is capable of that kind of performance, Apple points to UMA as a key ingredient for that success.
AdvertisementFederighi claimed that 'modern computational or graphics rendering pipelines' have evolved, and they've become a 'hybrid' of GPU compute, GPU rendering, image signal processing, and more.
UMA essentially means that all the components—a central processor (CPU), a graphics processor (GPU), a neural processor (NPU), an image signal processor (ISP), and so on—share one pool of very fast memory, positioned very close to all of them. This is counter to a common desktop paradigm, of say, dedicating one pool of memory to the CPU and another to the GPU on the other side of the board.
When users run demanding, multifaceted applications, the traditional pipelines may end up losing a lot of time and efficiency moving or copying data around so it can be accessed by all those different processors. Federighi suggested Apple's success with the M1 is partially due to rejecting this inefficient paradigm at both the hardware and software level:
We not only got the great advantage of just the raw performance of our GPU, but just as important was the fact that with the unified memory architecture, we weren't moving data constantly back and forth and changing formats that slowed it down. And we got a huge increase in performance.
And so I think workloads in the past where it's like, come up with the triangles you want to draw, ship them off to the discrete GPU and let it do its thing and never look back—that's not what a modern computer rendering pipeline looks like today. These things are moving back and forth between many different execution units to accomplish these effects.
That's not the only optimization. For a few years now, Apple's Metal graphics API has employed 'tile-based deferred rendering,' which the M1's GPU is designed to take full advantage of. Federighi explained:
Where old-school GPUs would basically operate on the entire frame at once, we operate on tiles that we can move into extremely fast on-chip memory, and then perform a huge sequence of operations with all the different execution units on that tile. It's incredibly bandwidth-efficient in a way that these discrete GPUs are not. And then you just combine that with the massive width of our pipeline to RAM and the other efficiencies of the chip, and it's a better architecture.
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Incredible sound quality, great interface, clever workflow, powerful effects and instant sequencing. You'd be hard pressed to argue for a better in-the-box vintage drum solution..
Kontakt Player - VST - AU - AAX
A deeply produced Drum Machine faithfully delivering 14 of the world's most iconic Drum Machines directly to your DAW, inside a single virtual instrument.
- Available in Standalone, VST, AU and AAX instrument formats. Revolution is powered by FREE Kontakt Player from Native Instruments. Full version of Kontakt is NOT required
- 8GB idownload
14 iconic drum machines, one powerful plugin..
Imagine the dream of owning a studio filled with the most influential Drum Machines of our time. Imagine having instant access to the TRUE authentic sound of the iconic 909, 808, 606, 78, Linndrum, Drumtraks, Drumulator, OB-DX and many others. Imagine a world where this dream becomes reality…
Revolution - The most authentic virtual drum machine plugin ever created.
Screenshots
Revolution Drum Page | Revolution Sequencer
Revolution Modules | Revolution Insert FX
Revolution Module | Revolution LE
Revolutionize your studio…
Winner of 'Best Software Instrument of 2017' (awarded by Music Tech Magazine), Revolution is a deeply produced Drum Machine faithfully delivering 14 of the world's most iconic Drum Machines directly to your DAW, inside a single ground-breaking virtual instrument.
For the first time ever, a plugin delivers the true sound of the most influential Drum Machines of our time – 808, 909, 606, CR-78, CR-8000, Linndrum, Drumtraks, Drumulator, OB-DX, SP-12.
Revolution is much more than just an emulation however – It's about creating new, powerful sounds that push boundaries. It's drum production redefined…
It's all about the sound…
Revolution's sound engine is powered by many tens of thousands of samples, capturing every possible sound / tone variation and nuance of the original drum machines, along with the subtle differences in behaviour inherent of analogue electronics. Each sound has been carefully recorded via a transformer balanced Radial JDI and brought to line level with a NEVE 1073 / API 512c pre-amp. To retain the full frequency range and dynamics of the original instruments, we carefully matched the peak level of each drum, recording them through mastering grade conversion.
Revolution is not a digital ‘emulation', it is the REAL authentic sound of 14 of the world's most iconic, sought-after drum machines.
Build your dream Drum Machine
Effortlessly load a different ‘Drum Machine' of your choice into any of the 14 Drum Voice Modules to build your own modular dream Drum Machine!
Have you ever dreamt of using a Drum Machine boasting an 808 kick, 909 snare, Drumtraks toms, 606 cymbals and Linndrum percussion? Now you can – the choice is yours..
Browse hundreds of beautifully designed presets and thousands of sequencer patterns to quickly spark your inspiration.
Revolutionary Integration
Revolution integrates seamlessly with your DAW, delivering endless inspiration and a compelling workflow to spark creativity. The beautiful user interface has been designed with both the composer and live musician in mind – All Drum Machines and tone shaping parameters are visible via one intuitive screen through use of dynamic graphics. Easily automate all analogue parameters using Revolution's expressive multi-track step sequencer, or use the alternative classic drum computer sequencer for an experience similar to the original machines… Tempo sync is automatic, and exporting a sequences' MIDI data to your sequencer is simple via drag and drop.
A fully NKS ready instrument, Revolution delivers total integration with Komplete Kontrol keyboards and Maschine - giving you the ability to access hundreds of snapshots and quickly dive into sound design with the custom mapped control knobs.
Adding character
Want to add extra character and punch? Many of the Drum Machines in Revolution have been carefully recorded to analogue tape at multiple saturation levels (via a Studer A820), as well as through a vintage SP-1200 sampler and boutique high-end analogue processing chains..
Revolution's unique ‘Character' knob allows you to dial in a desired ‘Character' for each individual Drum Machine Module. Want a raw sounding, true to the original 808 Bass Drum? Want an analogue tape saturated 909 Snare Drum? How about a gritty SP-1200 processed Linndrum clap? Revolution makes it possible!
World class effects
A Revolution Mac Os Download
Revolution features a breathtakingly suite of high-end effects, filters and dynamics processors. Add space to your drums with Revolution's beautiful sounding dual reverb module - packed with 160 custom high-end impulses from iconic reverb units such as the Lexicon 300L, AKG BX20 Spring, AMS RMX16 and many others, alongside wonderful acoustic rooms from world class studios, recorded with multiple mic positions.
Add definition to your drums with Revolution's unique analogue style filters and envelopes. Enhance character and tone with transient shapers, EQs, compressors and tape saturation – each available independently, per drum sound!
Control your dynamics with Revolution's Master Effects module, or twist sounds into oblivion with the in-built dual-channel delay…
'This is the ultimate sampled drum instrument that captures the originals perfectly, while offering plenty of options to create new and interesting kits..'Music Tech
Revolution 1.1 Update - Ableton Live & Push 2
Recently updated to version 1.1, Revolution now delivers seamless integration with Ableton Live and Push 2 via the all new Revolution Module Instrument…
- Sequence directly from Ableton Push and use velocity to modulate Revolution's controls..
- Modify Revolution's main parameters directly from Live or Push
- Browse and load modules directly from the Push controller
- Use Push's step automation to sequence analog tone shaping
- Live record and quantize performances
- MIDI learn note triggering
- Play and sequence drums over a 4 octave range of pitch to create musical percussive rhythms, 808 sub bass-lines or anything in-between..
- Load the new Revolution LE Instrument for lower CPU usage and more compact interface
Revolution Features
- Available in Standalone, VST, AU and AAX instrument formats. Revolution is powered by FREE Kontakt Player from Native Instruments. Full version of Kontakt is NOT required
- Faithful emulations of 14 of the world's most iconic Drum Machines
- Create your dream Drum Machine using Revolution's dynamic interface
- Add real analogue tape saturation, character and vintage grit using Revolution's unique ‘Character' knob
- Seamless integration with your DAW
- Seamless integration with Ableton Live and Push 2 via the all new Revolution Module instrument
- Ground-breaking expressive 32-step multi-track sequencer with individual per step modulation routings (step locks)
- Classic style 16-button step-sequencer with full accent control, host sync, swing/shuffle and MIDI input
- MIDI drag and drop patterns directly to your DAW
- World class effects and 160 high-end custom reverb impulses recorded from classic gear
- Breath-taking suite of high quality filters, EQs and transient shapers – each available independently, per drum sound, with dynamic routing
- Individual drum accent and global accent per step
- Play and sequence drums over a 4 octave range of pitch to create musical percussive rhythms, 808 sub bass-lines or anything in-between..
- Timing slop per sequence step and global sequencer view
- Host sync play and on screen transport control
- Realistic, beautiful 3D GUI
- Advanced key commands and time-saving editing shortcuts
- NKS Ready – Total integration with Komplete S-Series keyboards and Maschine Hardware
- Supports Mac OS X 10.10, 10.11, 10.12 (or higher) and Windows 7 or higher
- Mac OS X (64-bit only)
- Windows (32/64-bit)
- Tens of thousands of world-class samples integrated inside a unique virtual drum machine with Intuitive graphical interface
- Recreate every nuance of 14 iconic drum machines or define your own unique sound using Revolution's advanced feature set
- Dedicated 14-track mixer with individual processing and dynamics, volume control, pan and effects sends for each drum sound
- Master processing module featuring high-end compression, master EQ and tape simulation
- Browse and instantly load hundreds of inspirational snapshot presets - designed by world-class sound designers
- Browse over 1000 sequencer preset patterns using Revolution's in-built pattern library, or easily create and share your own using Revolution's expressive multi-track sequencer
- 8GB in size after unpacking
DAW presets for Ableton Live and Logic
Bassynth£149.95 |
Drum Tools 02£49.95 |
Complete Drums 2£399.95 |
Drumvolution£149.95 |
Revolution for Live£74.95 |
All your favourite drum machines in one place…This thing sounds fat and huge, the raw samples are pristine, but it's the clever sound design tools under the hood that take it to the next level for me!
Mac Os Versions
Rik Simpson - Coldplay - Record Producer
