All good, as we all develop our own workflows, but not certain what you mean by useless as the whole point of console is to allow low latency monitoring while tracking, yes with UA plugs, but if you don't use ua plugs while tracking, then you don't need console or frankly apollo interface ?
Not certain but you don't mention luna either, so if one buys into apollo for the UA recording universe, then the console ap does add value, but, as you point out if you are track gin with UA plugs ?
The other major benefit of console is using its vi channels to route other music into console say for monitoring your mix while tracking or overdubbing; works great, but if you only record in your daw and never use ua plugs, while tracking, you'd be monitoring from your daw at whatever its latency is?
I don't track much with ua plugs, like my OB going in, but I do like the convenience of a UA comfort reverb, which is very easy to set up in console.
Its certainly interesting, the way we all, create our own recording workflows !
Regarding the useless extra step, I meant having to think about and then open and browse console, which I don't enjoy using as an app (consider it a visual and way-of-thought) stimulus that hinders my thinking, much like using a DAW I don't like just because I find it counterintuitive, and I've tried almost all of the major ones. I stuck with Pro Tools because it just works for me and anything new I learn within it makes immediate sense, even though Avid is a nightmare. Same can be said about just opening up and using console. It doesn't click with me. Although as you pointed out, it does have its benefits and reasons of existence, which I never denied.
That being said, my workflow is very simple. Plug and play within the DAW. Edit and add effects later. Considering I have a powerful system for my personal needs, I can always track at low latency. I sometimes even mix at low latency just because I can.
"The other major benefit of console is using its vi channels to route other music into console say for monitoring your mix while tracking or overdubbing; works great"
I might actually see myself doing that, that might give me a reason to use console. But for now, I've never had the need.
I use Universal Audio products for 3 reasons:
1- They sound great.
2- They are always updated, plugins and drivers, so peace of mind regarding longevity.
3- The hardware are built like tanks and the plugins are stable (excluding the random noise bursts like in the Pultec which nearly took my hearing in 2017 and then in the RMX16 which thankfully I wasn't a victim of because I don't use console).
Console is by far and wide the thing I care about the least in my setup. If I could uninstall it like I do with the Avid bloatware that is automatically installed with Pro Tools without breaking the software, I'd do it.
It has its purpose. I just don't need it.
I'm not a fan of Luna because of three reasons:
1- the need to have an Apollo connected and turned on even if all you want to do is recall a session with the UA plugins disabled. Maybe to test a 3rd party plugin within that session or to just check something out.
2- The auto-save feature is a fantastic idea that is implemented in the absolute worst manner possible because of the "versions" or whatever they're called. The idea itself is good, but I can't seem to make it work "normally" as in "logically". It operates in a manner that I consider completely illogical which is to always create new versions instead of a new project altogether when using save-as, and keeps the original name. That's a recipe for utter confusion when recalling test sessions, since how would you remember which Project had that version within it without first opening it?
3- the biggest one: If my Apollo dies, I won't be able to access my sessions. A 50$ dongle is one thing, a 1200$ dongle is another. And while this is true for the UA plugins I would have used in a DAW, I would still have complete and unhindered access to said session if my UA plugins stop working, unlike with Luna.
That being said, I bought the Neve and API summing extensions because they're awesome. Yes, it's a bit of a hindrance to use them if you use another DAW, but it's not the end of the world, considering one might leave it as a last minute thing like adding dither before bouncing. And yes, it would be nice to mix directly into these summing extensions, but I'm not going to switch over to using Luna as a primary DAW (or recording system, sorry UA) just for that reason alone.
It also shows a ridiculous form of grandeur on the part of UA. They already implemented iLok dongle and cloud protection to use Luna and its extensions and that's completely fine, but if they think Luna is more important than any other DAW on the market and thus is in need of DOUBLE protection against theft INCLUDING TWO of the most aggravating forms of protection on the market when the two biggest DAWs on the market use only one (Pro Tools and Cubase, iLok cloud or dongle)... Well then they're just delusional. They could simply disable the use of extensions until you plug in an Apollo and that would be understandable for protecting the extensions. But for Luna itself? That's just completely delusional on their part, I'm afraid.
I'm not here to tell the people that use console that they're doing something wrong. Far from it. Their workflows are most likely far more advanced than mine. But if I have the ability to completely and utterly remove console from my system and never have to look at or deal with it again, I'd do it in a heartbeat, until I'm in grave need of those VI channels.
Regarding the M1 Mac mini. First of all, if you plan on doing a clean install be VERY WARY, it has become a nightmare, and I've been doing clean installs of Macs for nearly 10 years (I never upgrade my os, and rarely have the issues most people complain about).
I haven't tested Logic extensively yet. I've spent more time in Pro Tools testing out my older sessions, nothing new yet, but generally speaking, it works great. It's much better to run Logic under Rosetta 2 (Intel) until all the plugins you use have been ported to Silicon, as running Logic in Silicon and mixing and matching Intel and Silicon plugins has created some issues with some people.
I've noticed there's a bit of a delay of a few seconds when the Apollo is trying to connect. I'm not sure if that's because I had to daisy-chain it into my Satellite to free up one of the Thunderbolt 3 ports or if it's just because it isn't optimized for Silicon yet. Still it's not a huge issue and it works fine for now.
I'm using a Phillips 24 inch 1080p monitor. Nothing fancy although I'd love to switch to 4K. But when I got the Mac mini I hooked it up to my Samsung 43-inch 4K tv because I wanted to update it over ethernet and the router is behind my tv, and it handled it great. Based on what Apple said, it can easily handle more. Graphics are the least of your problems with the M1 Macs that's for sure.
Oh, and 32 and even 16 sample buffering without a hiccup too. Yeah you read that right. That's where the optimization is showing. It's not super duper crazy fast, but it's well optimized. People claim that apps launch faster. I haven't found THAT big of a difference in these small things (and I absolutely hate software that lags, so I should notice such things) but you will find a difference in sample buffering, track count, plugin count, GPU intensive things if that's something you do. And don't forget, this is all still under Rosetta 2. We can't really judge Logic's performance using its native plugins, that's kind of cheating as they're all developed by Apple. We have to wait for a moderately or heavily cpu intensive plugin to be ported to Silicon to run meaningful tests within Logic.
All in all, considering the price, I don't think it's a bad idea at all to invest in one (the only downside is the 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports instead of 4 ports like on the Intel Mac mini). Or you could always wait for the semi-pro models that will come out in 2021, but you never know what issues they will bring, if any, considering they will most likely be using different hardware, hence the wait.
Bounce times in Pro Tools are pretty decent, which means they should also be great in Logic. I'll do some tests in the very near future in Logic (both under Silicon mixed with Intel and Intel) and I'll update this post to let you know my findings.