My Mac mini M1 with 16Gb and running Big Sur arrived last week and I was very apprehensive to install Reaper and all my audio plugins again. I’ve heard so many horror stories. But, as a matter of fact, things were much simpler than expected. I made sure to download the Intel version of Reaper, had to upgrade all my Waves V10 and V11 plugins to V12 (which cost a lot but that’s life) and had to make sure that the Spitfire installer for the BBC Orchestra instrument actually ran under Rosetta (because, well, it can run as an ARM64 binary as well) and, voilà, everything is installed and works perfectly:

• Cockos REAPER
• DDMF Plugindoctor
• ADPTR Audio Metric AB
• ADSR Sample Manager
• AIR Music Technology DB-33 (Hammond B3)
• AIR Music Technology DB-33FX (Leslie Simulator)
• AIR Music Technology Hybrid 3
• AIR Music Technology Loom II
• AIR Music Technology The Riser
• AIR Music Technology Vacuum Pro
• AIR Music Technology Velvet 2 (Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet)
• AIR Music Technology Xpand!2
• Applied Acoustics Systems AAS Player
• Applied Acoustics Systems Lounge Lizard Session 4
• Applied Acoustics Systems Ultra Analog VA-2
• Brainworx bx_bluechorus2 (Boss CE-2 / Chorus)
• Brainworx bx_distorange (Boss DS-1 / Distortion)
• Brainworx bx_greenscreamer (Ibanez TS808 / Overdrive)
• Brainworx bx_meter
• Brainworx bx_tuner
• Brainworx bx_yellowdrive (Boss SD-1 / Overdrive)
• Cableguys DriveShaper (ShaperBox 2)
• Cableguys HalfTime
• Eventide EQuivocate
• Eventide Quadravox (Pitch Shifter)
• Graywolf2004 BlueARP
• Kilohearts Carve EQ
• Kilohearts Slice EQ
• Klevgrand DAW Cassette
• Klevgrand Pipa
• KV331 Audio SynthMaster
• LetiMix GainMatch
• Mäag Audio EQ2
• Mastering The Mix BASSROOM
• Melda Production MDynamicEq
• Melda Production MTurboEQ
• Plugin Boutique Scaler 2
• Positive Grid BIAS AMP 2 LE
• Roland Cloud D-50
• Roland Cloud JUNO-106
• Roland Cloud JUNO-60
• Roland Cloud JUPITER-8
• Roland Cloud JX-3P
• Roland Cloud PROMARS
• Roland Cloud SH-101
• Roland Cloud SH-2
• Roland Cloud System 100
• Roland Cloud SYSTEM-1
• Roland Cloud SYSTEM-8
• Roland Cloud TB-303
• Roland Cloud TR-606
• Roland Cloud TR-707
• Roland Cloud TR-727
• Roland Cloud TR-808
• Roland Cloud TR-909
• Roland Cloud XV-5080
• Roland Cloud ZENOLOGY Pro
• Roland Cloud ZENOLOGY Pro JD-800 Model Expansion
• Roland Cloud ZENOLOGY Pro JUNO-106 Model Expansion
• Roland Cloud ZENOLOGY Pro JUPITER-8 Model Expansion
• Roland Cloud ZENOLOGY Pro JX-8P Model Expansion
• Roland Cloud ZENOLOGY Pro SH-101 Model Expansion
• Soundtheory Gullfoss / Gullfoss Live
• Soundtoys EchoBoy
• Soundtoys EchoBoy Jr.
• Soundtoys Little Plate
• Spitfire Audio BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover
• SPL Transient Designer Plus
• TAL Software TAL-Chorus-LX (Chorus)
• TAL Software TAL-Sampler
• Tokyo Dawn Records TDR SlickEQ Mastering
• Unfiltered Audio Dent 2
• Unfiltered Audio Fault
• Unfiltered Audio G8
• Unfiltered Audio Indent 2
• Unfiltered Audio Instant Delay
• Unfiltered Audio Sandman Pro
• Unfiltered Audio SpecOps
• UVI Falcon
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Analog Motion
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Devinity
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Digital Motion
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Eternal Funk
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Ether Fields
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Falcon Factory
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Falcon Preset Tour
• UVI Falcon Expansion – Spectre
• UVI Falcon Expansion – SubCulture
• UVI Sound Library – BeatBox Anthology 2
• UVI Sound Library – Digital Synsations
• UVI Sound Library – Sweep Machine
• UVI Sound Library – Synth Anthology 2
• UVI Sound Library – Synth Anthology 3
• UVI Sound Library – World Suite
• UVI UVIWorkstation
• Voxengo SPAN
• Waldorf Attack
• Waldorf D-Pole (Filter)
• Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V (PPG Wave 2)
• Waves Abbey Road Chambers
• Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates
• Waves API 2500
• Waves API 550 (550A + 550B)
• Waves API 560
• Waves Bass Fingers
• Waves Bass Rider
• Waves Bass Slapper
• Waves Berzerk Distortion
• Waves Brauer Motion (Auto-Panner)
• Waves Center
• Waves CLA EchoSphere
• Waves CLA-2A Compressor / Limiter
• Waves CLA-3A Compressor / Limiter
• Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter
• Waves Codex Wavetable Synth
• Waves dbx® 160 Compressor / Limiter
• Waves Dorrough Stereo
• Waves Dorrough Surround
• Waves F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ
• Waves Flow Motion FM Synth
• Waves H-Comp Hybrid Compressor
• Waves H-Delay Hybrid Delay
• Waves H-EQ Hybrid Equalizer
• Waves H-Reverb Hybrid Reverb
• Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher
• Waves IR-L Convolution Reverb
• Waves IR1 Convolution Reverb
• Waves IR360 Convolution Reverb
• Waves J37 Tape
• Waves Kaleidoscopes
• Waves L2 Ultramaximizer
• Waves LoAir
• Waves Manny Marroquin Tone Shaper
• Waves MaxxVolume
• Waves MDMX Distortion Modules
• Waves MetaFilter
• Waves MultiMod Rack
• Waves NLS Non-Linear Summer (Buss + Channel)
• Waves OneKnob Louder
• Waves OneKnob Phatter
• Waves OneKnob Wetter
• Waves PuigChild Compressor (660 + 670)
• Waves PuigTec EQs (EQP-1A + MEQ-5)
• Waves Reel ADT (Double Tracking)
• Waves Renaissance Equalizer
• Waves Renaissance Vox
• Waves ReWire
• Waves S1 Stereo Imager
• Waves Scheps 73
• Waves Scheps Omni Channel
• Waves Sibilance
• Waves SSL E-Channel
• Waves SSL G-Channel
• Waves SSL G-Equalizer
• Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor
• Waves Studiorack
• Waves Vitamin Sonic Enhancer
• Waves Vocal Rider
• Waves VU Meter
• Waves Waves Tune
• Waves Waves Tune LT
• Waves WLM Plus Loudness Meter
• XLN Audio Addictive Drums 2
• XLN Audio Addictive Keys
• Youlean Loudness Meter Pro

The performance is astounding. Projects which put my iMac 2011 to its knees barely scratch the M1. This processor is really phenomenal.