You always have to watch total available power, which of limited by the USB spec. There is a difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0/USB-C.
If you have no computer, this may be relevant. You wouldnāt want to cannibalise your MBP, would you? The bigger iPad Pro has undeniably more screen estate and is also way less portable. Not to mention the price difference.
Yeah, used to be called Apple Camera Connection Kit or something looks they just call it Camera Adapter now.
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Definitely 12.9ā, I upgraded from 10.5ā and would never go back. Still super portable in the grand scheme of things but the extra screen real estate makes a huge difference for just about everything. CPU wise I would usually say previous gen are fine but I wonder if itās worth investing in M1 as I can imagine more and more features (eg DriverKit) becoming exclusive to M1 and above.
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I have a 14 inch MacBook Pro M1 (which is a bloody amazing machine!), so a new iPad would be a luxury item driven mainly by the existence of Logic Pro on it! I take my existing iPad pretty much everywhere with me and use it as my internet browser and music noodling device all the time, so Iād say itās the device I use most out of everything I have. Iād certainly get loads of usage out of a new one, then, but the only real āneedsā for it are Logic and more complex Drambo / Loopy Pro setups. And the added convenience of USB-C (for example, I canāt power my SP-404 MK II with the camera connection kit). I could survive with my current iPad but it is nearly 6 years old now.
Itās a shame that relative prices have gone up by so much. It would be a no-brainer if a new one cost a level that felt similar to the old one when I bought it.
I just bought the 9th generation iPad classic model for like $500. Using solely for music and it works great. Multiple instances of synths in AUM, programs like Cubasis, Drambo etc. all work flawlessly.
Best part? It has a headphone jack.
Plugs and plays beautifully with Digitakt, sampling in synths like TALās Juno emulator which costs $10 instead of $1500+ for the real hardware. I have the same situation with cheap apps for Moog, 0 coast and the Roland sp 404 (koala sampler). Probably $6000 worth of emulated hardware on my iPad and it all can work together without cables, taking up table space, and insanely portable. I have produced so much music laying in bed late at night itās crazy and not something I could do with any of my hardware.
The iPad easily repays the initial investment by allowing you to avoid paying hardware prices and you really donāt need iPad Pro or M1 specs, that is overkill for almost any music application.
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Havenāt read the whole thread. But while I wish it were cheap/free/one off purchase, having a cheap subscription like this does allow other music software companies and independent developers to compete. It doesnāt destroy them. There are numerous āindie devā DAWs and music making apps on iPad which are outright $20 and less. All sorts of exciting things. One of my favourite things about the platform. If Apple had waltzed in with Logic as a free or $9.95 or even $49.95 outright purchase, thatās going to harm a lot of those devs. Instead I think it legitimises the platform for music production, leaves headroom for small 3rd party devs to explore and differentiate, and potentially creates a space where Ableton may look at logicās success and instead of Note decide to actually bring Ableton Live over for an even more expensive subscription.
So overall I feel pretty positive about this.
Looking forward to seeing how the UI copes on my current iPad mini, which I cary in a compact sling bag with my OP-1 Field. They can now talk over a single USB-C cable and I have no excuses to avoid portable production 
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Costs a few dollars to add a headphone jack to any modern iPad that doesnāt have one. Its a great DAC as well. Apple USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo
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Fantastic post! Kind of sums up what I had been thinking, but much more eloquently than I could put it
As a long time iOS music making fan, I honestly think we need to get accustomed to paying a bit more for software. I just donāt see how such cheap apps for a niche segment are sustainable long term, and Iād rather spend a bit more money and see the platform blossom into what I think it has potential to be, than worry about how cheap apps are (which I know is a privileged position to be in but ultimately developers need to make a living from what they do!)
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Thatās only 230 a yearā¦not terrible.
In general, I prefer purchase over subscription. I think some developers made a choice to make their apps inexpensive and created a type of false reality for us. A lot of apps should have been more expensive but the lower price got our attention. I donāt think any of us mind paying more for a quality product (within reason) but subscription models make me weary. I see the pros for the developers and a low-price isnāt bad for us in the short term, however, this is when everything could change and begin to lead to a shift in how music production software is sold. Weāve seen it with Microsoft and Adobe and weāve also seen Native Instruments dip its toe into these waters. When not connected to the internet, our computers/iPads with our DAWS are standalone studios and instruments with no tethers or restrictions that are accessible to us today or whenever we choose for however long we choose. Subscriptions obliterate that freedom.
I do think itās awesome that Logic Pro is coming to iPads. I would just prefer to buy it.
To run this I would need to upgrade my Ipadā¦
Which leads me to the next question: what would me a decent compromise between power and price to run Logic?
Maybe an older iPad Pro without the M1. They are very cheap, because they are not M1 and everybody thinks M1 is crazy powerful and the rest is shit. And thatās true, it is crazy powerful (perhaps even an overkill in most situations), but these older iPad Pros with beefed up A-series chips are still very powerful devices.
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We donāt know yet. Wait till itās out and people tested it. It might safe you from buying the wrong device.
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I have the non m1 2nd gen 11ā iPad Pro from 2020 and will definitely be checking it out. It hasnāt struggled with anything yet so Iām hoping it works ok. Iād be a bit annoyed if a pro model I bought less than 3 years ago struggled
I also wonder how well the A12Z will hold up or if 2020 Pro was just again straight up nonsense that I bought into.
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Itās been solid with cubasis, Drambo, loopy pro, Zenbeats, GarageBand and other daws.
Iād hope apple will be able to optimise it to work smoothly with its hardware and if they donāt Iāll just end the sub, curse apple and move back to loopy pro
Though Iād also say it will sneakily implant the thought I need a new iPad
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Loopy Pro still doesnāt have MIDI looping right? It was once top of the list but now seems to be forgotten under a pile of other requests. If Michael adds it I might give it another try.
My biggest request with Logic Pro is getting Overbridge on it. That would make me buy a new iPad in a heartbeat!
Elektron if youāre reading thisā¦ Breaks the silence and please make a statement included with a roadmap in the coming days. Iāll promise to buy Elektron gear faster than I already did. 
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MIDI looping in Loopy Pro has been promised for this year. So thatās good!
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