Apple just announced Logic Pro for iPad. It’s looking like it will be the made for touch pro grade Digital Audio Workstation that iOS music makers have been crying out for for years.
Here’s everything we know so far.
Features
It really looks like Apple have managed to bring across Logic Pro wholesale onto iPad! Having said that things do look quite a bit different than they do on the Mac version. Thankfully the App’s interface has seemingly been rebuilt around touch.
A couple of features that immediately jumped out to me were:
The inclusion of Logic Pro’s souped up Beat Sequencer and the desktop program’s version of Live Loops.
An almost Ableton like approach to plug-ins. A compact view puts the most essential controls for your plug‑ins at your fingertips. Swipe to see all the plug-ins on your track at a glance and double‑tap a tile to access the full version of the plugin. This looks like an excellent way to keep plugin heavy projects tidy.
Just like on Mac, you can open your GarageBand for iOS projects in Logic Pro for iPad and let your creativity fly with pro features and workflows. You can also export projects to Logic Pro on Mac, and even back to iPad FROM Mac.
When it comes to mixing, Logic Pro for iPad comes with channel strips, volume faders, pan controls plug in slots, sends and automation and track stacks. Absolutely incredible stuff.
Compatibility
You’d assume that this new powerful, ‘pro’ grade music production app will require Apple’s most powerful, ‘pro’ iPads to run, right?
Well, no actually.
In fact Apple say that Logic Pro for iPad will run on any iPad with an A12 Bionic chip or newer!
That’s the iPad Mini 5th gen, the iPad Air 3rd gen, the 8th gen iPad and the 2018 iPad Pro.
Sounds like Apple might have learned an important lesson from the Stage Manager backlash, though it’s unclear how well the app will run on older hardware.
You will need to be running iOS 16.4 or later to use the App on your iPad.
Pricing
At the dismay of many iOS musicians Apple have introduced a subscription based pricing model for Logic Pro on iPad.
You can either pay $4.99/ £4.99 per month or $9/£49 per year to access the App. There will be a one month trial available as well when it releases.
Dissapointing? Maybe.
Surprising? NOT AT ALL.
All of Apple’s new software services of late have been tied to a monthly subscription – Apple Fitness+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ – the list goes on.
Subscriptions are not popular among the iOS music making community, with only Micheal Tyson’s generous Loopy Pro upgrade model really finding favour, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
That’s pretty much everything we know about Logic Pro on iPad at the moment. I would love to hear your thoughts on this so make sure and leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!
