Apple’s “Pro” Apps Make Me Want an iPad for the First Time

I’ve thirsted for a lot of gadgets in my life, but an iPad has never been among them.

I’m not saying they don’t have a lot to offer — they’re incredibly performant machines with great screens, portability, and a competitive price — but, to me, I’ve always just qualified iPads like I qualify a luxurious steak dinner: Nice to have, but I could probably just cook some chicken at home instead.

I’ve qualified it that way... until now.

A Pro Logical Upgrade

My question when considering iPads has never been “Are these good machines?” but “What exactly do I need these machines for?” Traditionally, my answer to that question has been “Nada.” The release of new iPad Pros and a 13-inch iPad Air, plus revamps of two new Pro apps, however, have me rethinking that assessment.

The most enticing of all of that new stuff to me is Logic Pro for iPad 2 (yes, that’s really the name of the second version of the app, no it’s not for the second-gen iPad). While a Pro version of Logic has been available on the iPad since last year, a couple of new features really hammer the app home. The one I’m theoretically most excited for is Session Players, which can augment your music with myriad different types of AI "musicians,” including a virtual drummer, bass player, and keyboardist.

As someone who aspires to make listenable rock music in his downtime, I’ve long been an advocate of using AI drummers. I’m too pretentious to release a broad-genre rock song without a real drummer (and not at all skilled enough to EQ drums to sound truly real), but being able to use virtual drummers in free DAWs like GarageBand has been huge for hashing out music at home that I could later present to a more full-fledged band. Adding other instruments to that option makes things even more appealing.

Secondly, there’s Stem Splitter, which is another AI-powered feature capable of analyzing audio (a live show, practice, or other multi-instrument recordings) and splitting the recording into “stems” aka constituent parts — guitars, drums, vocals, etc...

From there, you’re able to add effects to your separated tracks and tweak them however you like. I’ve obviously not had a chance to use the feature myself yet, but if it works as well as Apple suggests it does, it could be a very useful tool for turning Voice Memos into something more than just a burden on your phone storage — and that’s not even counting its applications for electronic music and remixing.

These are great features, but when you consider the context — these are on an iPad — that’s when things start to get really sweet. Sure, laptops are incredibly complete machines, but there’s an ease to an iPad that I don’t experience when I flip open my MacBook Pro. Maybe that’s partly psychological — my laptop is a work machine (aka stress factory) — but it’s also a physical one.

iPads are small, light, and intuitive, and anything that makes the experience of recording music feel easier is going to make me more apt to actually bust out my guitar and record. Plus, the newly introduced M4 chip should super-charge any AI experience and make features like Session Players, Stem Splitter, and a new modeling feature called ChromaGlow really shine. Did I mention you can either subscribe to Logic Pro on iPad for $4.99 per month or buy it outright for $49.99?

iPad Apps Are Getting Serious

iPads are long past the point of having to prove their worth as reputable, useful, and reliable devices, but that doesn’t mean Apple doesn’t have room for growth.

One of the areas that I’m sure most people might want to see improvement is apps — real, functional, hardware-justifying apps. New versions of Logic Pro and the latest version of Final Cut, which comes with Live Multicam and lots of new AI upgrades, are proof that Apple wants you to take iPad apps seriously.

If Apple is taking iPad apps seriously, then I’m forced to take buying said iPads seriously too.

I haven’t had a chance to use Logic Pro for iPad 2 myself yet (the new version of the app is available starting May 13) but based on what I’ve seen so far, both new versions of Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro are steps in that direction.

Much to the chagrin of my wallet, if Apple is taking iPad apps seriously, then I’m forced to take buying said iPads seriously too.