Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Upgrade, 2017 iPad Pro to 2022
TLDR: Don’t heed the bad reviews of the M2 iPad Pro, it is very good.
Upgrade: 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 (256GB A10X) to 2022 iPad Pro (256GB M2) 11
Having read all the bad (or lukewarm) reviews and a great many forum posts here and there about how the M2 iPad Pro was not really worth the money, not a good upgrade, etc, and how one should really get an M1 iPad Pro and save some money, or get a 2018 A12 Pro and save even more money. So, as one would imagine I was reticent about buying an M2 iPad Pro Wifi since they are not inexpensive.
But as a Veteran I got a Christmas deal on it--$699 and no sales tax or shipping since one is buying it from the US Military Exchange website. That $699 price for a 256GB M2 WIFI 11 Inch Pro, was not going to get better any time soon -- so I bought it on 20 December. It arrived two days after they said it would not even ship until 29 December! I am glad I bought it. The forum experts, Tech Media and youtube reviewers that say “get an M1 Pro or keep the 2018 A12 Pro” are full of **** at least for my usage of the iPad Pro as a guitar player who hates latency.
The M2 iPad Pro is very fast. But more, the iPad has enough left over CPU to do all the usual background tasks while still performing better than anything else for my usage. I think that iOS 16.2 has something to do with that, and even though AUM and the AUv3’s loaded might not themselves be or use multi-thread, the OS behind it certainly seems to do so, and thus not interfering with my music apps.
The 10.5 Pro while still completely serviceable, was under-powered for what I wanted to do with it: use it for Guitar practice, jamming, and being very portable, etc. I use it to slow down and learn songs, as well as using the TrueFire iOS app which has some of those features and others like Anytune Pro, Let’s Unmix AU, Transcribe+ or AudioStretch for looping videos, and etc. on the 10.5 I would have to end AUM do the video edit, or MP3 edit, or cutting or exporting stems etc, then load everything back up and go. I can do all that with everything running now, and running well, on the M2 CPU.
The 10.5 Pro would stutter and click and AUM would show DSP Max, even at buffer 128 when I would try to use the TrueFire or AudioStretch app. Or I use Transcribe+ to break something up into stems and loop them while still having AUM open and running. In 2022 the 10.5 was now unusable for what I wanted to do and seemed CPU bound. On the 10.5 THU as a standalone App would run 10-20 % of CPU, in the M2 Pro I cannot get it above 6 %.
Also the 10.5 in multitasking would end apps like the Truefire (or other apps) if I went to AUM for long enough, to adjust something or similar, and I would have to load the app up again, etc. Then the dreaded clicks and pops and having to raise the buffers and latency to the point I found it unusable and a noticeable delay.
Enter the 11 M2 iPad Pro: I can do all of that with the new iPad, at very low latency (3-4 ms round trip) and 96KHZ sample rate at buffer 64. I still have PLENTY of CPU left, getting it to 30 or 40% tops for the chains I have put together in AUM.
No clicks, no pops. No CPU maxed out. I tried, it’s almost impossible to max out the M2. Stage Manager multitasking is a much better multitasking system than the previous iPadOS one. I can leave AUM open, with Truefire, Audiostretch running as well, and its still plenty fast. I use the Xtone Xsonic which goes to 192k Sample rate as well and on the new M2 that runs at 30-40% CPU in the same AUM Chain that uses 20% at 96k and both having 64 buffers. But 192k sounds so much bigger and better that its not a small difference in sound quality.
So my advice is not to listen to the reviewers who say the M2 is not good. It’s the best iPad I have ever had. The extra 20% of processor over the M1 might have something to do with it. But I also had owned a a 12.9 Pro (which I found too big to carry around daily) with the A12 CPU and I could max that out too, and get the dreaded CPU to 100% and DSP Max and stutters the same as the 10.5. That does not happen on the M2.
Thought you guys might like to know the above. My review is during my first week—so its the“honeymoon” period for sure, but the youtube pundits and Apple media reviewers who say the M2 sucks, well, its simply not true. This was the first iPad ever that I bought new, previous ones and the 10.5 and the 2018 12.9 were both refurbs from Apple. I am glad I bought the M2 and it’s nice to have a brand new one.
Comments
That's a pretty great deal.
I’d be pretty disappointed if (more or less) the same “computer”, 5 years more recent, wasn’t significantly better in a number of ways.
That said, it does indeed sound like a good deal. Nice score, and Merry Christmas.
That is exactly the thought I had when I read the first review that said don’t buy it, keep your 2018 Pro and wait…
That deal sounds killer, and the M1/M2 models are a huge step up from the 2017 iPad.
I have a 2018 model and it is still capable of anything I want it to do. I think the 2018 was so overpowered it’s still worth waiting. The M2 is essentially just a faster version of the 2018 with a nicer screen in the 12.9 inch model.
I had a chance to parallel test M1 and M2 Pros, both new, exact same config other than the chip. For my use (music apps only, generic pencil), I simply could not set up any scenario that would lead to the slightest difference in performance between the two, so I went with the cheaper M1.
In fairness, I didn't have your great deal...🙂 Best of luck with your new gadget!
The model I was after was a 1TB 12.9 Pro, and the price difference in the UK between the M1 and M2 (from Apple) was £700 because they put the prices up this time around, and on the high-end models the hikes were ludicrous. So in the end I found a discounted M1 at John Lewis that saved a huge amount of money.
To the OP:
I don't think anyone here or even on YouTube is saying that the M2 is a bad iPad, the criticism is merely that the value proposition is poor compared to the previous generation. The M2 is obviously the best iPad available, but it's also very expensive. If you get a good deal on one that changes the equation somewhat.