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Which iPad is the least expensive that also works fluidly with audiobus and the other apps?
Hi everyone,
My first post.. sorry for the "not so sexy question" 
I couldn't make a straight forward conclusion out of all the info I was digging.
I want to buy an iPad especially for making music with it, mostly using amplitube and another app for my voice and into Looper HD.
I don't want to spend more than I need to, I am also thinking to get Focusrite's iTrack Dock to use as an audio interface.
Are devices with 1GB of ram, less recommended? if not, do they run smoothly? I am also considering the iPad mini 2..
the only ones I see which are the least expensive and also have 2GB of RAM are the iPad mini 4 and the iPad Air 2 but they are a little out of my budget as I intend to use the iPad only for the purpose of making song demos.
How important is storage memory? is 32GB enough? I wish to try many apps and I've seen that some could weight a few hundred MB's, could I manage with 32GB or I better get at least 64GB?
I am also leaning towards a "mini" iPad and not a larger one, how do you feel about screen size? do you like yours "mini" or large for messing with all those apps?
I would really appreciate any help! Thanks a lot in advance! Roy.
Comments
32gb is very doable if you're not planning to do a ton of multi-track recording to it. Multi-track Loopy loops are one thing (2-16 bars on average?); recording an album's worth of 16 track, 5 minute songs would get cramped.
An amp simulator app, vocal effects app, two lanes of audiobus recording to Loopy HD should pretty much work on any iPad you get. I can do that on an iPad 3. Of course, it somewhat depends on the first two apps and how hard you're pushing them. The iPad 3 would probably choke with heavily automated FluxFX and Turnado. Mini 4 should be totally fine.
Thanks a lot @syrupcore , I'm not intending to record an album to it
do you think mini 2 could handle it as well? 
the form factor of the mini is great for portability or even mounted sideways on your mic stand for tracking. It fits in many pockets.
Of course usually more screen estate is more convenient, but the small thing can be handled surprisingly well.
For me the most annoying feature is screen-switching, regardless of screen size, which depends on your individual choice of apps.
I have a mini-Retina, the 1st version of the mini-2 and it handles rather demanding setups well. Basically the fun starts with an A7 CPU which is kind of outdated already, but on the safe side of usability.
Memory depends on instrument size if you're after sample based stuff.
Pure synth emulations don't take much memory.
For recording you may consider 24bits for microphone tracking, for low level signals almost a must.
Direct recording of guitar and bass (electric) doesn't need more than 16bit, but it depends on the app (if it can mix different source formats), so there may be no choice.
As a rough figure 45 minutes of 2 mono 24bit tracks (vocals & acoustic guitar for example) are about 500 MB, so this may add significantly in short time.
Iirc the current mini-2 has 32 GB which is ok for a recording iPad - I have to get along with 2GB free on a 16GB and that needs constant transfer off the device (which I do anyway as I cut and arrange on the PC DAW)... it works, but isn't exactly what you call fun
Got it! Thanks a lot for the info.. even though there is a lot of discussion going on.. this basic info is not easy to find..
I think I can conclude that iPad mini 4 32GB could work pretty well and that the iPad mini 2 32GB could work but it depends on the RAM memory usage (like using an app with samples)
You know about double-tapping Home for multitasking, right?
The RAM makes a huge difference and is worth the upgrade if you ask me.
Mini 4 is my recommendation.
Cool.. Thanks!
that narrows it down.. now i'm comparing the Mini 4 VS the Air 2, they are the same price, but the Air 2 has 3 cores instead of 2, is that useful while using audiobus and music apps?
It also has a larger screen which I won't mind to have since in terms of portability, I really don't intend to use it out of home often and it could be nice to have the screen "real-estate".
I'd go for the Air for sure.
Because of the screen size? Three cores? Both? Thanks
Not sure where in the world you are, @Roy, but Target in the U.S. currently has a sale on the iPad mini 4 (32 GB) for $325.
http://www.target.com/p/ipad-mini-4-wi-fi/-/A-50218097
My iPad4 32gb does a good job with running multiple apps and multiple tracks in Auria but if I were you I'd get an air2 or wait a little longer for nice used pro
Thanks for that! i'm actually not from the US but I have relatives there..
and also as an addition, The Air 2 is on the sale too with the same price
Thanks for the info, I think I'll go with the Air 2
The Air 1 and the Mini 2 Retina already have the power you need (A7 chip), but as said earlier in the thread, they are rather outdated. For a bare minimum, they are enough anyway.
But I would not save expenses right now, because these are interesting times: I'd get the best I can purchase, and be safe for a long time. Why? Because the iPad just crossed the line that PCs crossed ten years ago, and now have CPU power to handle about any computing task. Both the iPad Pro 12.9" and the Pro 9.7" benchmark higher than most Core i3 models and many mobile versions of the Core i5. Theoretically, if U-He Diva was ported right now to iOS, it would run on the Pro line just fine,
RAM is another story, but with many sample libraries and players going with disk streaming, it's less of a problem than it was - but for heavy video and photography work, it still makes a world of difference, so if you intend to use an iPad for these jobs, go with the bigger Pro, that has the same amount of 2011 macBookPros, 4GB.
The main bottleneck is, of course, iOS. No real file manager, limited multitasking and dumbed down Core Audio implementation, so it's not possible to plug in a high-end interface and enjoy near-zero latency, because iOS limits buffer settings to 128, or getting sampler rates over a ceiling of 96Khz - It's mostly enough, but even an old MacBook with a high-end interface can use 192KHz - or to aggregate devices, or to use more than 24 separate inputs even if your interface offers 64! And I don't expect it to change anytime soon, but if and when it does, and if Apple doesn't artificially restricts it, current iPad Pro hardware is more than enough.
Just to be clear (or my attempt at it anyway)... RAM amount is import for "apps with samples" if a) they are very long samples and/or b) there are an awful lot of them. An app that's triggering drum sounds or a set of 1 measure loops will work on an iphone 3gs. If you want gigastudio style super multisampled pianos, then RAM starts to become a factor. Or, if you want to run 5 apps that use samples at the same time. I can tell you that I used to use NanoStudio on the iPhone 3GS (256k ram? 512 maybe?) with TRGs loaded with 8-12 60+sec samples, plus a bunch of small samples and effects and the thing didn't hiccup. Ever. Of course, different apps optimize differently and NS is sorta known for getting the most out of a device but the point is: unless you're planning to do lots of long simultaneous samples, don't sweat the RAM thing too much.
I'm not trying to talk you out of an Air 2 or a Pro or whatever. As usual with this sort of stuff, buy the best machine you can afford as that will give you the longest life with it. But if you have a fixed budget, I actually think spending money on a good interface and getting the minimum viable iPad has a lot of merit. Your ipad is going to be out dated in 3-6 years no matter what. A good interface can last for much much longer. I'm only using the interface as an example here.
Didn't read this until after my post. Agree with most of it. Air 1 is indeed enough for most things (and plenty for the use case initially described) but it's a very good point about the proverbial line iPads have crossed recently. They are badass machines. Plus, now I'm very curious about your 64 channel interface.
i'd reccomend the Air2. its a lot more powerful than the mini4 atleast.
Erm.
Here in Sweden there are many used iPad Pro 12.9" 32GB/WiFi for sale in the private market around Stockholm...
Perhaps 32GB was too little for many of the sellers...
They go for around $500-600 and often including case and sometimes even the Apple Pencil...
For me the iPad Pro 12.9" is the ultimate iPad for ALL sorts of musicmaking in the firld or on the fly...
Perhaps an Mac and Logic Pro X will give you more power, but, we have really come very long in the developing of the musicmaking area in iOS...
Go for the Pro...
Hi guys, i'm happy there's already a thread on this, i was just starting the same one..
i've got an ipad air1 with 16gb of space and until now i was making music without problems at all:
i used to play with BM2 and used audiobus just to record sample from other synths.
In this configuration an ipad air 1 is more than enough.
But when i've decided to step forward to a live set, i've started having troubles (glitches sounds while playing and switching from one app to another) when using this apps all together:
audiobus, steppolyarp, thor, as inputs and blocs wave as output.
So i'm thinking to change for an ipad air 2 that has 2 gb of ram.
Does anyone has tested this apps on an ipad air 2 in this configurations?
Thanks in advanced
The only advice I can give is that if you're using an Air or mini 2 never update to the newer versions of iOS. An iPad 2 for examples still works fine with iOS 6. But upgrading it to 9 renders it worthless if we talking about speed. The only problem with this is that you miss out on newest apps or latest versions.
So if you're going for 2nd hand check the iOS version first
1G Ram is 99% fine ,
apps are limited to a small amount of memory that can use,
for glitches blame the cpu!
Just a reminder : 32G hdd space is the minimun
I've got the mini 2. I upgraded to ios 10 on accident but it seems just as fast as 9.
128 gb Air 2 I would say, everything else it's a potential regret later or it will force you to make compromises to keep using it.
iPad 2-4 and mini 1: way to old to consider buying, the 2 and the 3 didn't even get iOS 10
iPad Air and mini 2-3: 1gb of ram it's a potential limitation now in some setups and with apps and iPads getting more bigger and powerful each year...
Mini 4: just a little less powerful than the air 2.
And as a personal thing you might or might not regret the little screen (I did regret getting a mini as my first iPad)
Now on to storage:
16 gb and 32 gb storage it's just to little to do anything comfortably. You say you want to try apps isn't?, well... prepare to do a lot of juggling around if you go for one of this, it doesn't matter what you will be using it for eventually storage will run out.
64-128 gb of storage it's probably fine but I think there's not going to be easy to find a 64 gb iPad now (unless it's not new) then 128 gb it is.
CPU it's not worth talking about, you know each year there's a more powerful CPU.
As I said 128 gb air 2 it's the safest choice... unless you're a portability freak... in that case go for the 128 gb mini 4.
@theconnactic @syrupcore @gonekrazy3000 @Lacm1993 AND EVERYONE ELSE..
Thanks a lot for the info!
All of my iPads have been used or 'refurbished', and I've never had an issue, and extra storage usually doesn't carry quite the premium for used devices compared to new. I'd recommend the 128 gig Air 2. It's just soooo liberating to not have to worry about juggling apps all the time.
why are you saying 16gb is too less space? i play without problems at all on my ipad air 1. Of course it would be better to have 1Tb of space and of course i do backup and delete old project to free space, but 16gb are good for me until now (and i use audiobus, BM2, garageband, DM1, thor, stepopolyarp, launchpad, blocs wave, loopy hd, magellan, sunrizer, animoog, and other 4/5 apps i don't remember the name).
@Korakios so i have to blame the cpu? thanks for the answer. Most probably if i have to spend >400€ for a decent ipad (thus > ipad 1 air) it would be better to buy a laptop but in that case we're talking of something else.. thanks to all of you
It depends on your use case. If you...
...then you will likely find the space limitation to be a hassle.
I think your absolutely best bet is to go for the latest if money is no major object. The only thing you need to decide is screen size and memory capacity.
I'm extremely happy with both air 2s I use. It's so good that I often forget to ask myself how something so minute can do so much, especially when it comes to replacing hardware.
If you can't stretch with cash I strongly recommend buying second hand. Just make sure you don't buy it from anyone with questionable feedback. I bought at least 10 different ipads off ebay, no issues to report. One or two came with less than 10 battery cycles!.
At this point in time RAM is the only bottleneck on latest devices. I recently bought Ipad pro 9.7 to replace my air 2 but despite having a faster processor it did not performed better than air 2 in any way.
In my current complex looping configuration my ram usage is at 90% while CPU at 40% which kind of says it all.
Very interesting @supadom
Can you list the apps you are running ?