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iPad Pro 2018 or 2020. How important is RAM?
Hi,
I own a 2016 iPad Pro (9,7 inch, 32GB, 2GB RAM). I’m constantly running into clicks and memory problems when using more than a few tracks with fx, synths, etc... I use amp sims (Nembrini) and mainly Zenbeats at the moment. I feel like I need to upgrade since it’s getting pretty frustrating.
I’m looking at the new 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch or the 2018 one. Researching specs it seems like the processor is pretty much the same (A12Z vs A12X) with not a significant improvement in the 2020 version. The 2020 versión, however has 6GB of Ram vs 4GB in the 2018 model.
I’d like to get the 2018 version used since it’s significantly cheaper (around 500€ used vs 879€ of the new model). But I’m worried about the 2GB difference in RAM. Will it make a huge difference?. I don’t really know if the extra Ram will make a huge difference. If I use, say, a Nembrini amp sim, a reverb and NuRack ... does it rely more on cpu or Ram?. What’s currently bugging me more?.
I don’t want to get the 2018 one only to find out I really, really needed the 6GB Ram. I know Ram is crucial in samples, but I’m not sure about synths and fx...
Thanks!.
Comments
I’m in the same exact boat as you, although my iPad runs most of my Apps without clicks or issues. I’ve decided to wait to see what the new iPad Air 4 looks like next March. It sounds like it may give the current 2020 pro a run for its money.
Dammed!. I’m sort of obsessed. Don’t think I can wait till March, cos reading on the possible specs it looks like the iPad Air 4 would bear 4GB of ram, like the 2018 pro. To ram or not to ram, that is the question (and Euros).
I'm not sure about the newer models, but I've been pleasantly surprised how well my 2016 iPad Pro (12.9") is holding up. I checked the spec chart and the newer iPad Pros have progressed from A9X to A10X and now A12X processor, but the RAM may have increased only from 4MB to 6MB. I have no doubt that the newer devices are faster, but considering that my (2011) iPad2 was essentially dead in the water by the time I replaced it in 2016, the curve isn't nearly as steep as it once was.
i have the ipad pro 11 2018 and it’s a blast ....
I had the iPad Pro 2018 and now I have the 2020 (12.9 1tb Wi-Fi). They are identical😂
RAM is good when you load a lot of (big) samples, or some RAM hungry plugins. But in general, 4GB should be pretty fine. I think CPU is more of a bottleneck than RAM for music making, of course, except of heavy sample use.
Also iOS/iPadOS works in a way that it regularly frees RAM by killing apps in the background that are not currently used. That means, if you switch between several memory-hungry apps, you may find out some was killed in the background in the meantime and would need to be restarted. Not a big deal, but with older iPhones I remember this was a bit annyoing when I e.g. switched from Facebook to Safari and when I came back, Facebook restarted (and didn't start on the same place where I left it).
That's probably it. Of course, more RAM will be always more future proof, so if you have the money, don't hesitate to take the newer one. Also it will maintain the price for longer when you'd like to sell it, so it's never a bad investment.
Agree with @skrat. If you have the cash... however, 4gb works great for me on two iPad Pro2s. Also, on 2018 you get the legendary headphone jack and a home button. Very important to many (and me).
The 2018 has neither of those legendary things.
I heard that ipadOS 14 gives audio processes access to all of the cpu cores instead of one which is how it is now. That should reduce crackling because of cpu overload by a lot.
I own the iPad pro 2018 and never have I run into memory problems within audio projects whatsoever. Yes sometimes a project has started crackling. But that comes down to cpu as Skrat already pointed out. I think 4 gb is plenty for some good years to come.
@Eriko. Thanks, I stand corrected. I meant the 2016 Pro2 which has 4gb compared to 6. Anyway, worth considering a used specimen, and, I think you can still get them new.
I'm sorry to say, that's a misconception. iOS 14 introduces the capability for programmers to build or modify their apps to utilize more than one core. It doesn't introduce this as a global capability out of the box. And adding it to an existing app will be a major effort as well.
We will eventually start to see apps that can take advantage of that capability, but not until new apps built to exploit this, or apps that are significantly overhauled appear. Simply installing iOS 14 will have zero impact on existing apps' use of multiple cores.
Yepp, and I do hope the 'transition' to iPadOS14 will go fast but I fear we'll get the a big 'winer army' with iPad (Pro's!) running iOS11 or something similar and simply refusing to update thus we'll not be able to get the benefits of iPadOS14 until the loudmouths get a new iPad or bring their sh*t together and stay up-to date. Boohoo, so what if we lose a few apps?
Most apps are 'commodities' and get replaced sooner or later anyway...
Cheers!
Jeeze @Samu, you sure seem frustrated lately. I guess this weird year is getting to all of us.
Trying to make you feel a bit better about it ... I don't think rate of adoption of iOS 14 will have much to do at all with adoption of multi-core support among developers.
From what I understand of iOS programming, there are ways to incorporate multi-core support when its available while not enabling it when the OS doesn't support it. In other words, adding support shouldn't have to mean an app must only run on 14 or higher. That was my concern at first too, until I learned a bit more.
So that means that it comes down to understanding and willingness on the part of developers to revamp their apps or to build new apps exploiting it. There will be a period of adoption. That'll be driven by innovators proving it's an advantage, and the degree that Apple makes it understandable how to adopt it. Apple have done an abysmal job with making AUv3 techniques understandable, yet it progresses anyway.
It will simply take time. But adoption rate of iOS 14 will have very little to do with it I believe.
The impression that iOS 14 is some kind of magic pill for existing audio app performance is unfortunate however. I feel like a lot of people are going to be pretty disillusioned when it drops based on this misconception.
Yeah, all the weird sh*t is taking its toll, doing my best to stay sane or something.
Thankfully I'm still 'uninfected' but I know quite a bunch of people around the globe who are not so well off at the moment...
Thanks, truly appreciated!
Back in the days when Document Picker & Share Sheet etc. were introduced I had a chat with a few developers and they could simply not implement the new iOS features because they were not available on the iOS version majority of their users were running. (Later on they managed to convince the most stubborn users to actually update...).
So the same could potentially apply here, developers would have to target multiple iOS versions and that in turn adds to the debug chore especially when Apple actually fixes bugs in a iOS update that remain unfixed in the previous ones.
Oh well, back the OP's topic. The more RAM the better. macOS & iPadOS are very good at caching recently used files/resources so the extra RAM will speed things up. It doesn't automatically translate to more RAM for AUv3's though...
Cheers!
There’s several ways to conserve Ram, or get the most out of what you have when making music. Airplane mode is one example, there’s several threads in this forum that discuss this topic. Search this forum in the search bar at the top of page 1, might help with the current clicks and issues you’re having.
That was my first thought as well ... "have the causes of the clicks and memory issues been identified?" There's nothing I hated more in my IT career when people insisted a new computer would solve their problems when I knew that it was an issue that a) could be solved without it, and b) would persist even on the new computer.
A better iPad will no doubt help, but it would be a shame hardware performance wasn't the root cause. As an iPad Air 2 user, I can say I get away with a lot more than some later model users do,by following best practices and doing my best to find the root cause when I run into issues.
Also, I've said it dozens of times, but I'm absolutely convinced that habitually resetting RAM after every audio session, is the main reason I run into fewer problems than most people seem to. This is easy for me to do since the Air 2 has a home button. But it's worth doing even if a device doesn't have a home button and the alternative process needs to be used.
CPU seems more important than RAM to me at least with apps like Model 15.
iPad Pro 9.7" 2016 runs one instance at 256 samples fine with some crackles due to demanding graphics.
New iPhone SE runs 3 instances at 64 samples with no crackles or issues from the graphics.
Contrast with the iPad 10.5" that has more RAM but less CPU which can handle one instance at 128 samples and can still crackle from bringing up the interface.
agree on best practices, but raw power and lots of ram is sweet
Processor is king, Storage is 2nd, RAM is nice to have.
It’s not certain the Air will be released next March. They’re working on the new Air, and Pro, and since the Pro was recently updated it’s more likely the Air will be released first. Rumours are a new iPad could be due next month, if so it’ll likely be the Air.
At least that’s what I’m hoping!
Good info, very helpful. Thank u all!. This is a great forum.
After reading your comments I’m inclined for a second hand 2018 pro 11. That is if I can find it for 500€ vs 879€ of the new model. The processing power is similar and I gather from your comments that RAM is not as crucial and 4GB is enough.
I’m a developer (mainly web), I get your point. But I do believe I’m pushing it to the point my current iPad can’t handle it (pro 2016 9,7 inch). Actually I just opened the Zenbeats project (@wim you actually made me a Zenbeats user) and I couldn’t type while having it in the background. A more specific detail of what’s in the project
More than sheer amount (not many tracks) I believe it’s heavy processing... Roxsyn and Amp sims, plus reverb... The weird thing is that freezing tracks doesn’t seem to work that well. Sometimes they’re out of sync, or the rendered version also has crackles in it, and doesn’t really relieve the cpu the way I expected.
So given the project details. Do you think it should run fine on my current iPad (pro 2016, 9,7 Ax9, 2GB Ram) ?. Btw, AUM handles more stuff without glitches than Zenbeats, but that’s only logical.
Cheers!
I was getting pops and glitches and whatnot on a project the other day, standard iPad 2018.
Initial thought was oh no I have reached the point where I need to upgrade!
Then I remembered I had switched the buffer settings to 64 in order to do some recording with a a mic, the day before. Switched back to 1024 and everything was back to normal. Phew!
In general though it is a good idea to save your project then strip things out gradually to see where the problem is.
I too am looking at possibly getting a new iPad, very likely a iPad Pro. Was just about to pull the trigger on one, but then saw this: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/19/ipad-air-4-launch-march-2021/
Just a rumor, but from a seemingly good source (based on the past predictions). So... MAYBE... a new iPad Pro in 2020? The second Pro release this year? Maybe... I’m going to wait a little bit. Maybe even patiently, lol! 😄
(Especially since the waiting/delivery time on a new 12.9” Pro from Apple is currently ONE MONTH!)
That does sound like a heavy load for any iPad really. Roxsyn is a killer. So yes I'm not surprised you're having difficulties and yes a faster iPad should help. Not with the out of sync problems though. Those are due to plugins that don't handle sample rate well. Finding which ones cause the issues and trying some of the different rendering options for them in Zenbeats may help if you haven't explored those already.
Of course, buffer settings are the biggest control factor (higher = less crackles), but you're doing live playing and recording, so latency is a problem. One trick is to lower buffers when you're playing/recording, and raising them when playing back and it doesn't matter.
Do you need to have all those tracks active at once? Zenbeats has a very nice Track Template saving feature. You can save and recall a whole track setup. I wonder if unloading the tracks you're not using until you need them would help.
Good luck. I hope it works out some way for you.
@tahiche, I’ve been right where you are... had a the same 9.7” iPad Pro and needed an upgrade because I was really beginning to get more clicks than I could tolerate. It happened mostly when I was switching from app to app, entering text or numbers, and moving app windows around on the screen. No bueno, for sure.
I ended up getting the 2020 11” iPad Pro (first week they were released!). I can report, it has met my expectations and even exceeded them in some ways. Of course, there are some challenges I’m still finding, mainly related to hardware connectivity issues.
I mostly work in AUM using granular apps, some drum machine apps, and the built in AUM File Player for loops I make in AudioShare (or elsewhere).
I can at get least 13 channels going in AUM, along with several effect bus sends, without any clicking. Maybe more, but that’s usually enough, lol. These channels may have Sector, Tardigrain, Borderlands, iDensity, FieldScaper, Ruismaker Noir and some AUM File Players all running at the same time, with multiple effects on the various channels (and bus sends). It seems to be able to do everything I ask it to.
The downside is it’s kinda heavy compared to the 9.7” model. I often take the case off to lighten the load if I’m gonna be holding it for a while. And USB-C... switching has been a real drag. A lot of my Lightening gadgets are landfill now, that sucks. I really liked my Korg PlugKey.
I’d recommend, if you’ve got the money, go for the 2020 model. It’ll meet your needs and get you further down the road than the 2018.
was not cheap but dam its gud (2020 11" 128gb). The built in MICs are really good too
Definitely not cheap. Plus the burden of “rumours of a new iPad Pro in a couple of months”. That’s ine of the reasons I’d rather get the 2018 model, it’s already devalued...
This is interesting. I tried:
Will unloading a track free more memory than the above?.
Btw, (slightly off topic) Roxsyn does feel like a cpu hog. I bought it after reading good reviews and I find I like JamSynth (Free) a lot better, although it’s not AUV3. I’d gladly pay for an AUV3 JamSynth. With JamSynth it’s a lot easier to get a good starting point, like a simple fat-sounding bass (main use Is to get a bass track from my cgb guitar).
Seems like Roxsyn always adds a lot and it’s harder to manage. And JamSynth has midi out too (audio to midi). One of those occasions were the freebie turns out to be a winner. Only downside it’s that being IAA it’s a pain to record JamSynth into Zenbeats (have to sync to AUM and record there, transfer after).
I'm still holding on for a while to see what Apple drops later this year.
iPadOS14 will still 'work' on my old classic iPad Air 2 and it's still serving me quite well apart from the battery starting to show it's age. I'm mostly using the Air 2 as a 'sound module' for now and sampling it using IDAM...
I was thinking of using my current iPad in a similar way. But IDAM doesn’t work from iPad to iPad, right?. I’d need something like the iConnectAudio... more money... never stops. I’m waiting for an answer on a second hand 2020 iPad Pro. Better be quick cos I set my eyes on a Tascam model 12 as an alternative and very tempting approach... I’d use mu current iPad as a sound module and the Tascam to substitute daw. It’s got midi sync!.
Right, It's iOS/iPadOS -> macOS only at the moment.
Theoretically it could work between iPhones & iPads (USB-C<->USB-C or USB<->Lightning) but that requires that iOS/iPadOS gets support for incoming IDAM which could be a big 'thing' if/when added.
Another way is to record the sounds using AUM and share the recordings between devices.
That's a very usable method as well but not for 'real-time' though...