iPAD purchase...what to get?

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iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby Jeffsco » Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:44 am

Posting this here....move it if it would be better under another heading. This goes out to the guys who are using an iPad and/ iPad apps to control various digital consoles. Being a PC guy....I know very little about iPads and rarely pay attention to specs and compatibility issues.

I'm thinking of purchasing an iPad to take advantage of some recording and music software, but I'd like to be able to have the option of using it for live mixing. Most of the digital boards these days seem to have an App for that and 90% of them seem to run on an iPad.

So...do I need the latest and greatest iPad to run these apps or will and older iPad 2 work? I guess it might depend on the app itself? Ehat kind of specs do I need? Memory? Ram? processor speed?

Thanks....
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Re: iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby BrettBrandon » Thu Feb 12, 2015 1:57 pm

My better half has a iPad 3 and I have an iPad 4.
I have had little experience with the iPad 2.
The 3 and 4 have plenty power to run the apps.
You can pick up a 3 for not much more money than a 2.

I will reccomend a full size and not any of the mini's.
On the X32 app, there are things that don't show on the smaller versions.

I have a 16 gig and is plenty for what I do.
If you want to keep alot of music or use it for actual recording on the iPad, then more memory would be reccomended.

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Re: iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby shmick » Thu Feb 12, 2015 10:44 pm

Right now, pretty much everything will work on the iPad 2 since it's still capable of running the latest version of iOS. While you might be able to get a good deal on one, I would probably advise against it. Reason being is that it's a 4 year old device and has a good chance of disappearing off the "supported" iOS list of devices in the near future. Also, the newer devices like the iPad4 and iPad Air have a much nicer retina display and the newer lightning connector (Apple has officially stopped selling any of their older hardware based on the 30 pin connector, which includes the iPad2)
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Re: iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby Jeffsco » Fri Feb 13, 2015 10:21 am

Thanks Brett...and great advice shmick about the connector. A friend of mine made the same observation about that specific detail.
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Re: iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby Craig » Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:28 pm

My iPad 2 has gotten more buggy with the latest iOS updates. I still use it constantly, but I would go with at least the 3.
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Re: iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby mattseymour » Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:19 am

Depending on your use case, the air can be worth its lack of weight compared to the earlier models.
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Re: iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby jlepore » Sat Feb 14, 2015 3:28 pm

I've been using an iPad 4 and never had a problem with any console control software I've tried. Should be able to get a good deal on them since there is newer stuff out.
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Re: iPAD purchase...what to get?

Postby gdougherty » Wed Feb 18, 2015 5:37 pm

I just upgraded from a 4 to an iPad Air 2. I use mine for all kinds of things and I love how well they hold their value. I sell and upgrade about every 2 years on all my iDevices. I'll get about $375 for my 64GB wifi+cellular model, just a touch less than half my new one off amazon.

Cellular is worth it to me since I have a shared data plan and the iPad costs an extra $10/mo. Being able to locate it anywhere in addition to use it anywhere is a must for me.

For longevity, the Air is the oldest I'd go. The cpu was the first 64-bit and at some point they'll probably go all 64-bit on the OS. The air 2 is a good step up in processing power though and is worth the extra IMO. I tend to buy as new as I can manage rather than as old as I can get away with since newer iOS versions almost always slow down the older devices. Newer iOS versions these days are required for some of the latest software updates, so being able to stay up on iOS versions means you'll be able to run the latest versions of control software for the longest term. iPad 1 owners are no longer able to run the latest x32 software which is required to control the latest firmware. There were several people in their forums that foolishly bought the older cheaper devices to control their brand new desk only to find they couldn't use everything when the 2.0 firmware came out. Don't be that guy.
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