Here are some questions I have if anyone would be kind enough to share their experience.
Just wondering how significant is it to use the Apple Pencil in Cubasis running on an iPad Pro? From those who have used it, does it make a difference? Does it make it easier to move/expand/reduce rectangles/bars in a piano roll screen? Does it make it easier to split, divide tracks and move selected segments of a track to a different location or different track, etc.? In other words, is it worth buying an iPad Pro for the utility of the Apple Pencil and if you have the Pro is the Pencil worth it for use in Cubasis?
And last thought. With respect to working in Cubasis, is an iPad Pro significantly better than a regular iPad 3?
Below please find a few thoughts from our perspective (other user’s might bring in further aspects):
The Apple Pencil can be easily used in all apps and works similar to a single finger tap.
At lower zoom rates the pen allows more precision when working in the MIDI editor.
We think it depends on personal taste to use it instead of fingers.
The new iPad Pro is the biggest and fastest Apple tablet to date that also comes with quad speakers.
In summary, you will notice a significant increase in overall performance compared to the regular iPad 3.
I have an iPad Pro 12.9" and a Pencil. I prefer to use my fingers for everything except drawing. The bigger screen makes the Pencil unnecessary for data entry for me.
That’s very interesting. Would you speculate if on the 9.7" Pro would you want to use the pencil instead of your finger for Cubasis projects? Or just zoom in and still use your finger? Seems that few on this site have the Pro with pencil so your experience is important.
I think I’d still prefer to use fingers. A lot of thought and design effort went into the touch interface and it is very much meant to be used by fingers.
Thank you Surfer. That really makes sense, especially coming from your experience. But, if you don’t mind, I have one final related question since you seem to be the resident expert on iPad Pros. I prefer the 9.7" Pro for several reasons including portability and its camera and display, although I have the same camera on my iPhone 6s+. But for use with Cubasis and other music production apps, in your opinion and experience is the 12" significantly better- a game changer, assuming cost and portability are not issues? I would assume it would be as a larger screen seems helpful, but I have no experience and in the field it may not make much of a difference. Thus my question. Thanks in advance.
Also, I want to register a formal “Thanks” to you but do not know how to do it.
The physical size isn’t an issue for me. My usual position is leaning back in a comfy chair or playing guitar sitting on a stool with the iPad on a leaning stand. No noticeable difference after the first 10 minutes. I don’t take it out of the house as much because of the size though.
Aside from the bigger graphics the 12.9 has 4gb ram vs 2gb in the 9.7 and that makes for bigger smoother music apps. That’s what I really like about the Pro
Thank you. That answers my questions. I am purchasing it for the music apps so your experience is important to me. I appreciate your taking the time to respond and help
I’m using Cubasis with iPad Pro (9.7) and Apple Pencil. It’s really a dream combo for portability and flexibility. Some gestures and operations are just instinctively more natural with the Pencil.
The 9.7 inch form factor works extremely well in breakfast cafes, trains, bookstores, parks etc. When I’m home then the MacBook Pro or iMac are available…I can see a day in the not-to-distant future when all my music is done on iPad 9.7 and the Macs used just for Video Editing and Xcode. Cubasis is that good. Just needs AU to take off.
Thank you for your post. I am leaning towards the 9.7 because of the flexibility of its size. Your experience is very helpful. Glad to know the 9.7 and pencil work well for Cubasis. That seals the deal for me.
I agree with sirdavidabraham about the high usability of the pencil: it is definitely more precise and straightforward for editing velocity, note length etc., and doing some other things in Cubasis.
Thank you everyone for helping me make my decision. I really appreciate all the input. This forum is great! I made my decision based on your experiences and purchased the iPad Pro 9.7 and pencil yesterday. Look forward to creative experiences.
The iPad Pro 9.7 also has an extremely servicable microphone on board. I use it sitting on the couch with the iPad on my knee playing acoustic guitar or percussion etc. Yes, I could get a better result with an interface and really good mic but have a listen to the below - I dont think anyone is going to say oh you used a cheap mobile condenser mic…
I’m using the pro 9.7 with pencil for drawing in Procreate. In Procreate the pencil really shines for the app makes use of the pressure and angle input! (It’s said to be the best drawing experience ever)
With Cubasis however, I don’t see any advantage for using the pencil! Cubasis has no support for the awesome features that the pencil offers. And to be honest, the tool select buttons make it a PITA to work with in the key editor.
I wish Steinberg ditched the Atari era tool select buttons and implement some nice and new touch sensitive way to write and edit the piano roll notes!
