Sooner or later I will have to get a new mobile device. I would like to know the pros and cons of using Dorico on a Surface or convertible PC, and about the smaller or the bigger display size.
A first difference I know is that on a PC I would be using the Pro version, while on the iPad I would get an Elements-like version. But would this really make a difference, while on the move? In any case, I guess all the finer details would be something to be left to the desktop version. But I must check if something that is basic for me, like microtonal writing, will still be available in the iPad version.
What about the display size? I would be happy to see a short video comparing the two iPad sizes (leaving out the Mini, that I know is really too small for working in Dorico). I feel the smaller size would be much better to work on the couch, while still leaving enough room for the score and the tools.
I have the unlimited subscription to the iPad version, but (so far) I never use it. The Pro desktop version gives me so much more capability that I do all my work there, and if I really needed to take Dorico with me “on the road,” I would almost certainly upgrade my laptop to use the Pro version.
That’s my “two cents” worth. I guess I have been spoiled by what the Pro version offers.
Derrek, that’s my thinking, too.
I went onto an 8 day holiday this year and - on purpose - left the laptop at home.
Couldn’t resist though taking the iPad, just in case…
It was actually quite enjoyable to sit in the vineyards, spending some time with Dorico on iPad to do little text edits and inputting bass lines to set up new projects… and it still felt like a holiday
I’m using a Dell Inspiron 2in1 laptop, that can be used as a standard laptop and, if you move the display 180 degree around it is a tablet (including a pen). It runs Windows 11 and it is perfect, because I have the full Dorico Pro release active on it.
iPad Dorico is great. Teething pains are over, on a M1 Pro it has like paper and pencil convenience, just use Galley mode. I wouldn’t get a Surface, until you need serious Engrave or Play capabilities it’s all you need.
I suppose one needs to consider what other functions the device may serve.
Dorico on iPad is competent, but not quite the same as a full machine (although they are indeed admirably close).
But I can tell you one thing: while an iPad isn’t a “computer”, a computer makes a poor iPad experience, too. By that I mean: iPad is still a mobile environment, but this is both a pro and a con. If you intend to use it for browsing news, watching Netflix, maintaining a score library (forScore and the like) from which you desire to play, you’ll have a heckuva time doing that smoothly with a laptop folded in half. They don’t sit well on a piano’s music rack, I can tell you. But an iPad does.
So ultimately, you need to consider the total value prop. If you just want to do engraving on the tram, then by all means get a 2in1 laptop. But if you want those other iPad-esque features, you’ll regret the laptop.
iPads are also worth considering for performance situations too. There are a couple of groups that I play with that have gone completely paperless, and we read off iPads. Back when I bought my current iPad (8th gen) I didn’t really think about that, but certainly will be buying the big 12.9" iPad when the time comes to replace this one.
Everybody is talking about capabilities, but I alluded to the psychology above of paper and pencil. Basically computers are a PITA. Always rebooting, running into problems, if mobile than fighting the battery, this and that. A computer doesn’t feel like a computer, being silent, sturdy, stable, ultraportable and so forth. It’s limitations are it’s strength in that you don’t want to use it for too much. It’s best for consumption, or if you have good enough apps then creative work too.
Writers love them. For digital sculpting I use Nomad sculpt, way easier and better than Blender, less capable but just works. Same with Dorico, I just focus on working on the notes and don’t care about sounds and the rest of it.
So in my book the biggest benefit is how it works psychologically. Dorico works best though with a keyboard and MIDI keyboard. WIDI MIDI BT dongle works great and I use it will a full keyboard, and with the iPad mouse and trackpad. So far the team has thought of it only in terms of mobile use so it’s been missing some keyboard hookups (biggest one is the Esc key), but they’ll probalby get those hooked up soon.
I actually just bought a new (to me) iPad off of eBay earlier this evening. Upgrading to a 2021 M1 iPad, 12.9. Still eye-watering prices, even used, but considering how much I use my current iPad, it seems worth the money, and the m-series iPads haven’t really dropped in price.
I have a 6 yo 11” iPad Pro, and have LONG lamented the fact that my screen shrinks scores. I swore to myself that whenever I upgraded I was going to get a 12.9” because it basically displays letter paper at full size. I very much look forward to that.
Thinking to the iPad as a music sheet reader: I can imagine that a strings or wind player would absolutely need the 13" one, due to how far one sits from the music stand. As a pianist/keyboardist, I was fine with my old iPad 2 (a little smaller than the current 11"), probably because we sit very near to the music stand.
I was actually researching them this week as I just bought a new iPad Air for my daughter (college student, birthday present). Even with a little bit of trade-in value, I still can’t justify the expense of the big iPad Pro yet. Maybe in another year!
I’ve now reached the age where I have “music reading glasses” that are optimized for about an arm’s length away, LOL! If I know the book already I’m ok, but I definitely wear them when I’m in sightreading situations.
It is just far enough away on the organ that I have always wanted a bit more. Regardless, the overwhelming majority of music I engrave is for letter, so it will be very nice to be able to see things natively now. Will make a nice way of doing print proofing too.
Next year they are maybe releasing a bigger size for people like us (and artists, writers and such). Rumor is it’ll have the same size screen as one of the laptops, 13 or 14 something, I’ll give my wife this one and upgrade if so.
I’m retiring from the day job and for vacations we’ll take a caravan (travel trailer) around. I’ll have my full length keyboard set up in it and use the iPad for all the music work. I have a great laptop but will just use that for the other stuff. Like I say, Dorico on the iPad is more than adequate for all the note entry work (just need those Esc key hookups for a physical keyboard). I’m trying to use the iPad as much as possible, it’s just so relaxing and easy compared to a computer .
I understand how the bigger size would make working sitting at a table easier. More room for the music and the roll/parameters, less scrolling.
At the same time, the small size would make it easier to work while keeping it as a notebook. But I agree: I write in my notebook by keeping them laying on a table. The 13/14" would be like going around with a Letter/A4 ring-binder. Not a Moleskine-type experience, but a normal size for taking notes or doing something more than sketching.
My current notebook is a 13" MacBook Pro. It’s small. A 13/14" iPad should be even smaller, and with the advantage of a much more comfortable disposition of the display and a hardware keyboard.
As much as I like miniaturized things, I understand that for music a bigger size iPad would be much more versatile.
I said I’d give her my (12" M1) iPad if I buy a new one
I actually don’t think the larger size with iPads really gives you much space. It’s incremental, an extra inch diagonal or whatever, and the fixed scaling seems to me to never to really make use of the new pixels in a meaningful way. And with zoom, “size doesn’t matter” (unless you go really big like a desktop monitor)
But again it’s psychology, with our older 9" iPads it’s like peering into a tiny window, good for reading only it feels to me. The 12" feels like the first one where you have a decent amount of space to look into and actually work within. A bigger one will help that.
zoom only gets you so far though. on my 6 yo 11" pro, even by zooming past the margins (which often don’t match the aspect ratio of the screen, so you only get to zoom so much) the music is still scaled smaller than it would be on a real sheet of letter paper, let alone it’s original print size (anything historic on imslp, for instance). At least with a 12.9 you get relative parity with however you could usually print it.
The 14" (or whatever it turns out to be, if it’s even real) will likely cost as much as a kidney — lovely as it will be to have. All the best to those with spare kidneys.
I confess… I’ve been contemplating a career change. I’m [relatively] happy doing what I’m doing, but I’m also beginning to wonder if this job might be more appropriate for a certain season of life, and this season ain’t it. (That is to say, I need to increase my earning power so my wife can stay home with the kids while they are little… and then perhaps once they are more independent, this factor would be less of an issue.) We shall see…
Dan, you’ll give your wife for one of these new iPads? 
What’s her opinion?