I’m considering upgrading from my 2018 iPad Pro to a newer model.
The main driver is that for moderately complex projects, when I scroll through the song as it’s playing, I hear digital distortion, and the scrolling is significantly slowed. Also, when I put Cubasis in the background, occasionally there is some distortion.
Regardless of the model I purchase, it will be with 1TB of storage so that it includes 16gb of RAM, which is likely to have the most impact on Cubasis performance.
As I understand it, the main advantages of the M2 are:
- 18% higher clock speed
- Support for more than 16gb RAM
- 40% faster neural engine
- 10 vs 8 GPU cores
- Higher performance video engine
If I’m guessing correctly, only the 18% higher clock speed will impact Cubasis.
@LSlowak Will an M2 deliver much better performance for Cubasis than the M1? Or, will it run just 18% faster?
Hi dovjgoldman,
Your iPad Pro - A12X Bionic processor, Neural Engine, 4GB RAM.
This is just my experience with iPad upgrades:
Using Cubasis 3 with 30 track’s running a mixture of AUv3 and IAA synths on -
iPad 8th Generation
- A12 Bionic chip with 64-bit architecture
- Neural Engine
- 3GB RAM
The DSP struggled in places, moving the screen when playing caused stuttering.
The CPU usage was low.
Running the same 30 track project on:
- iPad Air 4th Generation
- A14 Bionic chip with 64‑bit architecture
- Neural Engine
- 4GB RAM
The DSP usage was fairly low at peak times, but it still stutters if I move the screen during playback, I reduce my project display so I can see all of it as it plays, or just activate the Follow Playhead arrow, that way there are no clicks.
The CPU hardly moves.
I am yet to try creating a much larger project, but to be honest, 30 tracks is quite large with no issues from the DSP.
I know it’s not the answers you are looking for, but maybe my info might be of some help 
Hi @dovjgoldman,
Cubasis has been tested using an iPad Pro M12, where the performance is excellent.
Best,
Lars
@LSlowak I’m sure performance will be excellent on either an M1 or M2 iPad Pro.
The question is: will the M2 make more of a difference than just its 18% faster core performance? Will the 40% faster neural engine or 2 additional GPU cores (10 vs 8) improve Cubasis DSP performance beyond what the M1 chip would?
Lars, to translate this to a technical question your engineers are likely to be able to answer, does Cubasis leverage GPU cores or the neural engine?
If Cubasis doesn’t make use of GPU cores or the neural engine, an M2 will not deliver a significant performance advantage for Cubasis over an M1-driven iPad.
My intuition is that the M2 would not be more than 18% faster than the M1. Lars (or anyone else reading this) can you please confirm or deny this?