I currently work mainly on a desktop Mac and a large display, but would like to update my mobile system. The choice is between a MacBook (Air) and an iPad.
A MacBook is a complete system capable of running everything. Even iPad apps. But it is bigger, heavier, not capable of becoming smarter when things like a large display and a keyboard are not needed.
An iPad is a limited system, running some complete program and some limited ones. Dorico is, unfortunately, one of them. But it is an incredibly versatile system, that can be fitted into a small bag or even a pocket, and can be used with a pen.
For what I would use a mobile system, I could use some programs on the iPad in the same way I would on the Mac.
Wordprocessing and numbers, with the Apple apps.
Researching, with Safari.
Annotating PDFs, with GoodReader.
Brainstorming on a white board, with MindNode and/or Freeform.
Editing images, with Affinity.
Some programs are a limited version, that I can use productively, even if I’m not totally happy of the limits.
Scrivener can exchange data with the Mac version, and can do most of what I need.
Some other programs I use can’t be used on the iPad.
InDesign is not available on the iPad. I guess this is an excellent way of keeping a vacation from my main job, when away with an iPad.
Dorico is only available in the Elements version, missing too many things for the type of music I write (custom playing techniques, noteheads, music fonts, grouping, microtonal accidentals, fanned beams…).
I wonder if Dorico Pro, even if with some limitations, will ever be ported to the iPad. I’ve no idea if there is a wide request for it. Modern iPads can be at the same time an agile notebook for quick notes, and (attached to a large display) a working machine as any other.
Not a Surface Pro (or similar) then? Those apps you mention have a Windows equivalent.
I have a MacBook Air and Surface tablet, but mostly use the Mac.
Are you wanting only Touch, or happy with a bluetooth keyboard/mouse (adding weight and another pocket to carry them in.)
I’m continually evaluating the Surface alternative. The fact is that I want another iPad mini, and not something as big as a 13" semi-portable device. I don’t know if it has improved over the years, but when I tried a Surface, some four/five years ago, it didn’t really feel to me as a real tablet (or, nothing like an iPad, to which I’m accustomed).
My strategy would be to use:
The full set of Mac apps when in the studio, with the large display.
The iPad mini connected to a large display when in the small studio at home.
The iPad mini connected to any unused display when having to do some work at a client’s.
The iPad mini with a portable 15/16" display when having to do some work on a larger display when away (say, a composition course, or at a client’s without a free display). Carrying around the iPad mini, a keyboard and a foldable display would be a bit like carrying around a laptop.
The iPad mini alone when going around and free.
The nice thing of this solution would be modularity. Are you away and want to take some notes? The iPad mini alone would do it. Do you need a large display? Connect it.
An iPad excels with its physical characteristics of being used ‘flat’, e.g. in the hand, or on a piano or music stand. Using the pencil for drawing is also fantastic.
But I find the interface and the OS limitations very frustrating if I treat it as a replacement or alternative to my laptop. This is true for all apps.
When using Dorico on the iPad, as long as I assume that I’m just doing things that I will complete on the desktop later, then I don’t get too frustrated.
Perhaps Dorico Pro could be achieved on the iPad, but because of Apple’s price structuring, it would have to be on a subscription or some very large “perpetual” fee.
Composition courses. I always had to carry with me my heavy 15" MacBook Pro. With the modular solution I could just have had to bring with me the iPad at lesson, and connect it to the larger monitor when back at the hotel room.
When I had a rented vacation house, I moved around with my MacBook. With the modular solution, I could just have had the larger display at home, and the free iPad when in a park.
When at a client’s I usually move with an iPad and GoodReader. I take notes with Apple Notes. Had I to do so some extensive work, assuming there is the needed software I could connect the iPad to any display, or the one I have with me in my car.
Just think to the minor adjustments in Engrave mode with a pencil…
I wouldn’t dislike to pay a higher price for a perpetual license of Dorico Pro on the iPad. But even a one-month license could work, if Dorico is to be used during a course or a vacation.
I know the pricing for iPad apps is different but it would be nice if my Dorico Pro license would allow me to use my iPad as one of my 3 computers. (Yeah, I know it’s apples (no pun intended) and oranges — but from a user’s standpoint it’s much like having to reinvent the wheel!)
It would be easier, if Dorico Pro was available in alternative app distribution regions. We do not have that here in the US but Brazil, the EU and Japan do have that option. I think it’s rather inappropriate that Apple thinks they have to have a slice of the pie for every app used on a mobile device thus limiting most of the world to the App Store.
I do wonder if Dorico Pro could be available for free from the App Store but require activation directly with Steinberg where, as others have mentioned, one of our three available licenses could be used for activation.
Well, $5 a month seems pretty reasonable for the Dorico app on an iPad. Sibelius iOS costs over twice as much, and is nothing at all like using the main ‘mother app’ the way that Dorico iOS is really just like using the desktop version (with some alternate methods to doing things).
Having tried them all (StaffPad, Sibelius, Notion, and several other ‘wanna-be handwriting version’, the Dorico for iOS beats them all hands down for useability, reliability, ease of input, accuracy of input, ease of editing, ease of transferring directly to the desktop version, etc. etc.
Yes, but… it doesn’t do everything that Dorico Pro does (it’s more like Elements). I’d like a full blown Dorico Pro, preferably as part of the 3 computer license or at least something similar to the lifetime unlock with reasonable upgrade fees (or better yet, no upgrade fee – but I can’t really expect the team to work for nothing)!
I’m not a fan of subscription software — I don’t own (rent?) any!