The rumour factory with regard to iPad3 is glowing all over the web, just look at these sites

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/ipad- 3-rumours-what-you-need-to-know-937498

http://ipad3newsblog.com/

However I can not see any immediate benefits with regard to making music apart from a potential bigger processer. But then again, the extra power might be eaten up by more cpu hungry components. Then add the fact that just about all temporary music apps run just fine on the iPad2 -many of them just as fine on iPad 1- and the extra power might be redundant. Then there are the rumours about yet another form factor - maybe it will get thicker due to a potential implementation of the longed for retina display. That might indeed be a set back if you are going for some of the iPad2 specific connectivity boxes recently announced at namm:

http://www.idesignsound.com/news/namm-2012-ios-round-up/

Personally I am dying for the release of the MPC Fly controller that is going to transform my iPad2 into the coolest Portable groovebox I have ever owned. A new and incompatible form-factor would be THE show stopper in this respect.

But maybe I am missing something or have too modest standards with regard to music making, so what do you think? If any of these rumours are true, will the iPad3 be worth it to you as far as making music concerns?
Last edited by IncarnateX on Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:43 pm; edited 1 time in total

It's hard to tell from a simple music production (hahaha well, music production is a passion for us so bare with me) point of view, because I don't think there are people who just bought, let's say, the iPad 2 for music making alone.

If the rumors are true and the iPad 3 for instance retina display (and hopefully more RAM, and maybe an A6 quad processor), then things like browsing the web and running other apps could spark a new interest as they would feel and perform better.

Also more RAM for us jailbreakers could mean more yummy tweaks to install (seems like I can never have enough on my iPod Touch 4G) and them running better and seamlessly (although if the A6 is bundled in the iPad 3 then we'd have to wait God-knows-how-long for them vicious crackers to find the weakness).

But leaving ALL of that aside I think if your iPad 2 runs great, you're happy with what it's giving you and unless you'd find yourself having some app that runs very slow (and again that would only happen for us jailbreakers running lots of underground tweaks) which is not the case since it wouldn't have been approved by Apple (they care a lot about the user experience, or so is my feeling), then why upgrade if you're happy?

I can feel some iPad 1 users might wanna take the punch on their wallets for they have waited now 2 years and the idea of a little better machine might appeal... but for the 2nd generation owners this is not the case.

Form-factor wise, I bet Alesis would just release some "stick in in there" plastic piece solution for the IO Dock like somebody said they did for the iPad 2 when it was just released... but know not about the other manufacturers. That's why I ain't fancying those dock interfaces.

Other say the iPad could have a different dock connector form factor and well, we're are getting in a territory of suppositions and rumors that might end up being 100% false.

But then again, this is just my humble opinion, as I'm just a guy who passed on the iPad 2 and is now impatiently waiting for the iPad 3

For me new processors, more RAM, etc.. it's always good, things really run smoother and feel faster.
BUT we have to remember the control paradigm with iOS and the way it works.
I mean, if we were talking about Desktop Computers (unless you were a totally humble guy just running the least CPU and RAM hungry apps out there and a couple soft VSTs, and then upgrading might not be required) in most respects upgrading is ALWAYS better, things will be faster, smoother, you will be able to run more VSTs and so on.
But on the iPad? It is limited, the way you can do things (always one app at the time even if some apps can handle real multitasking) and it is not like we're talking about the possibility to run more things now, right? So if you feel having a blast at your iPad 2, your music making workflow behaving just perfect, then asides from Games, Browsing and minor tweaks I think the upgrade to the iPad 3 won't be something that should wake you up at night in sweat. I'd just wait for the iPad 4 if anything.

Do what you will, but I'm keeping my clothes on.

FTFY. I take it y'er proposin' we're going to ditch aller dem pads and have a hootenanny!

As long as "your" both hot chicks why not... let's bare together, strum some chords and get this Woodstock goin...

Erhm....I did!

I am just so iPad-Power-User-NOT as can be for everything else than making music and definitely not representative for typical users.

BTW: Great post! Thanks for taking the time to such a thorough answer. Maybe I am just into some heavy rationalization here since I can not afford switching iPad this year anyway, but is sure is a pleasure to read such affirmative comments as yours. You are probably right that more power on the iPad 3 might really be a scoop for jailbreakers, if any.

Another thing: Regarding form factor, rumours says it might be thicker than the iPad2 and then it can be a problem providing converters to the connectivity boxes It was only possible with the Alesis io dock because iPad2 is thinner than iPad1.

Cheers

Hahaha well, that's odd, as the iPad has a lot of potential in so many shades of the art emporium... but maybe I'm just a freak that has too many hobbies to account for.
Plus I love my RSS feeds, youtube'ing and whatnot.


Well to be honest that is the first thing that came to my mind when reading your OP, and no worries, I think most of us are that way, always finding ways to say "Bah I don't need no fancy new generation of [insert gadget name]".
But the truth is, with maybe exceptions in the gear world, like guitar pedals, midi keyboards (I'm still rocking my old PCR-800), computers (desktop, smartphones, tablets, laptops, nettops and whatnot) with better hardware (and leaving aside the power consumption factors) can always be a benefit to either the little kid who uses it to wikipedia'd his homeworks, to the folk who cannot for the life of him/her stop wasting his/her time facebook-gossiping his "friends", to the one that uses it for photography production, music production, video edition and so on.
But it's only maybe for the later in the last paragraph that new hardware always brings great advantages to his/her workflow, while for the others only the speed and boot time (if applicable) would matter.


You tell me about it, I would keep my iPod Touch to be honest, but now I have it so loaded with tweaks (and not just themes or bouncing icons tweaks, but real good funcionality-wise speaking tweaks) that the poor thing can barely respond to me anymore with 1 or 2 Mbs left of RAM to digest
So in this case, it's an iPhone soon for me. Because I hit the limits of the hardware.
In your case and like I said considering the fact iOS is a whole different beast to a desktop counterpart, you need to ask yourself whether you really hit the wall with it, which is likely, not. Unless you were going to use the Auria and had an iPad 1 (24 tracks instead of 48 for the iPad 2).


Maybe this is another case of me mixing the English language, because yeah, I just read more about it and the rumors say it would be thicker, not thinner like I was thinking.
I guess if you're really thinking to grab the MPC Fly as soon as it hits the shelves, if I was you, I'd wait till the iPad 3 was released too, and then draw my conclusions, purely for peace of mind, if you may.

Considering how long it took Akai to release the Synthstation 49 (and they haven't even released the iPad version of the synthstation app yet which was announced at Namm 2011), iPad3 might even be released before MPC Fly is out, so that dilemma may solve itself

Thanks again for your comments, mate. Very interesting to get a little insight into the demands of power users/tweakers.

Imvho, i think the upgrades for ipads are 'buy one, miss one....'

In other words if you have ipad 1 like me then you'll probably be ready to update when the three is out. I work with a right geek who basically buys the latest model on launch date and he admitted that it was pointless getting an ipad 2 if you already own the one. So ipad 2 owners might not really need an update when three is released and will probably look at the 4th gen as the cost effective path.

The cool thing about my ipad is that even when i update to a newer model, this version is going nowhere. I'm not going to sell it as it will always be useful running Lemur or as a second wireless screen for my macbook etc etc.

Just mho.

Actually that principle has crossed my mind too. Maybe it is just another rationalization but in that case it is a pretty good one

Quad core , oled display , better battery , thunderbolt.

All sounds good but...

Quad core is good but same memory size , 64 bit overload.

Oled display that has 4 times the resolution , multiscreen apps on a screen that size , whats the point you wont see it or be able to touch a dial that small. Might boost battery a bit not much.

Battery change some kind of inbuilt sensor , blah blah , battery cells still the same gel lithium parallel.

Thunderbolt on an ipad no way is this going to happen, apple are like sony new product, new port, new media. Does anyone actually use firewire.

I worked in laptop industry for years everything is dictated by the electronics industry, not manufacturers. Apple may have a lot of patents but they do not develop electronics.

I look forward to double resolution but I'd love to see that combined with bigger screen estate, which sadly doesn't seem to appear on any rumourpage I've read. There's room for at least 2 cm both horizontally and vertically, while still having a frame around the screen, and not increasing the size of the iPad. I think that would make a great difference, especially when you're used to the iPads we have now. I read quite a lot on my iPad, magazines, manuals, articles, those two features together would make the reading experience much much better. Plus for touch-based controls in music apps, there will be more space to implement them better.

I'm still very satisfied with my iPad 1, none of the music apps I use have any problems, but using virtual MIDI and several apps running at the same time, there's limitations. And with Auria and VSTs coming especially, that will be even bigger of an issue I guess. Don't think you can have too much processing power..

Don't care about the thickness, if that's the price to pay for better battery and CPU, RAM and storage (which will probably be needed to run more powerful apps at double resolution) 5 millimeters of thickness in nothing. I think even if I had invested in an iO dock or similar, I'd appreciate the power boost more than being able to slot it into my dock.

If I where to get an Ipad 3, then at least they should include a HDMI slot to connect it to my TV.

If it is thicker it adds weight to the idea of a separate interface connected to the dock connector via a cable for audio & MIDI I/O requirements. Otherwise owners of the IO Dock type interfaces are going to be a bit stuffed if they want an iPad3 ........... then again, we might all be stuffed if Apple decide to change the trusty old & long serving dock connector we all know and love. Apple have a knack of shafting their entire user base up the jacksy every once in a while!! Could iPad 3 be the next act of buggery?!

hmmmmm, does it run osx?? .....then i'll wait for an windows 8 tablet thanks.