Sampletank question: ATTN IK Guys

[polaris20]

Hey guys,

I see that earlier this month ST was updated for 64 voices for "latest Apple devices". What does that mean, exactly? iPhone 5, iPad 4, obviously. But does that include the iPad Mini? And if so, by extension does that mean the iPad third gen, since it's a similar proc?

Just curious. I have the iPad 3 and an iPhone 5, so obviously I'm good on the latter, but not sure about the former.

[conundrum]

Processing power wise, the Mini is equivalent to the 2.

The retina display on the 3 eats up most of the extra processing power, so the 3 would be essentially equivalent to the 2.

In the early days of ST, the 2 seemed to be good for about 16 voices. Presumably that's been improved, but I don't know what testing methods people used.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Right, the mini isn't as powerful as say iPad 4 processor-wise. Polyphony would vary between different devices, and you'd only get 64 on the most powerful current devices. I really wish the mini had both a more powerful processor and retina display (even if at the cost of processing power) myself.

[Sergievsky]

I didn't know the 3 sacrificed cpu for the retina. I was thinking of getting it just for my Akai Synthstation49, hopefully to work with Sampletank (not even sure if they work together). I have an iPad4 but I don't like how the lightning connector with adaptor fits with the Akai...but if iPad2/3 will be lacking in cpu...I dunno.

[Michaelogoe]

@ conundrum

What about RAM? ipad 3 has 1gb ipad 2 has 512mb - RAM is used a lot on samplers and I bet sampletank would perform better on more ram?
I do not have any experience, as I am planning to buy ipad3, but definitely not ipad2 which has same CPU/RAM specs as my iphone 4s which has issues with running 2 synths at the same time - magelan jr and nlog + audiobus

[polaris20]

Processing power wise, the Mini is equivalent to the 2.

The retina display on the 3 eats up most of the extra processing power, so the 3 would be essentially equivalent to the 2.

In the early days of ST, the 2 seemed to be good for about 16 voices. Presumably that's been improved, but I don't know what testing methods people used.

Not entirely true. I know the processor is similar, but the 2 is an A5, the 3 is an A5X, the X denoting a quad core GPU. There is no extra CPU power, and it's the GPU that's eaten up by the retina display, not the CPU.

[conundrum]

polaris20: Notice that I did not say CPU.

Michaelogoe: I don't know if the extra ram of the 3 helps for Sampletank, but it was not enough of an upgrade from the 2, so I skipped it, and still would. At this point, might as well wait for Ipad 5 if you can. (I know, you could perpetually hold out for the next edition.)

[audiob0t]

According to Sebastian Dittmann, the iPad 3 is much better at multitasking (i.e. Audiobus) than the iPad 2/Mini.

[Sergievsky]

polaris20: Notice that I did not say CPU.

Yes, but saying the 2 is equivalent to a 3 is kinda the same thing, n'est ce pas?
Anyway, the extra ram probably wouldn't hurt. What I'd really like to see is porting over of samples, mostly Kontakt, and what about IK's own Sonicsynths & Miroslav?

[Michaelogoe]

@ conundrum

now i see where you coming from lol

getting an ipad3 thanks

[polaris20]

polaris20: Notice that I did not say CPU.

Michaelogoe: I don't know if the extra ram of the 3 helps for Sampletank, but it was not enough of an upgrade from the 2, so I skipped it, and still would. At this point, might as well wait for Ipad 5 if you can. (I know, you could perpetually hold out for the next edition.)

I know that, but I was mentioning that the retina does not eat up any "additional processing power" associated with the CPU, because the extra power from the retina display is satisfied by the GPU, not CPU.

[conundrum]

I know that, but I was mentioning that the retina does not eat up any "additional processing power" associated with the CPU, because the extra power from the retina display is satisfied by the GPU, not CPU.

You're highlighting the wrong letter.

[Sergievsky]

Dude...how old are you?

[conundrum]

I could ask you the same thing.

But if people would rather accuse me of misinformation, when they clearly have not been reading, that's OK.

[polaris20]

I could ask you the same thing.

But if people would rather accuse me of misinformation, when they clearly have not been reading, that's OK.

Settle down. No one's accusing you of anything. I'm just stating that the extra processing required by the retina display is satisfied by the graphics processor.

Please show me where the CPU is being used, not the GPU specifically for the retina display. I'm really interested, because then I'd like to know what the point of a quad core GPU is.

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP647

You originally said:

The retina display on the 3 eats up most of the extra processing power

The retina display is negated by the quad core graphics. They have no bearing on the CPU as it applies to processing power for other applications like Sampletank. So for processing power, the 3 is the same as the 2, except it has double the RAM, which will might affect performance as well.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5688/appl ... -review/11

With no change on the CPU side, CPU performance remains identical to the iPad 2. This means everything from web page loading to non-gaming app interactions are no faster than they were last year:

So you're right that the 3 is the same as the 2 in performance, but the display has nothing to do with that. Could it be that we're on the same page, but not connecting due to misunderstanding?