I’ve finally gotten 30 minutes to sit down and play with Logic Pro on my iPad Mini and I have to say that I’m impressed with what I’ve seen in this short testing session I had. I have used Logic Pro on the Mac for years so as someone that has tried to use the iPad full time in the past I was interested to check it out.

Here’s my signal chain:

Guitar –> BlackStar Amped 2 –> iPad mini (6th gen) via USB-C

The good bit first off was that the iPad correctly identified my AMPED 2 and I was able to select it from the list of inputs when I created a new track.

I then realised that in my usual workflow I would need to pick where I wanted the output to go, the default would be the AMPED 2 but you can manually change this in the settings to the iPad speaker, which sounded just ok but was fine for my testing. Normally I would have headphones or studio monitors plugged into the AMPED 2 but this was just a test so I did whatever was easiest. You can even select the HomePod as output, which I tested but there is about a 3 second lag from playing a note to hearing it. It sounded surprisingly good though and with no lag I’d probably use them as monitors.

You can see above where I selected my output (you need to deselect ‘Autoselect Audio Devices’ then you can pick the ‘Output’ of your choice).

I recorded a quick two track noodle and then bounced it out to an M4a.

Overall I thought the interface was intuitive to use and in some ways I prefer this than the Mac version. I much prefer to have a touch interface these days over my Mac, it was just that the software wasn’t there to support my use of it. I subsequently dropped my 11″ iPad Pro for a MacBook Air M1 and iPad Mini combination. Now with the introduction of Logic Pro I am getting excited for what else is coming to the iPad. In fact I think once I get my desk sorted and my studio monitors all set up that my default is going to be to use the iPad over the Mac. It has me worried that I am going to want to upgrade to a large iPad just for creative use.

I’m a solo guitarist that has recorded and sold my music in the past using a Mac but never the iPad, I am now going to give this a try. I have been wanting to record an EP for years and now I have a playful interface this might be the enthusiastic kick that I need to get going.