- Apple’s new Logic Pro 2 and Final Cut Pro are amazing for its new iPads—and for older iPads.
- Apple has been using AI in Logic for years, it just wasn’t called AI.
- There’s even a whole new video app—Final Cut Camera.
Great news—you don’t need to buy a new iPad Pro to get the Logic Pro and Final Cut updates, including the new AI features.
Along with the new iPad Pro, Apple also announced some very neat new features to its Pro iPad apps. The implication was that the new features in these apps require the new device, but as long as you have an iPad or Mac with an M1 chip or better, you can get the fancy new software toys.
“Regarding AI in Logic Pro, I view it as a powerful assistant that can accelerate the creative process. It can automate mundane tasks, analyze and suggest corrections in mixing, and even inspire new music creation through its predictive capabilities. However, the core creative impetus should still come from the artist,” Sam Tarantino, co-founder of music-streaming service Grooveshark, told Lifewire via email.
Logical Move
Logic Pro for iPad 2 will probably be a much bigger update than Apple hinted at in the launch video this week, just because the current version lacks a lot of basic functionality, but even so, the new AI-based features are pretty big news, and they use AI in a way that will actually be useful to musicians, instead of trying to come up with some weird rhythm-free song entirely based on a prompt, like Google’s effort and others.
The flashiest AI tools are the new Session Players: Virtual keyboard and bass players in your iPad or Mac. These generate basslines, melodies, and chord progressions, with extensive controls so the user can tweak the result. If you are familiar with Logic and Garageband’s Drummer, this is more of the same.
Drummer is pretty amazing. It’s good for making quick accompaniments with a single click but also deep enough to use in finished tracks. We expect the new Session Players to be equally impressive. The bass player can even follow along to a chord progression you’ve already laid down.
These new AI tools also highlight something else–while ChatGPT and other generative AI tools are getting all the hype, and Apple is being seen as left behind in the race, the truth is that Apple has been using AI for years. It just hasn’t called it AI. It’s in Drummer, it’s in your camera and photos apps, and Apple has been building an AI chip into its iPhones, Macs, and iPads for years—the Neural Engine.
Logic Pro also gets some AI-modeled FX, and then there’s the Stem Splitter. This uses AI to tease out the individual instruments from an imported song and separate them into ‘stems,’ which is musician-talk for separate audio tracks. This lets you sample just a drum loop, build the vocal line into a remix, and a ton more. The technology isn’t new. It’s available online, and even iPhone apps like the amazing Koala Sampler, but having it separate stems directly into tracks will be very handy.
“While the iPad versions of these creative apps may not quite replace the desktop experience just yet, I see them as an awesome step towards letting us seamlessly move between devices without sacrificing our creative vision and flow. That intuitive touchscreen could honestly open up some really cool new avenues for making music or editing videos on the go or in more unconventional spaces,” Harrison Alley, founder of Student of Guitar, told Lifewire via email.
And all this will work on your Mac, too. Logic Pro 2 for iPad is most definitely worth the update, especially as it’s a free update on the Mac.
Final Cut
Final Cut’s most impressive new feature is actually a separate, brand-new app: Final Cut Camera. This is Apple’s pro-level video camera app, which runs on the iPad and iPhone and brings full manual control to video shooting.
The neat twist is that you can use several iPhones or iPads at once, and then view and control their video wirelessly from another iPad, or a Mac.
AI-wise, Final Cut also gets some new effects, like separating a subject from the background in real time. It’s a solid update, and one which is going to be great for indie filmmakers and even YouTubers, who can now do easy multi-cam setups with gear they already own.
For current users, these are both excellent updates, and for new users, they add to two already-excellent tools. The fact that this can all happen in an iPad is amazing enough, but for Final Cut users, the new iPad Pro, with it’s spectacular OLED screen, makes this a must-have.
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News Summary:
- Pro Apps On New iPads—Worth It?
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