Apple Announces Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for the iPad
The place within Apple's ecosystem has changed over its 13-year lifetime. It started out as a much larger iPhone, but it has progressed to its own place within the ecosystem, including its own operating system. One area where power users have indicated that the iPad has been lacking is with "Pro" apps from Apple. Today, that has changed, because Apple has announced both Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are coming to the iPad. Both apps will be available on May 23rd, 2023 in the App Store.
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro on the iPad brings an app that professionals are accustomed to right on their iPad. Final Cut Pro for iPad utilizes multi-touch gestures to allow creatives to create, record, edit, and publish all from your iPad. While editing you make frame-accurate edits with just your finger as well as with the Apple Pencil.
If you have an Apple Pencil you can use a feature called "Live Drawing" to write directly on top of video content. If you have an iPad Pro with M2 you can use the Apple Pencil hover capability to quickly scrub through your timeline to preview footage without needing to touch the screen.
The Apple Pencil is great, but sometimes you just need to use keyboard shortcuts, and that is possible if you have either a Smart Keyboard or Magic Keyboard attached (and presumably any keyboard connected with Bluetooth) to perform actions using keyboard shortcuts.
More and more videos are utilizing High Dynamic Range, or HDR, technologies to provide even better color. If you have a compatible 12.9-inch iPad Pro, you will be able to use Reference Mode on the iPad to get accurate colors for your video. Beyond this, if you have a multicam setup, you can view and edit these right on your iPad, M2 iPad users can also do all of this in ProRes on their devices.
Final Cut Pro for iPad also includes the ability to add effects, backgrounds, and soundtracks do you video. If you need to remove a background, there is a new Screen Removal Mask feature which will allow you to replace the background.
If you need to import media, this can be done using either Files or Photos. Any media you import will be saved directly within your Final Cut Pro project. Final Cut Pro on iPad can also import files from iMovie on iOS. As for exporting, you can export projects to your Mac, but you cannot import projects from your Mac to the iPad.
Requirements
Final Cut Pro requires iPadOS 16.4, or later, and will work on any iPad with an M1 or newer. This means that you will need a 12.9-inch iPad Pro (5th or 6th generation) or 11-inch iPad Pro (3rd or 4th generation) in order to run Final Cut Pro.
You can learn more about Final Cut Pro on the iPad by visiting the Final Cut for iPad website.
Logic Pro
Logic Pro is designed to allow the creation of music, sound efforts, or any other audio that one can conceive.
Logic Pro for iPad utilizes the multi-touch gestures to quickly allow you to play software instruments, interact with controls, and use standard multi-touch gestures. These gestures include pinch to zoom, swiping to scroll just like you would with almost any other iPad app.
Just like Final Cut Pro you can use the Apple Pencil with Logic Pro to do some precise editing or you can use the Apple Pencil to draw track automations to get just the right sound. Also like Final Cut Pro, if you prefer keyboard shortcuts these should also work with a Smart Keyboard or Magic Keyboard (again presumably it will work with any bluetooth connected keyboard) to perform the same actions as on the Mac.
One of the features of Logic Pro is the ability to browse the sound library. This is included with Logic Pro for iPad and you can browse everything in one location and quickly filter the list to get just the item you are looking for.
One of the more professional features of Logic Pro for iPad is the "Pro Mixer". The Pro Mixer emulates a physical mixer and provides you with faders, channel strips, pan controls, plugins, and even automation so you can get just the right sound for your tracks. And since Logic Pro utilizes multi-touch, you can move multiple faders simultaneously. Logic Pro for iPad does allow you to move projects easily between the iPad and the Mac. You can also export songs in a variety of compressed and lossless audio formats. You can even export your finished track from Logic Pro and import it into Final Cut Pro. If you have a Garageband for iOS project, you can import it into Logic Pro for iPad, but you cannot export it back out.
Requirements
Logic Pro requires iPadOS 16.4, or later, and will work on any iPad with an A12 Bionic or newer. If you have one of the iPads below, Logic Pro should work for you.
- 11-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation or later)
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro (4th generation or later)
- iPad (8th generation or later)
- iPad Air (4th generation or later)
You can learn more about Final Cut Pro on the iPad by visiting the Logic Pro for iPad website.
Pricing
One of the biggest changes with the iPad versions of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, as compared to the Mac versions, is the pricing. Both of the iPad versions are subscriptions, $4.99 per month or $49 per year, without any option of having a one-time purchase. The Mac versions of Final Cut Pro is $299.99 and Logic Pro is $199.99.
There has been some discussion regarding the iPad apps being subscriptions, with individuals on both sides. Some of the pushback has been due to subscription fatigue and everything being having a subscription. At the same time, some have mentioned that having the monthly subscription pricing could bring more people into using the apps, given that they can subscribe for a while and then cancel without needing to put down so much up front for an app where they might only have an need.
There is a one-month free-trial for both applications, so you can try them before you commit to a subscription.
Closing Thoughts
When someone uses "FINALLY", to signify that something has happened, it is often not an appropriate use. However, in this case I think it is appropriate for people to use it, particularly since many professional users have been wanting Apple's '"Pro" apps to be available on the iPad.
It seems as though Apple has utilized the features of the iPad to bring pretty good versions of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to the iPad. Utilizing features like multi-touch to allow pinch to zoom and using Apple Pencil to allow precise editing should go a long way for users.
For many creatives having either Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro available on their iPad will go a long way to helping them create, edit, and share their creations. Some may balk at the pricing, but others will welcome it as a way of being able to do what they need while on the go or just on a platform where they feel most comfortable.
I am not one who uses Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro, not even on the Mac, so I am not the target market for these. I do not think I will be downloading or subscribing, but these are definitely apps that many will use. I hope this is just the start of what Apple has planned for their "Pro" apps and the iPad. I also hope that these apps will not suffer a "set it and forget it" approach that seems to plague many of the features on the Mac, but that is a whole other topic.
Source: Apple Newsroom.