On the 9th of May, Apple announced it was bringing Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to the iPad, which they hope will bring them even closer to the idea of tablets replacing computers.
They go on to say that this gives video and music creators ways to unleash their creativity in new ways, with an all-new touch interface that allows users to enhance their workflows.
Final Cut for iPad
Final Cut for the iPad will come with a range of powerful new tools to let video creators record, edit, add write-on effects to their projects, to finish and to share their projects from one portable device. These features include a new jog wheel that makes the editing process easier.
Users can navigate the Magnetic Timeline, move clips, and make fast frame-accurate edits, with just the tap of a finger, as well as using Multi-Touch gestures to push their creativity to new heights.
Other features Final Cut Pro for the iPad comes with are:
- Live Drawing (which allows users to draw / write effects on top of videos)
- The ability to speed up your workflow using shortcuts (but only if you have a Magic Keyboard or Smart Folio Case to utilise key commands)
- The ability to view / edit stunning HDR video (though only if you have a 12.9-inch iPad Pro), as well as the ability to apply colour grades with accuracy using Reference Mode.
- A Scene Removable Mask feature (which lets creators remove or replace backgrounds behind a subject without the need to use a green screen).
- Auto Crop (which adjusts footage for vertical, square, and other aspect ratios)
- Voice Isolation (which let’s you remove background noise from clips)
As well as those features, however, video creators also get the ability to film in portrait or landscape from inside the app, to monitor audio and available recording time. and to manually control settings such as Focus, Exposure and White Balance.
Multicam video editing features are also available — for anyone who films videos from multiple camera angles — and if you do, your clips can be automatically synchronised and edited together. Users who use Multicam footage can also switch angles in a Multicam clip with just the touch of a finger.
However — as things stand — you won’t be able to use External Drives with it.
You’ll also be able to add graphics, effects and audio to videos.
To use Final Cut Pro for the iPad, you’ll have to pay either a monthly subscription for £4.99 or a yearly subscription for £49. You’ll also have to have either a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with an M1 or M2 Chip, an 11-inch iPad Pro with an M1 or an M2 Chip, or an M1 iPad Air.
Logic Pro for iPad
Logic Pro, meanwhile, will put all the power of professional music creation in the hands of the creator, with complete access to sophisticated tools for songwriting, beat making, recording, editing and mixing.
With Multi-Touch gestures, music creators can play software instruments and interact naturally with controls, and you’ll also have the ability to navigate complex project with the ability to use pinch-to-zoom and swipe to scroll.
Plug-in Tiles will put the most useful controls at the creator’s fingertips, so it’s easy to quickly shape sounds.
The iPad’s built in mics mean users can capture voice and instrument recordings — and with the five studio-quality mics you get on the iPad Pro — you can turn any space into a recording studio.
You will also be able to make precision edits and draw detailed track automation with help from the Apple Pencil. And similar to what you get with Final Cut for the iPad, you can also utilise key commands that help speed up production, if you have a Smart Keyboard Folio or Magic Keyboard.
Other features you get with Logic Pro for iPad are:
- An all-new sound browser
- Support for professional instruments and effects plugins
To use Logic Pro for the iPad you’ll have to pay either a £4.99 monthly subscription or a £49 yearly subscription, but you can install it on any iPad with the A12 Bionic Chip or later, which is running iPadOS 16.4 or later.
Final thoughts
I’ve been calling for Final Cut to come to the iPad ever since I’ve started using an iPad Pro, and now that we’ll be getting Logic Pro — as well as Final Cut for the iPad — I’m absolutely ecstatic!
As someone who has been using Final Cut to edit videos for nearly 10 years, I love how things that would otherwise be harder to do on a Mac are being made easier to do on an iPad. But by far, the features I am most looking forward to seeing are the Live Drawing and Scene Removal Mask features — since you’ll be able to add effects without putting in hours of work — and I’m also happy how users will be able to change a track’s automation in Logic Pro by just drawing over it with an Apple Pencil — but it is important that users should be able to use other stylus pens with it as well, as there are a lot of disabled people who are advised not to use the Apple Pencil due to how much pressure you have to use with it, and there’s others who just won’t be able to afford it.
And while I’m on that note, I’d also like to add in that I also think it’s good that both apps allow you to use the Magic Keyboard and Smart Folio Case with them, but that it would be good if the same shortcuts could be used with non Apple devices, since a lot of those cases will be cheaper.
However, as much as it’s good to talk about the things that are good about a product, I think it’s also good to talk about the things that aren’t good, one of which is that it won’t be possible to use external drives with your projects, which I think is something that is likely to stop some creative people from wanting to use it.
And while paying for both Final Cut and Logic Pro through a subscription service wouldn’t exactly be something that would bring me off them, I do think it would be a better decision on Apple’s part to also include a third option which let’s you pay outright the same amount as you would pay for the Mac versions — even if the monthly subscription does make that come to less than what the full price would be overall.
Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro will be available to download from the App Store to your iPad from the 23rd of May.
Phoebs Lyle Tech Reviews 