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Need opinion on iPad mini configuration


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I got an Amazon gift card as a reward for long hours on a work project. I couldn't find anything I really wanted from the normal musical instrument/sound pickings. I already have a decent selection of music apps that I run on our family iPad Air 2 ...but it's oldish and not always available when I want it. So I've decided that I might buy a iPad mini 5.

 

Some relevant points:

 

- This is mostly just to run soft synths. It won't be used by anyone else. I'll do some web surfing on it, but no email, photo storage, etc.

- Although I have Cubasis and Garageband, I only use these occasionally. So no big storage requirements for recording.

- The small size is a feature for me...gonna have it velcro'd it on my "couch keyboard" most of the time.

 

Given above use cases, do you think the 64GB unit is enough? Or should I pay the extra $150 for a 256GB unit?

 

 

Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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If you're not downloading movies to watch offline, 64 GB will be fine. Even the biggest iOS virtual instrument libraries rarely top 5 GB, and you have to really push to get that big.

 

(Obligatory note that the Studio Workshop forum is a great place to talk about this stuff without threads quickly getting buried :D )

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

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If you're not downloading movies to watch offline, 64 GB will be fine. Even the biggest iOS virtual instrument libraries rarely top 5 GB, and you have to really push to get that big.

 

(Obligatory note that the Studio Workshop forum is a great place to talk about this stuff without threads quickly getting buried :D )

 

If I could get some advice & info from you, Dr. Mike, and this shouldn't derail the thread since it's pertinent to how much storage to get: I'm getting ready to go the iPad route also. Looking at things like Neo-soul Keys or the Hammond B-3X, Neo-Soul Keys says it's about 50G and I don't know how much the B-3X or something like Ravenscroft for iOS would take. How do you get all those instruments in something like a 64 or even 128G storage device. Thanks in advance.

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Just be careful that the iPad Pro that's supposed to be the top-end one has an USB-C port which doesn't work with iPad-specific music gear such as the Korg plugKEY. You'll need a "class compliant" (whatever that means) USB interface for that one.

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Neo-Soul Keys says it's about 50G....

 

Not sure where you are looking but on the App Store, Neo-Soul Keys Studio says 3.9 GB required. The "Studio 2" says 800MB for the app, but it looks like they are doing something with external SSD and reference 21GB (8.4 GB Downloadable Lossless Compression)....so that's as clear as mud. In any case, it starts me thinking that maybe I would regret 64GB at some point. On the other hand, it might keep me from buying all these relatively cheap apps, half of which I'll never use :)

 

Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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[Neo-Soul Keys says it's about 50G

iOS version sample set is 8.4 GB (or less if you end up not needing all of them)

 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/neo-soul-keys-studio-2/id1482448438

 

For music apps alone, 64 GB goes far.

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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If you're not downloading movies to watch offline, 64 GB will be fine. Even the biggest iOS virtual instrument libraries rarely top 5 GB, and you have to really push to get that big.

 

(Obligatory note that the Studio Workshop forum is a great place to talk about this stuff without threads quickly getting buried :D )

 

Thanks for the input and I was unaware of that new forum...will have to check it out. You also got me thinking "yeah, maybe I would take this on vacations and download movies". Good point.

Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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Decided to go with 256 GB ...just in case I have future uses I don't anticipate now. Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

Another question for people in the know: Up til now, we have used one Apple ID for my wife's phone and the iPad Air that we share (with my existing music apps.) I have an Android phone (for work reasons I need to be familiar with both technologies) so don't have an Apple ID for myself. I looked into creating my Apple ID for this new iPad and using "Family Sharing" to get my old apps. But I read somewhere that even if all the apps support that feature, the in-app purchases do not get shared. Can anyone confirm this? I'm leaning towards just continuing to use my wife's apple ID since I don't really need one for any other reason. Opinions?

 

Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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Good choice going for the larger capacity, my old iPad mini is a 128Gb unit which now has nearly 80Gb of apps and data loaded onto it.

 

I would go for your own account to keep from all the data on your family iPad syncing with the Mini especially Photos which gobbles up storage.

 

I regularly use Galileo 2, Korg Gadget, Music Studio, ISEM and a few other apps whose total program size is over 7Gb.

 

One thing about the Mini is that it is far older than current larger iPads and the screen is quite small for some music related Apps.

Col

 

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I would go for your own account to keep from all the data on your family iPad syncing with the Mini especially Photos which gobbles up storage.

 

Oh, I'll turn off all that stuff like Photo sharing.

 

As I said, my primary concern is that I will lose in-app purchases (like Ivory within Korg Module) if I don't use the same Apple ID.

Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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Yeah, it's true. In-app purchases don't get shared with Family Sharing. Apps themselves do, book purchases, music, but not in-app purchases. :(

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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