Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad hands-on: High-end tools for a low-end price

Real pro apps that welcome newcomers with attractive pricing and touch-first design

- JASON CROSS

For years, iPad Pro owners have complained that the "Pro" is certainly evident in the hardware, but the software is consumer-grade, making the high-end tablet just a very expensive way to run iPad apps that already run as fast as you could want on far more affordable iPad models. That has improved in small steps over the past few years, but the iPad Pro still doesn't feel like a Pro device, and it's a software problem.

The most obvious example has been the lack of Apple's own professional content creation software on the platform. Now, with the release of Final Cut Pro (fave.co/3qiujrm) and Logic Pro (fave.co/3BY8Nes) for iPad, it's a little easier to justify the "Pro" in iPad Pro.

REAL PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE

I am in no way a professional video editor or sound engineer, so I can't tell you whether the iPad version of these apps will fulfill the needs of those types of content creators. But I know enough about both those things to plainly see-after several days of using them both-that these apps are a far cry from iMovie and GarageBand.

Final Cut Pro requires an iPad with an M1 processor, and it's easy to see why. It has no problem chewing through multiple layers of 4K HDR footage and includes nifty features such as real-time multicam editing controls and the ability to shoot new footage with the iPad camera right in the app (with new controls for resolution, frame rate, white balance, and exposure).