Yes I agree Kevin...Especially when only processing midi data, the iPad chip is no slouch. And the using the Griffin dock, or the IK Multimedia gear, or even the humble Apple camera connector one could send the midi data out the ipad into an external module for all sound generation..

The ONLY drawback as I see it, is the iOS system is not a true multi-tasker...in that one app has to close down when another is the "focus" app, apart from the music player which is designed to be able to run in the background...