The iPad mini is nearly the same “power-wise” as the iPad 2. There are a lot of iPad 2 articles around here and on other sites that compare power usage. Personally, I use an iPad 2 also, so what I have to say should relate very well. Honestly, a lot depends on what those 3-4 tracks are. What is your CPU/Polyphony meter telling you? If the CPU is really high, then that could explain the stuttering/skipping. If so, try freezing any tracks that are using Cubasis-native instruments. This should free a LOT of CPU resources. Also, what is your over all project latency set at? Raising that should reduce CPU overhead. Also, are there any applications running in the background that can be closed–if so, close them. Mail, Safari, etc should always be closed when working with Cubasis. Finally, often shutting down and restarting iOS will help. To do this, press and hold the power button until it brings up a red slider bar to shut off the OS. Once it shuts off, simply restart it. It will restart and then after a minute or two you should be able to start working on things again. Let us know how these things work for you. 