Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

Tim Weaver

Tim Weaver

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Feb 2, 2011
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College Station, Texas, United States
www.weaverimaging.com
So, I mix wirelessly all the time. I use a laptop with x32edit for all my EQ, FX, and Channel strip duties. I also use a tablet which pretty much always has my DCA's up on it. This way I always have my finger on a fader for solos, while I can use a mouse to navigate the rest of my console. I have been using a Dragon Touch R8 which was a halfway decent 8" tablet. Basically an Ipad mini competitor running android. It was cheap and easy, but it died. I do have an older Lenovo 7" tablet that I can use as a backup, but I want something bigger.

So, I need a new tablet. All it has to do is reliably run the x32 app or master fader. I am not biased in any way for android. I like "i" products, but the android tablets were cheaper at the time, which is the only reason I bought it.

I am now shopping for either a used iPad or a new cheaper Android Tablet. What I need to know is: Which iPad is the best to avoid because it is too old? Should I not buy anything old enough to have a 30 pin connector? Or will those old 3's and 4's work well for me? Is there a "value leader" in the android market? What works, and what should I avoid?

Basically I want something that has: A sturdy build, 8" or larger screen (bigger is better), great Wifi performance, and will run it's X32 app solidly.


So let me know what you are using!



BTW, Here's a pic of my setup....
 
Re: Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

Tim,

I would go with something android as the Mixing Station app is better than the Ipad app. I am currently running a Samsung tab 3 and have an issue with not being able to get to the setup drop down menu, but still haven't been able to figure out whats going on. So I would steer clear of that one.

Chris
 
Re: Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

Chris Greco said:
Tim,

I would go with something android as the Mixing Station app is better than the Ipad app. I am currently running a Samsung tab 3 and have an issue with not being able to get to the setup drop down menu, but still haven't been able to figure out whats going on. So I would steer clear of that one.

Chris
Click to expand...
+1 on Mixing Station on Android. I'm an iDevice guy as well but got tired of waiting on the iPad app so I got a Nexus7 (2013) a month or so ago. Works great after I installed the 7 OS upgrades required after purchase. I've no experience with any other/larger Android tablet. For general/personal and sometimes mixing use I do have an iPad 3 retina with the 30-pin connector which is starting to get slower with each IOS upgrade -- that pisses me off as otherwise it is in perfect condition. I still use it for Audio Tools and love it for that. Good luck!

...dave
 
Re: Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

I kind of agree on mixing station, but I literally only use it for the dca faders. All that other functionality isn't needed for me.

And I find android very difficult to setup and maintain. Not that I can't, its just significantly harder than IOS.

I'm not discounting the android tab though. If there's a big 10" tablet out there for cheap money I'd likely buy it.
 
Re: Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

Tim Weaver said:
Basically an Ipad mini competitor running android. It was cheap and easy, but it died.
Click to expand...

The thing about tablets is that they truly are a dime a dozen. The problem is, the cheap ones ARE cheap, and failure rates can be horrid on some models. The more expensive ones are on par with the quality of the iPad, so the difference is more on the OS. Used androids are generally far cheaper than used iPads. The catch with Androids is you don't know how many OS updates they will support. If the update to the app needs a newer OS, and your android isn't upgradable, you're out of luck. With the iPad, they announced the new OS STILL supports the original iPad 2, with performance expected to be boosted instead of decreased with this update. That's pretty incredible.

Now, once you get past the OS updates and hardware differences, it comes down to which mix app you want to use. I haven't used Mixstation versus the official iPad app, so I can't comment which is better. Personally, I really like the iPad app already. If mix station is that much better, it may be worth looking into.
 
Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

Mix station does a lot more and does have the rta overlay in the eq windows, but other than that generally looks pretty homely in appearance. It has a few quirks, but its updated regularly.

The ipad app looks great. And is on an ipad.


I prefer the "squeeze and drag" eq on mix station vs the ipad.
 
Re: Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

Hi Tim,

I don't have an X32, but do have a Yamaha 01V96 I run on an Ipad through VNC, and also mix an LS9 on an Ipad.
I also have a Mackie DL1608, and a DL32R on the way.

I have an Ipad 3 that does all of the above well. I also have an Ipad Air that runs some apps(in particular multiple apps) a little faster.

There was a period of Mackie and Apple apps where at one point the Mackie app ran very slow, but it is all back to groovy, and more features.
Some of the Ipad 3 processing is for the Retina screen, which can bog down some apps.
I'm told the Ipad 2, with a lower res screen, often runs about as fast as the 3.
The Ipad 4 had a big jump in processing hp, still more in the Air, and Air 2.

When mixing, StudioSix can slow the Ipad 3 a bit.

With the Ipad there are some tricks for optimizing live mixing performance, like:

Delete unnecessary apps and data
Turn off all Background App Refreshes.
Turn off or limit notifications
Reset Network Settings; upon reset the iPad will reboot
Re-enter only the WiFi networks you need
My friend Alan gave me this list. He did the above on his Ipad 2 and it is running all his apps fine.

If you keep many apps/files on an Ipad, the 16GB ones will fill up pretty quick.
32GB seems plenty spacious for me.

Hope that helps, Weogo
 
Re: Need to buy a tablet for X32. What to get???

If I was going to get an used ipad today it would be the ipad4 or higher. I have the ipad3 and compared to the ipad4 there is too much performance difference.

Nowdays I also have the ipad air2 and you can see/feel the difference right away between this one and ipad3 running x32-mix and xair-mix.

One thing that I've learned the hard way is that replacing the glass/lcd on an ipad/iphone is much cheaper than anything else out there. At least this is how it is here in scandinavia. So dropping that hi-end android tablet will cost you some serious money compared to an ipad.

If anything, I'd just buy 'many' cheap tablets instead of one expensive for controlling mixers remotly.
 
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