#thatfeeling

H

Helge A. Bentsen

Senior
Jan 19, 2011
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Oslo, Norway, Norway
drbentsen.no
When you select "meter page" on your ipad, the app crashes, the desk surface freezes, the intro is running, the band is walking on stage and the band VCA fader is down.....

From tonight on, I'm officially done with remote mixing on ipad. The cat cable is in the bin, the app is uninstalled and the wireless is leaving the doghouse tomorrow asap when the flightcase is coming out of the trailer.



Sent from my iPhone
 
Re: #thatfeeling

This was on my own SI Performer 1.
I used to use Visi remote to do adjustment in changeovers(three bands on tour) and flip it onto meters for the gig, the actual mixing was done on the surface.

Not anymore.
One more thing with that desk and I'm buying something else. My confidence in it took a serious hit last night.
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Max Warasila said:
Because with some work, it's reliable 99.5+% of the time. That other .5% shouldn't crash the whole system, though.
Click to expand...

Still no excuse. If you are on a tour and its show critical with any possibility that could happen don't use wireless. Same reason I have issues with keeping lab groupens on wireless after sound check.

Sent from my XT1060
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Jordan Lahr said:
Still no excuse. If you are on a tour and its show critical with any possibility that could happen don't use wireless. Same reason I have issues with keeping lab groupens on wireless after sound check.

Sent from my XT1060
Click to expand...

And read Chris Nixon's reply as well. The point is that losing the app, the WiFi or even a hard wired controller (laptop or HUI) shouldn't take the physical console down with it.
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Jordan Lahr said:
Still no excuse. If you are on a tour and its show critical with any possibility that could happen don't use wireless. Same reason I have issues with keeping lab groupens on wireless after sound check.

Sent from my XT1060
Click to expand...
What does being on a tour have to do with anything? Every show is mission critical; whether it is a tour, installed system, bar band, corporate one off, etc...

Helge, what did you have to do to get the console up and running again? Did disconnection the wifi router from the console work? or did you have to reboot the console?

FWIW, though I have had the Yamaha StageMix app loose it's connection, it never locks up the console when it does.
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Restarting the app didn't solve anything, it didn't find the desk.
Disconnecting the router didn't change anything with the desk.
Holding the power button down on the desk made it flash, but a second press didn't do anything.
I had to wait until the first song was over, tell the band to wait over the TB and power cycle the desk via the rear power button.

That is the longest boot I've ever witnessed, it booted as usual, but it felt like a lifetime passed by, all I could do was hope
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Helge Dr. Bentsen said:
Restarting the app didn't solve anything, it didn't find the desk.
Disconnecting the router didn't change anything with the desk.
Holding the power button down on the desk made it flash, but a second press didn't do anything.
I had to wait until the first song was over, tell the band to wait over the TB and power cycle the desk via the rear power button.

That is the longest boot I've ever witnessed, it booted as usual, but it felt like a lifetime passed by, all I could do was hope
Click to expand...

Yikes.

Have you contacted Soundcraft about this?
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Any time a remote function causes the audio to be disrupted or the console functions to be disabled is a huge design flaw. The old Presonus that required a Firewire connection for remote control. The problem was, if the host computer would be disconnected, or even restarted, the audio would drop on the Presonus. While it was only a couple seconds, it meant the reliability of audio was tied to 100% reliability of the external computer. As we know, computers can crash, unexpectedly at times. Because of this, I ended up abandoning having the computer connected at all during shows.

A properly designed system should be able to deal with corrupted data packets for remote control functionality. It's understandable if the actual audio stream is corrupted that there would be interruption in sound, but if the console can be crashed, that's poor programming. On the Soundcraft boards, I have heard of this happening more than on any other console. On other consoles (Yamaha, behringer, etc) there are issues with remote control that simply make the remote control unresponsive. Yes, it's a problem if that's your ONLY way to mix, but with every failure I've seen, the solution is simply return to the console and mix from there. Yes, it sucks if you're across the room at the time, but if you have to run back to the console and then wait for it to reboot when you get there, that makes for a very bad day.
 
Re: #thatfeeling

UPS don't crash, their batteries need replacing but that's user error not device failure. I've never had a console crash on me going hardwire. Ever I have seen nothing but problems however from remote mixing.

Sent from my XT1060
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Scott Helmke said:
I've seen a fair number of setups where the dual console power supplies have one plugged into a UPS, and the other into regular power. The UPS is another complicated moving part capable of failing.
Click to expand...

That is the right way to do it. Never rely on a single point of failure.

Mac
 
Re: #thatfeeling

Jordan Lahr said:
UPS don't crash, their batteries need replacing but that's user error not device failure.
Click to expand...

UPS's DO fail, and can cause a complete loss of power. While it's rare, it certainly can happen. Typical offline UPSes rely on a relay that kicks over to battery when main power fails. The relay can go bad and not change over to battery.

However, on online UPSes run the current through a power supply that converts the power to DC and then back to AC. If that circuit fails, your power is gone. The power supply in an online UPS is not unlike the power supply in your gear. As we all know, power supplies are one of the most common failure points of computer gear, so now you've increased your power supplies from one to 3. While the failure is unlikely, you've multiplied your potential failure by a factor of 3, which is pretty significant.
 
Re: #thatfeeling

With the Soundcraft, once you power off the router, the only way to reconnect is to re-boot the mixer (after the router is up and a network is established)

It's crazy. Awful iPad capability/connectivity of soundcraft consoles has got to be killing sales. They don't seem to give a flying fork.




Helge Dr. Bentsen said:
Restarting the app didn't solve anything, it didn't find the desk.
Disconnecting the router didn't change anything with the desk.
Holding the power button down on the desk made it flash, but a second press didn't do anything.
I had to wait until the first song was over, tell the band to wait over the TB and power cycle the desk via the rear power button.

That is the longest boot I've ever witnessed, it booted as usual, but it felt like a lifetime passed by, all I could do was hope
Click to expand...
 
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