X Air...first use

John Chiara

John Chiara

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Jan 11, 2011
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Troy, NY
X Air...
Used the X Air for 2 sets last night. Initial impressions and gripes.
It seems almost intentionally 'dumbed down' compared to the X32. It reminds me way too much of the Mackie digitals....and having the tabs on the right of the screen for your different busses is IMO just plain dangerous...WAY too easy to start adjusting monitor sends by mistake. At least you can scroll the screen and it stays where you stop instead of jumping in groups of 8 or 12. Not sure if you can reorder the channels, I couldn't mix vocals and FX returns on the same screen scroll. Oh....and the built in WIFI connection sucked big time...get a router. Are their DCA's? Overall, for my use...I would just spend the extra money and get the X32 Rack...with so much more capability and flexibility.
 
Re: X Air...first use

John Chiara said:
X Air...
Used the X Air for 2 sets last night. Initial impressions and gripes.
It seems almost intentionally 'dumbed down' compared to the X32. It reminds me way too much of the Mackie digitals....and having the tabs on the right of the screen for your different busses is IMO just plain dangerous...WAY too easy to start adjusting monitor sends by mistake. At least you can scroll the screen and it stays where you stop instead of jumping in groups of 8 or 12. Not sure if you can reorder the channels, I couldn't mix vocals and FX returns on the same screen scroll. Oh....and the built in WIFI connection sucked big time...get a router. Are their DCA's? Overall, for my use...I would just spend the extra money and get the X32 Rack...with so much more capability and flexibility.
Click to expand...

I concur with your findings. I have an Xair 12 that is in my mini wireless rig. I reverse mounted the unit in the rack so all of the cables are internal. I'd much rather have an X32 rack, but for the purpose, smaller and lighter was a benefit. Also the price of the unit made it much easier to justify a dedicated rack for this purpose.

I'm really surprised that they went with a completely different platform and design for the Xair versus the X32. Seems as though they could have saved on development costs if they used the same system.

The look of the Xair app is very un-friendly. They don't use color to differentiate things like they could. It doesn't cost more to add color, and it would make it much easier to use and navigate if they did.
 
Re: X Air...first use

You can reorder the channels. Its under the setup menu iirc.

Personally I like it a lot. Its a 600 dollar mixer with a full suite of features. The built in wifi doesn't play well with ipads but thats an apple thing actually (i-devices all work perfectly on 5g networks btw). It does work well with my PC or android tablet.

Its so small and cheap, I bought one just to take to acoustic gigs. That way I don't have to drag in my full tour rig just for an acoustic show. But with the XR18 I get all the same tools that I have with the full X32.
 
Re: X Air...first use

A few other things. When adjusting parameters in the effects in other menus, the readout comes up under your finger instead of off to the side so it's almost impossible to see what your value is. Also I can only get a Tab button to come up on the modulation delay and none of the regular stereo multitap delays.
 
Re: X Air...first use

I own and run the XR18 and have installed them in a few venues. I describe the mixer as what happens when an X32 and a MixWiz have offspring.

A few tips from someone with a lot of shows on this mixer:
- Use an external access point. Only use the internal one in an emergency.
- While the iPad and Android apps are handy, they are not always the best tool for setting up the show. I usually have a laptop at FOH doing the major setup and overall config and the tablet gets used for tweaks and setting up monitor mixes while standing next to the artist.
- Go to Youtube and watch ALL the XR18 tutorials by MusiciansPro
- Have an ethernet cable handy so you can plug your laptop directly into the router on those days when there is too much RF interference to use wireless. Yes, it will happen.
- Update the firmware on the XR18 immediately and whenever there is an update.
 
Re: X Air...first use

Chad Young said:
I own and run the XR18 and have installed them in a few venues. I describe the mixer as what happens when an X32 and a MixWiz have offspring.

A few tips from someone with a lot of shows on this mixer:
- Use an external access point. Only use the internal one in an emergency.
- While the iPad and Android apps are handy, they are not always the best tool for setting up the show. I usually have a laptop at FOH doing the major setup and overall config and the tablet gets used for tweaks and setting up monitor mixes while standing next to the artist.
- Go to Youtube and watch ALL the XR18 tutorials by MusiciansPro
- Have an ethernet cable handy so you can plug your laptop directly into the router on those days when there is too much RF interference to use wireless. Yes, it will happen.
- Update the firmware on the XR18 immediately and whenever there is an update.
Click to expand...

Good to know Chad. For me...having 2 X32's and 5 X32 racks out there...the fact if needing the laptop to easily configure makes it a no go for me. I am sure it works and sounds good for those that it fits.
 
Re: X Air...first use

John Chiara said:
Good to know Chad. For me...having 2 X32's and 5 X32 racks out there...the fact if needing the laptop to easily configure makes it a no go for me. I am sure it works and sounds good for those that it fits.
Click to expand...

From what I see, setting up the Xair on the iPad versus desktop isn't much different than setting up the X32 on iPad vs desktop. Using the desktop for initial setup may be a bit quicker, but by the time you set up said laptop, you could have gotten the config done via the iPad. This is even more true on the Xair, as there's potentially a lot less to configure than the X32.
 
Re: X Air...first use

While all this may be true in your cases, the laptop app does more, and does it faster than the ipad app, which does different things from the android app.

I own and use all 3 (4 if you count mac and PC) and I prefer the laptop setup, then Mix with a tablet approach.

But I always have both with me and my laptop has a good battery so I'm not futzing with power supplies and all that. Ymmv
 
Re: X Air...first use

Brian jojade said:
I can see the laptop app being faster, but what does it do that the iPad app can't? Aside from loading scenes from files, I don't see anything extra that I would need during a show.
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There's a few options that seem to not exist on the ipad app. But the big thing is the copy/paste functions on the PC. Plus I use a mouse with a scroll wheel and that lets you hover over knobs and spin the scroll wheel to change values. It's feels a bit more "analog" I guess. I actually wish you could use something like the Griffin Powermate Knob for this. It may be possible, but since I don't have one I don't really know....

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Re: X Air...first use

Brian jojade said:
Copy and paste obviously falls into the laptop function being faster than the tablet, but it doesn't mean that a laptop is required for operation.
Click to expand...

Well, there is a Copy and Paste button on the PC app. It doesn't seem to be there on the ipad and the normal "press and hold" doesn't work either. If there's a way to do it, I haven't found it....



And I'm not saying that a PC is required. I just prefer it for setup is all....
 
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