X32 Android App

M

Mario Roman

Freshman
Jul 16, 2012
15
0
0
Hi All,

I'm thinking seriously at replacing my O1v96(v2) with either the new X32 Producer or Compact model when they are available (anyone get word of when?) and I'm curious if anyone knows if Behringer is planning on releasing an Android control app for the X32 series. I'm not an Apple fan and it's very frustrating that most manufacturers only release control apps for iPad when there's just as many Android users out there.

I know it can be controlled on an Android tablet using Splashtop with a local laptop and the X32 PC control software, but it'd be nice to lose the laptop and just use an Android tablet connected to a wireless router or WAP directly to the console as you can do with the iPad app. Anyone hear anything about a future Android app?

Thanks,

Mario
 
Re: X32 Android App

FYI - I just received this from Behringer regarding my inquiry about an Android app for the X32 series.

Quote:

"Dear Mario,

Thank you for writing. Currently we only have developed the apps for iPad, iPhone, PC, and now Mac and Linux, as you probably already know. We are not aware of any Android apps in development from our RND department at this time.

Kind regards,
Jason CARTER
Your MUSIC Group Care Team
[email protected]
www.music-group.com | www.behringer.com | www.bugera-amps.com"

It would appear that they do not have an Android app in development after all. Why in Gods name would you develop a Linux app and not an Android app....very frustrating!

Mario
 
Re: X32 Android App

any info on transmitting the solo'd or selected channel audio to an tablet?
It would be nice if the x32-rack could wirelessly send a stereo signal to the control device for the selected channel and a lot less hassle than a wireless kit.
I looked through the OSC Remote Protocol 1.01 document but might have missed it.
As for the android app, index - Haxe might help.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Hi Guys,

I wanted to correct my colleague Jason Carter's earlier statement, as he was unaware that we are actually developing an Android app.
I do not have the exact release date but it is in the works.

Best regards,
Joe Sanborn
Manager, Channel Marketing
MUSIC Group
BEHRINGER
 
Re: X32 Android App

Mario Roman said:
it's very frustrating that most manufacturers only release control apps for iPad when there's just as many Android users out there.
Click to expand...

There are MANY Android devices on the market, and they are far from standardized. If you make an iPhone app, you only have to test on an iPhone/iPod touch platform. You make an Android app, not the case. The developer testing model is much nicer if you are targeting Apple products. I don't blame the manufacturers one bit.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Joe Sanborn said:
Hi Guys,

I wanted to correct my colleague Jason Carter's earlier statement, as he was unaware that we are actually developing an Android app.
I do not have the exact release date but it is in the works.

Best regards,
Joe Sanborn
Click to expand...

If some of people in Behringer didn't know about Android app, that can means just one thing: the project is in a very early phase.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Joe Sanborn said:
Hi Guys,

I wanted to correct my colleague Jason Carter's earlier statement, as he was unaware that we are actually developing an Android app.
I do not have the exact release date but it is in the works.

Best regards,
Joe Sanborn
Manager, Channel Marketing
MUSIC Group
BEHRINGER
Click to expand...


Let me know if you need any beta testers! Or if you have a beta version on the site (not the play store) for download.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Jeff Babcock said:
There are MANY Android devices on the market, and they are far from standardized. If you make an iPhone app, you only have to test on an iPhone/iPod touch platform. You make an Android app, not the case. The developer testing model is much nicer if you are targeting Apple products. I don't blame the manufacturers one bit.
Click to expand...

Jeff,

That does make sense and maybe I'm not up to speed on some of this but it seems to me that Android, being a platform should have many simialites between devices and thus far from impossible when it comes to writing an app. After all if Android was so cumbersome to write for due to the various device manufactures there wouldn't be thousands of apps available from googles play store. I have yet to download or transfer to a new device any app that didn't work on the new device.

If what you're saying is the main reason for manufacturers not writing Android apps then why do they write for both Mac and PC's? Again I may lack some knowlege in this area but it seems that having a multitude of PC manufacturers and devices out there that you would run into the same problem writing PC apps and yet most audio manufacturers usually do have apps for both platforms. I'm not saying it isn't more difficult to write Android apps but given the number of people out there who prefer that platform, I think its time they start.

Mario
 
Last edited:
Re: X32 Android App

Joe Sanborn said:
Hi Guys,

I wanted to correct my colleague Jason Carter's earlier statement, as he was unaware that we are actually developing an Android app.
I do not have the exact release date but it is in the works.

Best regards,
Joe Sanborn
Manager, Channel Marketing
MUSIC Group
BEHRINGER
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update/correction Joe. That's great to hear.

Mario
 
Mario Roman said:
Jeff,

That makes does sense and maybe I'm not up to speed on some of this but it seems to me that Android, being a platform should have many simialites between devices and thus far from impossible when it comes to writing an app. After all if Android was so cumbersome to write for due to the various device manufactures there wouldn't be thousands of apps available from googles play store. I have yet to download or transfer to a new device any app that didn't work on the new device.

If what you're saying is the main reason for manufacturers not writing Android apps then why do they write for both Mac and PC's? Again I may lack some knowlege in this area but it seems that having a multitude of PC manufacturers and devices out there that you would run into the same problem writing PC apps and yet most audio manufacturers usually do have apps for both platforms. I'm not saying it isn't more difficult to write Android apps but given the number of people out there who prefer that platform, I think its time they start.

Mario
Click to expand...

There are many differences in the Android world, from 99$ tablets to $1000 phones it's a big market. Things like screen size, aspect ratio touch features, ram, processing, versions of OS.

Also, an OSX app would port to linux very easily I'd imagine.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Jeff Babcock said:
There are MANY Android devices on the market, and they are far from standardized. If you make an iPhone app, you only have to test on an iPhone/iPod touch platform. You make an Android app, not the case. The developer testing model is much nicer if you are targeting Apple products. I don't blame the manufacturers one bit.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it's easier fruit to pick, there being only 1 fundamental set of standards for a given release of iOS.

The AirFader Remote app, Android, seems to run consistently (in demo mode, so far) on the devices I've seen it on (Samsung phones, ASUS tablet). The layouts change a bit to accommodate the aspect ratio of the display.

I don't think an Android X32 app is going to prove terribly difficult for Behringer.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Spenser Hamilton said:
Also, an OSX app would port to linux very easily I'd imagine.
Click to expand...

Nope. Speaking as a linux user, (fedora is my daily OS) and doing most of my recording in OS X, OS X is totally haxs. It seems to me like Apple out of their way to break things in OS X (Unix) so it's a far cry from a Linux experience. Even with PORTS installed things are constantly broken.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Mario Roman said:
Jeff,

That does make sense and maybe I'm not up to speed on some of this but it seems to me that Android, being a platform should have many simialites between devices and thus far from impossible when it comes to writing an app. After all if Android was so cumbersome to write for due to the various device manufactures there wouldn't be thousands of apps available from googles play store. I have yet to download or transfer to a new device any app that didn't work on the new device.

If what you're saying is the main reason for manufacturers not writing Android apps then why do they write for both Mac and PC's? Again I may lack some knowlege in this area but it seems that having a multitude of PC manufacturers and devices out there that you would run into the same problem writing PC apps and yet most audio manufacturers usually do have apps for both platforms. I'm not saying it isn't more difficult to write Android apps but given the number of people out there who prefer that platform, I think its time they start.

Mario
Click to expand...

The diversity of of the the hardware doesn't really matter since Android is using a modified Linux kernel, all of the drivers are embedded in the Kernel so that eliminates issues with hardware differences. (unless the manufacturer has done something incredibly stupid in their modifications with sense GUIs or the like.)

iOS runs everything through Cocoa, which is a proprietary language owned by Apple. So it can only run in iOS and OS X. They could have written both the OS X app and Windows in C + since those are the most common (and stable) languages for programs. Once it's written in C + there's just an issue of compiling it for Linux ( a matter of moments if you already have the build system in place) So it's no surprise to me that it was included before iOS.

Also I would like to applaud Behringer for even offering linux builds. Well done.

Android, though using a linux kernel, runs on Java. It's possible to write all of the code for all platforms in Java, but with all the security issues Macs have been having with Java, I'm not surprised that they choose to go with something different. (not to mention stability.) You can write programs for both iOS and Android using webkit, but that requires an active internet connection and not something you would want to do with a control app.

Mario - I do absolutely agree with you though. Android has more apps than the Apple App store. We actually passed the Apple app store after only a year. Android users have also
 
Re: X32 Android App

mark anderson said:
any info on transmitting the solo'd or selected channel audio to an tablet?
It would be nice if the x32-rack could wirelessly send a stereo signal to the control device for the selected channel and a lot less hassle than a wireless kit.
I looked through the OSC Remote Protocol 1.01 document but might have missed it.
As for the android app, index - Haxe might help.
Click to expand...

I doubt they're going to do that since they're trying to get people to buy the p16 to use instead. Plus I think you're going to come into a bandwidth issue. The S16s use Cat5e which is probably gigabit back to the board to ensure the 100mb connection required. But 100 mb means you would have to have a pretty faithful N router/connection and most devices, iPad's included, only have G wireless which means 54 Mbps. Not enough for the AES50 protocol.

In short, likely monitoring levels and settings only, not audio.
 
Re: X32 Android App

Brian Monroe said:
The diversity of of the the hardware doesn't really matter since Android is using a modified Linux kernel, all of the drivers are embedded in the Kernel so that eliminates issues with hardware differences. (unless the manufacturer has done something incredibly stupid in their modifications with sense GUIs or the like.)

iOS runs everything through Cocoa, which is a proprietary language owned by Apple. So it can only run in iOS and OS X. They could have written both the OS X app and Windows in C + since those are the most common (and stable) languages for programs. Once it's written in C + there's just an issue of compiling it for Linux ( a matter of moments if you already have the build system in place) So it's no surprise to me that it was included before iOS.

Also I would like to applaud Behringer for even offering linux builds. Well done.

Android, though using a linux kernel, runs on Java. It's possible to write all of the code for all platforms in Java, but with all the security issues Macs have been having with Java, I'm not surprised that they choose to go with something different. (not to mention stability.) You can write programs for both iOS and Android using webkit, but that requires an active internet connection and not something you would want to do with a control app.

Mario - I do absolutely agree with you though. Android has more apps than the Apple App store. We actually passed the Apple app store after only a year. Android users have also
Click to expand...

Brian,

Thanks for your explanation, it is very helpful in understanding why manufacturers don't write Android apps. Also just so everyone knows, I wasn't intending to bash Linux in my previous comment. I meant it in the context that from a "Junior Varsity/Weekend Warrior" application, an X32 user would probably want to use either an iPad or Android for controlling their board and not likely to bring in a Linux system to do it.

At this point I'm very tempted just to buy an iPad because I can use it for any of the almost any of the digital mixers I use at my day job. The only problem would be that after spending the money on an iPad, I still wouldn't be to control my 01v96 with it because you can't run splashtop on an iPad and control a PC. I'm assuming this since it worked fine from my wife's Android tablet to my PC but not from her iPhone5 to my PC. Oh well, that's life right. Anyway thanks agian for the insight Brian.

Have a great day all,

Mario
 
Re: X32 Android App

Mario Roman said:
The only problem would be that after spending the money on an iPad, I still wouldn't be to control my 01v96 with it because you can't run splashtop on an iPad and control a PC.

Mario
Click to expand...

FYI - I can see and control my PC from my IPAD.
Team viewer, Real VNC - just find any software allowing you to "see" your pc... it's out there - but to your point, bite the bullet and get an ipad, and an x32, and you won't need to worry about your 01v, or extra PC.
 
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