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Tagged: dLive iPad control OneMix app
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2019/02/26 at 4:48 am #82250
Hey all! I’m working with a church to replace their Pivitec IEM system. FOH is a Digico SD8 – great console but no mon app and supports only a single pad connection. So I’m really hoping that the dLive fits the bill. My #1 concern is making certain I can have 12 performers use (dedicated) iPads to control their mixes. There’s a lot I don’t like about Pivitec but the app stays connected and does its job. Even on just an Airport, it’s pretty rock solid in thy regard. It’s a dedicated network and would be only those iPads and maybe a Mac and/or Win tablet running director for a stream/broadcast mix. On paper the literature says 40 controllers. Just hoping someone out there might have had first or second hand info in practical use. Not terribly worried about app feature set (although it appears to be pretty rockin and configurable on that front. Mostly just reliability. Searched the forum but couldn’t find much about that specifically. Thanks!!
2019/02/26 at 7:54 am #82252If you only use ipad the dm0 with madi card is a great option.
Maybe you can replace the pivitec with me-1 unit’s
Richard
2019/02/26 at 10:11 am #82255i would second the ME-1 units. Another advantage is that the ME-1 will create a mix without using any of your available mix limit. if you are using the drive for FOH you could start running short if 24 channels are used for IEMs (assuming 12* stereo channels).
2019/02/26 at 11:46 am #82257A&H homepage states “Several iPads can be connected, each providing independent control”
I have to admit, this is a very vage statement. Sounds like they have never tried it themselves…2019/02/26 at 1:22 pm #82260Unfortunately, for logistical and budget reasons, ME-1s aren’t an option at this point. Having more than 40 inputs available would also be great at several of our positions. The admin control of OneMix is one of the big selling points. On paper anyway, it’s exactly what we need. I had considered the DM0 with a DX32 and all output cards (and the superMADI to feed from Digico), but for about the same money I can do the CDM64 w/the superMADI. As I’d like to eventually switch to the dLive system for FOH & broadcast, having all the analog I/O we’d need helps the cause & pitch (current Digico rig has a 56/32 analog count on the rack). If we run into an output crunch at that point, we’ll consider the ME-1s for positions where it would work (or more likely simply adding a DM0). Right now, I’m just hoping to verify that the system can handle that many simultaneous connections (assuming the network side is square).
2019/02/26 at 2:04 pm #82261I can confirm that the only arbitrary limit is the 40 TCP connections to the MixRack, as you can read in this KB article.
The same article also points out that real world performance is really dependent on Wi-Fi bandwidth. In our tests we have found that even the best access point can dramatically drop throughput bandwidth depending on distance, obstacles, channel interference etc. Multiple APs sharing the same SSID sometimes mitigate these factors.
So the question of ‘how many iPads with dLive’ is really a question of how much actual bandwidth your Wi-Fi network can handle reliably, in your specific circumstances.2019/02/26 at 5:51 pm #82270I would echo what folks have said about ME-1. I have five stereo wireless IEM available for our bandfolk, and make those who *can* run wired, do so with me-1. In terms of practical use, I’ve had about 8-9 devices connected running mixpad/director, etc at one time on our networks, but they’re basically enterprise and can absolutely handle the throughput (and there are multiple AP’s.)
Are you doing this as a traveling rig? Or is this an install? What’s your budget for network? Make sure you don’t skimp there, you want to be as redundant as possible with those connections. (For instance, I absolutely assign static ip to the console, and to at least one hardwired computer for backup control, and plug the AP’s into the switch. If you’re limited on funds, I’d recommend using a mesh network like Google Wifi, keeping the distance between AP’s at a reasonable interval. In other rigs I’ve had really good luck using airport extreme as primary, and airport express as wireless bridge, but I do know those are pretty much EOL at this point.
One thing I will also caution about having a *lot* of iPads running OneMix – occasionally they blow out settings for *no* good reason at all. IE I don’t allow band ipads access to admin privileges, so they get a “band,” user login. Occasionally when they log they’ll get a “you must have at least one Mix present,” error. At which point I have to log in as admin, replace the mix-buss they were supposed to have on the “my Mix,” layer, and then usually rearrange layout on the other layers, as the arrangement there has also been corrupted.
I’ve experienced this same error at multiple locations, with multiple dLive units, in different network environments, so it must be a bug. …all that to say, it will be a pain to have to manage that with 12 iPads if that happens on any sort of regular basis to you. (Usually it’s just one or two that blow out at a time.)
2019/02/26 at 6:30 pm #82271I am using 8 iPads with wireless IEMs for our frontline vocalists along with 8 ME-1 units for our backline musicians. This setup works well for our church.
2019/04/11 at 3:09 am #83293Figured I’d write a quick follow up here. Took delivery of the CDM64 a fews ago. Feeding from a DigiCo SD8 on the SuperMADI card. Set up a dedicated network using a (single) Ubiquiti Unifi AP. All controllers are connected with manual IPs, SSID is hidden, yadda yadda… At the moment running an iMac with Director, 14 iPads running OneMix.
Flawless. Not a single glitch. Ubiquiti software monitor shows near 100% connectivity all around. Will be adding a PC running Director next week for streaming/gamefilm mix.
The flexibility, processing power and sound have been great. I had never really spent much time on A&H stuff prior to this. Really impressed. And to definitely answer my original question: Yes. 15 controllers and counting…
Cheers!
2019/04/12 at 6:28 pm #83328Glad to hear everything is going well. I’ve never run that many but wondered how it would play out. Had I seen this and jumped in earlier, I would have suggested DMxx instead of CDMxx since you are tying up the one slot with MADI.
Watch the hidden SSID. That was my standard for a long time until I had an ipad and some laptops that would just “forget” about it and not reconnect and inopportune times. I switched to Ubiquity, broadcast SSID and a secure password and have had no issues.
Jay
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