First show, whole console freeze

[JeremyHParticipant]

First show with a brand new SQ7, after two hours, complete freeze, audio still passing, nothing is working, everything is stuck as it was when it froze, tablets won’t connect. So uh. Cool.

[JeremyHParticipant]

Both my tablets disconnected like 30 minutes earlier but I was able to reconnect, and I was 2 tracking with the SQ drive.

[KeithJ A&HModerator]

@JeremyH

Please contact us directly using support.allen-heath.com and we can run through this with you.

The main things that could cause a freeze of the control side of things however are:

• An old bug (long since fixed) – very easy to solve, just ensure you are running the latest firmware (which at the time of writing this is V1.5.6)
• Issues with your router – it’s possible to flood the mixer with lots of bad or incomplete messages and whilst it can deal with a lot of these, if you have multiple devices on the edge of connection or a router which is unable to cope with throughput from lots of devices, then it can be overloaded. The surface of the mixer (faders, keys, rotaries, touchscreen) is one node of control for the core, as is every instance of SQ-MixPad or SQ4You. This is the reason we have active connections that time out on the devices and the reason all audio processing is separated from control so if there are ever problems with control, the audio will be continue.

The fact that it happened after 2hrs would suggest to me that something changed with the control, so perhaps there were more people in the room and you haven’t done things like hide your SSID? or perhaps one or both of your tablets had very poor connection at that time?

Thanks,
Keith.

[RSParticipant]

…and you haven’t done things like hide your SSID?…

Hey Keith, just out of curiosity. What advantages will hiding the SSID bring in your opinion in regards of connection stability?
To my knowledge connections between router and devices are handled by beacon frames sent out by the router periodically. And those beacon frames are totally SSID independent. So every device in range will get pinged and will ping the router no matter if the SSID is hidden or not.

regards
Ralf

[KeithJ A&HModerator]

Hey Ralf,

It definitely sounds like you know a lot more about networking than I do!!
Hiding the SSID is something we always recommend when setting up a dedicated router for any of our consoles and it’s something I’ve found has helped personally when working in busy environments, so I see no reason not to suggest it.
As to exactly how/why it helps, the times when I have seen a difference have been in fields and other areas with little or no other networks and lots of people. Perhaps you know whether an attempt to connect (e.g. manually) would have any impact?

Cheers,
Keith.

[HughParticipant]

This thread is the strongest point that can be made for maintain tactile controls all the time, and the need to “turn off Wifiing routers” when they are not needed.
Hugh

[JeremyHParticipant]

I imagine the router is the issue. I was running two tablets like I usually do off the same router, my network isn’t hidden because I have Amazon fire tablets and they are shitty and don’t like you connect to hidden networks. Like second half of the show 3 people from a band I tour with showed up, and we use the same router for mixes, so very likely their phones automatically connected.

[RSParticipant]

Hey Keith,
not sure if I am knowing enough about networks. But as the topic of stable networks in our world is very prominent, I am trying to gather information to come to a conclusion.
Articles like this helped me to make up my mind. I am far away of “knowing”….

[JeremyHParticipant]

I’d say this reinforces companies to really make sure their hardware and software can function stability within networks. The flexibility and innovation of apps like Mixing Station show self evidently that networks are tied hand in hand to the future of audio technology. Been using M32s for years and have never had the network interfere with the desk, this clearly isn’t an issue inherent to networks and audio consoles.

[Author]

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