My First Impressions with MF 3.X and the DL1608. If You're Interested?

[Keyboard Magic]

Please note: These are my impressions and experiences. Yours may be different. 

Having MF 3.X on my iPad 2 and feeling comfortable with it…

I updated the firmware on the DL1608. Then loaded Master Fader 3.x. I called up the first show/snapshot at the top of the front end. The app crashed completely. I had to restart the app and reload my show/snapshot. This time it worked. I find that the screens open faster on the iPad 2 when it’s docked. Everything is more responsive except for the faders, but they aren’t too bad. I think in most live situations MF 3.X is usable on the iPad 2. If you were in a very critical situation that required fast adjustments, it might cause some frustrating moments.

I noticed that if you try to throw a fader/flick it up, it tends to keep going and could cause a huge jump in the channel level and some embarrassment too. If you move them slow and steady with a firm touch, they work just fine. But the delay is definitely there on the iPad 2 for sure. The vintage EQ works just fine on the iPad2. Modern EQ is very lagging. I don’t use it at all, so that’s not a big deal. I removed the iPad from the dock while I had some music playing and it rapidly switched to the wireless. No interruptions at all.  Nice. Screens are just as fast, everything else remained the same.  Then snapped it back into the dock, music kept going as expected, got Sync Window and voila! Reconnect. Perfect!

I’m fairly confident that I could use this configuration at my next audio gig this month with confidence.(<--- Really? confident, confidence?? Ughh, Sorry about that!) Almost forgot, AirPlay works flawlessly. The channel meters seem to be a little more responsive than v2.X too. Kool  And the Trim Feature is cool! Two thumbs up, indeed! 

I think/hope that the next update of MF 3.X will address that. I am considering retiring the older iPad 2 and going up to an iPad Mini 2 with the A7 CPU and more onboard system memory. This will give MF 3.X the horsepower boost it needs to run without having to second mortgage the house to buy an iPad Air 2. 

The best part, nothing melted down, no smoke and no disappearing into another dimension. (The iPad, DL or myself) 

[dpdan]

nice thorough report

[Keyboard Magic]

Thank you! 

[WK154]

OK so you tested MF3.x and it gave you a 50/50 success rate. I hope you'll test that a few more times. So tell me what is the gotta have feature over MF2.1.1 you're trading control response off for ? Of course you're not using MyF (My Fader) so it won't factor in. It's unclear what you meant by what issue hopefully the next update will address?

[Keyboard Magic]

OK so you tested MF3.x and it gave you a 50/50 success rate. I hope you'll test that a few more times. So tell me what is the gotta have feature over MF2.1.1 you're trading control response off for ? Of course you're not using MyF (My Fader) so it won't factor in. It's unclear what you meant by what issue the next update will address?

For myself particularly, the digital trim control. I know it doesn't replace recallable gains, but it helps to tweak, when you need that little bit more, without having to run back to the mixer in the middle of a gig, even though you've set the gains to optimum not maximum, obviously, during setup. I don't use the effects or the iPad channel, didn't before, no issue. Though the trim control on the iPad channel may help to reduce the hot input from the iPad playback. I use airplay, that's not an issue either. No white noise, even though it's been remedied.

The initial MF crash when accessing the scene/snapshot page was worrisome. I am going to test the unit at home everyday until I'm sure everything is Kosher, before the show. If there are any major hiccups, I have the luxury of rolling everything back to v2.X. I don't have many scenes/snapshots to worry about losing. Wireless and sync the same, but won't know until it's tested live. I've been bringing a spare A&H ZED10 as backup for as long as I've been using a DL. It's just smart to have a backup whatever you're using just the same

I hope next update will address the slight fader lag and modern EQ lag on the iPad 2 & 3, for those that use modern EQ and any other issues Mackie finds. Oh and make the channel markings brighter.

So for me, trim control and I like the over-all look of the new software. And like I mentioned before, hopefully updates will make it even better. 

[stevegarris]

OK so you tested MF3.x and it gave you a 50/50 success rate. I hope you'll test that a few more times. So tell me what is the gotta have feature over MF2.1.1 you're trading control response off for ? Of course you're not using MyF (My Fader) so it won't factor in. It's unclear what you meant by what issue the next update will address?

For myself particularly, the digital trim control. I know it doesn't replace recallable gains, but it helps to tweak, when you need that little bit more, without having to run back to the mixer in the middle of a gig, even though you've set the gains to optimum not maximum, obviously, during setup. I don't use the effects or the iPad channel, didn't before, no issue. Though the trim control on the iPad channel may help to reduce the hot input from the iPad playback. I use airplay, that's not an issue either. No white noise, even though it's been remedied.

The initial MF crash when accessing the scene/snapshot page was worrisome. I am going to test the unit at home everyday until I'm sure everything is Kosher, before the show. If there are any major hiccups, I have the luxury of rolling everything back to v2.X. I don't have many scenes/snapshots to worry about losing. Wireless and sync the same, but won't know until it's tested live. I've been bringing a spare A&H ZED10 as backup for as long as I've been using a DL. It's just smart to have a backup whatever you're using just the same

I hope next update will address the slight fader lag and modern EQ lag on the iPad 2 & 3, for those that use modern EQ and any other issues Mackie finds. Oh and make the channel markings brighter.

So for me, trim control and I like the over-all look of the new software. And like I mentioned before, hopefully updates will make it even better. 

Just a heads up for anyone still running 2.x, if you need some extra gain on any channel, you can simply go to the compressor page (turn it on) and add gain there. I do it all the time.

[Keyboard Magic]

OK so you tested MF3.x and it gave you a 50/50 success rate. I hope you'll test that a few more times. So tell me what is the gotta have feature over MF2.1.1 you're trading control response off for ? Of course you're not using MyF (My Fader) so it won't factor in. It's unclear what you meant by what issue the next update will address?

For myself particularly, the digital trim control. I know it doesn't replace recallable gains, but it helps to tweak, when you need that little bit more, without having to run back to the mixer in the middle of a gig, even though you've set the gains to optimum not maximum, obviously, during setup. I don't use the effects or the iPad channel, didn't before, no issue. Though the trim control on the iPad channel may help to reduce the hot input from the iPad playback. I use airplay, that's not an issue either. No white noise, even though it's been remedied.

The initial MF crash when accessing the scene/snapshot page was worrisome. I am going to test the unit at home everyday until I'm sure everything is Kosher, before the show. If there are any major hiccups, I have the luxury of rolling everything back to v2.X. I don't have many scenes/snapshots to worry about losing. Wireless and sync the same, but won't know until it's tested live. I've been bringing a spare A&H ZED10 as backup for as long as I've been using a DL. It's just smart to have a backup whatever you're using just the same

I hope next update will address the slight fader lag and modern EQ lag on the iPad 2 & 3, for those that use modern EQ and any other issues Mackie finds. Oh and make the channel markings brighter.

So for me, trim control and I like the over-all look of the new software. And like I mentioned before, hopefully updates will make it even better. 

Just a heads up for anyone still running 2.x, if you need some extra gain on any channel, you can simply go to the compressor page (turn it on) and add gain there. I do it all the time.

Thank you for adding that important point! 

[Ampli]

Hi
Heres my report
I have used mf3 now 10 times on a live gig
So far only  the first 2 times i had the lag mayby 1 to 1,5 sec( using ipad2)almost to unusable, later it still a bit there, but workable again. Mayby like a quarter of a sec.
What i noticed is also if connected to the mixer the lag seems to grow. So to me it looks more that it occurs due the communicating protocols and not due to graphics on ipad

Tryed also other programs like x32, they behave all the same when offline, and also sometimes slow

Must tell i restart the ipad every time before use

I'm very happy with it

Pro for using mf3 :
The groups and vca
Direct acces to setting,gate compressor and eq
The small vu for compressor and gate level
The digital trim, and yes the compressor gain it did use before, but it wasnt useble for the hot ipad channel and the dig trim is

Way of use groups : drums to sub1, bas to sub2 , git and keys sub 3 , vocals sub 4
Most of the groups got compressor (1,2,3 comp gain 0db, 4 Comp. gain 4db more then 1,2,3)
Vca1 all the inputs, vca all the group faders, this works great for pushing every thing in compression, (raising vca1) then lower vca2 to keep the same level
Vca3 is linked with the aux masters so if i got feedback i lower this one. Then search the problem

Con for using mf3:
The display window for muting reverb,delay and the tap button are almost un useble
This comes because of the slowness of opening and closing of this window, also when opend u cannot use any fader or main fader, mostly i use the tap button in the delay Channel.
Over view screen, looks nice for outsiders but again here almost onuseable, would be better if they made this all faders. Like 16 or 32 lr faders, and 4x 16 faders for aux ( also with somes kind of assign screen)
Gr marco

[Keyboard Magic]

Hi
Heres my report
I have used mf3 now 10 times on a live gig
So far only  the first 2 times i had the lag mayby 1 to 1,5 sec( using ipad2)almost to unusable, later it still a bit there, but workable again. Mayby like a quarter of a sec.
What i noticed is also if connected to the mixer the lag seems to grow. So to me it looks more that it occurs due the communicating protocols and not due to graphics on ipad

Tryed also other programs like x32, they behave all the same when offline, and also sometimes slow

Must tell i restart the ipad every time before use

I'm very happy with it

Pro for using mf3 :
The groups and vca
Direct acces to setting,gate compressor and eq
The small vu for compressor and gate level
The digital trim, and yes the compressor gain it did use before, but it wasnt useble for the hot ipad channel and the dig trim is

Way of use groups : drums to sub1, bas to sub2 , git and keys sub 3 , vocals sub 4
Most of the groups got compressor (1,2,3 comp gain 0db, 4 Comp. gain 4db more then 1,2,3)
Vca1 all the inputs, vca all the group faders, this works great for pushing every thing in compression, (raising vca1) then lower vca2 to keep the same level
Vca3 is linked with the aux masters so if i got feedback i lower this one. Then search the problem

Con for using mf3:
The display window for muting reverb,delay and the tap button are almost un useble
This comes because of the slowness of opening and closing of this window, also when opend u cannot use any fader or main fader, mostly i use the tap button in the delay Channel.
Over view screen, looks nice for outsiders but again here almost onuseable, would be better if they made this all faders. Like 16 or 32 lr faders, and 4x 16 faders for aux ( also with somes kind of assign screen)
Gr marco

Hey,

Thanks for posting your experiences with MF 3.X. Wow, it really brings to light that there is no common ground between the same iPads. Very puzzling indeed!

[Sir Krang]

I hope ya don't mind me throwing in a quick few words of my positive experience after upgrading from and iPad 3 to an iPad Air 2.

Just like you experienced, frustratingly slow screen load times and general lagginess. Not a fun thing and it wore thin very quickly after upgrading from generally silky smooth MF2 experience.

However, the iPad Air 2 is lightning fast. Everything happens almost instantly. In fact it feels even better to drive on MF3 than any of the gigs I did with MF2 on an older iPad.

I've been in contact with BenO and he gave me his generic reply. Same reply someone else posted here a few days ago.
Although he did assure me they were trying to smooth out the lagginess as much as they could for older, less powerful iPads.
Fingers crossed for those with older iPads

Thanks for your review

[Keyboard Magic]

More Testing Continued?

Today I powered up the DL with the iPad docked like I’ve always done and there’ve never been any issues. So the iPad booted and I happened to let the screen go dark instead of logging into the desktop. Well I could not get the iPad to respond whatsoever. Usually you can just push the home button and the screen comes back on. No response. I even tried the power button on the top of the iPad, no response. I then undocked the iPad, it didn’t respond to any button pushes. Crashed? Couldn’t power down the iPad. For all intents and purposes it was dead. (the battery was at 100%) I then tried holding down the power button for about 30 seconds and then the iPad responded and went straight to login and after that onto the desktop. I re-docked it, loaded MF, it synced up and everything worked just fine, like nothing ever happened.

I’m going to try it this way next time I test it to see if it happens again. If so, then I will try the sequence all over again with the iPad undocked before I power up the AirPort then the DL to see if this cures it. So this is 2 crashes with MF 3.X and the updated firmware. The first was the app crash, the second was a locked up iPad. Whatever happened to the BSOD? At least there was info you could analyze to figure out the problem. I think if it’s finicky again, the whole, hole (?) lot gets rolled back to the mainly stable MF 2.X and appropriate firmware. Me thinks that this new version may not be quite ready for the big top yet, at least on the 1608 platform. Just like WK has been telling us many many times. I hear an “I told you so” coming.

MF 3.X update anytime soon, please Mackie and BenO. 

[Fluddman]

More Testing Continued?

Today I powered up the DL with the iPad docked like I’ve always done and there’ve never been any issues. So the iPad booted and I happened to let the screen go dark instead of logging into the desktop. Well I could not get the iPad to respond whatsoever. Usually you can just push the home button and the screen comes back on. No response. I even tried the power button on the top of the iPad, no response. I then undocked the iPad, it didn’t respond to any button pushes. Crashed? Couldn’t power down the iPad. For all intents and purposes it was dead. (the battery was at 100%) I then tried holding down the power button for about 30 seconds and then the iPad responded and went straight to login and after that onto the desktop. I re-docked it, loaded MF, it synced up and everything worked just fine, like nothing ever happened.

I’m going to try it this way next time I test it to see if it happens again. If so, then I will try the sequence all over again with the iPad undocked before I power up the AirPort then the DL to see if this cures it. So this is 2 crashes with MF 3.X and the updated firmware. The first was the app crash, the second was a locked up iPad. Whatever happened to the BSOD? At least there was info you could analyze to figure out the problem. I think if it’s finicky again, the whole, hole (?) lot gets rolled back to the mainly stable MF 2.X and appropriate firmware. Me thinks that this new version may not be quite ready for the big top yet, at least on the 1608 platform. Just like WK has been telling us many many times. I hear an “I told you so” coming.

MF 3.X update anytime soon, please Mackie and BenO. 

I haven't had this exact problem, but from time to time odd things do happen. For example the other night I lost the wireless connection after the iPad went to sleep during a break - I had an exciting few minutes during the first song back where I had to reboot the iPad (I have an other iPad docked as well so it wasn't a complete disaster).

My point is an iPad is a computer and odd things will happens. I am not in any way trying to defend the DL, just saying that sometimes it could be the iPads fault. As the many threads here have eluded to - its sometimes very hard to know where to assign the blame for a glitch especially when they are random and hard to consistently reproduce.

Cheers

[Keyboard Magic]

More Testing Continued?

Today I powered up the DL with the iPad docked like I’ve always done and there’ve never been any issues. So the iPad booted and I happened to let the screen go dark instead of logging into the desktop. Well I could not get the iPad to respond whatsoever. Usually you can just push the home button and the screen comes back on. No response. I even tried the power button on the top of the iPad, no response. I then undocked the iPad, it didn’t respond to any button pushes. Crashed? Couldn’t power down the iPad. For all intents and purposes it was dead. (the battery was at 100%) I then tried holding down the power button for about 30 seconds and then the iPad responded and went straight to login and after that onto the desktop. I re-docked it, loaded MF, it synced up and everything worked just fine, like nothing ever happened.

I’m going to try it this way next time I test it to see if it happens again. If so, then I will try the sequence all over again with the iPad undocked before I power up the AirPort then the DL to see if this cures it. So this is 2 crashes with MF 3.X and the updated firmware. The first was the app crash, the second was a locked up iPad. Whatever happened to the BSOD? At least there was info you could analyze to figure out the problem. I think if it’s finicky again, the whole, hole (?) lot gets rolled back to the mainly stable MF 2.X and appropriate firmware. Me thinks that this new version may not be quite ready for the big top yet, at least on the 1608 platform. Just like WK has been telling us many many times. I hear an “I told you so” coming.

MF 3.X update anytime soon, please Mackie and BenO. 

I haven't had this exact problem, but from time to time odd things do happen. For example the other night I lost the wireless connection after the iPad went to sleep during a break - I had an exciting few minutes during the first song back where I had to reboot the iPad (I have an other iPad docked as well so it wasn't a complete disaster).

My point is an iPad is a computer and odd things will happens. I am not in any way trying to defend the DL, just saying that sometimes it could be the iPads fault. As the many threads here have eluded to - its sometimes very hard to know where to assign the blame for a glitch especially when they are random and hard to consistently reproduce.

Cheers

Hey, Fluddman;

I agree with you 100% it's very hard to nail down an intermittent problem with computers. Since MF 2.X ran flawlessly on this particular iPad and same DL (also a computer), maybe they just don't get along well with each other running 3.X on my combination? But in my case it may as I've mentioned too many times, be prudent to just roll them back to 2.X. But I really do like 3.X.

[sam.spoons]

It's the same old problem, I get my internet from a very good, local internet provider (top three, and often top, nationally, for several years). Their customer service is second to none and I mostly get an extremely good connection. Like most UK internet providers they are reliant on BT to provide the infrastructure so if a problem arises it gets bounced from ISP to BT and back again.

Mackie have the same problem with Apple. If MF is troublesome they can blame Apple (maybe with complete justification) but Apple (like BT) will say "not our fault".

[Rdmitch]

I guess the moral of the story is to always be prepared for the worst.
Know how to do a quick reboot and don't go into a panic mode.
Just like other systems there can be glitches that can happen.
I had power issues all the time with my PreSonus board that took about 20 seconds to reboot.


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