That doesn't sound right. Seems to me it normally only takes about 5 minutes, but you have to hold down the on/off switch on the end of the unit for about 2 seconds to get it to turn on. You are docking the ipad and turning the mixer on first, aren't you? (And don't even think about using the USB connector on an Airport Express. There's basically no power there at all. It's a pretty good way to kill off the last of a battery powered device.) Because I don't want to be locked into a docked ipad, I make sure it's fully charged before a gig.