X AIR iPad app for X18 Preview is available

[Keyboard Magic]

In case anyone is interested the X18 X Air iPad app preview is ready for download on the app store

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/x-air/id896725230?mt=8

it gave me a "look see" into it and an idea what the control interface may look like if and when the X18 hits the music stores. It sort of reminds me of the X32 app a little bit. It is a preview but it doesn't look too bad IMO.  I'm looking forward to everyone's impressions and opinions on it. 

[WK154]

Long nap?  http://cacophony.aspinock.com/index.php?topic=702.msg6836#msg6836
Old news.

[Keyboard Magic]

So much for impressions and opinions.    Just slept through the last millennium. What can I say?  I never bother to read posts at all. Even old topics.   Saves time that way. I can get more sleep!!

[Keyboard Magic]

WK;

I saw the app and thought it would be a good idea to post the link in case anyone who hasn't seen it can download it. I actually do remember the previous topic on this a while back. Just getting senile. On top of that I am not well, just a bad cold and the icing on the cake is we are in the middle of another small reno in a 50 plus year old house. OIY!

Getting old is really getting old!

Sorry about the pithy reply. 

[robbocurry]

Behringer are quick to get the X16, sorry X18 to market aren't they? 
Glad I wasn't holding my breath for this "DL Killer".

[Keyboard Magic]

Going to be really interesting when all the music stores that are taking preorders/down payments for the X18 have to refund it all if it doesn’t materialize before too long. Especially when there are other tangible units shipping soon. Will this make Behringer scramble to catch up?

[Wynnd]

Deposits for pre-orders aren't really a problem.  It's just extra money until the product ships.  But vaporware is always a problem.  And if the competitors are building better mousetraps, the costumers aren't likely to wait to ask for their deposit back.  I'm becoming an advocate for waiting until the problems are found and addressed and coming from this website, most of us might have jumped the gun.  (Still very happy with my DL1608)

[Keyboard Magic]

I'd like to check out the DL32 when it comes out, but yeah, jumping the gun is probably not a very wise thing to do, until Mackie hopefully irons out the bugs (if any?) once it has been around in the real world for some time. I did however not buy my DL until the end of last year and still ran into a major fail with it. It was probably just a random incident. (bad luck?)

I agree, waiting is still better though. 

[ijpengelly]

I have to say, I downloaded and tried the app... wasn't very impressed. Quite unresponsive on an iPad 2, small buttons, crashed, poor controls (those rotating knobs aren't great for seeing what you are doing). Was a bit mixed on the ability to shrink and expand the channels to show more.

Things I did like (though weren't well labelled) were the meters overview and the ability to set configure the aux and effects sends from the channel.

I need a bit more time playing with it, but currently its not as easy or intuitive as Master Fader.

Anyone else have views on it?

[gerenm63]

I have to say, I downloaded and tried the app... wasn't very impressed. Quite unresponsive on an iPad 2, small buttons, crashed, poor controls (those rotating knobs aren't great for seeing what you are doing). Was a bit mixed on the ability to shrink and expand the channels to show more.

Things I did like (though weren't well labelled) were the meters overview and the ability to set configure the aux and effects sends from the channel.

I need a bit more time playing with it, but currently its not as easy or intuitive as Master Fader.

Anyone else have views on it?

I thought pretty much the same. They're putting nearly everything from the X32 in these little boxes, and giving no hardware control, so it's all got to go into the app. That makes for a very confusing app.

I would think it would be fairly easy for Mackie to add the aux sends to the channel views. There's space on the "panel" with the effects to add six little sliders.

That said, I like the new "stage box" version of the Behringer, the X18R, from a hardware point of view. Very well thought out.

[Keyboard Magic]

These apps are getting very busy and crowded. I run Master Fader with a regular size stylus for better control and on my iPod Touch I use a thinner smaller one. Certainly can't work the faders on My Fader accurately with my pinkies alone. 

[Kev tyler]

You have to remember though that you can set the main mix up on the berry x range with a touch screen laptop, so that eradicates the issues of small screens,

I think it would be nice if these apps came with a simple/complex view option, like the master fader and my fader apps, but one app.

When I front bands I often get stuck mixing too, on a physical mixer I have no problem fiddling with eq and level and aux sends etc,

How do you guys do this on the fly when you have to navigate menus? I can imagine it would take s bit of getting used to on the x apps?

Cheers

Kev

[gerenm63]

You have to remember though that you can set the main mix up on the berry x range with a touch screen laptop, so that eradicates the issues of small screens,

I think it would be nice if these apps came with a simple/complex view option, like the master fader and my fader apps, but one app.

When I front bands I often get stuck mixing too, on a physical mixer I have no problem fiddling with eq and level and aux sends etc,

How do you guys do this on the fly when you have to navigate menus? I can imagine it would take s bit of getting used to on the x apps?

Cheers

Kev

While I obviously have not used the version of the app for the X18 (and other new) mixer, I have used the X32 and it's associated apps. On that version, having a laptop of any kind is not any better than using an iPod. It's convoluted and cluttered with functionality that's, at least for the x32 console models, is not needed on the laptop/tablet. Extremely powerful, yes, but not necessarily particularly intuitive. Using a digital board in general takes getting used to. Using it via computer or tablet, more-so. I would mention that the same is true of the current Presonus apps.

From what I've seen, the user interfaces that Mackie have developed are the easiest to navigate and use of any of the digital mixer apps, at any price point.

[Kev tyler]

Hi geren..

Why would the app running on a touchscreen laptop be more cumbersome than on a pad, are they not that similar?

Isn't the mackie app clear only because the actual mixer is drastically less featured than the x range,

To be honest, for someone like me doing hotel gigs on my own, I want it all as simple as possible

Cheers

Kev

[gerenm63]

Hi geren..

Why would the app running on a touchscreen laptop be more cumbersome than on a pad, are they not that similar?

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant that the app is cumbersome, no matter what the platform.

Isn't the mackie app clear only because the actual mixer is drastically less featured than the x range,

Compared to say, the X18, the Mackie isn't that much simpler a piece of hardware. Yes, there's a little more under the hood on the Behringer, but getting around the app doesn't have to be that much more difficult. A very similar workflow to the Mackie could be employed and get the job done more easily. Also, bear in mind that the X18 app that's out there now is a "demo" and subject to change, and that the live product that I used was for the X32, which has a lot more going on that even the X18. But, from what I've seen, the design philosophy from the X32 apps has carried over to the X18 app.

I also found the other apps (from Behringer and others) to be very "busy," in that there is a lot of stuff on the screen at once, and it's often times hard to get the app to do what you want it to do quickly and easily. It's not that I couldn't use the others -- I have used the X32, the Presonus StudioLive, and the Allen & Heath iLive. I just find them to be non-intuitive, and difficult to get around, especially in the "heat of battle."

BTW, the new Behringer app doesn't even seem to allow naming of channel strips -- at least not that I can find. At least the X32 app could do that!

To be honest, for someone like me doing hotel gigs on my own, I want it all as simple as possible

You'll probably be happiest, then, with the DL1608 or DL806, despite the quirks that it may or may not exhibit.

Cheers!