It Happenned - mackie Fader Software Locked Up During Show

[takis]

This happened just as the wedding got started with the dancing...  I was turning faders up adjusting eqs including main sub out eqs and then things locked up.

Going back and forth between the LR sectiona nd the Aux/Sub/Matrix section is a little cluggy.. this happened with the newer version, not the previous version. 

This is where it locked up.. going between the two sections...

Very disappointed... Had to stop the music.. reset Ipad.. reset the DL32R...  Did not save any settings and had to redo all EQs and channels.. I happened to use new main speakers along with having a different musician that I used other channels for their sound.. did not get a chance to save anything before the lockup.

What to take away from this...

1) be careful with the newest cersion going back and forth between LR and Matrix sections...
2) Once you start a gig at the beginning and before you start playing, especially with new setup anr/or additional musicians, always take a quick snapshot...
3) Find a good excuse as to why you are not playing music for 10 minutes....

Taki

[Wynnd]

And this is a great place to keep an airplay device available.  You can always feed the mixer anyway.  (Settings don't change just because the ipad froze.)  It's also good to keep at least one extra ios device, at least an iphone to handle volumes if this occurs.  I always have at least two ipads and an iphone when running the mixer.  And I haven't had the ipad freeze like you did, I'm always concerned when mixing two different digital devices from different manufacturers.  Have always had issues with most computers for the same reasons.  I suspect manufacturers secrets are probably some of the problems.

[takis]

That's a good point...  I do have an Iphone 6 with the Mackie MyFader, but I never thought to have this hooked up also...  I will do this next show...

[Keyboard Magic]

This happened just as the wedding got started with the dancing...  I was turning faders up adjusting eqs including main sub out eqs and then things locked up.

Going back and forth between the LR sectiona nd the Aux/Sub/Matrix section is a little cluggy.. this happened with the newer version, not the previous version. 

This is where it locked up.. going between the two sections...

Very disappointed... Had to stop the music.. reset Ipad.. reset the DL32R...  Did not save any settings and had to redo all EQs and channels.. I happened to use new main speakers along with having a different musician that I used other channels for their sound.. did not get a chance to save anything before the lockup.

What to take away from this...

1) be careful with the newest cersion going back and forth between LR and Matrix sections...
2) Once you start a gig at the beginning and before you start playing, especially with new setup anr/or additional musicians, always take a quick snapshot...
3) Find a good excuse as to why you are not playing music for 10 minutes....

Taki

That is unfortunate and a royal pain, especially at a gig. Ugh! I would let Beno know just the same. I think they are always concerned about issues with MF. If they can reproduce it, MF can be patched. Even if they can’t, they may have a solution for you just the same.

In the overall scheme of things you should be able to rely 100% on everything working as it should. In reality probably not, unfortunately. These kind of issues makes you nostalgic for analog mixers sometimes though. Like Wynnd mentioned mixing "apples and oranges"(dissimilar digital devices) can sometimes cause frustrating things to happen. Ah, computers!

[Ram]

This happened to me 2 weeks back - but did not affect the live sound though.
I was not sure what I was doing that time- but the Master Fader (3.1.1 on Ipad2 docked) locked up.
Double clicking the 'Home Button' did not work.
I undocked the IPad -then I realized I was recording the program, and that stopped :-(
I took the Ipad out, now double clicked the Home Button, and killed Master Fader, and restarted Master Fader (not the Ipad) and resynched.
Docked the Ipad back, and started the recording.
While I lost a few mins of recording, my Live Sound was unaffected, but it scared me ....
I had Myfader on my IPhone and that was working -during the above time- so I did not panic.
-Ram

[Ram]

I was using DL1608- where as the OP had DL32R.
-Ram

[Keyboard Magic]

I wonder if this is connected to the same “perceived” lag issues and flaky main faders plaguing the older iPad2 models that myself and others experience running MF 3.1.1. I haven’t noticed this issue on the iPad Air 2. But who knows?

[Wynnd]

There are so many different things that can "hang" a computer, that it's a surprise that ipads don't lock up more often.  (Way better than my old Palm phone.  Apps used to hang on that one all the time.)

[ijpengelly]

Will have to keep an eye out for this, haven't had it yet, but did have a couple of episodes where I managed to touch two parts of the screen whilst editing either the EQ or dynamics and then couldn't get back to the faders page despite pressing the button, changing the output (Main, Aux, Groups, etc.). I had to shut Master Fader down and restart it. Haven't had it happen in a while, so might have been addressed?!

[Keyboard Magic]

There are so many different things that can "hang" a computer, that it's a surprise that ipads don't lock up more often.  (Way better than my old Palm phone.  Apps used to hang on that one all the time.)

Wise words indeed! It's a good bet that some of the other digital mixer apps out there are having random issues too.

[Michael Welter]

I haven't had it happen, either, but based on this, and other similar threads here, I went out last week and picked up a second iPad.

[Keyboard Magic]

I haven't had it happen, either, but based on this, and other similar threads here, I went out last week and picked up a second iPad.

I think that a lot of us that are running a DL have 2 iPads. When I got my first DL1608, I got 2 iPad 2 (s) right away. Now one has been upgraded to an iPad Air 2 to run MF 3X the way it should work, in my own personal experience.

The air 2 runs the DL wirelessly and the one remaining iPad 2 does double duty for AirPlay and back up for MF just in case. I can slot it into the dock at a moment’s notice, if, heaven forbid, the wireless goes down, the Air pooches or MF goes belly up for any reason. I even have an iPod Touch 5th Gen, with back up music too. Besides it looks cool to have 2 iPads sitting side by side running the show. 

This might be a little paranoid, but as they say “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”  It does however make running a DL just a little bit more expensive but worth it. 

[Wynnd]

When using one of the DL mixers it's always a good idea to have at least two ipads.  (Even if one is your bandmate's.)   Make sure they all have the same version of Master Fader and the appropriate version of My Fader on any iphones or ipods.  (Easier to do when you own all of them.)

[Michael Welter]

This might be a little paranoid, but as they say “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”  It does however make running that DL just a little bit more expensive but worth it. 

Absolutely agreed. Redundancy is critical when doing live sound.

[Fluddman]

I've had similar issues and always carry a spare (two actually at the moment).

I've posted somewhere about mine freezing a few seconds into the first song of a show. That's only every happened once and it was a nerve wracking wait for the iPad to reboot (I was having problems with wireless microphones at the time which has mysteriously stopped happening).

Can never have too many backup options.

CHeers