Good cheap Android tablet for running wireless mixer feed?

[Mighty Motif Max]

Hello,

 

The church I am currently playing at has one of those fancy Soundcraft digital consoles that let you run not only the main mix from an iPad, but the musicians and people on stage can use either an iPad or an Android tabled to control their own monitor mix. Nice when you have thirteen people all wanting different things. Our sound people are pushing towards having everyone run their own mix for that reason. So, I have a nice iPad, but I use it to record audio and video for listening afterwards. I need to get a cheap tablet to basically just run that software (ViSi Listen). I dont want it falling apart on me quickly or anything. Im not including iPads in the options since they are more expensive, especially for just one task.

 

Current app requirements are only that it runs Android 4.4 or later, and uses wireless internet. My sister had a cheap Android tablet and it would have problems hanging up and eventually the lcd display went bad so you would tap the screen and only see what looked like blue pools of liquid under the glass.

 

 

 

 

So I just want a decent tablet for one usage only, since this would be used almost every other week. Tips/suggestions?

 

 

Thanks,

 

-Max

 

 

 

 

[Markay]

There is an abundance of cheap tablets in the Android world but there is more to it than price. I now only use Samsung as there are regular OS upgrades and 2 year warranties. Previously used ASUS but they, like others, give short term support for the version of Android it comes with and then it is over.

 

I got a Samsung TAB A6 about 6 months for $300 with a 64gb SD card. I expect to get 5 years out of it. The ASUS Transformer I purchased in 2012 still works fine other than the battery now has only 4 hours between charges and is stuck on Android 4.4.

 

You could get a lot more use out of Android tablet if you so choose, Android is the equal of iOS except for music making. And it has a good ol' file system structure just like MacOS.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

Older model used iPad? Since you are already using one.

[KeyMoe]

I have recently seen new iPads advertised as low as $249.....

[rickp]

My band uses 5 iPad Mini tablets for displaying charts onstage and for controlling mixes from a Soundcraft ui24; 16gig 1st gen mini models are fine for that purpose and are relatively cheap. They run 4-5 hours per charge. The only issues weve had over the past 3 years have been one or two overheat shutdowns when in prolonged direct sunlight (this does not effect the mix youve dialed in; all settings remain in place).

 

Just bought one here for $87 to have as a spare.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Thanks for the tips so far everybody. I really don't need anything fancy at all. I hardly use my iPad as it is, so I can't justify getting a really nice android tablet because I would have no other use at all. It may actually even stay at the church. Since Markay mentioned Samsung, I've been looking at one of their cheaper options. One of these three maybe. Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7.0 , Samsung Tab A8 or Samsung Tab E 9.6. Will storage be an issue since I'm only going to be running one or two apps?

[Markay]

Not if you are only going to load a minimal number of apps. Oreo Android 8.1 on my Tab A takes up 3.5gb. You can add an SD card to store additional files but doesn't sound like you would need it.

 

I would choose the A8 that comes with 7.1 pretty sure you will find that will be upgrable to 8.1. 5.1 Lollipop is now a legacy OS, but if you just want to do one task check the app is supported on 5.1.

[Jazzmammal]

Amazon Fire HD 10 it's $149 all over and it uses Amazon's version of Android. Crap, I just looked it up, now on sale for $99! That's a killer deal, I may buy another one for a friend. If there's some apps only available on the Google app Store there's a simple hack to put the Google Store on it.

 

I bought one a few months ago for chart reading. I have Fakebook Pro and iRealPro on it. It has a great screen and is pretty solid. I like using Alexa. If it's just sitting unused it holds a charge for over a week. For gigs the battery lasts easily 6-8 hours or so. It's one weakness is the camera totally sucks. I tried taking some pics of charts and they're almost unreadable but Fakebook Pro will import them in different ways.

 

Bob