iPad Reliability

[John Salazar]

I have an M1 iPad Pro and recently got a DMC-122.  I'm thinking of using these two together with a Radial Key Largo as a live rig, and I know a lot of you have been using iPads live, but I am wondering how the reliability has been.

 

My DMC-122 is still currently within the return window, so alternatively I could get a Crumar Mojo Classic to use with the iPad instead so at least if the iPad goes down I'll have some immediate sound source as backup.  I do have an older iPad I could use as backup, but obviously swapping them out takes a bit more noticiable time in the DMC's case vs immediately triggering the organ on the Mojo.  If reliability with the iPad is an issue, the Mojo + iPad might be the better option for bigger gigs I'm thinking.  I do know a lot of big acts using MacBooks as sound sources where reliability is pretty critical, but are iPads at this level yet?

[Paul Woodward]

Any tech can play up under certain conditions, even dedicated boards themselves, but I never had any issues with any iPads I have owned...and the newer M class are often more powerful then their laptop equivalents.

[J.F.N.]

21 minutes ago, John Salazar said:

I have an M1 iPad Pro and recently got a DMC-122.  I'm thinking of using these two together with a Radial Key Largo as a live rig, and I know a lot of you have been using iPads live, but I am wondering how the reliability has been.

 

My DMC-122 is still currently within the return window, so alternatively I could get a Crumar Mojo Classic to use with the iPad instead so at least if the iPad goes down I'll have some immediate sound source as backup.  I do have an older iPad I could use as backup, but obviously swapping them out takes a bit more noticiable time in the DMC's case vs immediately triggering the organ on the Mojo.  If reliability with the iPad is an issue, the Mojo + iPad might be the better option for bigger gigs I'm thinking.  I do know a lot of big acts using MacBooks as sound sources where reliability is pretty critical, but are iPads at this level yet?

 

If you are in need of redundancy it'd make more sense to clone your setup on a second iPad as a spare.

[JoJoB3]

Sidenote: 'iPad' is Scottish-German for 'Neutered Surface'

[analogika]

I have had exactly TWO issues in a decade of using iPads live as sheet readers and MainStage remote: 

 

1.) at some point in the middle of a gig, the auto-downloaded OS update decided to install itself. I couldn't believe I hadn't found and killed that setting, but I did then. Thankfully, it happened at a time where it wasn't a problem. 

 

2.) Bluetooth can be spotty, especially in a large venue with crowded frequency spectrum or major power lines nearby (especially bad: train power lines). I used to use Bluetooth to switch programs in MainStage; have since switched to USB. 

 

Oh, and the iPad display physically broke in my bag when I leaned or sat on the bag on the bus a few years ago, but that was hardly a "reliability" issue. Restoring the iCloud backup to the replacement was seamless. 

[Baldwin Funster]

Since most of the best apps are only a year or 2 old, I think you need an ipad that is no older than say 9th Gen for reliability if an iPad is the core of your rig. If you have apps that have proven themselves to be crash proof and supporting dongles and controllers that have been left on for a day or 2 and still work, that's seems the definition of reliable. That's where I'm at. I have had almost no problems that didn't come down to an error of overlooking something during the setup phase of the gig.

BUTT that all goes out the window on a hot summer outdoor gig. It's a bitter pill to swallow if you have to leave your main rig at home and just use an old hw rompler because you know your iPad is going to shut off before the soundcheck is even over. 

If you're Journey, you got the clout to have suncover and fans and I think an iPad will never fail. If your Local Joe playing 45 mins on a summer day 6 band bill I think I'd use my Roland DS,  or un your case whatever korg or yamaha you got.

[Dave Number Four]

Ha I've had the iPad temperature shutdown during hot soundchecks around 5pm twice. Both times it was fine by the gig. And I'm just using it for charts (so far).

[Reezekeys]

Are you asking a general question about the reliability of an iPad "music rig", or are you asking about the reliability of the iPad itself? If the latter, it might be the wrong question because it's going to come down to the software you run in it - and everyone is going to be different in that regard. If I tell you my iPad setup has been rock solid, that's not going to help you much unless you have the same iPad, same version of iPadOS, and the same software instruments and other associated sw that I use.

 

I can say this about my iPad system - it works well enough that I've made it my one and only sound source on local gigs. It hasn't been 100% trouble free though. I use AUM as a host and have had a few incidents of instruments and effects plugins cutting out. When I get the message "bad signal" on an AUM channel it's game over for that instrument - I have to reload that channel (you can do that in AUM - select a session file with multiple channels and choose one or any number to merge into your existing setup). This is very rare but it happens. I would say my laptop setup is more reliable though I had a perplexing incident on my last tour where a few Kontakt instruments suddenly decided to not load, saying they were "unauthorized." That was actually a first, and still an unsolved mystery since things returned to normal on the next gig!

[John Salazar]

3 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

Are you asking a general question about the reliability of an iPad "music rig", or are you asking about the reliability of the iPad itself? If the latter, it might be the wrong question because it's going to come down to the software you run in it - and everyone is going to be different in that regard. If I tell you my iPad setup has been rock solid, that's not going to help you much unless you have the same iPad, same version of iPadOS, and the same software instruments and other associated sw that I use.

 

I can say this about my iPad system - it works well enough that I've made it my one and only sound source on local gigs. It hasn't been 100% trouble free though. I use AUM as a host and have had a few incidents of instruments and effects plugins cutting out. When I get the message "bad signal" on an AUM channel it's game over for that instrument - I have to reload that channel (you can do that in AUM - select a session file with multiple channels and choose one or any number to merge into your existing setup). This is very rare but it happens. I would say my laptop setup is more reliable though I had a perplexing incident on my last tour where a few Kontakt instruments suddenly decided to not load, saying they were "unauthorized." That was actually a first, and still an unsolved mystery since things returned to normal on the next gig!

If you get bad signal in the middle of the song, do you switch to another channel to play off until there's downtime in between songs to fix it or do you just reload it on the spot?

[Reezekeys]

18 hours ago, John Salazar said:

If you get bad signal in the middle of the song, do you switch to another channel to play off until there's downtime in between songs to fix it or do you just reload it on the spot?

 

TBH my mind is a little foggy because I only remember it happening when I'm home. I think it did happen once on a gig. It was an "auxiliary" sound so I could finish the song. I reloaded the entire AUM session file during the break before the following tune. Now I know I can reload the individual channel from the session file, but that requires a few more button presses and some scrolling - so it's easier to just reload the whole setup, especially since it only takes a few seconds on my iPad 9G. I imagine it would be at least as fast and possibly faster on an M1 iPad Pro.

 

I noticed it happened mostly with AudioLayer, which actually means that AUM is not the culprit. My current solution is to save the session file with a duplicate of the suspect AudioLayer channel. This duplicate channel is kept muted. If I get a bad signal on the channel I'm playing, I can easily reach over and unmute the duplicate channel and keep playing.

 

Again, this is a very uncommon occurence and doesn't stop me from using my iPad as the only source of sounds for my rig.

[HammondDave]

It’s not the iPad crashing but the apps in it, primarily Korg Module Pro. I am transitioning from that to a more robust setlist app.  

[AnotherScott]

On 7/19/2024 at 4:21 PM, Baldwin Funster said:

that all goes out the window on a hot summer outdoor gig. It's a bitter pill to swallow if you have to leave your main rig at home and just use an old hw rompler because you know your iPad is going to shut off before the soundcheck is even over. 

On 7/19/2024 at 4:50 PM, Dave Number Four said:

Ha I've had the iPad temperature shutdown during hot soundchecks around 5pm twice. Both times it was fine by the gig. And I'm just using it for charts (so far).

 

You definitely have to keep the iPad out of direct sunlight on a hot day. Of course, hopefully you're keeping your other gear and body out of direct sunlight as well! (BTW, I've had the EV ZXa1 shut down for the same reason. I had wished the white ones they made were more readily available.)

 

[HammondDave]

55 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

 

You definitely have to keep the iPad out of direct sunlight on a hot day. Of course, hopefully you're keeping your other gear and body out of direct sunlight as well! (BTW, I've had the EV ZXa1 shut down for the same reason. I had wished the white ones they made were more readily available.)

 

I refuse to play any gig in direct sunlight.  Period. 

[Reezekeys]

Direct sun is not great for keyboards, especially black ones, either. Also laptops. Also, pretty much anything else electronic! It's true that iPads are more sensitive and will probably be the first to register their unhappiness with direct sun.