I Pad purchase

BernieB

Hi Im new to stage traxx . I need to buy an I Pad for this app and my Gigs
there so many models for sale which is the best on for me to purchase .
I hope spmeone can tell me the Model that is recomended as I am a newbie

Thanks in advance
Bernard

Damir

BernieB Hi Bernie, i have the same issue, i want a new iPad but cant cant work out which damn model to go for thanks to apples stupid way of selling their products from the buyers perspective, they are actually very smart when it comes to confusing the shit out of the customers and grabbing their money.
Not only do they have
IOS version
Model name
Model number
Serial number
GENERATION , what the hell!
Storage capacity of around 2 to four capacities
Depending on the model and Generation.
New models every year that appear to be the same but different in some magical way.
NO WONDER WE ARE ALL CONFUSED!
Not to mention models with headphone jack and without, and different usb connectors that seem to do everything through them with squilion adapter's that cost a fortune , I FEEL YOUR PAIN.

So after pointing out the obvious,
You need to consider the most important.
The screen size you require, i prefer around the 10.5 inch on stage as its not too big to look ugly but not too small so you can stand a bit further from it.
Memory capacity, i would not buy a device less than 256 gb more the better, depends on you budget.
I would consider the last model of i pad air that has the headphone jack and the newest chip processor that has 256gb memory.
I hope i can find one soon as they are becoming hard to find in shops and all the new stuff does not have a headphone jack, which to me is the most important thing for on stage use.
I have bought a Logitech stereo bluetooth receiver and plugged it in to my mixer, with good results so far but it hasn't been thoroughly tested yet so that might have to become my standard way of hook up , it seems to sound great and is easy to hook up once setup, i know its another thing to power up and carry around but we have no other option apart for the ugly inconvenient Apple adapters.
This then might give me more choices of models to buy.
I know i have probably not helped with a clear model to buy but you know best what suits you, so i have pointed out things to consider
Good luck

Oh another tip , sim card or not , i always bought the top models with sim card capability , well i wasted my money i never use it so unless you definitely need internet access at all times don't waste your money on the sim capability.

BernieB

Hi Damir
Thanks for the reply and info . Very much appreciated .
I was wondering about the headphone jack .
And if we managed to connect the output of stage traxx to blue tooth . would it be reliable ???
Think headphone jack is always reliable .

Damir

BernieB I use Bluetooth on my iPhone ST3 for background music and it seems very reliable , a bit more use and I will possibly make use of this on my iPad main backing track program feed once I am convinced it is as reliable as cable.
This then allows me to choose more up to date iPads without a headphone Jack.
But I need to be absolutely convinced and that takes time.

DaveT

Damir How's it handling the inherent delay caused by bluetooth, and can you still plug in bluetooth pedals at the same time? Looking to reduce the cabling on stage to the iPad etc and bluetooth was my thought as well

Thanks

Dave

Damir

DaveT I don’t see a delay in Bluetooth being a problem as you are syncing to it , it’s not syncing to you or anything else I actually use a settings delay of 1 second on purpose to give me time to move my hand on to my guitar when I use my AirTurn digit 3 hand control that’s Velcroed on top of my acoustic.
So an extra few milliseconds of delay is no issue to me.

peter

Stage Traxx will detect the output delay and adjust scrolling and midi commands by the output delay so from that side you should be fine. Of course each command (start, stop, seek, crossfade, ...) in Stage Traxx will be delayed by about 100ms (or whatever your actual latency is) in case of bluetooth. That might or might not be a dealbreaker for you.

Nevertheless I would not rely on bluetooth audio for gigs with larger crowds.

So my recommendation would be to get the last gen iPad. That is the last iPad with a headphone output.

BernieB

Just an Update
I purchased an Ipad Pro with USB C . I am using a long cable which goes to the mixer case and an adapter that allows usb charging and audio out into the mixer channel
I use an air Midi pedal to start the playback. It works well

davedroug

Ipad pro any of that model runs perfect with stagetraxx and runs much faster than an ipad air .i use the bluetooth for stage traxx audio files into an a stand-alone bluetooth DCA and from there to my mixing desk this leaves the usb port free to use for my vocaliser or anything else midi

royandreno

davedroug Thanks for your tip earlier! I tried to get hold of an audiolab mdac mini, but couldn't get it here in Norway. I was told they had some issues, don't know what. But I bought the Fiio BTR5, works fantastic.

jaytrax

davedroug
Just curious have you done any tests on the audio quality
It’s been a few years since I used Bluetooth receivers but when I tested and compared, there was quite a bit of detail missing from the tracks

It was fine for low break music

royandreno

jaytrax https://www.fiio.com/btr5
The sound is great to my ears. Fulfills all of Peter's recommendations.

davedroug

jaytrax you have got back to front the external DAC Is far higher quality than the internal DAC on the ipad .light years better plus i don't use poxy mp3 .i only use 48hrz 32bit floating files i've tried with and without Bluetooth, and i just can't tell any difference thats live or with my studio headphones if there is a difference i can't hear it . and have never had so much as a glitch using my setup and Bluetooth it just works perfect and sounds fantastic ,I've been playing since the late 60s and can honestly say now is the best sound I've ever had 🙂

peter

Bluetooth audio will always compress the audio with a certain codec. The problem with iOS is that it does not support the aptX codec which most bluetooth devices use. Instead it has its own AAC codec. So if you want high audio quality you need to make sure your bluetooth device supports the AAC codec. Without AAC support the communication will fall back to the old SBC codec which sound audibly worse but works on any bluetooth device.

jaytrax

davedroug but it’s still Bluetooth
And there is compression happening during the conversion from the receiver to the inputs of your mixer
All I asked was there any measured comparisons as this is usually a compromise in audio detail
Whether that’s lows, mids, highs or a combination of all.

48k and 32bit is great if your making quality recordings from scratch but it all comes down to the source of recording also

You could have 48k 32bit file, it doesn’t necessarily mean it was well recorded or played from a musical point of view

davedroug

jaytrax correct, if its not good what goes in its not good what comes out ,most of my backing tracks are done on a Genos through my daw using just live sample instruments. top quality . so they are pretty good. but still i suppose its what people get use to ,but a good DAC will still improve the sound no matter what backing tracks you use . and thats the point,

jaytrax

davedroug
So if I understand correctly you’re working off an arranger/entertainer style keyboard with styles and a combination of samples and synthesised sounds make up these parts ?

That then is edited in a DAW where you have your project set up as 48k and you export 32bit ?

The audio is then added to Stage Traxx and then is sent to your DAC on playback via Bluetooth?

This then has outputs into a mixer of some sort I presume ?

If your mixer is digital it would have a sample rate such as 48k

Is that pretty much your flow ?

davedroug

jaytrax thats pretty much it ,but also use some live instruments vocal backing on some of the tracks plus a vocaliser run from midi on the backing tracks etc the mixer is a QSC touch mix 8 which is basically a full studio which is first class, best mixer I've ever had what it can't do is not worth bothering about and for me i love the sound i get now. and thats what counts

jaytrax

davedroug just curious if you have you a sample of a track with the above

royandreno

davedroug I had a QSC Touchmix 16 that looked promising for a few months. I liked it quite well. Then I had a couple of blue screen issues, before one day, 7-8 months after I got it, the output was severely reduced. And no one can fix it. I read that they tend to overheat. Now I'm over on a Soundcraft Signature 10 mixer. Analog, but great sounding mixer. I've had two Behringer Xenyx mixers too. One started smoking, the other lost all effects. Never another Behringer for me. Your QSC seems to work fine for you, enjoy it😊

davedroug

see if you can tell which is the live guitars and which are the sampled ones https://www.bandlab.com/user7088264374062931/peaceful-easy-feeling-d37a67bf?revId=05882b80-ac93-ea11-96d2-0003ffd1fc09

jaytrax

davedroug
Ok so firstly to my ear this just sounds like an SMF which is then using the internal synthesised sounds of the keyboard/arranger

In all honesty it doesn’t sound authentic

The bends on the guitar parts is obtained using the pitch bend wheel and unfortunately doesn’t sound authentic or natural like a guitarist would phrase it.

There doesn’t appear to be any difference in the sound regardless of the velocity of the sequenced notes, making me wonder if there’s any multi samples or round robin approach used at all.

I mean no disrespect with this reply,
if your happy to use these sounds that’s all that matters.

👍