PANIC ! BEFORE A GIG 🫨🤮

Damir

Hi Peter , for the second time i had a problem of no audio out from my headphone jack on my ipad pro 10.5 inch , first time i reloaded the ST3 software and it was resolved , this time 2 hours before a gig same thing happened while testing my setup at home , i almost immediately was thinking of reinstalling ST3 again but luckilly i held on as i found the issue , which never bothered me before.
I sent you an email immediately but you can ignore it now , i will explain.
This could happen to anyone that is not aware .
I have a bluetooth wireless receiver that is plugged in to my yamaha mixer, its job is to be a wireless input sorce for my iphone which i play my background music from and its great as its wireless and i can control it at a reasonable distance, i also use it if someone else wants to playback music to my PA they simply hook up to this wirelessinput.
The problem i just dicovered is if i power this device and just leave it running and i turn on my ipad pro it automatically hooks up to it unknowingly as its free and if my bluetooth is enabled on the ipad which it allways is because of my remote pedal needs , it also automatically hooks up to the bluetooth wireless device so my sound out of the headphone jack has now been disabled.
If you dont realise this immediately you are stuffed as there in no easy way to know to what audio out you are on.
My suggestion is in the settings where the master volume fader is if you can show to which output device is going to so we can see what is going on with our sound path to easily rectify the problem , perhaps even let us choose the available devices there as its directly related to the volume master, i only by freak chance discovered to why i was not hearing any audio, never did i realize that a bluetooth device has hogged my output without me knowing , yes i could have gone to ios settings and bluetooth devices and then scroll down to see that it was connected, but who would think of that as you are about to do a gig and your device is not giving you an output.
I hope you consider adding a reliable and simple indicator of exactly what outputs are going to which device i almost had kittens 😂 the xmas gig went perfectly and ive just lost a few more hairs i cant afford to loose 🤪

peter

I received no email from you.

Ususally there is a symbol displayed in the iOS status bar on top when you are connected to a bluetooth audio receiver. Didn't you see that?

Damir

peter no i never knew that, and if its not obvious no one will pick the problem i actually gave up the first time and reinstalled ST3 as i ran out of ideas to why i had no audio, the first thing i thought of was the master volume so i went there , this is the final spot i thought of and its the obvious spot for an indicator to where is your final output going so you can easilly see the device its hooked up to or to confirm if its headphone out jack so you can then fix the problem , having to somhow know where to look in operating system, bluetooth, and find a device that says connected which is not a great indicator as you might have remote controlls that are also connected and if its an unknown bluetooth device thats lurking in the area, so this is confusing enough, we really need a propper spot to exactly know where is our audio going .
It was pure luck i discovered this otherwise i would have reinstalled ST3 again , this is not good .
I used create support email, but if you didnt get it , it does not matter as i know what the cause was for both occasions of no audio out the headphone jack.

Damir

peter Ususally there is a symbol displayed in the iOS status bar on top when you are connected to a bluetooth audio receiver. Didn't you see that?

When ST3 is open there is NO symbol that appears when you are connected to a bluetooth audio device like my LOGITEC BLUETOOTH ADAPTER.
As i have two of these great little devices i use one at home and one at a gig so i can easily use my ST3 on the iPhone to play backing music at breaks, this is fantastic, and when i get home i can also hook in to my studio setup without any hassles i also use my iPad pro that i perform with to hook up to these devices as its very practical to quickly get audio in to where i want when not performing but i use a cable from headset out to feed the PA when performing as i don't yet trust wireless.

The big problem is if my iPhone has not hooked up to this device first and i turn my iPad on, it hooks up automatically which then disables my audio out from the headphone jack , it has just done it again this morning, as i left the power on in my studio and the Logitech bluetooth audio interface was powered as usual, the iPad automatically hooked up to it again and disabled my speakers, this also works the other way if i happen to plug the device in my studio wanting to then hook up to my iPhone the ipad hogs the connection first as its fired up in my kitchen so again no audio out of my ipad.

THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS PRACTICE , WHY?
When performing i don't want my audio out of my ST3 to disappear because the bluetooth system has decided it has found another audio out source, if for some reason it has found a bluetooth device at any time and anywhere i expect a confirmation first otherwise i am red faced in the middle of the stage.

As i said before , two things that bother me , i want to see where my audio is going where the huge master fader is as its the last control point and an output device indicator would be perfect right there, perhaps dedicate the end of the fader to indicate the name of device it is going to.
I know NOW that its one more page away in AUDIO SETTINGS but it took me lots of research to discover this problem so I'm ok jack , but its avoidable by presenting us with the information where the master output fader is as most people will go through what i did, plus i would make sure ST3 does not assume just because i fired up a bluetooth device near me it is meant to be used by it and hook up automatically and disabling the headphone jack without warning and leaving you audio-less while possibly performing as worse case scenario.

Perhaps have the logic this way, whatever the last output device was used when you fire up the system if the same output device exists it automatically hooks up to it again BUT if the last used audio output device is not present then ask a question do you want to change your output device and give us choice if multiple devices are present.

But don't just ASSUME and knock out my precious audio that might be entertaining an audience, this is dangerous i am glad i found this as i will not be powering up any bluetooth adapters while on stage at the moment, it dont make me feel warm and fuzzy 🫨

After more playing around i think this problem is an APPLE operating system issue as it also does the same thing with youtube , sorry Peter for making it look like an ST3 thing but i still would like to see the connection to a device in a more obvious place in ST3.
After even more investigating, its beginning to look like the problem is a bit of both, i am just talking to Apple specialist and will report the outcome.

jaytrax

I would lose the Bluetooth for many reasons but the main one being sonic characteristics

All Bluetooth will lead to highs being filtered and lows only transmitting 60/70 hz and above

If your using big boy PA’s you definitely don’t want this as your losing quality

Think of your band not being 100% as good as the should sound

There is a lossless device being developed by CME but no date for production as yet

Until then I’d stick with a stereo to mono split

if you have a digital desk like an XR18
Use a USB direct from iPad (with dongle) to XR18 and set the track channel to USB not Analogue
This will give you the highest fidelity as there’s no conversion it is staying in the digital domain

Damir

jaytrax Thanks Jaytrax its all good advice, but my problem is that I do use the headphone out of my performing iPad to mixer and I use my iPhone wirelessly to the Bluetooth receiver and in to another stereo analog input of mixer for background music replay, the issue is with the Bluetooth IOS operating system and its LOGIC and ST3 and its logic , if you have connected to the wireless unit once on any device you then get an automated connection next time, the problem is if you are playing audio out of your speakers and you power up the unit near by as you want to hook up the iPhone but you already have the iPad on and nearby the iPad automatically switches the audio out to the wireless device without asking you and stops the playback on your software this might be me on stage performing and all of a sudden no audio and the song is paused on the iPad , this is dangerous , this also happens in other software like Utube, if you turn off the Bluetooth device the speaker audio comes back but it also stops the playback , so firstly there should be NO STOP when switching audio out device the playback should continue no matter what output is selected, secondly if you do get a new audio device trying to hook up it should warn you and ask which device you want to use so no sudden embarrassment occurs if you turn on a wireless interface you intend to use with iPhone but the iPad gets effected, this is very poor logic s I have two of these devices and a number of iPads and iPhones I don’t want Willy Nelly unexpected connection’s stopping my playback and disabling my speaker outs , unless I approve , ST3 is fairly bullet proof from sudden stops or audio mutes until I discovered this.
So a warning to all if using wireless audio devices don’t muck around with it if performing you might and up with egg on your face.

Riff

No wireless for me. I have an old ipod touch that constantly is shuffling a large playlist, which I have plugged into channels 17/18 on my XR18. During breaks I just unmute it.

I've also thought about putting together a music track as a long "song" in ST3 to play during breaks.

Damir

Riff No wireless for me. I have an old ipod touch that constantly is shuffling a large playlist, which I have plugged into channels 17/18 on my XR18. During breaks I just unmute it.

I do exactly the same , using xr18 when mixing bands and I use to use iPhone 6 max with headphone out to ch 17/18 it was very easy.
Now I have iPhone 11 Pro Max NO HEADPHONE JACK 🤮 being background music I use the Logitech stereo Bluetooth receiver with iPhone but it great BUT I found this little issue it can hook up to any of your devices unknowingly and stop play if you were playing anything and it disables your headphone Jack , if you are using this device at the time you will loose audio and if you don’t know why you think your device has crashed / locked up and if it’s never happened before you have no idea how to fix the problem, THIS IS VERY BAD AND DANGEROUS . As luckily I found out at home 2 hours before a gig and now I know it’s not so bad but it should never happen , this means if you don’t know the device is near and on you loose audio out of your devices speakers without warning, this is not good at all.Apple and LOGITECH NEED TO FIX THIS , and ST3 needs an indicator of where the audio is going near the MASTER VOLUME not hidden in another less obvious place like audio routing , yes it’s good to go there to setup your audio but it’s not in your face when you are desperately needing to know what the F is going on perhaps in 2 minutes you are performing and have no audio you NEED TO BE SLAPPED IN THE FACE BY A VERY PRACTICAL SOLUTION.

Damir

Riff I've also thought about putting together a music track as a long "song" in ST3 to play during breaks.

I thought the same but decided it was too much work and then you are stuck with the same order and songs forever, this takes time to create

Riff

Riff You could pick up an old, used ipod shuffle for cheap and skip Bluetooth altogether.

Riff You could pick up an old, used ipod shuffle for cheap and skip Bluetooth altogether.

Riff You could pick up an old, used ipod shuffle for cheap and skip Bluetooth altogether.

and is very limiting, I can easily create a background music playlist select the songs I want from my huge music library that’s all within ST3 arrange the order easily place Auto play on every song within the playlist and it Done, I can copy this list and rearrange it and make a new one, randomise the order and so many other advantages so I have decided not to record a very long track.
Recording a long track with multiple songs is handy for a medley type of performance where you can use loops to easily jump around the medley as you have 24 loops you can have a 24 song medley and the freedom to shorten the medley of perhaps repeat a good effective song the crowd is enjoying.
So there are many ways to use ST3 the best audio player in the world today for those performing on stage or just needing a librarian type of player that is self contained and functions that no other player has .

Riff

Damir You could pick up an old, used ipod shuffle for cheap and skip Bluetooth altogether.

Damir

Riff You could pick up an old, used ipod shuffle for cheap and skip Bluetooth altogether.

Thanks Riff I actually still have a couple of old iPod shuffles in my draw I could start an apple museum, but I like my technology and I could not fit a quarter of my song library on them and their batteries have probably died of old age, but I agree sometimes the good old stuff is still very nice and simple and just did one job well.