Automatic failover feature

Roelli

Would be cool to be able to sync two playback devices playing tracks from stagetraxx.
For example:
I would like to use an ipad as my main player and my iPhone as a backup system.

If the main player (ipad) is somehow connected to the iphone and sends a continuous alive-message all tracks from the iPhone should be muted. (mute function is already implemented in stagetraxx)
When the signal is lost then the iphone un-mutes the tracks and playback comes from the iphone.

It could work with wifi probably.

And this solution is even better then these audio interfaces with failover-function like „playaudio“. Because you could use two seperate audio interfaces in parallel and use y-cables at the analog side.
So it’s even more redundant.

Now that iam thinking about it…
I could also send a sine wave on one channel playing in parallel with the multitrack, send this sinewave to my windows notebook running reaper DAW, and use a ducker on every channel, where the sine-wave „mutes“ the playback signals from the notebook. Until the sinewave stops. Then playback comes from the notebook. Switching is probably pretty fast, maybe even not noticeable.
But i need to use midi signals to start the playback on the notebook and also switch to the position of the song on the notebook. Seems to be a bit of work.

But loading a backupfile on another ios device and sync them sounds essier.

peter

I have this feature on my todo list but I will stick to proven hardware setups. So you will need to use a midi splitter to control playback start / stop on both devices. Stage Traxx will have a dedicated signal generator assignable to one of the outputs that can trigger automatic failover in interfaces like those from iConnectivity.

But this will most likely not make it into version 4.0. More like 4.1.

Toby

Hi Peter,
I see the Failover signal is listed in the current specs for v 4.0. Is it fully implemented in the end?

AnthonyB

Toby https://stagetraxx.com/docs/v4/settings/audio/audio-settings/#failover-signal

DaniZoid

Hi Peter,

First of all, thank you for creating such an amazing app. Stage Traxx 4 has become the heart of my live setup, and I genuinely think it's one of the best playback solutions available on iOS.

I've been thinking about the Failover Signal feature and how it could be extended for fully redundant setups using two independent iOS devices.

One possible approach would be for Stage Traxx on the backup device to directly monitor a hardware audio input for the failover tone. If the tone disappears for a user-defined amount of time, Stage Traxx could automatically unmute the backup outputs.

Another very flexible option could be to allow hardware audio inputs to be processed through Audio Unit plugins inside Stage Traxx. In that case, Stage Traxx would not necessarily need to implement the whole detection logic itself.

For example:

Device 1 plays the main backing tracks and sends the Failover Signal, or a dedicated tone from one track, to a separate output.
That tone is connected to an audio input on Device 2.
Device 2 runs Stage Traxx with an AUv3 envelope follower or audio-to-MIDI plugin, such as FAC Envolver.
The plugin detects the tone level and generates MIDI CC values.
Those CC values could control the output faders or mute state of the backup playback.

This would allow the backup device to remain fully independent, while still reacting automatically if the primary device or app fails. The CC could work either as a switch-style value for mute/unmute, or as a continuous/variable value controlling the fader level, allowing a smoother transition.

I think this would be a natural extension of the existing Failover Signal feature. It would also make the system more open, because users could build their own failover logic with third-party AUv3 tools instead of requiring dedicated external failover hardware.

Thanks again for all your work on this excellent app.

MusicMan81

DaniZoid I do have the PlayAudio12, and tbh IF Peter finds a way to use the failover without an external device it would be F… Awesome.

Having to carry 2x of every cable to connect both iPads and all the XLR to the mixer gives you “too many” possible fail point.

In a perfect world, We can connect via USB both iPad to a USB powered hub and from there just 1 simple usb cable to the mixer using the failover…. No extra cables, no extra hardware…. Dreaming is free lol…

peter

I don't think failover without an external device is possible. And I also don't think there is enough demand for it to justify the development costs given that iConnectivity offers fairly priced options that work reliably for anyone who requires this additional safety net.

Also the failure rate in ST4 is really low. Currently we have a crash rate of 0.15%. This means ST4 will crash on averge every 666 times you start it. So maybe once every 2nd year if you start it daily. So for anyone that needs more than 99.9% reliability, the implemented high availability feature is the best way to go.

DaniZoid

peter

Hi Peter,

First of all, thank you for your quick reply. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

I completely understand that new features and updates have to be prioritised based on the number of user requests and the benefit they bring to the community.

One thing that came to mind is that professional redundancy solutions like the PlayAUDIO or Radial SW8 are excellent, but they're also quite expensive for smaller bands and semi-professional users. Because of that, many of us try to build affordable redundancy systems around Stage Traxx.

I even managed to build a proof of concept using a third device, an inexpensive audio interface with MIDI and audio input, AUM, FAC Envolver and some MIDI filtering. If the failover tone disappears, FAC Envolver generates a gate that can be converted into MIDI CC messages. That MIDI logic could then be used to control a digital mixer, switching channel mutes, groups, VCAs/DCAs, scenes or any other failover-related action.

However, after thinking it through, I don't believe relying on a third device to monitor the system is the right approach. It introduces another potential point of failure, so I don't think it could ever be considered a truly reliable solution.

For now, I'm simply running two identical Stage Traxx setups simultaneously. If I detect a failure or lose the click, I manually switch from the primary to the backup by muting and unmuting the corresponding channels on my digital mixer with a footswitch. It's a very simple approach, but at the moment it gives me more confidence than adding another layer of automation.

Maybe one day there will be a simpler, safer and more elegant way to achieve something similar within Stage Traxx itself. I know this is probably a very niche use case and not something many users are asking for, but I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Thanks again for your time, and congratulations on creating such a fantastic app!

Best regards,

Dani

peter

The manual approach is the best option if you don't want to purchase dedicated hardware for this. But I'm curios, did you ever need the failover?

In the end the automatic failover will only be triggered if the failover signal drops and that will only happen if the audio interface disconnects or the app crashes. In all other cases the signal will most likely be sent and there will be no failover for example when region transitions for some reason fail or tracks play back out of sync. So for these (rare) cases, a manual failover option is needed in any case.