Songs sound distorted

Tylerldodds

Hi, I went onto stage Traxx 3 for the first time since New Years (my last gig), and all of my tracks sound distorted/muffled. My iPad is up to date and nothing has been changed in stage Traxx in Terms of my settings etc. My tracks sound perfectly normal on iTunes and even BackTrax but just not on my iPad. Stage Traxx 3 does still work perfectly normal on my iPhone and laptop. Very confused as to what has happened, please HELP!

DaveT

Tylerldodds did you ever have this happen again? I too have had this issue tonight. A restart of the app sorted it but when it was doing it the music sounded as if it had been dumped through a key changer to the extreme and then put through it again to bring it back to key. Sound was muffled , distorted and bass boosted with an annoying amount of artefacts all over it. This happened two weeks ago as well. Once again it was the restart that fixed it.

peter

Does a restart of the app (killing it in the task switcher) help?

peter

If the app restart does not help, I need more information:

iPad model
iOS version
Stage Traxx version
Format of your songs (file format and sample rate)
How do you connect the iPad to the mixer?
Do you have other apps running in the background?

If it sounds more like crackles / stuttering the CPU of your iPad overloads and is struggling to process the data in time. What can help in this case is to increase the buffer size Settings -> Playback Settings. Also close other apps and make sure you have disabled offloading apps into the cloud and maybe around 1gb of free storage.

DaveT

peter

peter iPad 7th generation, software 15.2.1. No apps running in background. iPad is connected direct to the desk from the headphone socket on the iPad to xlr inputs. Doesn’t need DI boxes etc as it’s Midas pro series pre amps that can handle anything from mic to high level inputs. Stagtraxx version 3.5.2(7522)

DaveT

All tracks are 48khz 320k mp3

DaveT

If it happens again at a gig I will try to capture the audio on the internal drives of the desk and then also capture once a restart is done so the comparison can be heard.

peter

The iPad 7 uses 44.1kHz for the headphone output. Maybe there is still an issue with the samplerate conversion from 48kHz of the audio files to 44.1kHz of the headphone output. But I have not yet managed to see this even though I have the same iPad mode.

DaveT

its only started happening the past month or so, and is very random. the past 4 or 5 years there's not been any problems with it, and the sample rate of 48k. As I say an app restart solves it thank goodness lol. Not that it should matter, but the desk is also at 48k sample rate. I haven't tried unplugging the headphones jack and replugging it to see if that would cure it, but will try it the next time it does it.

Thanks for the reply Peter.

peter

Is it happening when using autoplay or crossfade? Do you use multitrack files?

DaveT

No autoplay, no crossfade and no multitracks being used Peter

DaveT

just an update. Can confirm from last night, that unplugging the headphone jack cable and reinserting it didnt clear the fault when it occurred last night. It took a full restart of Stagetraxx. Will monitor it tonight again to see if it happens again. I know the mixer cannot be at fault, as thats it now happened on 3 different ones. I have checked the cable I use, and also resorted to using a different one last night but the fault still was there. One thing I did notice this time was that Apple Music was opened in the background but not playing. I will add that to my list of things I will check when the fault occurs to make sure no apps are running in the background. I will also make sure that no pass are running prior to starting stagetraxx. Thanks. Dave

peter

So it does happen quite often for you? Very strange. I did not get any other reports about this issue so far. And myself I can not reproduce it.

davedroug

are you headphones mono or stereo you mention before that you connected from your ipad headphone socket to your mixer using and xlr socket ,now XLR inputs are balanced line mono so using a stereo a lead from a stereo output you would need 2 XLR plugs to your mixer 2 channels unless you connect the 2 stereo live outs wires to one live in on your XLR PLUG .most mixers have a dedicated stereo aux 1/4in jack input just for that use , if i was you i do away with the headphone out lead on your ipad and go Bluetooth with a audiolab M-DAC mini then stereo out to your mixer makes hell of a difference to your music files been using one for 2 years never dropped out yet .you can also plug your headphones in to and have built-in battery 6hrs use or adaptor . https://www.audiolab.co.uk/mdac-mini/

DaveT

davedroug two XLRs wired correctly. Been in live music engineering for over 30 years 😉 Bluetooth is no good for me as the bluetooth is in use for page turn etc already

davedroug

DaveT could always use the usb to a audio lab mini, the dac is not the best on an ipad .and have you tried another ipad to see if you get the same fault ? its one of them ain't it .process of elimination jobbies 😃

peter

Could you maybe record this problem as audio? I would really like to know how it sounds. It might give me a hint whether this is a hardware or software problem.