For those who use tablets to manage mixing - Apple or Android ?

[walterw]

Any thoughts or experience using the smaller iPad as a mixing surface, and does anyone have any thoughts/experience to share about iPad OS vs Android ?

try it!

pretty much every board's mixer app out there is free and has a demo mode so you can see how it feels to work the controls before buying

i use an ipad mini 4 as my dedicated personal monitor mixing tablet, kept with my in-ear stuff and loaded with every digital mixer app i'm likely to encounter in bars and clubs; maybe it's caught up in the last couple years but when i bought my tablet many digital mixers had android monitor apps but they all had ipad apps

also i know at least a couple good local soundguys who might use laptops or bigger tablets to set up the system but will happily walk the room and mix the band with a mini-sized tablet

 

[pfschim]

update. So far after several live shows running the Ui24r, the iPad Mini (v4) has worked fine for me. I see the thing that s0c9 mentioned above ... that even with a larger screen (I use a Dell XPS 15 when I'm doing setups at home), the Ui only shows 10 channels, so a bigger tablet will not get me an expanded channel view.

So, I'm going to stick with the iPad Mini for now. Probably will try to move it from the top of the rig behind me (see pic) to a mic stand mount so I don't have to turn around to make adjustments. Of course, with all the preset show/snapshots possible, I'm trying to do as little adjustment as possible after downbeat. I've asked the bands I'm doing sound for to be serious about setup and soundcheck, so we all get what we really need before we start playing.

FWIW, I'm also trying to move the 2 bands to as much of a "self-serve" model as much as possible. I set up shows/snapshots for all of the channels/gain/FX/AUXs for each bandmember and gave them a channel and AUX assignment map for their stuff. They are responsible for connecting their own mics/amp line ins/monitors etc. while I get the box sorted out. Then I check everything out before soundcheck and we're off to the races. It's a work-in-progress, but it is going pretty well so far. The players are all very experienced folks, have their own gear and are generally very easy to deal with so that's helping.

off to my Sat afternoon gig, should be a nice day for live music outside.

 

[Supadope]

Glad it's all working out.

Though I'd also mention that this tablet holder is excellent.
Home
It can hold everything from an Apple mini to a 15" Surface Book screen. About $20 shipped.

 

[pfschim]

already got myself a mic stand tablet holder. I did that several months ago when I was contemplating using the tablet for chord charts and lyrics, but I decided to man up and just learn songs/lyrics (which I have done for decades without too much trouble) and not rely on the tablet. So, I got that covered thanks!

I have not put my Ui24r control tablet on the mic stand holder yet, and I'm starting to wonder if I really want to do that. I get that having it in front of me vs behind me on top of the mixer like in the pic I posted, would be more convenient. But, I'm also trying to work out the live sound responsibility to where we get a solid soundcheck, set the mix and then just leave it ... as opposed to setting the expectation that I will constantly adjust the mix as we are playing.

I did initiate my "self serve" approach to cabling/connecting everything on our last gig. I gave every player an ins/outs assignment list/map. For the most part it worked ok (although some players are not great at following the map ... ha! surprise) But I think we'll get there eventually, and then, once we get solid basic mixes stored as shows/snapshots, I'm hoping to only need to do small changes to the overall sound. Hoping for this ... we'll see.