Audio out over bluetooth or wifi?

[Teddy]

I would like to use a wireless solution in our rehearsal hall to play song recordings through the P.A. when the band is learning new songs. Currently we hold a microphone up to the ipad speaker.  I truely HATE bluetooth due to it's numerous inherent limitations.  Is there a better method for getting BH recording audio to play through the P.A. from BH on the iPad?  It seems that there are only two wireless methods: Bluetooth & Apple Wifi....but Apple recently discontinued the AirPortExpress (and Google just discontinued their Chromecast Audio over Wifi) so that leaves only Bluetooth I guess.  Am I correct here?  Or can somebody please share their solution with me?

I currently play bluetooth house music through my cell phone to the P.A. at gigs between sets, but during playback there is always annoying breaks in the audio at close range.  And when I tried the same bluetooth receiver at rehearsal it developed a loud buzz so I really need a recommendation here.  I'm already using a PED bluetooth pedal and it's very annoying having to turn it off to use the onboard ipad keyboard function because of the "one bluetooth device" limitation.  Understandably, I'm very hesitant to add another bluetooth device to the setup.  It seems like a very flakey setup in the wireless shortwave range for many reasons.  Please help.  Maybe there's a higher quality Bluetooth receiver that doesn't cut out or buzz, and I need to buy a new pedal like the CODA which disconnects from Bluetooth from an easy footswitch?  Or maybe there's something better/easier out there.

[arlo]

First of all, the PED has a button you can press to quickly show the on-screen keyboard. Or you can use AirDirect mode and then it works independently of the on-screen keyboard.

I use a $20 generic Bluetooth receiver for playing music around the house, and it's not perfect but good enough for rehearsal use, and definitely better than putting a microphone next to the iPad speaker. I don't think this will have any impact of your use of a Bluetooth foot switch.

If you really don't want to use wireless, can you run a line out from the iPad to whatever mixer you're using? If you're already running a mic, you could just give another channel to the iPad. I think you can get a 1/8" headphone to XLR adapter or use a DI box if that's easier.

I don't know of a wi-fi option, but maybe someone else does.

[Teddy]

Thank you Arlo,

How many Bluetooth devices can you use at the same time in BH?  I am under the impression that you're limited.

The thing I like about the PED is that it's thin & lightweight.  The things I don't like about it are that it's falling apart from long term use and using velcro to attach it to my ipad tends to pull it apart and weaken it's case.  Plus, depending on your floor surface, it can be difficult to make good switch contact and the keyboard off function means that I have to bend over with a heavy bass guitar, sometimes in cramped areas.  I want to buy another foot pedal but I'm having a difficulty determining if it should be BT or MIDI due to my inexperience with this stuff.  I wish more contributors would share their setups.  Pros and Cons.  My PED is constantly going offline when I'm too busy to worry about it during setup, so I'm not impressed with it's reliability.  Lately, I just scroll by hand while playing rather than taking the time to go into settings and see what's wrong (BT off, mode and/or AirDirect set incorrectly, etc).  And that's a shame.  I definately want to buy another one, but not sure what to buy.

I also use a cheap bluetooth receiver and suspect that's the problem.  Another contributor suggested a rackmounted BT mixer by Alessis, but that seems like overkill since our P.A. has plenty of inputs already.  I wish someone could recommend a reliable setup.  Certainly some of the users who use backing tracks should have experience in this area?

[arlo]

I don't think there's a limit of Bluetooth devices that you need to worry about. There's probably a limit in iOS somewhere, but I'd guess it's at least 16.

My Hardware page has some suggested foot switches, and some have links to my own hands-on reviews. Some of them activate the keyboard by pressing both foot switch buttons at the same time, so you can do that without crouching down:

http://www.bandhelper.com/support/hardware.html

You can wait for more replies here, but you might also post on a more general music performance or live sound forum like gearslutz.com or forums.musicplayer.com.

[Teddy]

Thank you Arlo.  You're responses are awesome as usual....cheers my friend.