WiFi Issue

[soulshine]

I am currently using Setlist Maker for Backing tracks and Lyrics onstage and has been working flawlessly since purchase a couple of years ago.

I recently introduced a Apple Airport Extreme as an access point (no internet connection) for wireless control of our mixing board onstage. We access the board on the same iPad to make level adjustments during the show. While this works for a while we have been consistently experiencing a freeze during track playback after several songs played. The track still plays but the lyrics freeze, and I have no control over the app.

Its important to note that the mixing board has a built in access point that works without any freezing issues but the access point is weak and when used in a venue where the wireless traffic is heavy the built in access point is unreliable which is why we introduced the Airport Extreme.

I have read in the forum that turning off auto sync off in Setlist Maker might solve the problem but it did not work for me. Could this be a setting for the router? Feels like Setlist Maker is searching for an internet signal and when none is found it freezes.

Any suggestions would be helpful!

Thanks

[arlo]

I've had reports of this when using iOS 7 or 8 and with a variety of different kinds of routers. Can you confirm that the problem occurs with the Apple router but not with the mixing board's built-in router, by performing the same actions when connected to each router?

When you say "the lyrics freeze," do you mean you are auto-scrolling your lyrics?

Are you doing anything with device linking? Are the two broadcast options in Settings > Device Linking turned off?

[soulshine]

As always thanks for the quick response - here are the answers to your questions.

Can you confirm that the problem occurs with the Apple router but not with the mixing board's built-in router, by performing the same actions when connected to each router?
Confirming that it only occurs with Apple Extreme Router and does not occur with the built in router on the new Behringer X AIR XR18: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/XR18.aspx

When you say "the lyrics freeze," do you mean you are auto-scrolling your lyrics?
Correct auto scrolling lyrics freeze - the entire app freezes.

Are you doing anything with device linking? Are the two broadcast options in Settings > Device Linking turned off?
I did have the Broadcast Screen option enabled. Assuming this is looking for internet as well - I will turn off and test tomorrow morning.

[Sander]

I have had this same issue and have been looking for a cause with my Set List Maker configuration. Interesting that you say it happens solely with the Airport Router and not the other AP. Why would SLM care? Apple is generally pretty close mouthed on what is in their hardware, do you know what kind of chipset they use? Are you using a 5GHz band or a regular one?

Thank God I'm not alone anymore! We use the A&H GLD series mixer and its accompanying app OneMix by the way. It only happens while that app is open (in the background), as far as I can tell.

[soulshine]

The Airport Extreme (5th generation) is set up to simultaneously utilize both bands 2.4 GHz and 5GHz. Not sure about the chip set.

You mentioned that it only happens when your mixer app is running in the background - thats what I am experiencing as well!

Still need to test with the Broadcast screen option disabled in Setlist Maker - do you have all those options off in your set up (autosync, and both broadcast options)?

While there are workarounds here, I would prefer to use both apps on one iPad and avoid introducing additional devices to control the board. Hopefully this is something like changing the configuration set up on the router or a quick update to Setlist Maker!

BTW: The A&H GLD is a pretty sweet board!!

[Sander]

The router we use runs 2.4GHz and 5GHz too but presents them as a separate network. I connect to one depending on the room and "forget" the other so it doesn't keep auto switching based on small fluctuations.

FWIW, as far as I can tell SLM is the ONLY app that hangs, and is apparently affected by wifi even though (according to Arlo) it shouldn't be while autosync is disabled.

According to him, updating to iOS8 might alleviate the issue, so I did that last weekend but I haven't played with that band yet - Friday I'll test again.

[arlo]

Updating to iOS 8 allows database syncing to occur on a background thread, so if the problem is that you are editing data and triggering an auto-sync while you're on an unconnected wi-fi network, that will solve it, as will turning off auto-sync. But it sounds like the problem described here is not triggered by database syncing.

[soulshine]

I am running iOS 8.3 -

I just confirmed after tests today that even with autosync and both broadcast options disabled the app still freezes after a period of 10-20 minutes when using the Airport Extreme as an access point.

[Sander]

Dammit. I hope Arlo can find some cause for it in that case.

[arlo]

I did some testing using Set List Maker and BandHelper on a wi-fi network that has no Internet connection. What I found is that whenever the apps try to sync, that process will run in the background for five minutes, but then the final check to determine that there's no connection doesn't run in the background and freezes the app for between 10 and 30 seconds.

The apps sync whenever you open them or save any data in them. So I'm guessing what's happening is that some of you open the app and start to use it, and then five minutes later the problem occurs, and it seems random because the action that triggered it occurred five minutes ago. If you are switching between apps, the problem would recur whenever you switch back to these apps, with the same five minute delay.

I just updated my working copy so that the network check at the end of the sync process also runs in the background. After changing this, the sync icon will blink for about 5 1/2 minutes, but won't affect the app otherwise. The interface remains active, and audio playback and auto-scrolling are unaffected.

This change will be available in the next update. This change will only affect devices running iOS 8, because I haven't had success using background processes on older iOS versions. Also, this will only solve problems caused by syncing on a disconnected wi-fi network. Some people have said that the problem still occurs with auto-sync turned off, or is caused a particular app running in the background, but if you think this is the case, I'd encourage you to look more closely and see if database syncing is really what is triggering the problem. That's the only function in the app that uses an Internet connection.

[Sander]

The behavior seems to match except that it occurs for me with autosync disabled. But maybe there is something checking for a connection when opening the app or something? I don't know, but I hope it helps!

[arlo]

Actually the app will check for announcements when it opens, if it has not checked in five or more days. You could find out if this is the problem by opening the app when you do have an Internet connection, then opening the app again without an Internet connection within five days of that. Anyway, I've also updated the app to skip the network check when it's checking for announcements, so that won't be a problem even on pre-iOS 8 devices.

[soulshine]

Thanks Arlo -

Any timeframe for the next release?

[arlo]

Some time next month. It's tied to a big update to the Android version that is nearly finished but will need a couple weeks of beta testing.

[arlo]

This release is in review at Apple now. Release notes are posted here:

http://www.arlomedia.com/apps/setlistmaker/support/release_notes.html

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