Behringer AIR app on smartphone and general mixer experiences

#24
il_mix said:
Thanks for all your feedbacks! Interesting info and hints.
You are confirming that this device can be ideal for our needs. We can probably go step by step; test the mixer with phone and no router, bringing the spare WAP as backup just in case; if the connection seems too unstable, we'll buy a better router (5GHz); if the phone is not confortable enough, we'll search for an old android table, that will have just the mixer's sofware installed (alongside the wifi analyzer).
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Not a bad approach, but there’s several people here with a lot of experience, including me, telling you to skip the step that tries to use the built-in access point in the X Air series of mixers.

Seriously, don’t even bother. Get a dual-band router when you get the mixer.
 
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#25
Ok.. by request.. long post.. Some of this is primer level.. but it all applies.
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Here’s some basic wireless info you should be aware of when using it to run your FOH or IEM mixes.

Many digital mixers have embedded wireless capability. However, to keep the price-point down, they are not the "best" and it's really worth investing in separate external access methods for better connectivity - for most bands, that's an integrated home router or WAP (Wireless Access Point).

You don't need anywhere near all the features found on most home routers these days (QOS, Internet connections, USB, port forwarding, IP/MAC binding, IPV6, DDNS, parental controls, etc.) for band use at a gig. Your router will function as a WAP to allow you to connect to your mixer and control IEM and FOH mixes. So don't go out and splurge on a TOTL router, like a new Netgear Nighthawk!! Serious OVERKILL!!
You COULD even use one of your old routers for this purpose. I used an old Linksys WRT54G for a while - but it was NOT dual band. You definitely NEED a DUAL-BAND router as you should run 5Ghz ONLY if your connecting devices support it!
FWIW - Our band router is the highly rated TPLink Archer C7.. $85 (?)

SSID - is the name you assign to the wireless "network" on your router and the router broadcasts. Go to networks on your cell phone or iDevice/Android and look at the list of available wireless network. THOSE are SSID's.
You CAN TURN OFF ("hide") your router SSID broadcast so it's "hidden", but if you do, keep it a simple label so your band-mates aren't constantly asking you what it is. It's optional, not a necessity.

Wireless security has a variety of types - WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA Enterprise - to name a few, listed in order of "strength", weak to strong. Not all routers support all types, but most will handle WEP, WPA and WPA2. For a "band" router, security is more about preventing accidental access, as it's unlikely that anyone is trying to hack you - you have NO internet access! However, you don't want it wide open and want to make it to be secure. You don't need some clown connecting to your mixer with an app and messing with your FOH mix.

WPA2 (we use) is a 128-bit encrypted key that is stored on the router. You enter your own key value in the router wireless security admin screen (in text format). The user enters the same text when connecting to the network which is then encrypted and matched against the router's stored key value. Again, make this a relatively SIMPLE value so band members are not constantly asking you for the password at every gig.

I HIGHLY recommend a dual-band router (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz), and using ONLY the 5Ghz band ONLY as the "digital" domain (2.4Ghz, channels 1-12) is becoming VERY cluttered by wireless units on stage (Line6, Senn, Shure, etc.) AND all the cell phones in the venue with wireless turned on, etc.

IP Address: Most [home] routers arrive with the default base IP of 192.168.1.1. Basically, you should take you router off the default 19.168.1.* range, so you won't get pinged if your SSID is being broadcast. You should also change the 3rd node of your routers IP to something other than "1" (allowed values are from 2 -> 255) obfuscating the router and your network. You can set your router up using ANY Class "C" (Private) network IP. See here for more details - Private network - Wikipedia

The following example applies to any value you pick as the 3rd node, and I'm using 192.168.37.* as an example.

PART 1:
  • You want your router out of the standard clutter. Set the 3rd node (192.168.3rd_node.*) to something other than the standard value of 1. Let's use 37 as an example, but any value from 2 thru 255 is valid.
  • Your router IP would be 192.168.37.1, so set that in the config screen. Set the router up as DHCP and set the DHCP starting node to be non-standard - something like 102, or 155, or even 200.
  • That will give you (255 - n) dynamic IP's available from the starting point eg: 192.168.37.102 -->> 193.168.37.255
  • You are NOT going to have 60 devices connecting, so you could go as high as starting at 192.168.37.220. This would give you 254-220 = 34 IP's for your devices to use.
  • Set your mixer to have a static IP like 192.168.37.55. Make sure it is outside the DHCP range. You don't want your routers DHCP server assigning that IP to another device when you power everything up. You NEED to know the IP of your console as MOST vendors remote control console software requires you to enter an IP.
  • Give the router a simple, easy to remember SSID (band name?). You CAN turn off SSID broadcast, but we don't.
  • Turn on WPA2 wireless security. Again.. keep the connection string (password) relatively simple and easy to remember as it's highly UNLIKELY anyone will be trying to hack your network during a gig.
  • Following this approach should keep any interference at a minimum.

PART 2:
  • Get a tool like "Wifi Analyzer". Before each gig, run it. It will display a graph of all networks it finds (see pic below) and the channels they are using in both 2.4 and 5Ghz bands.
  • If your router's 2.4Ghz chosen channel (1-12) shows as cluttered with other access points, login as admin and change your channel to the least busy shown by the app. Channels 1, 6 and 11 do NOT overlap, so those are good starting points. IIRC - channel 1 or 6 tends to be the default 2.4 channel on many routers. Note that channels 13 and 14 are NOT active in the US, but still part of the 24Ghz spectrum.
  • Do the same for the 5Ghz channels. None of them overlap so that's not an issue, but stick to non-DFS channels (see below).

You should be all set. Note that there ARE other changes you can make to your router to make it more robust for your use - such as TX/RX power, changing antenna types, etc. - but not really needed for the average band.


upload_2019-3-19_9-40-54.png


NOTE:
If you want to learn more about channels, etc.. Read this: List of WLAN channels - Wikipedia
In the 5 Ghz spectrum, not all channels are available all the time. Some are Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS). If DFS is on - and your router supports it - your router will listen for radar or 1st Responders using those shared frequencies and not use those channels. So stick to the non-DFS channels: 36, 40, 44, 48, 149, 153, 157, 161.

For wireless IEM users:
Here's links to determine which "band" you should buy, based on the available frequencies in your zip code (US only). There ARE Euro versions too.. (not listed).
Also listed are available US bands, their associated frequency range and the vendors "label".

SHURE: Wireless Frequency Finder - Shure USA
G20 - 488.150-511.850
H20 - 518.200-541.500
J13 - 566.175-598.850

Senn: Wireless Frequency Finder - Sennheiser USA
A1 = 470-516 MHz
A = 516-558 MHz
G = 556-608 Mhz

FCC Spectrum Rules:
Wireless Microphones
 
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#30
The XR18 is great I have one, but I know for a fact there wasn’t a app for your phone to run it. Once I forgot my iPad for a sound check and tried to find a app for my phone but none, there is a app now. It’s still better to use a tablet and as someone suggested get a duel band external router less chance of getting booted off.
 
#33
I’ve been running an XR12 as a personal IEM mixer for a few months and highly recommend Mixing Station Pro. It’s very customizable as you can create custom layouts for portrait or landscape, specific layouts for only essential items on a phone, etc. There is a healthy learning curve but there’s a pretty decent online community and the developer seems motivated to continue to improve it.

I also run an external dual band router, using the 5G at gigs and the 2.4G at home (so I can make changes upstairs in my office if needed). I also run a wireless G10 live and discovered (the hard way) that poor placement of the router at shows can cause dropouts on the G10 (and very likely any other 2.4 wireless).

I used to use an older iPad 2 but it was rather slow switching between apps or connecting to the network so I changed over to a used iPad Mini Gen 1 which runs much faster and more reliably. I wouldn’t recommend going super old or too cheap on the tablets as reliability may suffer, particularly at gigs (everything works perfectly at home, right?). There are plenty of other ways to be a cheapskate but relying on a crappy tablet as the brain of your band’s FOH shouldn’t be one of them.

Here’s a couple of shots of the custom layouts on the Mini and a small iPhone 5 which are velcroed to the upper bout of the bass (I normally use the phone for our playlist). Having a custom layout for the phone can be handy and can be used by each player to control just their mix. You can set up individual layouts for each member and load them on their phones while you control the main mix on a larger better tablet. I recommend keeping the controls on the phones to a bare minimum due to the ‘fat finger’ effect.

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#34
neckdive said:
I’ve been running an XR12 as a personal IEM mixer for a few months and highly recommend Mixing Station Pro. It’s very customizable as you can create custom layouts for portrait or landscape, specific layouts for only essential items on a phone, etc. There is a healthy learning curve but there’s a pretty decent online community and the developer seems motivated to continue to improve it.

I also run an external dual band router, using the 5G at gigs and the 2.4G at home (so I can make changes upstairs in my office if needed). I also run a wireless G10 live and discovered (the hard way) that poor placement of the router at shows can cause dropouts on the G10 (and very likely any other 2.4 wireless).
Click to expand...
This is great!! I have done the same thing in the past. My iPad-2 (stuck on iOS 9) became so slow and unresponsive that it refused to show the channel levels when using MS-Pro or any of the vendor apps. I moved to an Andy tablet for a while, then upgraded last year to an iPad Gen6! WHAT a difference!
The Behringer/Midas apps work REALLY well on the new iPad, and while I still have the paid/licensed Mixing Station Pro app on my Andy devices, I seldom use it. There's LOTS of great stuff in it, but the vendor apps have a more intuitive UI (IMHO). That said, I would not hesitate to use it on my Android device as it's fully functional.. just different layouts and work flow.:hyper:

And yes.. ONLY use 5G for the band. You don't need the 2.4.
 
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#36
Bullitt5135 said:
I use an iPad for the main mixing & FOH. I've picked up a couple of the cheap $50 Kindle Fire tablets for bandmates to use for personal monitor mixing. Smartphones would work in a pinch, but I think the small screen size would be a hindrance.
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Our singer uses his iPhone to mix his IEM's.. worx 4 him, but I need something larger :)
 
#37
Our tech savvy singer has an XR18 in his studio where we rehearse. He had been using the Berhinger app since buying the XR but never liked that the UI is stuck in landscape mode.

We also use BandHelper for our lyrics and chordsheets and he prefers to use that in portrait. When he needs to click over to the mixer app to turn someone up or down, he has to read it sideways. Sometimes he’ll bring it to a gig so reading it sideways isn’t ideal.

I showed him the Mixing Station app after I bought my XR12 and he’s now adopted it since it’s customizable and can be displayed in portrait.
 
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