Connecting to iPad via iConnectAudio4+

[John the Savage]

iOS music is a PITA, but worth it. I'm forging ahead.

Haha...

Ya, I bashed my head against that wall for a few years. I still look at the iPad every now and then, which has since been relegated to pedestrian duties around here, with a deep sigh of disillusionment. So much power, such an attractive package, yet somehow it always manages to leave me in a lurch.

Granted, as a full-time touring musician, I simply can’t deal with reliability issues, no matter how trivial. Whereas most of the iOS music producers I know, are under no certain pressure that way, and are otherwise content to troubleshoot, relaunch, and reboot ad nauseum, as long as they get it working in the end.

Whenever I watch a YouTube video of someone doing clever and compelling things with their iPad, a MIDI dongle, and a handful of Korg and T.E. toys, I think “Yep, all that fiddling around, five minutes of music, and just four hours to go, night after night after night..."



Cheers!

[mrspiral]

John, thanks for confirming. I just ordered the Apple Lighting/USB3 dongle. I will report back.

It's weird the MIDI works with the no-name adaptor, but not audio. Fingers crossed the genuine Apple will do the trick.

iOS music is a PITA, but worth it. I'm forging ahead.

Steve

Steve, you have just learned the hard way that if you don't use real Apple hardware to do this stuff you will be screwed, either immediately or eventually.

A significant percentage of the complaints we see on the iOS Facebook groups that "this stuff doesn't work" come from people who are using non-Apple adapter hardware. They do this because they want to save a few dollars, or to "stick it to the man" by not giving in to Apple's seeming insistence that people use their overpriced hardware... or, most of the time, out of innocent ignorance that they're paying for way more than an engraved logo.

You can find teardown videos or photo essays of nearly every Apple product if you hunt around on the web. Most if not all of them reveal that the guts of even something as supposedly simple as a power supply are hugely different between Apple and everyone else: LED diagnostic lights that actually mean something instead of indicating a connection, built-in safety and reliability features, and an overall excellent build standard.

In the case of interface adapters, this is critical: they're not just pieces of plastic with connectors in them, they have smarts as well. That's fine; it's easy enough for an overseas factory to create a tiny daughterboard that imitates what the real thing does. The one thing these products can't do is to imitate the Apple products' ability to be updated over time with new firmware tweaks. This is done automatically from your iOS device every now and then. You'll get a little popup that says, "Hang on, updating your interface firmware" that vanishes after a couple of seconds. This is how Apple seamlessly assures that years-old hardware will keep working well with OS upgrades.

Without this feature, third-party devices may not work out of the box, and even if they do, they'll eventually stop working because they can't update. You buy a new one, assuming the hardware has crapped out. And then another, and another, and before you know it you've spent far more than you would have if you just bought Apple to begin with. For anything other than a Lightning cable, it doesn't pay to do that.

I wish you luck in getting things working. Personally I have found iOS music to be the least PITA of any working method I've used in the last 40 years, but everyone's experience will be different. The iConnectivity boxes are in fact tricky to get working, as many have said in this thread (including my esteemed colleage Mr. The Savage), but you eliminate a ton of hassle by going Apple all the way.

By the way, for the record, I have been using iPads on stage for nine years and worked exclusively with them for many gigs, and have never, ever had a problem, full stop, aside from one crash seven years ago. I have no experience with stuff going sideways, so I can't advise those folks for whom it happens.

[John the Savage]

I think it's worth pointing out, if only for the sake of perspective, that after incorporating the Apple dongle into the connection scheme outlined in this thread, I've had zero problems with the iConnect interface itself. In fact, I continue to use it in my touring rig for sub-mixes and general MIDI routing. But that's only one facet of the overall setup for me.

Beyond that initial connectivity conundrum, most of my issues have stemmed from the apps I use, despite using reputable ones. And again, I can't stress enough that my tolerance for troubleshooting in this regard is extremely low. It was the little things, like apps not launching on the first try inside of Audiobus or temporarily breaking with an iOS update, that wore me out over time. I tour with a lot of gear, and find myself in unfamiliar situations a lot; as such, I need to know that I can just flip a switch and play, reliably, every time. Anything less, for me anyway, is simply not worth the stress.

I've kept the iPad though, because it can be an amazing tool for making music when the stakes are lower.

Cheers!

[Stevee00]

@mrspiral, that's the best explanation I've ever seen about Apple adaptors. I knew that they were more reliable, but never knew why. With your permission, I'd like to share your post on the Audiobus Forum, where I usually hang out.

Between your confirmation that iOS audio can be reliable if done right and Mr. John the Savage's cautions we have a balanced view. I'm relatively new to this, but determined to make it work, so I'm siding with you, Mr. Spiral (but taking lots of precautions). I do "experimental" music and push the limits of what music can be. I already can do things with iOS that I could never do with outboard gear or even Ableton on a laptop. I'm incredibly excited about all the innovation coming from iOS developers and the whole concept of apps integrating and acting as modules for each other creating infinite possibilities. The result is some crazy shit.

Thank you, all, for your insights.

Steve
ThinAirX.com

[Stevee00]

Technical follow up to the original adaptor question: I got my new Apple USB 3 CCK in the mail and hooked it up to the iConnect Audio4+ and my iPad 3. Didn't work! WTF? Finally got it to work by switching to the computer port on the back of the A4+. The 2.1amp port (with the iPhone image) that originally worked with the iConnect cable (but didn't provide changing power) didn't work, but the 1.0amp computer port works fine. Can anybody tell me why? Am I missing some trick to get the 2.1 port to work with my iPad? I'd like to use it to connect a second iPad as a controller, or to connect the Air 3 and use the other port for my laptop (as I originally configured it).

And, boy, with the switched ports I have to go a complete redo of the routing in iConnect. I hate the iConnect editing interface; so poorly designed and frustrating!

Steve

[John the Savage]

I'm sorry to hear that, Steve.

I've used iDevices in either/both device ports before, without issue, and when I use my computer (when I need to use iConfig for instance), I use the iPad solely in the 1A port, because iConfig can only update the hardware from the 2.1A port. The images above these ports are arbitrary, by the way, and only stand to indicate that you can connect a computer or an iDevice to either port. The paradox, however, is that it would make more sense to connect an iDevice to port 1, because it offers a greater charge, but that's the port your computer must use for the reason I stated above.

Anyway...

Not to be redundant, but what's not working exactly? Are you sure that you've got your Audio/MIDI connections configured correctly in iConfig? It can indeed be confusing to get to grips with, so you have my sympathy there.

To that end, what apps are you using? And are you running them standalone or inside a host app, like Audiobus or AUM? In Audiobus, for instance, you do need to specify your iConnect interface as the Audio Output device.

The one thing I am confident about though, is that you have not wasted your money getting the Apple dongle. Unless you got a lemon, which is unlikely at best, at least you can be sure now that the issue is not with the peripheral. To be clear, you did purchase the larger CCK dongle (i.e. the one with the USB host port and the extra Lightning port for power), right? And you plugged the iPad's own power supply into that Lightning port, correct?

Cheers!

P.S. If you're not getting along with iConfig, have you tried Auracle yet? I haven't used it myself, but it's supposed to be more user-friendly.

[Stevee00]

(I wrote a detailed reply a couple days ago, but somehow I lost it without posting. Argh!)

I checked again and confirmed: charging and audio/midi work fine when plugged in to the 1 A port of the iConnect Audio4+, but when plugged into the 2.1 A port it doesn't work --my ipad is not receiving anything from the iConnect (it does charge, though). I have no clue why. This is with the genuine Apple dongle, but is what happened with the no-name dongle as well.

I had the laptop (Logic Pro) in the 1 A port--and laptop works in the 2.1 A port too.

I'm using AUM as the nerve center of my iPad setup. I'm going by what I see in the MIDI matrix and where AUM is offering hardware options. Verified MIDI with MIDI Wrench.

Of course, you say, why not just roll with the laptop in the 1 A port? I could, but that means that all my audio and MIDI routings within iConnect are switched, iPad with laptop. I have to start over with iConfig.

I'm pleased with the iConnect Audio 4+ in terms of features, performance, reliability. I hate everything about iConfig, the editing software. It sucks up hours of my time to decipher the controls (I have 40 years of experience learning difficult software and audio systems, so I know crappy user interface when I see one). But it's worth it, because when I get it the way I want it, it's solid. Which is why I tremble at the thought of redoing everything now to switch iPad and laptop routings.

AUM is brilliant. I love it. Once you learn it's conventions, it's easy to work with and exploit even the most advanced features. It's a model for good user interface, the antipode of iConfig. I've built an elaborate and extensive platform to command all my iOS and outboard gear (and be controlled by MIDI Designer).

Steve
ThinAirX

[mrspiral]

@mrspiral, that's the best explanation I've ever seen about Apple adaptors. I knew that they were more reliable, but never knew why. With your permission, I'd like to share your post on the Audiobus Forum, where I usually hang out.

Between your confirmation that iOS audio can be reliable if done right and Mr. John the Savage's cautions we have a balanced view. I'm relatively new to this, but determined to make it work, so I'm siding with you, Mr. Spiral (but taking lots of precautions). I do "experimental" music and push the limits of what music can be. I already can do things with iOS that I could never do with outboard gear or even Ableton on a laptop. I'm incredibly excited about all the innovation coming from iOS developers and the whole concept of apps integrating and acting as modules for each other creating infinite possibilities. The result is some crazy shit.

Thank you, all, for your insights.

Steve
ThinAirX.com

My pleasure, sir, and yes please do share it on the Audiobus forum. I would love to hear feedback from folks; you're certain to get at least one person saying that I'm full of sh*t, which will be highly amusing for me to read.

[mrspiral]

Steve, the iConnectivity interfaces can be fussy about which device is plugged in where. I have never gotten two iPads to work precisely the way I want them to, and usually restrict usage to one Mac (which acts as the Master) and one iPad.

John, Auracle is indeed a much nicer user experience than iConfig, but it's deliberately almost completely brain-damaged. It's designed for folks who want the bare basics of the iCtvty ecosystem to work, and has basically no configurability at all. I should also note that it's useless in Steve's case, as there is no iOS version and no current plan to create one.

iConnectivity is well aware of the fact that iConfig is a nightmare that will make you weep tears of blood and rage. They have known this for years. They say they're doing something about it. One of my better friends in the industry works for them and breaks out in a cold sweat whenever I inquire about a delivery date for an update. It's fearsomely complex to route all the things that these interfaces can route, and a user interface that allows navigation and reliable setup is a fearsomely complex task... one that the nice folks at iConnectivity have completely and utterly biffed.