What router are you using with the X32?

Great topic.....as I've been in router hell the past couple of gigs.
I've been using a Linksys (the model escapes me) which is a 2.4g and it's been working great for the past year.
Prior to the X32 (when I was using a Mackie DL1608) I used an Airport Express....and it worked perfectly every night. Never a drop out.
But as all of you have stated....the Express is very tough to get working properly with the X32. I tried to get the Express working with my X32, but I had inconsistent results on if/when it would connect properly, so I grabbed the Linksys out of a drawer and started using that instead.
But the past couple of weekends, I cannot get my Linksys router to stay connected. After reading a lot (but not testing, because how do you simulate a crowded room?), I have come to the conclusion (right or wrong) that it's because I'm on 2.4g and there are too many competing devices in the room.

Side note: I also have an XR-18 mixer, and I mounted an Airport Extreme 5th Gen in that case. It works excellent.

After a rough weekend with the X32 and Linksys, I did more reading on routers and I was going to grab the Asus Black Knight (Chris, I think that's what you're using). The reviews are excellent.
But of course, I hopped on eBay and bumped into an Airport Extreme 5th Gen (I like 5th gen better because they're flat and can mount on a rack shelf)....well the auction that was about to end, and just for fun I bid....and I won it for $26.
So that came in the mail this week, I set up the network, and I'm mounting it back into the X32 rig tonight. I'm curious to see if this solves my drop out issues.
I am the opposite of an Apple fanboi....but when I was using the Airport Express with my Mackie DL1608, it was flawless. So I do have some faith in the Airport products.

I will report back on how the Extreme 5th gen is working out.

Another side note: when I use my XR-18, which also has an Airport Extreme 5th Gen....if I put my Shure GLX-D wireless too close to the router....it sounds like I have a crappy tremolo effect going. That is one strike against the Extreme....but it's easy enough to deal with, I just move my Shure base.
 
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Weird! When one of my bands was rehearsing last week with the AE we kept getting a "trem/chorus effect" in the IEMs and couldn't for the life of us figure it out. It must have been the AE interacting with the wireless units in the rack. Will note to move whatever router I use away from those babies. Thanks for sharing! :)

Been searching a ton of wireless forums, seems the Asus is getting great nods, in particular the AC68. Evidently the new design provides better performance and contains what they call "a tried and true Broadcom chipset".
 
svl said:
Weird! When one of my bands was rehearsing last week with the AE we kept getting a "trem/chorus effect" in the IEMs and couldn't for the life of us figure it out. It must have been the AE interacting with the wireless units in the rack.
Click to expand...

Yes, try moving and see what happens. Took me a while to figure this out. I kept switching channels on the wireless, etc.
Then it him me....and it made total sense at that point. All I did was unplug the router power and boom....wireless sounded great.
That's not the solution (as we need the router powered on), but that's a quick way to trouble shoot.

On the Asus routers, I agree they seem to have some great product. The reason I was going for the Asus Black Knight, was because the got excellent reviews, and you can find them for around $100.
One thing we haven't talked much about in this thread is - how much are we willing to spend to get a solid router?
Some of the Cisco options look amazing....but are very expensive. For me, it needs to be 'great', but not 'best in class'.
Not to say that I don't want near perfect performance from my router....but as long as sound check goes fine, the iPad is sitting 3 feet from the router all night. So I don't need an amazing router to keep connectivity at that distance. This was another reason an Airport Extreme 5th Gen may be a great solution for me, because at $26, if it works 'great', then it will be the perfect tool for the job.
Just some food for thought.
 
I was willing to go the $250 for the RT-3200, but looking back now it seems that may have been overkill. I would LOVE for the N66 to work, because as you state they're under $100 and I like the form factor, but it seems the AC68 is supposed to be a lot better connectivity-wise. The design of the 68 wouldn't work as well for me, and after considering the 66 the $180 price tag has me pausing as well. Have a week or so to decide before she has to go back into action, but want to nail it down in case I have to buy online versus in the store.
 
I haven't found a router that won't work with the console yet, my bigger concern is getting a router that maintains connectivity with the devices (iPhone, ipad, etc) connecting with it to control the console.
 
svl said:
I haven't found a router that won't work with the console yet, my bigger concern is getting a router that maintains connectivity with the devices (iPhone, ipad, etc) connecting with it to control the console.
Click to expand...
This has been our only issue... and in my debugging efforts, I've determined that [for us] it's been venue specific, meaning the interference is NOT likely due to wireless devices in use by venue patrons, but from external sources that we can't control.
It's intermittent and annoying. Often goes away by moving the router, or the iDevice around.

I'm considering getting a reasonable dual-band and putting us all on the 5Ghz band and see if the fixes it... the Linksys [WRT54G] now in use is not dual band (802.11 b/g only). I'm not even sure which model rev # it is. It might be a v8 or an old v2.2. I can't check, it's with the PA - 60 miles away.
 
Venue is a HUGE factor, that's why I'm desperate to find the most bullet-proof router (connectivity-wise) out there.
 
One thing you might want to do is to keep your net invisible, so no one is trying to connect to it. Even when that's not possible due to passwords or MAC filtering, too much pinging can cause problems if the net is visible.
Another one is to put the router in a high place if there's a lot of crowd with cellphones, which is the norm nowadays. We placed them on top of the front truss towers, to maximize the coverage.
 
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Zapa said:
One thing you might want to do is to keep your net invisible, so no one is trying to connect to it.
Click to expand...
+1000% - ours does NOT broadcast... you have to know the SSID to connect, plus we also use WPA2 security.
We do NOT expect to get hacked or anything, it's purely to prevent accidental access.
 
I run a couple years old apple rooter. i did a gig with 9 iPhone and 1 iPad and it was working fine.
99% of the time i run 5 iPhone and 1 iPad an i can mix 200feet in full venue or outside and been ok. i had some drops but i can't ask much that far.
 
Zapa said:
One thing you might want to do is to keep your net invisible, so no one is trying to connect to it. Even when that's not possible due to passwords or MAC filtering, too much pinging can cause problems if the net is visible.
Another one is to put the router in a high place is there's a lot of crows with cellphones, which is the norm nowadays. We placed them on top of the front truss towers, to maximize the coverage.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, I always keep it hidden. Getting height can sometimes be a problem depending on the venue, though...
 
RoshRoslin said:
Yessir. Found a deal for a new Asus rtn66u as well.

My Christmas gift to myself. :) I can get rid of my o1v now.
Click to expand...

Ha....That was my jump as well. Went from 01V96 (running wireless with a WinXP tablet) over to the X-Rack.
You are in for a treat. I love the 01V....absolutely flawless device. I had it on a rack drawer, wired up to a rack panel, which the band plugged into....I thought it was pretty slick. But going to the X-Rack is night and day. The Pre-amps are much nicer and the form factor can't be beat.
Not to mention the routing options, Matrix Mixes, etc.
 
Guillaume Lortie said:
I run a couple years old apple rooter. i did a gig with 9 iPhone and 1 iPad and it was working fine.
99% of the time i run 5 iPhone and 1 iPad an i can mix 200feet in full venue or outside and been ok. i had some drops but i can't ask much that far.
Click to expand...

I just picked up another Airport Extreme 5th Gen on eBay.....set it up 5G....and have had it running all day (from 2 floors away) and no drop outs.
This is all at home....so the 'no dropouts' doesn't really mean anything until I get to the crowded venues and pick up all the iDevice traffic.
I really was testing to make sure my WiFi issues had nothing to do with the X-Rack, and today's testing confirmed that.
Will report back on how the Extreme 5th Gen does out in the field this weekend.
 
BBN said:
Ha....That was my jump as well. Went from 01V96 (running wireless with a WinXP tablet) over to the X-Rack.
You are in for a treat. I love the 01V....absolutely flawless device. I had it on a rack drawer, wired up to a rack panel, which the band plugged into....I thought it was pretty slick. But going to the X-Rack is night and day. The Pre-amps are much nicer and the form factor can't be beat.
Not to mention the routing options, Matrix Mixes, etc.
Click to expand...
same here really, but no wireless to the 01v96i.

the main thing when starting with the x32 is that what every other board calls "aux sends" are simply "busses" on the x32 (which of course makes sense, but most others call them "aux.") just need to break that habit/definition.
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
same here really, but no wireless to the 01v96i.

the main thing when starting with the x32 is that what every other board calls "aux sends" are simply "busses" on the x32 (which of course makes sense, but most others call them "aux.") just need to break that habit/definition.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was realllllly confusing when I was adjusting the router today, trying to get familiar with the mixer. I was like "wait... you can't send monitors on aux send? that's USELESS" because they had "monitor" level, but it's really a headphone out, not monitor.

I think they named it "busses" because you can route send and returns through the busses. Just different terminology. Still gotta change up my thinking.
 
RoshRoslin said:
Yeah, that was realllllly confusing when I was adjusting the router today, trying to get familiar with the mixer. I was like "wait... you can't send monitors on aux send? that's USELESS" because they had "monitor" level, but it's really a headphone out, not monitor.

I think they named it "busses" because you can route send and returns through the busses. Just different terminology. Still gotta change up my thinking.
Click to expand...

there are specific 1/4" outs labeled "monitor" intended as a control room "monitor" send, which is what that refers to, and it's paired with the Headphone send i believe.
 
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