Best ipad-computer connections

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electrofux
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Best ipad-computer connections

Post by electrofux »

Hello,

i have been trying around with lemur and other apps for a couple of weeks now. Most of the time i use the wifi connection over the router. This works well with remote control apps like touch osc. But as soon as i use apps that send midi clock like sequencers (sequencomat, genome, phaedra...) this type of connection is just not good enough.
So i got me a usb wlan stick and made an adhoc connection. This works better but still not good enough plus i have the fear that the adhoc network is not secure enough because the only option to secure it is WEP.
I would use a midi interface (which also had the benefit of plug and play) for the ipad but most sequencing apps (like the sequencomat) use a maxpatch to get the functionality and this communicates via OSC or at least over a network.

Now i am wondering if it would make the connection more stable if i buy something like the apple airport express, implement a wifi connection between the ipad and the airport (which hopefully can be stronger secured) and then go via ethernet from the airport to the computer on a dedicated ethernet port which has no internet connection and nothing else goes over this network.

Does that make any sense?
Phil999
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by Phil999 »

I haven't used MIDI clock yet, but I get quite fast response for a level meter from Cubase.

Concerning security with WEP, I think with a 13-letter security key it should be save enough. And when I do a session the next day with newly started computers, I always have to delete the old ad-hoc network and create a new one. Is this the same at your place? Although not very handy, it adds to the security.
Formant+Eurorack, PPG wave 2.2, Korg MS-20, etc., EWI 4000s, QuNeo, etc., Mixbus32c, u-he, MadronaLabs, Samplemodeling, NI, etc., iPad2/4/Pro
electrofux
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by electrofux »

On my Pc i always have to delete a "default connection" that gets created. That one is unsecured but is always created besides the one that i have made for the ipad. I cant permanently delete it and i cant configure it. That is kind of annyoing too. It is a weird thing though that there is only WEP possible in ad hoc connections. I would really prefer a better secured connction.

I tried my above setup with an older wlan-router but as soon as i connect the pc to it, i lose my internet connection and stuff gets messed up. Not sure if i want to dig deeper. I tried looking up info on how to seperate 2 networks but google served me alot of different scenarios to mine and a ton of network mumbojumbo. Osc might be a cool thing but when networks get involved or it is going over wifi, i wish me back a good old Midi Cable ;)
Phil999
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by Phil999 »

electrofux wrote:On my Pc i always have to delete a "default connection" that gets created. That one is unsecured but is always created besides the one that i have made for the ipad. I cant permanently delete it and i cant configure it.
what OS are you running?
Formant+Eurorack, PPG wave 2.2, Korg MS-20, etc., EWI 4000s, QuNeo, etc., Mixbus32c, u-he, MadronaLabs, Samplemodeling, NI, etc., iPad2/4/Pro
electrofux
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by electrofux »

Phil999 wrote:
electrofux wrote:On my Pc i always have to delete a "default connection" that gets created. That one is unsecured but is always created besides the one that i have made for the ipad. I cant permanently delete it and i cant configure it.
what OS are you running?
I am running WIn 7 64bit.

I tried connectify yesterday which didnt work on my second computer, but on my main computer it worked. In access point mode i had bad drop outs in sequencomats, in ad hoc mode it worked pretty good. Though WEP was max in connectify too. But it is a bit easier to setup and you can see all ip adresses and if someone else wants to connect.
Phil999
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by Phil999 »

I'm also on W7 64-bit. The first week with my new iPad I used Connectify, later I deinstalled it and used the standard method with WEP. It's a bit more complicated to setup, and it has to be done each time I start up my DAW. I don't have a Wi-Fi card on my DAW, I use a netbook as OSC- and MIDI-bridge to my LAN. It appears there is less latency than with Connectify (there were some fluctuations and dropouts), but I could be wrong because these dropouts only happened with the netbook, not the laptop, if I remember correctly.
Formant+Eurorack, PPG wave 2.2, Korg MS-20, etc., EWI 4000s, QuNeo, etc., Mixbus32c, u-he, MadronaLabs, Samplemodeling, NI, etc., iPad2/4/Pro
electrofux
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by electrofux »

What i would really like to try is the following:

.........................LAN1 ...............................................LAN2
internet---router----ethernet port 1---computer----ethernetport2-------router2(wifi)-------Ipad

But with that i opened up a can of worms in my network and my motivation to solve it sinks the more i read about network configuration.
Phil999
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by Phil999 »

you can select both adapters and right-click and select 'Bridge Connections'. That works very well for me. If you like, I can give you a detailed explanation how to setup.

EDIT:
I tried out MIDI clock with an app called Funkbox. It works perfectly fine, in the app's settings it even shows 0 ms latency. So technically there shouldn't be a problem with Lemur and MIDI clock sync.
Formant+Eurorack, PPG wave 2.2, Korg MS-20, etc., EWI 4000s, QuNeo, etc., Mixbus32c, u-he, MadronaLabs, Samplemodeling, NI, etc., iPad2/4/Pro
electrofux
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Posts: 294
Joined: 24 Jan 2012 18:22

Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by electrofux »

Phil999 wrote:you can select both adapters and right-click and select 'Bridge Connections'. That works very well for me. If you like, I can give you a detailed explanation how to setup.

EDIT:
I tried out MIDI clock with an app called Funkbox. It works perfectly fine, in the app's settings it even shows 0 ms latency. So technically there shouldn't be a problem with Lemur and MIDI clock sync.

Aah, i will try this out later. Do i still have to set different ip adresses and sub masks for the two lans? What about the routers and their two conflicting DHCP Servers?
Phil999
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Re: Best ipad-computer connections

Post by Phil999 »

I don't know. I bridge the wireless and wired adapters of my netbook. They have different IP addresses, hence the need to bridge them together. This gives me the freedom to reboot any machine in the local network, and also switch to a different wireless with the iPad and back, without losing the connection.

Don't know much about submasks and DHCP. There are very few network specialists on the internet it seems. Would be good to have some professional advice. I for example had to figure everything out by myself. Not one single helping hand. :roll:
Formant+Eurorack, PPG wave 2.2, Korg MS-20, etc., EWI 4000s, QuNeo, etc., Mixbus32c, u-he, MadronaLabs, Samplemodeling, NI, etc., iPad2/4/Pro
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