Hi all.
I’ve just started using Bome Network Pro for comms between my iPad Pro and MacBook Pro and did my first gig with it yesterday.
During testing last week, I noticed that I’d periodically get ‘stale connection’ notifications for my iPhone and iPad but this was understandable because I was frequently switching between devices and apps, and one or both devices would often be sitting there untouched while I was working on the other etc.
At yesterday’s first gig with this software, I got a couple of ‘stale connection’ messages when I was actively using my iPad Pro and MacBook Pro at the time and whilst the connection quickly refreshed on each occasion, I’m curious as to what circumstances result in stale connections? And, if there’s anything I can do to refresh the connection if the situation ever becomes problematic?
Your iPad or iPhone is not set to run in Background Mode. There is a switch on the lower right portion of the Bome Network App to enable this.
You have a congested WiFi network. In some cases it might be better to use ethernet than WiFi, there are lightning to ethernet adapters available for iPhone and iPad projects. Most of these also requires additional power for the devices.
Your MIDI devices are going offline for some reason.
If you have both ethernet and WiFi enabled, Bome Network may be confused on which connection to use. It is best to disable WiFi when using ethernet or visa versa.
In all cases, the connections should automatically re-connect when the connection gets re-established.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
In my particular situation, none of those 4 points are applicable i.e. 1) my devices are in Background Mode; 2) there are only 2 devices on the WiFi network; 3) I’m not running any other MIDI devices; and 4) I’m only running WiFI and not ethernet. So I’m a bit puzzled
The connections always seem to come good after a short period of time and so I’m not overly concerned but by the same token, I’d feel a bit better if I knew exactly what was going on.
You may only have 2 devices on your network but there could be many more devices competing on other networks for the WiFi bandwidth.
Ok, that’s a good point re. WiFi bandwidth…I hadn’t considered that. I’m not convinced that was the case the other day but in any case, there’s rarely time to conduct a WiFi survey at a gig whilst setting up.
The router sits right next to my Mac and my iPad is only ever about 1m away.
It’s not a big deal, Steve. I was simply interested in potential factors and how to best mitigate these if I ever have serious issues. At home, Bome Network is extremely reliable but I’ll only be able to get a better idea of how reliable it is at gigs once I’ve done a lot more gigs with it.
I had a client that had one particular venue that WiFi was always messed up. Like you his equipment was just a few feet from the router.
iPad with Surface Pro and BomeBox as the router. He ended up getting an ethernet kit to tie everything together and has not had problems since. With WiFi you are pretty much at the mercy of the venue for a clean connection.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
Hi @SteveC
I did a gig today at a different venue and city compared to the other day, and I used a different WiFI router, but I’m still getting stale connections between my iPad Pro/iPad Mini and MacBook Pro about once every half hour or so. They always reconnect but it still causes some anxiety having these disconnections when performing live.
I can’t see myself using Apple’s MIDI Network again but by the same token, I never used to experience random disconnections like this. I can’t say anything definitively but it really feels like the issue is something with Network Pro and not the environment or my hardware.
Do you have any suggestions, or are there any logs etc that I can check for possible causes?
