The list of new features and improvements in version 1.6 is impressive! There are some really exciting additions that I’m looking forward to exploring. However, I’m a bit hesitant to update our SQ7 mixing console right away, as feature releases are sometimes followed by bug fixes. For now, our console is still running version 1.5.
Smartphones, on the other hand, typically update apps automatically. This evening, I had four musicians whose phones had already updated to SQ4You 1.6. As a result, they were suddenly unable to connect to the mixing console because SQ4You 1.6 appears to be incompatible with an SQ7 still running version 1.5.
Honestly, I find this quite frustrating. It seems like an issue that could have been prevented, yet it unexpectedly caused a problem during our session. In the future, it would be helpful if app updates maintained backward compatibility for at least one previous firmware version or if users were given a clear warning before updating, ensuring they don’t lose functionality unexpectedly.
I have the same issue, I had 5 of our 8 iPads update overnight so they would not work this morning.
So today updated the console. Now 2 of my older iPads (iPad Air 1) will not run it at all since SQ4You needs iOs13 and they can not upgrade past iOs 12. There are ways around this, but this having people use their phones and whatnot. But I had a fully functioning system yesterday and now I need to buy 2 new/used iPads.
Mind you I have been doing some playing around w/ 1.6 and I like the upgrades. I just wish I had the choose of when to implement it.
Same issue here… we were about to start rehearsal last night before youth service and suddenly lost all remote control including with MixPad. Horrible timing. Needs fixed.
On the Iphone you can chose how your app is update, automaticly or manualy. All my Ipad who is using an Audio APP are on manualy. is the best way to prevent version issue.
Glad that I have auto update turned off on all devices. It’s just too dangerous. This issue is not limited to A&H or Apple products.
Fun fact: IOS 15 has broken MIDI support, and most people either have IOS 12 with working MIDI, or IOS 15 on middle-aged iPads. But MIDI wasn’t fixed until IOS 17 which won’t run on middle-aged devices. So this unfortunate combination will now lead people who wanted to use SQ4You and some MIDI something on their iPad to having to buy a rather recent iPad which is expensive.
Me & myself, I’m still in IOS for the old QuControl app, otherwise I’d be on Android.
You can use MixingStation on IOS 12 still (actually even on IOS 11). It can also connect in SQ4You mode to the mixer. However, re-inventing the SQ4You surface in MixingStation will take some effort.
It’d make a lot of sense for A&H to release a new suite of apps each time they release new firmware (perhaps with the firmware version appended). I know it could get unwieldy with lots of Apps on the stores, but it would mean people wouldn’t get caught out by an automatic update on tablets/phones rendering their devices unable to work with the desk from one day to the next. At least with a new app the firmware on the desk could be updated manually, and people notified that they will need to then download the new app. It’s the disconnect between one thing auto updating and another manually.
Or, of course, maintain backward compatibility within the app!?
There is a topic in the Feature Suggestions section requesting having legacy versions of the Apps available in the App/Play store to avoid such problems.
Can I encourage other users affected to use the vote option to support the request.
The option to vote to support Feature Suggestions available and used by A&H to monitor user support for Feature requests.
(Search for SQ MixPad/SQ4You and was the only result )
Backwards compatability is not too hard to implement so for example Mixpad 1.6 can and should have been made to work with firmware 1.5.
Dropping old iOS support for a minor release is a disgrace. Making hard-working and not necessarily well-paid musicians invest in new hardware to avoid A&H having to invest in the compatibility is not fair. Too much like Microsoft behaviour for my liking.
If older versions are available through some direct links these should be made readily accessible on the download page.
It would be good to see somebody from A&H explaining and defending their position on this.
This really isn’t something A&H can fix, as phone updates are a phone operating system issue. As others have noted, Apple has the capacity to limit apps to manual updates, as does Android.
The difficulty comes in the fact that the phone apps will still update to the latest version, so if 1.7.0 comes out while your SQ is at 1.6, and someone needs to update from 1.5, they’ll go straight to 1.7, and you’ll face the same issue.
A&H could release separate apps for different versions, but that raises its own problems. I don’t think they want to maintain and update multiple code bases, and I don’t blame them. That’s a big lift.
Our solution was to get some inexpensive tablets for SQ4You (rather than BYOD), set updates on the tablets to manual, and run a dedicated Wi-Fi with no Internet access to connect the mixer to the tablets. (That also avoids wrestling with what can be really bad house Wi-Fi.) We just periodically connect to the Internet to update everything at once.
I realize there are no “perfect” solutions here, but personally I think that is a TERRIBLE solution. Forcing everyone to download and install a new app, then get it set up correctly (enter in IP addresses and other settings), and then remove the old app from their device very time their system had a firmware update would be horribly complicated.
The correct solution here is to simply turn off automatic updates on these programs. Now I realize that Apple and Google app stores both default to making apps update automatically, but people can easily change this setting to “manual updates” which requires a person to press the “update” button themselves before the app will install a new version. At least for Android it can be set like this. I don’t use Apple devices to know for sure.
I’m sorry you think it’s a “TERRIBLE” solution. Sadly it’s not possible to disable auto update for individual apps on iOS or iPadOS devices. It’s not just one app which is affected - as anyone out there may be familiar, there are churches etc. who rely on individuals to use their own devices to use SQ4You for monitoring, and asking all of the worship team to disable automatic app updating on all of their devices is unworkable. I haven’t used some of the apps for a while, but I’m pretty sure the auto discovery can handle most things if a new app has to be installed. There are plenty of us out there that wait for the x.x.1 update until installing new firmware, to allow bugs in the x.x.0 version to be ironed out, and having lots of devices rendered useless for SQ apps in the meantime can be a massive limitation.
That’s just one more reason in a long list of reason NOT to use Apple products IMHO.
It’s unworkable to get them to turn automatic update off (when possible) but it is workable to have to take 5 minutes with each musician to get a new app installed, set up correctly, and the old app uninstalled every time there is an update? That doesn’t sound like a good use of time IMHO. I’d rather spend 2 minutes (once) with each musician to get them to turn off automatic updates!
I don’t think the problem is Apple, the problem is really Allen & Heath. There was no problem if the SQ app was simply backward compatible. I think it’s very strange that an app only can communicate with exactly one version of the mixing console. Allen & Heath should fix that for the future.
Gosh. I’m not about to tell everyone to change the personal device they’ve chosen to use. You can’t simply say “don’t use Apple” to justify your solution. I work in a mixed OS environment, as, I’m sure, do a significant proportion of SQ users out there.
What do you say at the beginning of the pre-service rehearsal to the keys player who’s just turned up and fired up SQ4You on their iPhone as normal only to find that their device has updated (to a more secure version etc. etc.) but the desk hasn’t yet. “Sorry, {insert name of keys player}; you shouldn’t have an iPhone. Because of that you can’t hear your in-ears mix until the desk firmware has been updated, perhaps in a week or two’s time.”
Rather than pooh-poohing perfectly valid choices, please try helping, and coming up with solutions that will work in the vast majority of cases.
Yes, asking someone to install an app (like they’ve all done before!), and a new member of the team would have to do anyway, is a workable solution.
I’d like to add something about Android:
In addition to the Google Play Store, there are alternative sources for Android apps, such as Aptoide.
There, you can also find previous versions of SQ4You for installation.
Of course, installing apps from non-Google sources is always a bit riskier, but Aptoide is also considered trustworthy, and I personally haven’t had any problems with it.
However, I don’t do this on my personal phone, but only on older devices that are used solely for control purposes, for example.
These don’t even have to be particularly up-to-date—even the latest version of SQ4You only requires the 10-year-old Android 6.
Typically, everyone has one or more such previously used devices lying around.
But of course, this isn’t my recommendation, and despite the green trust mark, neither I nor anyone else can guarantee 100% security - everyone has to decide for themselves !!
As a musician, sound engineer and and active software developer I can see this from most directions and the inevitable and sad conclusion is that the root of the problem is simply that A&H have taken the lazy way out at the expense of their users - backwards compatability is not expensive or difficult to maintain it is just a question of good design and development practices. My product Gig Control has had 19 significant releases since 2018 and remains compatible with data files created with the first version (and still runs on WIndows Vista if needs be). By comparison the auto update of Mixpad forced me to update first the desk AND by implication the version of Windows on my live control computer (so that Mixpad could be updated thereon).
It is simply unacceptable (and very bad publicity for A&H) for a sound engineer to turn up for a job and find that the tools that worked yesterday no longer work. That is exactly what happened to me and it seems quite a few others. And no this is not a bad workman blaming his tools . . .
Config : SQ5, Mixpad on Android tablet and iPad and PC.
