Hi! Thanks for all the work and updates. Love to use the app. But the last weeks I had a heart attack two times. below the description:
App Version: 3.1.7
Device: iPad
iOS Version: 16.7.11
Audio Output: Mini-jack to amplifier
Environment: Live use in a baseball stadium
Issue Summary:
In recent weeks, the app has exhibited unexpected audio behavior during inning breaks and walk-up song playback. The issue includes:
- Music playing at an accelerated speed, becoming distorted and noisy.
- Playback stopping automatically.
- Static noise when attempting to restart playback.
- A walk-up song starting automatically without user interaction.
Frequency: Intermittent, but recurring over the past few weeks.
Impact:
This issue disrupts the timing and quality of audio playback during live events. As a precaution, the amplifier volume is now kept at 0 during critical moments, which delays walk-up song playback and affects the overall experience.
Expected Behavior:
Stable and controlled playback of audio files without distortion, noise, or unintended triggering.
Regression:
These issues did not occur prior to the most recent updates.
Wow, that is some pretty odd behavior with many symptoms the app has very little control over.
I have only heard of a similar issue once before many years ago and the environment was very similar to what you describe with an amplifier in a stadium.
There have been no recent updates to any playback functionality. Last updates to anything playback related was actually several years ago.
My first thought is you might have a flakey D to A in the aux adapter connected to the iPad. Could you try a different one of those and see if the issue goes away?
Thanks for your quick response and for thinking along.
Good to hear that playback functionality hasn't been changed in a long time — that helps narrow down the possible causes step by step.
I'll definitely try a different aux cable as you suggested. It's quite possible that something is going wrong in the signal chain between the iPad and the amplifier. Could issues like accelerated playback, skipping audio, and distortion typically point to a fault in that cable or connection? Or could it also be related to the mini-jack port on the iPad itself?
To rule things out, I'll take the following steps:
- Use a different aux cable between the iPad and the amplifier
- Try a different input channel on the amplifier
- Test with a different iPad
- Inspect the iPad's mini-jack port for dust or looseness
Another thing I was wondering:
Could it be that the iPad's internal audio chip isn't functioning properly? If it overheats — for example, due to prolonged use in a warm stadium environment — could that potentially lead to distortion, accelerated playback, or other playback issues?
I'm trying to figure out what's different compared to last year, and the only thing I can think of is that it's been quite warm over the past month — both here and in the stadium. That might be a factor too.
Thanks again for your help.
Unless you have a really old iPad that still had a 3mm socket, there must be an 'adaptor' plugged in to the usb-c port of the ipad and then provides a 3mm jack for the aux cable. If you do have one of these adaptors, that is where I would suspect the problem to be. That little component contains quite a bit of electronics to convert the digital signal from the ipad to an analog signal that transmits in the aux cable to the amplifier. It does have the capabilities to do all those things you mentioned if it is not functioning correctly. My recommendation would be to get an apple official one and try that.
If you do have a really old iPad that had the 3mm jack, then I would suspect something faulty in the iPad itself as it would have the digital to analog converter built in and it could fail same as the exterior one.
And yes, heat could make that converter either internal to the iPad or external misbehave.