Stagemix, and other console apps (from all manufacturers) are becoming useless for me.
As time goes by the chance that any desk (by any manufacturer) will have the latest firmware installed is approaching zero. My Ipad is becoming a dead weight that it is not worth carrying. I cannot force a supplier to update their firmware, especially for a console that is being used 24/7 on a festival. Often the local engineer is not even aware that the desk has any “firmware?”
Would it not be possible to build backward compatibility into the apps? Or to release all the previous apps alongside the latest so that we can at least choose to make one of them work?
It’s a problem I run into as well, with the biggest problem being that my showfile for a given console will be made with the latest firmware available. To load this file on the console, the console will typically need that same firmware (or newer). But it doesn’t stop there. I use IEMs, and I use the latest features in them as well, so those need to be updated.
Plenty of equipment is becoming firmware-upgradeable and this problem of companies not keeping up to date is a real problem.
I am lucky I guess in that my band has enough pull that I can “demand” that the suppliers send me proof that their equipment has been updated, but I also can “make do” for a one-off if it were not to happen. They’d find me very grumpy if that’s the case.
What’s the solution? I guess for companies to stop sucking. Call them out by name, the way amazon and ebay shoppers do about sellers. Let people know which companies are not keeping up to date and put pressure on them to do better.
Not sure what else can be done!