Reloop Buddy audio stopped working with iPad

Ever since 5.0 came out, DJay doesn’t recognise Reloop Buddy as an audio device on my iPad Pro. Meaning, the connection works and all the buttons on the controller control DJay itself, but the audio goes out through iPad speakers and there are no other options to choose from in settings except for iPad Audio. I’ve done some debugging and can tell that:

  • the cable works - after all, the controller communicates with the app and maps actions correctly
  • the controller itself works as expected with the Mac as well as iPhone (ie audio plays via controller)

I am on latest Djay Pro, latest iPad OS.

I reached out to Algoriddim support and heard from them once in December - it’s been over a month now, and despite several follow ups, I didn’t even get any courteous response acknowledging my concern which is disappointing.

Any thoughts or suggestions? This not working makes the whole setup basically unusable…

Hi @Tom_Kotecki,

  1. Can you please unplug everything from your iPad
  2. Closed djay Pro
  3. Perform a Force Restart of your iPad: Force restart iPad - Apple Support
  4. Refer to the attached article and follow the connection procedure steps in order: https://help.algoriddim.com/hc/en-us/articles/4415866238482-How-do-I-connect-a-DJ-MIDI-controller-to-my-iPhone-or-iPad

Thanks!

If that doesn’t fix the issue,

  1. Please navigate to djay Settings>Audio Devices and share a screenshot of this page.
  2. Also, navigate to djay Settings>MIDI Devices and share a screenshot of this page.

Done it, no change. Only speaker is available as an audio output:

…while the controller is clearly recognised as a MIDI device:

Thanks for the screenshots @Tom_Kotecki. Can you please take a photo of exactly how your iPad is connected to the Buddy? I need to see the controller side of the connection including the iOS/PC switch plus the iPad side of your connection including any adapters or USB hubs. Thanks

Sure thing, the exact same way it was from the beginning - this used to work no problem before 5.0

Thanks.

  1. Please confirm that the Reloop Buddy switch is in the iOS position.
  2. Please also confirm that the Buddy is connected to power and that your iPad is charging properly when connected to the Buddy.
  3. I know you said the USB cable works, but have you tried using a different USB cable between the iPad and Buddy?
  1. Yes its in iOS
  2. No it doesn’t charge and it never did - any ideas why?
  3. I need to order a different cable as i have only one, happy to do so but maybe #2 is a good clue - can you help me resolve that first?
  1. Please share a picture of the charging cable and power adapter that is connected to the USB-B socket of your Reloop Buddy.
  2. Do you not have the original USB cable that came with your iPad?

This is what the connections should look like for iOS

You’re right - this is not the original iPad cable indeed. I’ll check, although I assumed all usb cables are basically the same?

Attached is the photo of the connection itself:

  1. All USB cables are definitely not the same. Some only work for charging and cannot transmit data. Also cheap USB cables can fail easily and stop working.
  2. I need to see a picture of your power adapter, ideally showing the Voltage, Amperage and Wattage writing on the underside. Again, it’s best to use the original Apple power adapter than came with your iPad.
  1. You say that the Buddy works fine with your Mac and your iPhone using the same cables though. Is that correct? If so, then it’s likely not the cables.
  2. Is your iPhone also running the latest iOS and latest version of djay Pro?
  3. Do you recall if this issue started when you updated your iPadOS or when you updated your djay Pro?

So I often connect to my mac for power supply. I can look for the usb adapter, but given what you wrote later it seems to not be the cause of the problem? Because: yes, it does work when i use exact same cables, and power from my mac, and turn on djay on the mac. There is a different problem in that djay on the mac stutters, hence being unusable as well, but the audio only goes out through the controller.

Can you confirm you agree this reduces the chances of it being a cable/connection issue?

Everything was working fine until Dec 30th or Dec 31st, when I was planning to use this setup for NYE and realised I can only use the iPad speaker. This I believe coincided with Djay Pro 5.0 being released?

Let me know if you’d like me to take pictures of some of the cables/adapters, or if we should explore another avenue?

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iPhone works also with the same power cable, but not the usb-c but instead the lightning cable. Still, this suggests the power connection is defo not an issue.

Yeah, given that it works on your Mac and iPhone it’s most likely OS or djay related and not hardware or cables.

Can you please confirm what iOS version and djay version you are running on your iPhone?

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Makes sense, agreed:

iOS is 17.2.1 with Djay on 5.1, although remember iPhone works fine, its the iPad that struggles.
iPad OS is 17.2, with Djay on 5.1 too.

In case it helps, it’s an iPad Pro 11 inch, A1980.

So your iPad is NOT running the latest 17.3.1 OS?

I need to determine if this is related to the latest version of djay Pro or the iOS version.

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@Tom_Kotecki I have just tested this with my Reloop Ready and iPadOS 17.2 and djay Pro 5.1. Everything works fine. I then updated to iPadOS 17.3.1 and everything is still working fine. So it doesn’t seem like an iPadOS issue.

I suggest we do the following next:

  1. Backup your iPad to iCloud or to your Mac.
  2. Backup your djay Media Library database. It is kept in the “User Data” folder inside the “djay” folder that can be accessed in the “On My iPad” section in the “Files” app
  3. Uninstall the djay App from your iPad.
  4. Perform another iPad Forced Restart as described earlier.
  5. Reinstall djay Pro.
  6. Connect everything exactly in the order described earlier and see if that fixes things.