Connection problems, hangs, button touches

Support
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Roon 1.8, Core is on MacMini with Catalina OS, Controlled with iPad running Roon app

I use ATT-Uverse wireless for network connections. Both devices show they are connected and you can do other stuff. Also, Tv’s work ok, iPhone works ok.

But Roon software will often say it cannot connect. After several tries, it will connect fine. Sometimes after being connected, it loses connection. It’s very random, so can’t give you anything more specific. But it has gotten worse the last few days. It worked ok right after first install of 1.8. The previous version 1.7 was stable, this one is not.

I’ve also had the iPad app hang several times, again randomly as far as I can tell. I haven’t seen any pattern to it. After it hangs, I’ll keep trying to scroll or press something, and it will quit on it’s own after 5-10 sec, restart, and then everything is fine. Very strange. This never happened on 1.7. I do nothing fancy with Roon Labs. One time it hung just scrolling the display, so it’s simple stuff.

I’ve also noticed play button and others you sometimes have to put your finger on them several times to get it to take. It seems very sensitive to hitting right on the icon. This is just a guess, because it’s hard to tell what’s going on, other than it doesn’t do what you wanted. Again I had no trouble with 1.7.

Hate to complain, but these are pretty annoying “features”, especially after a much hyped update. Not a fan of the new look UI, but can tolerate it. I thought the old one was easier to use and nicer looking, but that’s just my opinion.

It would sure help to have a user manual or something to help you learn the new features. For example, I tried this morning to search for album I have (The Nutcracker - Vedernikov) and I had to type in Vedernikov for it to find it. It came up with all these Nutcracker versions on Tidal. Kind of nitpicky, and I’m guessing there’s a setting somewhere, but it gets frustrating.

I know you all are trying, but you might consider letting us go back to 1.7 until more testing is done. You also might consider some options on look and feel, so perhaps we could opt for a “classic” or 1.7 type look. Just a suggestion,

Thanks, Dave

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You might like to detail more about the specs of the macmini, and also take note that while WiFi for the core might work it’s not recommended to use it. If your database is still ingesting and scanning the system performance can be reduced too. Location of your media files can also play an important role is system performance during library imports/conversions and analysis.

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This is first I’ve heard of Wifi not being recommended for core. I’ve seen next to nothing about requirements. System was purchased and installed thru a high-end audio store about 3 years ago. My music files are stored on external disk drive connected directly to MacMini. The MacMini is single purpose. Its only use is running Roon Labs core, so I’d think it would be overkill for running Roon software. I use external disks for music file transfers and I haven’t done that in several months, so that’s not it.

In the past, there’s been very little network traffic to MacMini. However, in Dec I signed up for 3 month free trial of Tidal. Now that I think about it, this would increase network traffic. Could this be a possibility? (but it worked fine before 1.8)

Tidal is the only other change I’ve made to MacMini in past year other than update to 1.8. I did not have this problem until updating to 1.8, so in my opinion it’s the prime suspect. Being a new release with lots of other problems also makes it a prime suspect.

Sorry I can’t give you more details. I’ve not observed any patterns to the problems. Just some general instability. Thanks, Dave

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Ethernet has always been no 1, a quick search of the forum will show that a lot of dropout , connections etc are related to WiFi especially if you are using hi res files

The nutcracker, go to Composer > Tchaikovsky > Discography > filter funnel = nut > all recordings > select yours

Use the Library button to restrict to local library

In general use Composition and filter is my preferred way of starting

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There are many specs that fall short of recommended… Celeron and lower spec mini’s can fall into this area

Note that new features and options you might now be using will only increase denmands on your core and also networking with metadata transfer from the internet. Roon is quite a heavy bandwidth application.

While wifi normally works well enough for the music streaming to an endpoint combining that with also having to get from the core to the router on the same wifi will not bode well. Add to that the internet traffic roon uses for metadata and you are on a slippery slope.

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Hi @David_Salguero

Apologies for the delay! Our team’s queue is longer than typical at the moment, but we’re working to get back to everyone as quickly as we can.

I want to second the above — Your Core machine falls a bit short of our requirements. To start, I’d definitely try connecting your Core via Ethernet. We always recommend an Ethernet connection for your Core machine.

If there’s no change after that, I’d recommend you try to use a machine that meets our requirements fully.

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No problem with delay. I’m sure you all are swamped.

Still surprised over the years that no one told me about needing direct internet connection, and it’s worked fine up until 1.8. I don’t think the people at the store where I purchased stuff knew it needed cable network connection. It’s not so simple to hook a cable to MacMini because of its location, which is why we used wireless in the first place. I’m sure I’m not the only one with this problem.

I cancelled my free Tidal trial subscription, and that has helped considerably. I wasn’t using it that much, so no big deal. I was thinking if Roon uses that much metadata, it would probably make a huge difference if it just had to handle music on my local disk. I’d think if everything is local and not changing, it wouldn’t need much metadata over the network. Download once and you’re done. Plus no streaming audio.

I’m surprised Roon uses that many resources. I’m retired now, but use to write software, and newer machines like Mini are very powerful. Tells me software is not that efficient or maybe you’re trying to make it do too much. A suggestion would be to have a normal mode that does your normal metadata, and another simpler mode that doesn’t grab all the metadata. Or perhaps like I mentioned above, just download metadata once over web & save locally. Only grab metadata for new stuff that’s changed. I hope it already works that way, and if so, I should no longer have problems as my stuff doesn’t change often (like once every couple of months I might buy album on CD or file). All mine has to do 99% of the time is for the iPad to tell the Mini/Core what to play next.

Still not fond of new look and UI, but I only do simple stuff, so I’ll get use to it.

Thanks for your help, David

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