DCA filtering

[Jason Romney]

I’m working with an SQ6 with the new 1.4 software on a musical theatre project. I really appreciate the scene level recall filtering but I’ve run into an issue. For DCA filtering the two options are “assignments” and “masters”. The problem is that both the DCA label and the fader level are lumped together in that “masters” category. This is a problem because I can’t recall a scene that re-assigns the DCAs and changes the labels to describe what they’re now controlling without also recalling the fader level of the DCA. This is a deal breaker for musical theatre.

Can you please separate out the DCA label from the DCA fader level? At the moment I’m just having to mix without any labels on my DCAs.

[Michael]

I’m still hoping A&H implements DCA spill. Lots of channels on an SQ-5 is hard to mix without it. Hoping to see it in 1.5

[MarkRen]

+1 this as well.

I do a lot of musical theatre and want to use the SQ more for it.

[IainM]

+1, was looking to do exactly this next week

[np_pyro]

+1

I just purchased a SQ6 for a small school theatre I run with the hope that some of these things will be sorted out soon with scene management/editing, automation, etc. I too would like to see the recall filter options expanded. Maybe something like Assignment, Name/Color, Mute, Fader.

At the very least I think that the Name should be grouped in with the “Assign” filter. It seems to make more sense grouping all of the items that define what the VCA is, and then the “Master” filter can be for all of the items that actually perform a function like fader level or mute.

@keithjah Would it be possible to move the Name/Color to the “Assign” filter instead of “Master”?

[KeithJ A&H]

Hi @nppyro,

We wouldn’t move a parameter to a different filter like this, as it would affect shows/scenes when moving between firmware versions.
However, I have noted the request to split out Name/Colour for the DCA’s so this will be considered.

Cheers!
Keith.

[Anonymous]

@keithjah Just want to add my voice to the chorus here and urge you to reconsider, as a sound designer for musical theatre. The ability to recall DCA channel assignments WITHOUT recalling DCA fader level is absolutely critical to standard musical theatre operation. With this feature, that market opens up for these consoles. Without it, the SQ series is totally dead in the water for theatrical sound designers and will never appear on a gear list.
Have a look at how theatre shows are programmed and operated. There are often hundreds of scenes and their only job is to re-assign lav channels to DCA’s (either individually or in groups for ensembles etc). It is the standard (and only sane) way of programming musical theatre, from highschools to Broadway.

[Søren Steinmetz]

+1 for the ability to have DCA channels assignment done without the faders.

It is the main reason why I am unable to make medium to larger musicals on the SQ (as in musicals with 8+ lavs)

[KeithJ A&H]

@dasbin – I’m not sure what you’re asking me/us to reconsider? I have only said that the name/colour parameter would never be moved to another filter, but that we would consider separating out the name/colour from master.
Maybe I haven’t correctly interpreted what you’re trying to do, but it’s already possible to recall channel assignments without recalling DCA levels. I’ve actually done theatre work myself with the SQ using this feature in (what I believe to be) exactly the way you describe.
What’s not currently possible, as per the original post, is the ability to change the name or colour of the DCA without also changing the fader level.

@steine – As above, the ‘Assign’ filter only affects the assignments to DCA’s, whilst the ‘Master’ filter affects mute, fader, name and colour.

Please shout at me if I have indeed misunderstood!

Thanks,
Keith.

[Søren Steinmetz]

In musicals we need to be able to change the DCA Name, colour and assignment without affecting neither mute or fader level.

I have in some musicals, the need to move one or more actors from seperate DCA’s into the choir DCA that I am allready working.
That change can happen in the middle of a song, mid verse, so the fader level needs to be kept out of the programming.

Guess what we are asking for is a way to keep name/colour seperate from fader/mute.

Hope someone native in english is better at explaining this than I am 😉

cheers
Søren

[KeithJ A&H]

Hi @steine,

Thanks for clarifying, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your English!
So to confirm, by blocking changes to Master but allowing changes to Assign, this will work.
(It’s only that your Choir DCA might be called ‘Choir’ at all times)

Cheers,
Keith.

[Sean]

+1 please make it possible to change color/name of DCA without changing fader. Just got our new SQ5 last week and this is creating a big problem for our workflow for musicals.

[woytek]

+1 for theatre, I want to be able to recall a DCA assignment, color, and name without recalling fader level.

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