background tracks from SD

[giovannilamiParticipant]

Hi there,
I’m a newbie here so I’m sorry if my question seams odd, but it’s really simple and searching in the treads I didn’t find a proper answer.
The mixer for me is a proper instrument especially when I play live so I’d like to send some background tracks from the SD (multitrack) while I do other stuff. I mean, a simple sample (without using a sampler) since I’ve the chance to loop it in on the CQ. Using a proper bitrate and sample frequency, I tried both of them (24/48k and 24/96k) but the CQ doesn’t recognize them if I put them in a new folder sequencially named as the others or in a one created by the system replacing the files there. Of course the new files have a proper name according to the channels names.
I don’t know why this happen, it seems the only way to do that is re-recording the samples there from CQ inputs but I’m sure (I hope) there’s a smarter way.
Thanks in advance, ciao!
G

[mfusaParticipant]

In summary, I’ve experienced the same. you have to re-record them directly onto the SD card (via the CQ) for them to be reliably playable. Other threads have indicated some people have managed to copy them directly to SD but, like you, I have not been able to get this to work (even replacing existing files on existing records with the same case and file names). I don’t think it is an intended feature/mode of operation that AH took into account in the use/design. It would be a good feature request to have a supported way to “copy” multi-tracks directly to the SD card for the purposes of virtual sound checks or backing tracks.

If you format a USB thumb drive, from the CQ, it will create a folder called under AHCQ called USBPLAY. WAV files (48 KHZ, 16 BIT) that I’ve copied from a computer, to this folder, play fine for me on the CQ. If you only need to have a stereo track accompany you then consider this route.

The multi-track recording and playback should really get a lot better; including the ability to name recordings (rather than just their default CQ-MT00x names) and create folder structure support on both the USB and SD side so that you can organize recordings and shows better.

[mfusaParticipant]

Another thing you could do, albeit a bit more cumbersome, is bring your laptop with you and keep connected via USB. You can use the laptop to directly feed your multiple channel backing tracks into the CQ while you play (mapping DAW tracks to CQ inputs). While this is cumbersome in some ways, it could be beneficial in other ways if it works into your workflow. Still agree though that a supported way to copy multi-tracks to SD is needed.

[giovannilamiParticipant]

Thanks @mfusa, it’s a pity that a machine like the CQ that could be so versatile has some lacks like this.
About your suggestion I don’t like to use a daw in this case, I’d like to be daw-less during the livesets, and yes, maybe the usb thumb could be useful for a simple stereo background track, but think about the huge amount of versatility this machine would have if just a small firmware update for the player take into account something like this. It would be able to manage also a multichannel installation or so.
I’m sure we’re not alone in this request, I really hope AH considers this.

[KeithJ A&HModerator]

Hi both,

You can take existing recordings and essentially spoof the CQ into thinking they were recorded by the CQ fairly easily.
In much the same way as you can for the SQ with SQ-Drive (https://support.allen-heath.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4402940122001-SQ-Re-Rendering-Files-for-SQ-Drive-Multitrack-Playback).

The important points to follow are similar to those in that SQ article, as follows:

• Audio files must be mono *.wav files with no meta data included.
• All files must be either 48kHz (up to 24 tracks can be used, depending on model) or 96kHz (up to 16 tracks can be used).
• All files must all be exactly the same length/size.
• Each file must be named ‘xxyyyyyy.WAV’ where xx is the USB channel number the audio will play back to, from 01-24 (if 48kHz) or 01-16 (if 96kHz) and yyyyyy is the channel name, with a maximum of 6 characters.
• Each multitrack folder containing all audio files must be placed inside the ‘[SD]\AHCQ\USBMTK\’ folder, on a drive which was formatted in the CQ.
• Each folder should be given a short name (which can be viewed from the multitrack page when selecting a recording)

We are currently adding articles to the knowledgebase for CQ, and this is something we plan to include.
As mentioned, it’s a great way to use multitrack backing for live performance without a computer 🙂

Thanks,
Keith.

[willmodelismeParticipant]

Following your advices KeithJ, I finally managed to see and play all my wave files on the USB stick in my CQ12T.
I have used a free soft called https://www.mp3tag.de/en/ to remove all the tags and here it works now.
Indeed, the files that had tags were not accessible into the CQ12T player.
Solved.

[giovannilamiParticipant]

Hi Keith,
thanks for the quick answer, I really appreciate that. As I appreciated to know that it’s possible to do upload files to use as background tracks during a liveset. It’s something makes the cq a instrument in itself, as I wish to use it. I’ll try tomorrow following your instructions! Ciao!

[giovannilamiParticipant]

Keith! I tried today following your instruction and it works perfectly, I can also rename the folder as I wish so I can identify them quickly uploading time by time the samples’ set I need. It’s really a great feature for my work, thanks!

[mfusaParticipant]

Wow, this is great. Thanks for clearing up the confusion!

[Wildwind29Participant]

Hi,

I followed the way : https://support.allen-heath.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4402940122001-SQ-Re-Rendering-Files-for-SQ-Drive-Multitrack-Playback

My SDHC is fully operational. I am able to record a MTK recording on it.

I use 48 KHz WAV file mono of the same length configured as mentioned above.

I verified there is no tag for each track following the advice of @willmodelisme.

The directories created by reaper rendering are seen from a PC but not from CQ20B: when I want to select tracks from SYSTEM>RECORD, no tracks found.

Any idea ?

Many thanks.

[Wildwind29Participant]

I answer to myself. I opened the WAV file with a hexadecimal editor (HxD). The audio samples are zero. So the rendering process did not work correcty for me. Also I noticed that the title of a track recorded by the CQ 20B is defined as a RIFF tag. The WAV files rendered by reaper coming from https://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms/mtk/ have no title Tag. If I set a title to the WAF file, the tag become ID3v2.3 (RIFF ID3v2.3). I don’t know if it matters.

[Wildwind29Participant]

For tracks that have been recorded by the CQ20B, the name of the track is recorded in the WAV file (adress:x08 + offsset 30 for the first letter of the name).

For track imported from reaper, the name of the track is not recorded in the WAV file.

If the tracks in a folder are not in proper format, the folder is not seen by the CQ20B. It is the reason why I can not access to the folder. If I add a valid WAV file in the folder, the folder began visible.

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