I’ve just got the CQ18T and primary use it as an USB interface for multitrack recording and overdubbing in Logic Pro (on a 2023 MacBook Pro 36GB RAM) and for direct monitoring (to eliminate latency issues I get from software monitoring) in my home studio.
First I was irritated by the small waveforms Logic shows on the recorded files. On this forum I’ve read now that this seems to be a common thing and nothing to worry about (the CQ seems to ‘pad’ the signal that’s going out either to a DAW or an SD card to avoid clipping while recording e.g. a live performance).
But what I am experiencing now are distorted recordings in my DAW, mainly noticeable on vocal tracks. I am setting the gain on the mixer way below 0db to have enough headroom but the vocals still sound slightly distorted even with no processing. Adding plugins in Logic like EQ and compression makes the existing distortion even more audible. Meanwhile the waveform in Logic is almost invisible and Logic is showing an input gain of about -15db what should be clearly enough headroom. It looks like the distortion would not happen in the DAW but in (the preamp section of) the mixer.
I’ve checked different channels on the CQ, different cables, different mics (dynamics and condensers), different outputs and speakers / headphones and of course different absurdly low gain settings.
Now I would be very thankful for any information about this and to hear if anyone out there is facing the same struggle with this otherwise fantastic mixer and can help fixing or locating that issue.
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