Yes, I know it sounds weird, but here we go:
I have been using a Zoom F8n, essentially an eight channel field recorder, very much oriented to film sound recording. It has served me extremely well and my thought was always thet “if it requires more than 8 channels it is not my cup of tea!”.
But I did run into a production with a small instrumental ensemble (viola, cello, oboe, piano), a small choir and six singers, actually wandering around in the medieval church used, and suddenly there was 8 mics.
The CQ18T is very much oriented towards other types of music, but although I do not need all the outputs, it is equipped with hardware to work well:
– 16 96 kHz mic inputs.
– Direct, repeatable and accurate control over input gain.
– Possibility to get local monitoring and/or streaming (the F8N sucks here with minimal controls and low channel capacity)
As far as I can see from what I have heard and read, the CQ18T would well suit waht I am asking for, either using the internal screen or another device with scrren. But what I would really need is an effective way of metering all 16 channels simultaneously!
The CQ20 would also be possible, but paying som extra money and sacrifice some size/weight to get direct local control over mic gain and metering would be worth it. Any post recording editing/mixing would be through a DAW in nay case.
i also wonder if there are others using these CQ units the way I am considering?
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