Questions before purchase (on using the SQ systems.)

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This topic contains 4 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of danny danny 4 years, 5 months ago.

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  • #87015
    Profile photo of danny
    danny
    Participant

    Hello,
    I’m considering buying an SQ system (either 5 or 6)
    My principal use will be for live sound, but a home studio control surface is a nice addition. -I have some questions that I really need answering before I purchase this (to help me to decide the model I will buy.) (I think either SQ5+AB16/8, or SQ6 but no snake.)

    I have a few questions.
    1, 16 inputs is “not enough” for me, (so assuming I get the SQ5 + snake, which only has 16 channel faders.)
    How easy is it to move between “fader pages” when changing channel volume? – Is it intuitive to press a button to transform channel strips 1 – 16 into ch 17 – 32? – I assume that I can press a button and have all the faders move etc. (I hope it is clear what I mean. – I don’t quite understand if this is what is meant by “layers” on the website.

    2, I’m used to a 24 ch (analog) desk, with 4 stereo sub groups. – this has become integral to the way that I mix some bands where I may have mixed a section onto a bus…
    what I mean is I have Brass in channels 1 – 4, routed to subgroup 1 only (not main mix), and drums in 5 – 12 routed to group 3 (but not the main mix) then I route the output of group 1 to the main mix and the out put of group 2 to the main mix.
    once I’ve mixed a section I may want to “push brass”, or bring up “drums – all drums” then I’m just bringing up an already balanced sub group etc moving 2, instead of 12 faders.)
    – can I assign, the fader board to mimic this, so that (on an SQ 5) faders 1 – 12 are assigned to channels, and 13 – 16 are assigned to let me adjust group/aux levels. (and can I assign these sub groups/auxes straight to the main bus?)
    – is it possible to assign rotary knobs for this subgroup volume? (-if I wanted to assign rotaries for group volumes I guess i need SQ6 since SQ5 does not have these?)

    Final question.
    Sometimes I want to record gigs. – currently I’m doing that with a 24 channel ADAT. however I want to use the SQ Drive… I know that there are 16 inputs, or stereo from master bus.
    What I want to know is:
    is it possible to record a mixed group to a single channel on an SQ drive?
    I mean can I have a channel as snare batter head mic and another as snare response head mic, mix those at the gig to a sub/aux group, and then record than sub group to a channel on the sq Drive? (I know I can’t change the balance between top and bottom heads later if they are on a single channel of course.)

    (I guess my question is, how flexible is the routing matrix when it come to routing to the 16 recording channels on SQ drive?)
    I know that 16 channels is less than I’m used to for recording – so can I finalize some choices to a mixed channel at a gig and record that? rather than waste recording inputs with something that I won’t need to have a separate stem for later?
    (the alternative is bringing a PC to a gig and recording straight to that with the 32 channel record bus over USB, but I’d rather take a USB disk than a computer.)

    #87018
    Profile photo of
    Anonymous

    Hey to your questions … is it the first contact with digital desks ?

    1, 16 inputs is “not enough” for me, (so assuming I get the SQ5 + snake, which only has 16 channel faders.)
    How easy is it to move between “fader pages” when changing channel volume? – Is it intuitive to press a button to transform channel strips 1 – 16 into ch 17 – 32? – I assume that I can press a button and have all the faders move etc. (I hope it is clear what I mean. – I don’t quite understand if this is what is meant by “layers” on the website.
    It´s easy to switch and yes all faders move automatically, the good thing is that you can create your own layers and perhaps a stereo channel is also only one fader, I normaly work with 32 channels for my band (means two layer) and create a third layer with only the VIP channels

    2, I’m used to a 24 ch (analog) desk, with 4 stereo sub groups. – this has become integral to the way that I mix some bands where I may have mixed a section onto a bus…
    what I mean is I have Brass in channels 1 – 4, routed to subgroup 1 only (not main mix), and drums in 5 – 12 routed to group 3 (but not the main mix) then I route the output of group 1 to the main mix and the out put of group 2 to the main mix.
    once I’ve mixed a section I may want to “push brass”, or bring up “drums – all drums” then I’m just bringing up an already balanced sub group etc moving 2, instead of 12 faders.)
    – can I assign, the fader board to mimic this, so that (on an SQ 5) faders 1 – 12 are assigned to channels, and 13 – 16 are assigned to let me adjust group/aux levels. (and can I assign these sub groups/auxes straight to the main bus?)
    – is it possible to assign rotary knobs for this subgroup volume? (-if I wanted to assign rotaries for group volumes I guess i need SQ6 since SQ5 does not have these?)
    Yes can do all of this, every subgroup use one bus – if you work with to stereo/mono subgroups you have 10 aux free + 4 effects, and yes you can put a subgroup on a layer (if you use a sq5) but also rotary knob (only sq6)

    Final question.
    Sometimes I want to record gigs. – currently I’m doing that with a 24 channel ADAT. however I want to use the SQ Drive… I know that there are 16 inputs, or stereo from master bus.
    What I want to know is:
    is it possible to record a mixed group to a single channel on an SQ drive?
    I mean can I have a channel as snare batter head mic and another as snare response head mic, mix those at the gig to a sub/aux group, and then record than sub group to a channel on the sq Drive? (I know I can’t change the balance between top and bottom heads later if they are on a single channel of course.)
    Yes that is possible, you had to confige that much subgroups and they are going from you amount of busses/strong>

    (I guess my question is, how flexible is the routing matrix when it come to routing to the 16 recording channels on SQ drive?)
    I know that 16 channels is less than I’m used to for recording – so can I finalize some choices to a mixed channel at a gig and record that? rather than waste recording inputs with something that I won’t need to have a separate stem for later?
    (the alternative is bringing a PC to a gig and recording straight to that with the 32 channel record bus over USB, but I’d rather take a USB disk than a computer.)

    #87021
    Profile photo of danny
    danny
    Participant

    Awesome, thank you very much.

    #87079
    Profile photo of Neo
    Neo
    Participant

    Hi Danny – I just noticed that you are looking to dive in and get an SQ.

    I have an SQ-7 for sale (topic in the SQ forum on here), could make you a good price. The SQ-7 is only slightly larger than the SQ-6.
    I am upgrading mine to a DLive – I bought my SQ-7 in Jan this year – had only studio time since/never gigged/pretty much mint.

    Tx,
    Peter

    #87170
    Profile photo of danny
    danny
    Participant

    Unfortunately I bought an SQ5 before I saw this, but many thanks for the offer.

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