On my CQ20B, wired to QSC K10.2’s as wedges (L/R outputs), and also through the aux XLR outputs (right now 3/4) in stereo to my ATW-3255 Audio Technica wireless IEM, I notice what seems like side-chain compression happening across tracks.
If a channel set to be at a higher level (like lead vocals) in the mix doesn’t have a strong signal, then the other channels are at their “set” level, but as soon as the that lead channel comes in stronger, the other channels duck and become very quiet. I’ve tried EQing the heck out of it to try and give each channel its own space in the spectrum, but it still seems to happen.
This did not used to happen through my previous analog mixer (A&H GL2) that I sold to move up to the CQ20B. Feedback Assistant is off. Autogain is off for everything. There is no compression at all on any channel. Literally the only processing is EQ and independent reverbs for the vocals and acoustic guitar.
This renders the CQ20B as practically unusable without a major compromise as a live consolde. I am but a musician and not a sound professional, but a very good friend of mine (who is an FOH audio pro and runs an audio install business) tried to tweak the hell out of it also to no avail. Strangely, I had recorded a rehearsal to try and have something to reproduce the issue, and when we played back the recording (set channel sources to the SD card), the issue did not seem to be happening, so it only seems to apply with live/Analog signals.
Could this be user error, a software bug, or an issue specific to my mixer that requires service?
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