USB Recording Fail

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This topic contains 16 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of JTRJAMMER JTRJAMMER 5 years, 5 months ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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  • #78837
    Profile photo of JTRJAMMER
    JTRJAMMER
    Participant

    Still having trouble with stability in the USB-B recording, although maybe I missed something in the procedure. Had 16 tracks routed via USB-B, SSD drive formatted and running visible in the utility window, meters for channels active, hit record in the multitrack window, use countdown rolling, everything appears normal with recording rolling, checked it every once in a while and all looked good. Finished gig, stopped the recording, based on the use counter looked like it used about 2 hours of time, pulled the drive and…nothing recorded. When plugged into the SQ I can see the directory MT002, but no track files. When I connect to Macbook I can see the SQ MT-002 directory and file header of 512b for each of the 16 tracks, rather than the expected ~2 gig file per track. So appears no audio, no recording, even though at the end of the gig the recording indicator showed it had been recording for about two hours. So now have to apologize to the band and set up another session if possible.

    Not saying this isn’t operator error, but followed the same procedure a few weeks and ago and everything worked perfect. Appreciate if anyone else has had a similar experience and figured out something they were doing wrong or any thoughts about what I missed in the procedure.

    #78838
    Profile photo of imrambi
    imrambi
    Participant

    I’ve noticed a few things have bit me recording to the SQ drive.

    1. Routing – I had set it up for direct out from channel to the USB. I think this is set based that you had meters going.
    2. Start the recording – Not a fan of the arm/play feature. You can arm the recording, but if you don’t play, nothing will record. Yes, I’ve armed it, saw the meters and had nothing.

    I’ve noticed that for the sq drive is to check the yellow light. If you should be recording a and don’t have a light blinking, you are not recording. As for the USB-B in back, our initial setup was just patching the IO, haven’t dug too much into it yet.

    Hope my pain helps.

    #78839
    Profile photo of GregTheGrate
    GregTheGrate
    Participant

    I too am not happy about this stability. I sincerely hope that much attention has been paid to increasing its reliability in the upcoming software release. It’s really not good enough especially when what one is recording is a single, never-to-be-repeated concert. It is not really possible to apologise as JTRJAMMER was able to do.

    #78840
    Profile photo of JTRJAMMER
    JTRJAMMER
    Participant

    Correction, I meant SQ-Drive vice USB-B on the back of the console. I was recording via SQ-Drive. Yes all the channels in the display window were listed correctly and chosen correctly
    in the I/O routing. The yellow light next to USB input was blinking/flashing the entire time once I started recording. Only way I know to confirm it’s recording is when you see the countdown
    and the yellow light blinking. Level readings were also active. Beyond that I don’t know what else to check. Remains a mystery why there is no audio, just file headers. Regarding apology to the band, that will go along with returning the fee for the recording. They were doing a multi-camera video shoot and wanted the multi-track audio for post-production. Not sure I will ever work for them again, although I am going to offer to mix and re-record anytime/place of their choosing. At this point I’m not sure what I would do different, so that may not be something to even offer. As you said I hope the pending firmware update brings some stability to this process or maybe try and run some tests to figure out if/what I missed in the procedure.

    #78852
    Profile photo of monki
    monki
    Participant

    I’m confused.. As far as I know, you cannot multitrack record via the USB-B socket? As in, SQ-drive is the USB port at the front of the console, not at the real. The rear port is only used for connecting to a computer, right?

    #78857
    Profile photo of andrasar
    andrasar
    Participant

    There are 2 options to record.
    SQ-Drive: With the USB socket on the upper right of the console by using an USB-Stick or a harddisk drive (SSD works best due to speed). But limited to 16 channels.
    USB-B: USB-B connection on the rear of the SQ for a connection to a computer. Record of 32 inputs is possible. So you can connect to a DAW or any software that allows multi channel recording like “Tracks Live”.

    Both connections can be used for playback as well.

    #78861
    Profile photo of MarkPAman
    MarkPAman
    Participant

    …and a DANTE card would give you the ability to record “everything”, should 32 not be enough…..

    #78866
    Profile photo of monki
    monki
    Participant

    I thought the Dante card only allows 32 channels when running @96k? If you want to record 64 channels over Dante, you need to SRC down to 48kHz, right?

    And regarding the harddisk, isn’t SSD a bit overkill? After all, the databus is only USB 2.0 and not 3.0 – surely a fast 7200 rpm mechanical hard drive will be enough?

    #78869
    Profile photo of MarkPAman
    MarkPAman
    Participant

    According to the web page:

    “SQ Dante provides any SQ mixer with a full 64×64 channel, 96kHz or 48kHz interface to a Dante network.”

    If recording at a loud gig, mechanical drives tend to suffer from vibrations at LF

    #78872
    Profile photo of monki
    monki
    Participant

    Ah yes, LF vibration didn’t occur to me. For those situations, solid state will indeed be a better choice.

    #78876
    Profile photo of airickess
    airickess
    Participant

    Try this –
    https://allen-heath.kayako.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1126/201/why-do-my-qu-drive-recordings-appear-corrupt

    It’s possible that you actually did record the concert and you can recover the files.

    #78880
    Profile photo of JTRJAMMER
    JTRJAMMER
    Participant

    Friggin brilliant! Thanks for sending the link. Already rebuilt all of the files, now importing and exporting from Audacity. Somewhat time consuming, but hey, yesterday I had nothing, now
    I have tracks. I think I pulled the drive too soon after the show ended…so question is how long does is take for the USB device to finalize headers and such after
    you stop recording? Could be a challenge sometimes because most of the time they (you know them) want to pull power after the show.

    #78882
    Profile photo of Alex A&H
    Alex A&H
    Keymaster

    Hi Jtrjammer,

    The best way (visually) to see that the drive is safe to remove from the mixer is to wait until the yellow LED is off – this means the drive is not in use.

    Alternatively, in the SQ-Drive screen you can see that the drive is safe to remove after pressing stop when the transport bar resets and the ‘Busy’ label disappears.

    Thanks!

    Alex

    #78884
    Profile photo of
    Anonymous

    If you are getting paid to record a show you should be using a UPS on your desk. This will give you time to finish.

    #78888
    Profile photo of airickess
    airickess
    Participant

    NZdave is correct. An Uninterruptible Power Supply is one of the best accessories you can purchase for your console.

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