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  • #122033
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    gabo
    Participant

    I hope this is a bug that can be fixed in an update. This is not a good design. It means that as your FOH guy adjusts the levels of your vocal in the mains, the amount of FX present in your monitor mix changes! Not the level in your monitor mix, just the FX. I can’t imagine any scenario where you would want your FOH volume to have any control over what FX is in your monitor mix.

    The FOH mix and the monitor mix should be completely separated, unless you select the “Post Fader” option on the monitor output config page. If you do that, then the fader to the mains also controls the monitor levels. Still not something I would ever do, but since it’s selectable it’s ok and there may be a use case.

    #122006
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    gabo
    Participant

    I finally found the problem.

    – This only happens when the faders to output Main L/R are all the way down, while the faders to the monitors are adjusted accordingly. With that situation, you don’t get any FX in the monitors.

    – Even though the settings on the config page for the monitor outputs shows “Input Send Levels” to be set to “Pre Fader.” I thought with it set to that, the fader to the Mains wouldn’t have any affect on the other outputs. But it turns out that turning down the fader to the Mains shuts off FX to the other outputs. And I’m not talking about the FX fader to the mains, I’m talking about the main volume fader on the fader screen to the Main L/R.

    – As soon as I turn up the faders on the Mains, I get FX in the monitors.

    Now, this is an unusual situation and will not matter for an actual show.

    Is it a bug? I don’t know, if the output is configured with Pre Fader input send levels, and on the FX page, there are “send” levels for the individual channels to the selected FX, then turning down a fader to the Mains shouldn’t have any impact on the send levels from the FX. It seems like all that control would be independent of the volume fader to the Mains.

    But now that I know, it’s not a big issue, there are ways around it for the practice sessions.

    If anyone wants to replicate this, give this a try.
    – set an input vocal channel, say input channel 1.
    – On the fader page, set the output to Mail L/R and turn the fader on channel 1 all the way down.
    – On the fader page, set the output to Out1 and turn the fader to an appropriate level.
    – On the FX page, set up FX1 with out levels set to 0db for both main and the send levels.
    – On the FX page, set the send level for channel 1 to FX1 to 0db

    With this setup, you will hear no FX on your monitor out 1.

    Go to the fader screen and set the output to Main L/R and turn up channel 1 and you will get FX on monitor out 1.

    #121991
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    gabo
    Participant

    Ah, found the FX in CQ4You. Unfortunately, they were already set at 0db which was done via the same screen I outlined in the original post on the unit. Even if I set them all the way to the top, I still have a dry signal to the output. The only output I can get FX to work on is the Main L/R.

    #121988
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    gabo
    Participant

    I can’t find anything in CQ4You that has anything to do with FX. Just levels. Am I missing something? Tell me where there is an FX level in the CQ4You app, I can’t find it. It will adjust the levels to each output just fine, but they are all still dry.

    #121789
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    gabo
    Participant

    Keep in mind a “virtual sound check” does not take into account any live stage volume, guitar amps, drums ect.
    If your band uses stage monitors bring those up during a virtual sound check.

    Correct! But if you don’t have a sound guy, it’s a start.

    #121787
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    gabo
    Participant

    Ok, so first, post preamp does not record FX or EQ or anything else. It’s actually the first point in the stream you can record. That’s the best way to record as you really don’t want EQ, Compression, FX or anything like that on your recordings. You want to make those decision after you record. So leave it at post preamp. And it’s also the way to record for doing “virtual soundchecks” which is a very valuable feature. You can record the band, play it back, and adjust everything in the CQ to sound good.

    Second, I really don’t understand why anyone records at 96K! Yea, I get it, if you don’t know what you’re doing you always default to what you think is the highest quality. Do you realize that most professional studios don’t record at 96k? Actually many of them don’t even record at 48K, they record at 44.1K. CD’s are 44.1K! So is your band rehearsal better quality than millions of CDs from famous artists? Probably not. Most studios these days are recording at or are converting to 48K. But not because of quality, it’s because that’s the standard format for video and many recordings now are also doing some type of video.

    And the studios that ARE recording at 96K, are the ones with the highest quality of everything… Microphones that cost many thousands of dollars, FX gear costing in the many thousands of dollars, grand pianos, huge expensive rooms, etc. etc. And they are recording the top acts in the world. They aren’t using a CQ! The only reason these low end products even offer 96K is two fold, one the chips do it so why not, two every one of their competitors is doing it. If you don’t do it, someone will buy another product because it has it, even though they should actually NEVER use it.

    Trust me, just set the thing to 48K and NEVER change it! You’ll thank me later!

    #121784
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    gabo
    Participant

    I’m not sure about rmhewa’s question as I’m not sure I understand what he’s asking.

    But for H DTU’s question. Yes, you can send FX to the monitor outputs, all 6 of them and the levels are controlled by a fader for each output, so each output can have differing FX levels or none at all if you so choose.

    It’s shown on page 48 of the manual, where it says at item number 11.

    11. In the processing screen, select the ST, Inputs/FX tab
    12. Select the FX unit channel, then touch/click SENDS to show all send levels from that FX unit.
    13. Adjust send levels to the Main LR, Other FX units, and Ouputs 1-6 as required, so the FX is heard only where it should be.

    Note that this screen also allows you to send the FX output to another FX. So you can “chain” FX if that’s what you want to do.

    #121729
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    gabo
    Participant

    I have been using these.. The 3 pack is approximately $20, so very affordable. I haven’t had any problems with them, although I don’t generally record at 96K, all my projects are 48K.

    SanDisk 32GB 3-Pack Ultra SDHC UHS-I Memory Card (3x32GB) – SDSDUN4-032G-GN6IM

    I don’t think it would be a problem to go bigger, but I get more recording time on one than any show I’ve done and can easily swap them out so I can take them to my DAW computer while using another one in the CQ.

    #121413
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    gabo
    Participant

    Nice, I should probably pick up one of those.

    #121266
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    gabo
    Participant

    32G gives you plenty of space. No need to record at 96K at all, set it to 48K and enjoy hours of recording all the tracks. And you probably won’t use all the channels anyway, so cut down on which tracks are armed and you get even more time.

    Easy to import, just put your SD card in your computer and drag all the wav files to your DAW. I don’t now how much easier it could be…

    The OP asks about converting to aiff or mp3 for importing… Seriously?? You want to record at 96K, but convert it to a lossy format, oh my! Nobody uses those crappy lossy formats for a DAW, import the full wav files created by the CQ, set to 48K. Don’t make it hard and crappy at the same time.

    #121247
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    gabo
    Participant

    Ah, now you’re getting fancy with an HA8000! hahaha..

    Actually the HA800, I believe the “direct in” connections are balanced TRS mono connectors. So I think you can use a TRS to TRS cable to that input, so that makes it really easy. But you can also use a TS cable too and it should work just fine.

    The difference between TRS and TS… You won’t lose any frequencies or anything like that. The only difference is possibly a bit of noise. But it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get more noise with a TS cable, it depends on what type of noise interference you have (if any). So give it a try with a TS cable, most likely it will work fine. But with the HA8000 you can also try a TRS cable and see if you have any difference.

    The HA8000 takes care of doing the Mono to Stereo headphone conversion and let’s you set the headphone levels and let’s multiple headphones use the same mix, etc. etc. So that’s a good choice for all your in ears and will probably resolve all your problems.

    #121235
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    gabo
    Participant

    I’ll add that this is called a “summing cable” and you can find XLR To TRS summing cables for sale. If you can’t build one of these look for a TRS to TRS summing cable, there are a few for sale although you might only find short ones, but you can use a female to male TRS cable to extend it.

    #121233
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    gabo
    Participant

    This is a problem these days with all the 1/4″ TRS devices.

    The problem is that a 1/4″ TRS looks like a stereo, but it’s not. It’s a balanced mono signal, where a stereo (like headphones) is an unbalanced stereo.

    – TRS balanced mono – Tip to positive, Ring to negative, and Sleeve to ground.
    – TRS unbalanced stereo – Tip to positive of one channel, Ring to positive of other channel, sleeve to negative/ground.

    So a TRS cable plugged into a balance mono on one end and an unbalanced stereo on the other end doesn’t work. Even if you’re device has a “mono/stereo” switch it may not work due to the TRS cable making connections to two different place inside the device. It may also work, it depends on how the device is wired.

    – Another point, to convert from a TRS balanced mono to a TS unbalanced mono, you connect Tip to Tip, Ring and Sleeve on the TRS is connected together and connected to Sleeve of the TS. This is actually the same as just plugging a TS cable into the TRS jack. Since there is no break between sleeve and ring, it joins those two together creating an unbalanced TS signal.

    So your best solution to try first, is just plug in a TS cable into the CQ18T’s 1-6 output and connect that to your IEM amp. Since the device now sees an unbalanced mono cable, the mono/stereo cable switched to mono might work correctly.

    If it doesn’t then you need to create a balanced mono TRS to and unbalanced mono TRS cable. It’s hard to find a picture of how to make one of these, but there are plenty of examples of balanced mono XLR to unbalanced mono TRS cables. Here’s a picture of one of those.

    https://castlineusa.com/media/com_eshop/products/resized/XLR_TRS._sum_resistors-max-1200×1200.gif

    To translate that picture into a TRS instead of an XLR… pin 1 to sleeve, Pin 2 to tip, and pin 3 to ring is the standard XLR to TRS unbalanced mono.

    – I’ll define a TRS cable with two ends, end1 and end2.
    – Connect Tip of end1 to two 470 ohm resistors.
    – Connect one of the 470 ohm resistors to Tip of end2
    – Connect the the other 470 ohm resistor to ring of end2
    – Connect ring and sleeve of end1 to sleeve of end2.

    Hope that helps..

    #121232
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    gabo
    Participant

    If I had the CQ20, I would just use Mixing Station and some of these little annoyances would be gone. However, as a CQ18-T owner, I don’t like switching interfaces.

    What I mean is, the onboard touch screen interface is the same as the A&H Mixpad app. So when you go between a computer or phone and back to the device, everything is similar. With Mixing Station, the interface is totally different so you have to switch gears and re-think when you go from your phone/computer back to the device.

    For this reason I prefer to stay with the stock Mixpad app. Right now I’m just living with the limitations hoping they eventually incorporate them into the box. I’m still glad I got the 18T instead as I really like being able to just turn it on and use it instead of always having to get a phone or computer set up.

    #120367
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    gabo
    Participant

    Haha, classic. Send it back to us, wait 3 months, meanwhile you don’t have it for shows, then we’ll say it’s not covered in warranty and give you a price that’s almost as much as buying a new one to fix it. The warranty is only one year, IF they determine it’s covered. And I’m not really ragging on A&H too much for this, it’s pretty standard practice.

    I bet it’s got a screw ring on the bottom of it that’s loose, so it spins. Spinning will break the wires, so don’t do that. Probably have to open it up and see if you can get to the place where it’s attached.

    I would open it up and see if I could fix it. Or you could use an external router and wait out the year warranty and then do it. But then again I have repaired many things over the years. YMMV, I take no responsibility for whatever happens. 🙂

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 27 total)