[peterlandersParticipant]

Maybe I’m completely out to lunch on this, but my understanding was that, in the digital realm, 0dB is where clipping happens; as indicated in DAWs, that’s generally the top of the meter. You’re setting safe record levels at around -12 dB.

On a digital mixer, I’m wondering if it’s the same thing – but the faders still use analog-style labels? Thus, 0dB on the fader is your good, safe place with plenty of headroom, but it corresponds digitally outside the mixer with -12 dB, give or take?

In other words, it’s not attenuating anything, it’s just a reporting issue?

But I admit I could be entirely wrong…

[peterlandersParticipant]

I’m thinking you just need to bring up the de-esser FX return in the mix of the FX send with the reverb.

So if the de-esser is on FX rack 1 and the reverb is on rack 2, you would press the FX 1 mix button, and bring up any channels you want to apply the de-esser to.

Then, press FX 2 and bring up the fader for FX 1 Return. That’ll feed the output of FX 1 into FX 2.

[peterlandersParticipant]

Per page 50 in the manual, soft key assignments are saved and recalled in scenes.

Not sure why you’re resetting the board for each scene, would it not be easier to leave the basics as is (including soft keys) and modify as needed?

[peterlandersParticipant]

It preserves your settings when you upgrade, but you can save a show (which includes your full configuration) to USB drive as well. Just go to the USB Data tab on the Utility screen.

[peterlandersParticipant]

The issue isn’t the SQ having 1024 samples of latency, it’s the computer it was connected to not being able to keep up with the SQ’s data stream with anything less than a 1024 sample buffer. CPU, hard disk or SSD, USB chipset, how much stuff is running in the background, whether the SQ is alone on the USB bus, the recording software: all those things can contribute. But the SQ is going to deliver its data stream at its own speed, regardless of the computer’s ability to keep up.

[peterlandersParticipant]

I found myself really on the edge between a nice analog desk and an SQ. But in the end, I realized that at some point everything I do WILL wind up in the digital realm, even if only for final prep, so might as well just take the plunge and get the other benefits of a digital console as well. Glad I did, but also glad I waited until such a well-thought-out model was available. Most previous digital boards I’ve used have felt like I’ve spent more time figuring out what screen to be looking at than actually mixing.

[peterlandersParticipant]

There’s one insert per channel, and you need to devote an FX slot to each insert. Doesn’t appear to be a way to chain them, unless I’ve missed it.

As for the DEEP plugins, those swap out the default preamp, mix GEQ, and compressors, and are per channel/mix. They’re separate from the eight FX racks and you can use as many as you want.

If you want to chain FX racks, you’ll want to use the Mix->Return method for the effects, then do your routing via the associated mixes/returns.

I’ve been using my SQ-6 in the way you seem to want to, though I wouldn’t consider myself an expert (or, indeed, a musician) by any stretch of the imagination. Just an enthusiast. Hardware analog synths, some Strymon effect pedals chained via their own aux/return setup, and various built-in FX racks (again, mix->return). I’ve done a few setups where I’ve gotten a variety of interesting self-generating sounds going on the synths and proceeded to ‘play’ the overall piece via the SQ faders, and it worked great. I was just recording the final mix from LR straight to a USB thumb drive, the default SQ-Drive settings. End result was great; all I used the computer for was to crop silence, normalize, and transcode to my final output format. Haven’t had any recording issues since firmware 1.3.

[peterlandersParticipant]

Polly,

How are you applying reverb to channels 1, 2, and 3, and then 4, 5, and 6? Same FX slot or two different ones?

If the reverb for 123 are on Fx1, and 456 is Fx2, they shouldn’t be interacting at all. Press Fx1 in the mix buttons, bring up 123 as desired. Press Fx2 mix, bring up 456 as desired. Back to LR, bring up Fx1Rtn and Fx2Rtn as desired. LR will also need 1-6 up for the dry signal, if they’re down you won’t get anything into the FX busses unless you change the send to pre-fade for the input channels.

Unless you’ve got 1-6 in a DCA somewhere and you’re bringing that down, thus affecting their faders everywhere, I’m really not sure what you might be doing based on your description.

[peterlandersParticipant]

Think of each of the eight FX ‘racks’ as individual external pedals, that can be connected either on specific channel inserts or to an aux output. By default, the first four racks are configured as auxes, so if you want to send a source or sources to one of those you press the desired mix button (FX 1 – 4) and bring up the channel(s) you want to send to that FX. Then, to bring the wet signal back into your main mix, you switch back to LR and bring up the corresponding FX return (likely on the second or third fader layer, depending on the SQ model you have). Note that in this configuration the return seems to be wet-only, so you’ll probably want to leave some of the original unprocessed source in the LR mix as well. The FX sends are post-fader by default, so if you take out the dry signal altogether you won’t get any effect output for it. Took me a while to figure THAT one out…

With those, if you don’t want your drums and bass to have reverb, just don’t bring up drums and bass in the reverb slot’s mix.

As for wanting different reverb settings for different singers, you’ll have to set up an FX slot for each, whether you use them as an insert or an aux. I’m partial to the mix approach myself, but that’s up to you. You can select a slot you’re not using on the FX screen, press Library to change the effect preset, and proceed as above. (Of course, if it’s just the relative reverb *levels* you want to be different, just bring up the singers in the reverb send mix individually until it sounds right.)

If you need to tweak the back panel settings, set the routing to Insert or Mix->Return as needed. With Insert, you’ll then be able to select the processing channel you’re going to apply it to; this is exactly the same as if you set it from the channel’s processing screen. For Mix->Return, you’ll be able to select the aux you want to use (either one of the four FX buses or you can give up one of your other aux mixes if the four FX buses are already in use). Either way, the return will be via the FX return corresponding to the slot you’re configuring.

[peterlandersParticipant]

You shouldn’t need DAW Control to just record audio, just the audio drivers for Windows.

See pages 71-76 in the manual for info. Basically, go to the I/O screen, USB tab, and switch to USB-B mode. Set your routing as desired, and then select the SQ as the audio source in your recording app, setting up the tracks appropriately.

[peterlandersParticipant]

Just a warning, TonmeisterDaniel, that what you’re doing there is having Logic do the sample rate conversion on the fly (in software) while recording, which might lead to the sort of reliability issues Poli84 is worried about. The SQ itself only delivers 96 kHz over USB.

Better to do your live recording at the SQ’s native resolution and then do the conversion later (even while bouncing).

Of course, it’s entirely possibly your computer is more than fast enough to do the realtime conversion safely, but still.

[peterlandersParticipant]

The SQ’s 96 kHz processing isn’t only about getting an audible difference (because you’re right, there really isn’t much of one—not for that particular reason, at least). Rather, it’s what enables the really low latencies of the console.

So it’s a trade off. Build a mixer that has the power needed to deliver those low latencies, and that also can handle simultaneous duties as a 32×32 audio interface. That’s a lot of data to move around! So, they left the sort of post-processing you’re asking for to you. Give you the best possible recordings they can (notwithstanding the various USB issues people have reported, which, for me at least, seem to be a thing of the past with 1.3) and you can do whatever you want with them once they’re safely stored.

As long as you make sure you’ve got a compatible drive or computer with plenty of space, the recordings will be reliable.

If 48 kHz is really all you can deal with, there’s still the Qu, but I know that doesn’t help if you’ve already got the SQ.

[peterlandersParticipant]

I know I’m barely using it any differently than I’d use an analogue mixer, other than arranging the faders the way I want them. As much as anything else, I opted for the SQ-6 so I’d have a decent digital board at home to properly dive into without any deadlines or waiting performers… 🙂

[peterlandersParticipant]

What happens if you go to Setup Surface and drag a different (already set up) channel onto that particular fader position? If the channel works fine on one fader but not that one, you’ve probably got a bad potentiometer and the next step is probably to submit a ticket on the support page or get in touch with your dealer.

[peterlandersParticipant]

Hmm, then I guess I stand corrected! I hadn’t paid attention when those were added in 1.30…

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