I haven’t tried that myself, but what you probably want to do is chain the FX sends and returns:
Send your mics to FX 1
Bring up Fx1Rtn in FX 2
…
Just keep stacking, finally bringing up FX4Rtn in the LR mix.
Or, you could avoid all that stacking, send your mics individually to each of the four FX mixes, then add the four returns to a DCA group on the LR to control them all together.
Or, if you need processing on the grouped effects, use one of the group mixes instead of a DCA.
Then just stick the DCA or group master fader wherever you want it, because hey digital!
Either one of those will give you the ability to control the dry/wet levels every step of the way.
And hey, I’m new to the SQ as well, it’s pretty straightforward but the manual definitely assumes you already know what you’re doing with a digital mixer in general. I hope they put out a more informative User’s Guide to supplement the existing reference. As for the videos, again: they seem more concerned with pointing out where to find things you know you’re looking for than training a beginner. They were fine for me, but I have some iLive and GLD experience.
At least I have the luxury of being able to mess with mine at home, without any pressure!
What you want to do is:
1. Switch to FX1 mix with the appropriate blue button.
2. Bring up your mic channel faders in that mix to the desired level to send them to FX slot 1.
3. Back in the LR mix, bring up the Fx1Rtn fader (I think it’s on layer 3 by default, but could be wrong) to the desired level to add the FX’s output to your main output. Again, set the level as desired.
It’s not clear how you’ve done it, but if it’s on every channel I’m wondering if you inserted the FX on your main mix?
Hope that helps!
I think you might be mixing up local inputs with the SQ’s 48 processing channels, which are mapped 1:1 by default but can be patched from local ports, USB, or expansion boxes like your DX168.
When you’re creating stereo pairs, you’re combining processing channels, not physical sockets. It doesn’t matter where the sockets are, just whether you’ve mapped them to an odd/even pair of processing channels.
So, in the I/O screen, you might patch sockets 7 and 8 on your DX (via the S-Link tab) to processing channels 3 and 4 (or whatever). Then, when you use the Input Stereo screen to set channels 3 and 4 as stereo, you’ll be all set.