[RikerParticipant]

Latest email of this morning said “patch your local input to the MADI output”.
My reply was “as you can see from the picture I attached in my very fist email when I opened the ticket (5 days ago), I already patched local input to MADI output” .

Like.. pay attention man…

I closed the ticket.

Final response was “great ! glad the ferrofish is working. I love the API on the drum bus too !!” ..

Never mentioned anything about API, or drum bus.. I don’t even own any API devices.. like.. what ? ? what is the point of providing a ton of relevant information, with pictures, if it doesn’t even get read..

Whatever, the problem was the routing on the FerroFish, that’s fixed, and with the help of folks here, I have figured out the patching on the SQ.. all good.. now.. LOL

[RikerParticipant]

Allen and Heath Support Ticket System Observation

Not to complain, but to offer constructive feedback on my experience with AH Support after opening a ticket.

I provided a TON of details in my original ticket, pretty much every number I had ie: serial number, firmware, driver version, OS, and scree shots of I/O page, MADI card status etc..
I tried to be as thorough as possible because as an IT professional who spent 30 years supporting a client base I understand it’s not easy to troubleshooting a problem when you are not physically in front of it.

The first response by AH Support was: “update your firmware, let me know if problem is fixed”
I was off by 0.0.X release (1.5.9 to 1.5.10), I updated and let the support tech know that it did not change anything.
Next response was “make sure sample rate is the same on all device, let me know if problem is fixed”
Yes, sample rate is all set to 48Khz, no, it did not fix the problem.

My issue is, after reading the extremely detailed information I provided, why not have a response like “After reviewing your information, please try the following FIVE potential solutions and let us know” or 3 solutions, or ten.. my point is the “try ONE” get back to us, takes forever to resolve anything. Case in point, the main solution was provided by Synthax USA while I was going back and forth over days with AH support. And yes I get it that the problem was not with the SQ per say, but rather a routing configuration on the Pulse. But, perhaps that would have been a suggestion from AH support, given all the info I provided that showed “green across the board”.

If checking firmware and checking sample rate was on the todo list, just tell me up front to check all of that in one go and save days wasted going back and forth.

I understand, in this day and age, support is not what it used to be, can’t just “pick up the phone, get directly to a human who can help / solve problem in 30 min” those days are gone, I get it. But email tag over multiple days with “one offs” is not efficient or timely.

This is not directed at the support agent in any way, I’m sure it’s “operational procedure / company policy” for troubleshooting, but it’s slightly frustrating none the less.
Anyways, I appreciate the assistance here on this forum, and also from the AH support tech, even if it takes longer than I would like, just sharing to maybe improve the process.

My 2 cents, for whatever it’s worth.

[RikerParticipant]

*** RESOLVED – Partly ***

At least part of it is resolved. The Ferrofish support tech noticed that my Pulse 16MX routing was not setup properly. Now that the Pulse Analog Inputs and Analog Outputs are configured to send and receive from MADI, I get signal to the Pulse – external gear.

Now I just need to properly patch the SQ I/O to get the processed signal from external hardware back to SQ, and then out of SQ via either Mains out, mixes out, and USB out so that I can record processed signal, and then later, mix recorded tracks through external gear.

Thanks again Brian for your help, I’ll go over your post again and try to complete the patching, if you have any other thoughts, advice, please let me know.

Cheers,
Stephane

[RikerParticipant]

Hi Brian,

As my picture shows, as a test, I patched local input 4 – Bass – to ALL MADI PORTS. That way, when I played my bass guitar I should have seen some activity somewhere on the Pulse 16 inputs, but did not. So, I do understand what you are saying regarding patching my inputs to the MADI card, and that is what I did, except for only one input instead of all of them, just to test. Hope that makes sense.

As for the feedback, the DAW was not running at that time, in fact my recording computer was turned off completely. This feedback was just with the SQ and Pulse turned on, nothing else.

What I ready about MADI is that it’s “plug and play” with no “command control software” etc.. but I only get the PLUG part, not the PLAY part LOL !

[RikerParticipant]

yes, the insert was ON in the channel itself. But, what I am not sure about is should the signal be routed out of the local input, to the MADI output – Pulse – hardware gear, then back IN to the channel local input ?

Or, should it be only used as an INSERT on whichever local input channel ?

Probably an Insert to be used as and when required, for tracking / recording at least. But for that insert to route the audio out of the SQ, to the pulse + hardware gear and back into the SQ and to my local input “insert return”, I will assume that routing has to be done properly and working properly on the I/O tab before any of that would work.

I tried what Brian mentioned above: I/O screen – Outputs – Local Outputs – Patched to MADI card but I’m obviously missing something because it did not work.

[RikerParticipant]

Also, just to add a small update: When I went to the I/O Screen, under INPUT, Local Input and tried to patch my Local Ip 4 to the MADI card I/O thinking of the “return signal from the Pulse 16” and I got instant, and loud, feedback. Probably a “loop” or something. Freaked me out LOL !

[RikerParticipant]

Hi Brian, thank you for taking time to help me out, I appreciate it.

I went into I/O page – OUTPUTS – IP Direct Outputs on vertical side and then selected I/O PORT MADI on the top horizontal row. As a test, I Patched my local input 4 (Bass guitar) to all 32 MADI channels across. When I play my bass, I get nothing on the Pulse. The Pulse says it’s Clock is LOCKED to SQ-6, the SETUP – I/O PORT screen shows LINK 1 all green.

So, it looks like I patched the local input 4 to go OUT to any I/O MADI port, but somehow the signal is not getting to the Pulse. I checked and testing GAIN on the pulse, did not do anything.

I can RemoteFish connect to the Pulse no problem, Routing in the Pulse is 1 to 1 MADI Input and Output. No signal indication in RemoteFish either. I tried swapping the Coax cable but then lost the LOCK, so I had (have) them connected properly.
I’ve attached 2 pictures, one shows the I/O mapping screen and the other the SETUP screen with the I/O MADI configuration.

At this point I just want to see if I can track / record a local SQ6 input (Bass on Ip4) through my Wes Audio Rhea compressor that is connected to the Pulse 16. I will try to figure out the DAW integration / mixing part later.
Thanks again for your advice.
Stephane

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[RikerParticipant]

I will also add that I can confirm the Pulse 16MX is working properly. Everything at default values. Clock shows LOCKED to SQ, routing has MADI Inputs 1-8 mapped to MADI outputs 1-8 etc.. up to 64 channels in chunks of 8 channels. So, from the Pulse side everything looks like it should. Now it’s the SQ side I need to figure out in order to make this setup work for tracking and mixing with Studio One.

[RikerParticipant]

Hi Tobi, I have not tried it yet but I am planning on it soon. In theory, with a low enough buffer it should work as long as there are not dozens of plugins etc.. I’ve seen a video on Youtube where this guy had 12 tracks, each with at least 2 or 3 plugins and the vocal tracks (3) had about 8 plugins each. He was using a Presonus studio live rack mount mixer / stage box connected via Firewire to a windows 10 laptop and ran the whole thing live during a church service. As long as the plugins are “zero latency” I think it should work just fine. Will post back once I’ve tried it 🙂
Cheers

[RikerParticipant]

Thank you so much Scott ! I will give that a try !
Stephane

[RikerParticipant]

Just a quick follow up question: Can I use a AB168 connected to S-Link between my microphone and my external preamp? If yes, how would that be connected?

This is the scenario that I am trying to connect:

Vocal Booth – Microphone – AB168 Input 1 – S-Link via Cat 7 shielded cable to Control Room S-Link port on SQ6 – External Preamp into Local Input 1

After some head scratching and mostly guessing I/O screen patching, I got a signal on the Focusrite Preamp but I could not apply 48V from there, only from the S-Link Input on the SQ-6. I was able to record from the Focusrite input in my DAW, but it did not sound quite right and not sure I connected / patched it properly.

Thank you so much.
Stephane

[RikerParticipant]

Thank you so much Keith ! This clears things up significantly for me !

I will use the SQ-6 Local Inputs with Zero gain and no 48V on the preamp for my 10 different modules (preamps, compressors, EQ etc.) and see how that sounds !

Cheers,

Stephane

[RikerParticipant]

Hi,

Do I understand correctly that I can use any of the 24 XLR Microphone Preamps and the 14 XLR Outputs in the same exact way I would use 1/4″ TRS Line Inputs and Line Outputs such as those found on Focusrite Red16Line, Appolo X16 or even things like FerroFish A32 etc ?

I am concerned about the fact that the SQ-6 inputs are Microphone Preamps and not simply Line level inputs which confuses me about how to properly connect external hardware, such as Preamps, to them. I did actually try to do that with an external Focusrite ISA Two preamp I own and to make it work I had to use it as an “insert” and it didnt sound right, like a “doubled preamps” or the signal going through too many processing stages even if the SQ-6 local input preamp gain was set to zero and processing ie. comp, eq, gate were off.

Should I be using Tie Lines instead ? to remove any and all processing ? I just want to know the cleanest, straightest path to using external hardware, such as 500 series modules, to track and also to mix after tracking.

Cheers,
Stephane

[RikerParticipant]

Oh, and just want to add that the FX insert on the vocal channel only works on main LR mix and AUX mix that I push vocal fader into, not in ME. I can control Volume only on ME, even with WET at -3 on the vocal channel insert, it’s bone dry in ME-1.
Stephane

[RikerParticipant]

Thank you very much Keith !
I got the “insert” method working great. Only thing I have to adjust the Wet levels from my SQ-6, which is fine, but giving FX level control to the artist in the vocal booth via ME-1 would be ideal. I think that is what your 3rd bullet is meant to address correct? I am still struggling with all the I/O possibilities so if you don’t mind, can you expand just a bit on how I would achieve that? ie. Select AUX 1, move FX1RTN fader to Unity, select FX Mix etc.. or go in I/O screen – Outputs – FXRacks – patch to FX1RtnL to ME-1 channel xxx

The thing that confuses me is, with the ME-1 the AUX mix are not in play correct ? Without the ME, I use a headphone amp and feed it AUX1, AUX2 mixes etc.. but with ME-1 all the local inputs are automatically populated so it’s just turning up Local IP9 from the ME-1 volume knob.. no AUX involved right ?

Apologies for all the dumb questions, it’s not easy to understand all the permutations etc..
Stephane

[Author]

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