[SpecTechParticipant]

I want to chime in here.

First of all, the fact that A&H (Keith) replies to and keeps in touch with stuff like this in the forum is amazing! Kudos!

I can only speak for my self and my use. So here is my scenario witch would be solved bu a “smaller than SQ5”-SQ.
I am an inhouse engineer at a multi-purpos venue where we have dLive and I also travel with a band on a regular basis where I use my own sq5 package.
I considered going the CDM32 route, but ended up going the sq route.
The reasons why I ended up going the sq route is:

1. portability. I was hoping to be able to take the sq5 as carry on luggage for fly gigs. But it’s a couple of cm to big inn some directions when using the soft bag, and I don’t dare to risk having to send it as checked in luggage in the soft bag if they don’t let me carry it onboard.
2. 16 faders instead of 12 and an aditional master/listen fader. You could argue adding an IP8, but they don’t support midi faders.
3. Didn’t need more inputs and outputs, although I’d love to be able to bypass the internal FX on the 4 FX sends and use them as sends out to external FX units. I have enough inputs to acomodate the returns, so I only need to be able to bypass the internal FX in the send path.
4. Pricepoint. Though, it was mostly the number of faders.

Now, why would I even consider a rackmountable faderless SQ?
Well, it’s primarily about portability for me.
First let me describe the solution I’d love. lets call it an SQ-Brick Depending on how much space is needed for the internals and cooling I see 2 options. But make it as small as possible. Both based on the backside of an sq5.

Option 1:
– An 8 analogue combi XLR inputs with 7&8 doubling as AES inputs, and the stereo 1 Jack input.
– An 8 analogue outputs with 7&8 doubling as AES outputs
– Slink,Network(with POE+),both USB for cable and for memory stick/drive and I/O port for expansion card.
The Hedphone output for PFL bus.

Option 2:
– An 12 analogue combi XLR inputs with 11&12 doubling as AES inputs, and the stereo 1 Jack input.
– An 12 analogue outputs with 11&12 doubling as AES outputs
– Slink,Network(with POE+),both USB for cable and for memory stick/drive and I/O port for expansion card.
The Hedphone output for PFL bus.

Then also make it possible to use the IP8 on the SQ, so you could go “headless” but still have some faders.

A package like this would give me several different possibilities:
Scenario 1:
Travel superlight with this in my backpack as carry-on, place it on stage and run an ipad or laptop via the network port at FOH. I will not have any PFL possibilities at FOH with this solution, except if I do something like a dante card in the expansion port.
Scenario 2:
same as scenario 1, but with a IP8 to add some physical faders.
Scenario 3:
same as the above, but add a DX168 for more I/O(will probably still go as carry-on…
Scenario 4:
Same as scenario 3, but moving the SQ-brick to FOH to have PFL and I/O at FOH.
Scenario 5:
same as scenario 4, but adding another dx168. I can probably throw everything in a Pelicase and be under the 23kg limit on flights, or have the SQ-brick and the IP8 as carry-on and definently be under the limit with the 2x dx168’s as checked in luggage.
Scenario 6:
All the cool things like a monitor mix, broadcast mix, Intercom routing, even a small PA/conference room processor(with automix), that a unit like this could be used for.

Sorry for the long post. But I think you could charge probably 70% of what an SQ-5 costs and many people would consider it, especially if you opened up for using an IP8 with the SQ range.

This is just my two cents, but you asked for examples of uses Keith 🙂

[SpecTechParticipant]

If you trigger the scene with the go button on the desk there is a “play” sign on the scene currently loaded/recalled. But if you trigger from something external like midi, then there is no indication of witch scene that’s currently active… This should be fixed.

[Author]

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