[tourtelotParticipant]

So, for whatever this is worth, I’ve been testing the Samsung 1GB T5 mini-SSD as multitrack media on my SQ6. Yesterday, I fed source (music) to 32 inputs of my SQ and recorded to the Samsung drive, 24/48, for five hours. I never saw any indication of USB overload nor, upon listening today in Reaper, hear any indication of recording error on any track.

I am pretty convinced that this drive works as it should on the SQ and for now, will have no hesitancy to use it as, at least, a multi-track backup for my JoeCo. Is it as reliable as Reaper in Dante on a MBP? Seems likely.

I still wish that it picked up the track names but, oh well. Reaper does that as normal.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

I just looked at the manual. It seems that I read that the SQ-Drive can record 32-tacks at 96k and 64-tracks at 48k.

I just looked at the I/O screen on my mixer and in the USB out page, channels 17-30 were grey’d out is if patched but nothing seems to have been actually assigned to those outputs. I just assigned a random channel to each output and then un-assigned the same patch. Now those channels are no longer grey’d out and I suspect, will not record empty tracks onto the drive plugged into the top USA port (SQ-Drive) on the desk.

Learning more each day I work with my SQ.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Why then did I show 30 “TRKS” on my drive with only the ones assigned in the I/O USB screen containing actual audio files? I thought the SQ-Drive could record 64 TRKS at 48k. Seems like if I had assigned mics to 30 . . .

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Today, I recorded from my SQ6 in anger for the first time. 16 track multi-rack orchestral performance. I recorded to a bus-powered Samsung SSD (MU-PA1T0B 1GB) for the first half and switched out to an externally powered OWC spinning drive (On-The-Go) at intermission.

Both drives seemed to have captured all the files with no errors. I was a bit disappointed that the labeling of the tracks on the drive was simple TRK01.WAV, TRK05.WAV etc, not named like the tracks were in the record screen and on the front of the desk. Renaming those takes more time after they are imported into a DAW.

More puzzling was that the drives recorded 30 tracks, 14 of them with no files assigned, completely black, as expected. But why did it record the extra blank tracks? The sample rate of the recording was 48k so 32 tracks showed as available in the Multi-track screen but only 16 were assigned via the USB screen in the I/O window. I am guessing this was a mis-set by me but I’d be happy for someone to tell me what I did wrong.

Anyway, it seems that these two media work, at least in any case, on this day.

I had two other recorders working, just in case, so I am not at full-level trust just yet (and I will ALWAYS record a full backup. Always.)

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

All I can think of is to mic your toms separately and then “underhead” your cymbals with cardioids, that might help.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

I am wrong to consider the needs of an external spinning drive for a separate power supply would relate to the “spinning”? Nothing moving in the thumb drive.

Just asking; sincerely curious.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Ah, Keith. That is an awesome explanation.

And yes, I did figure out the whys and wherefore of maximum recording times, AFTER I CAREFULLY read the manual. I do tend to type before I read but you also distilled that to a very understandable form. I think that the thumb drive I have may well work. I saw only the faintest “blip” of green while recording 18-tracks at 96k. I will max it out to 32-tracks at 96k just to test the theory today.

Thanks for the help.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

I attached a USB 1TB spinning drive to the SQ and it seems to be happily recording 18 tracks at 48k. My San Disc Extreme Pro 3.1 thumb seemed to show the same no-load recording ability as the spinning drive.

I see in the manual that for a “stereo recording”, there is a 2-hour limit? For the 18-track recording, I am showing over four hours at 96k and over 8 hours at 48k. Is this an improvement over what I see in the manual or just different than making a stereo recording?

This is my first experience recording from my friend’s panel. I always use a dedicated hardware recorder, a JoeCo BBR-64 Dante, when I work so I am not at all familiar with the ins and outs of SQ-USB.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Hi Keith and thanks.

I looked at that list and there are, it seems, quite a few thumb-drives listed as being okay for multi-track recording. I am confused about what make one such drive acceptable even as you seem to imply that they are not appropriate.

Thanks for further information.

Best,

Doug

[tourtelotParticipant]

I have a SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 256GB that I could give him if that is a known good drive.

Thanks again.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Gotta say. I was hoping this trap would have been fixed by now.

It seems like a simple enough request but I am guessing that there is some big and high roadblock to making this feature a reality. Sad.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Almost a year gone by. Is there any news that a DT32 Dante for Prime modules might be on the drawing board?

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Hmm, okay. Thanks Keith.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

I think I have it sorted.

I assign the mics to two GROUPS. SQ6 in Monitor mode. One GROUP feeds L/R and that feeds the Listen Bus and then I assign the Listen bus to the L/R monitors. Main fader controls monitor level without effecting the levels to the recorders.

The second group feeds Matrix 1. I add the T/B aux to Matrix 1, and then route Matrix 1 to the first two channels of the two recorders. All feeds set to unity gain. The T/B mic is not assigned to the group that feeds the monitor speakers but does show up on the recorders’ L/R scratch 2-mix. As well, the T/B Aux is sent to an output on the DT168 to feed the SA speaker.

Trying now to eliminate any traps that would effect the record feed. And I can’t see any issues at this time. I’ll puzzle on it for a few more days before I implement it as a working plan.

This is the second time I have explored using the Matrix function. The first, on the job to add a level control to a playback from a recorder to set pitch for a solo singer without feeding back the SA speaker and now this. I like getting the hang of another valuable tool that is in the awesome SQ panel’s repertoire.

Thanks to all who helped get my mind “on track”. As always, your advice is valuable.

D.

D.

[tourtelotParticipant]

Session is over and it went well (except for my low monitor levels).

The producer uses the scratch 2-mix is a pre-editing tool and wants his slates and comments as part of the information on those tracks.

So let’s take the 5.0 out of it and call the set up a simple L/R monitor mix with a scratch 2-mix on the main L/R. This is sent, via Dante to the first two tracks on both recorders. I am monitoring the Main L/R on speakers using the SQ6 setup in “monitor” mode so that I can adjust monitor levels using the Master fader and use the PAFL function to solo mics. As said above, the producer wants his slate mic to be patched to the Main L/R so that his comments will be printed on the Main L/R recorded tracks for reference later.

He was sitting a a table directly behind me, also at his insistence, and monitoring Main L/R on phones. His T/B mic, even while a cardioid, is pointing right down the throat of my speakers. I need to monitor at such a low level so to not allow feedback to occur.

As said above, no allowance on the SQ to use the T/B mic to duck the Listen bus (and that would fix it).

Maybe an outboard box that I can patch the monitor speakers through with a momentary T/B mic switch and some sort of dimming function?

I thought about a separate feed that would allow the T/B to be patched to the recorders but not to the Listen bus, but I couldn’t figure it out without needing to keep track of two whole mixes. Possibly just not seeing the forest for the trees and maybe there is a stupidly easy solution I just don’t imagine. Please ask more questions.

D.

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