CQ20B USB, and other anomalous problems

CQ CQ Troubleshooting
1

I have a support ticket opened and have contacted the retailer to initiate a warranty return as I believe the root cause is the CQ20B. Posting for posterity here and in case others are having similar issues.

M2 Max, Ventura, Luna, CQ20B ethernet connected, no recent major infrastructure or other changes

The scenario is recording multitrack band rehearsals over USB whilst supporting individual monitor mixes and of course mixing live sound. As well, playing back audio from the Mac to the CQ over the USB connector. During a playback session the USB started dropping out and I was hearing buzzing, glitchy noises, sometimes accompanied by a loud tone. The playback head in the DAW would stop and start without any input from me. Testing a recording of 20 channels resulted in WAV files that exhibited the same audio issues. To be clear I recorded several minutes of audio through the CQ and then played the recording back on studio monitors that are not connected to the CQ and found the glitches and buzzing were present in the WAVs.

We had a band rehearsal (last night) wherein I recorded to the SD card. During this session we needed to play something over Bluetooth. Immediately after a bluetooth connection was established, the CQ disappeared from the network. It was still producing mixed audio so we were able to finish out the rehearsal. I reset the network connection however still did not see it appear on the network after several minutes. I hard rebooted the CQ with the power plug and unfortunately as a result look to have lost the recordings on the SD card. They are all 0 byte files. These issues appeared about a week ago without any major changes to my setup, and prior to this everything has been working as expected since April.

I have also experienced… just weird anomalous issues that come and go for instance audio levels in monitor mixes fluctuate. I’ve checked all the usual suspects (AMM, Auto gain, feedback EQ, faders pre-send). The drummer sends a click through one of the channels, unmuted but volume down so he can hear that as part of his CQ4YOU mix. Somehow this signal got routed to the main outs and wouldn’t go away until the unit was power cycled.

Just having a really unreliable experience here and I always initially assume it’s operator error. I don’t think that’s the case here.

The troubleshooting steps I have taken:

Replace the USB cable, twice
Repair OS
Complete uninstall/reinstall of DAW software
Flash firmware to the CQ

I will install a DAW on another MAC with a fresh OS today in an attempt to isolate the issue occurences. If you have any other troubleshooting procedures to recommend I’m all ears. Keep in mind all this was working great and at one point. There were no changes made to any settings or connections - the issue appeared mid rehearsal, in fact mid song, and has been present since.

2

have you solve it or just got a new unit? i have the same problem as you using a Macbook M1

3

I will
Admit that I have not experienced this but would say beware of blaming the CQ. In any system, when a new connection is made, incompatibility can occur. However the new device may not be the culprit.

I am not saying the the problem is Allen & Heath’s but it is not an open and shut case.

4

Coincidence or not, something didn’t go right with this CQ series. I’m experiencing similar issues on Mac (M4) with the CQ-12T. The mixer, although fully functional, cannot communicate properly over USB. If I switch to another input source (another interface) in my DAW, USB stops working entirely. The only fix is to restart the mixer.

Unfortunately, I’ve ended up using it purely as a DSP, where it works perfectly for my needs. As long as I don’t connect it to my laptop via USB, everything runs smoothly—but I consider this unacceptable. If it’s a software issue (drivers, macOS policies, etc.), there’s a chance it can be fixed. If not, I’ve already accepted that I lost on this one.

With other audio USB interfaces I use—RME, MixPre-3, Focusrite, or SSL—I have zero issues.

5

Hi, I already had and use multiple FR scarlett devices via Mac aggregate. Was a long winded process getting to work when I had to change samples to 48k and found the solution in the clocking setup, mater to slave etc. anyway, having solved and used for a couple years, I purchased CQ20B over a year ago for live band work. Fascinated to up mu home studio channel count over the 24 mark, just for fun and tge challenge if course, I presented the CQ to the Aggregate as well. Turns out because you cant change the clock source nor connect a clock source either, it just wouldnt work despite many experiments. It was my system or the CQ but never both whilst connected to Logic ProX.

Im just saying this as it might be a cause or cinflict with the various USB connections and system interactions because of clocking, it did produce weird results where my other gear does not.

6

True. The CQ series lacks clocking options (no ability to change clock source or sync externally), meaning it’s always the master. Since macOS requires a shared clock source for aggregate devices (not my case) to function properly, CQ can’t sync, causing dropouts, glitches, or complete failure. The USB stack in macOS seems sensitive to devices that don’t negotiate clocking properly—which could explain why CQ sometimes behaves weirdly even when it’s the only USB device (my case). Would be great if AH added clocking options via firmware, but given that they market CQ as a compact live digital mixer rather than a studio interface, they might not see it as a priority.

By me, CQ series is a great standalone digital mixer (not the reason I buy) with strong DSP and routing capabilities (still learning here), but it’s not reliable as a USB audio interface, especially on macOS. If AH fixed the USB clocking issues (if that’s the issue) and stability, it could be much more useful for hybrid live/studio workflows.

1 Like
7

I had this same issue. I recorded video to a GoPro and recorded audio from the CQ-20B. When trying to line up the recorded audio from
The CQ to the GoPro video later I noticed that about once every minute the audio glitches or jumps or freezes or something that’s not good and messes with the timing . For just 30 minutes of video I had to make about 50 cuts and move the audio to get it to line up. For such an expensive mixer I think this is a problem. I recorded the audio multitrack USB into Logic Pro. The levels were super low too so in boosting them I now have hiss happening.