Dear audio friends,
I think it would be a good quality-of-life feature to be able to switch the mapping of the Master fader between L/R bus and Listen bus with a SoftKey. For those of us who run monitors and FOH concurrently, it would be great to be able to switch on the fly during soundcheck without having to navigate to a submenu on the touchscreen, but rather just tap a SoftKey to switch between Listen and L/R buses. This gives the operator flexibility and ease of use, freeing them to give monitors much needed attention during soundcheck while retaining maximum level control for their listen wedge from the mixing desk itself, whilst also allowing them to quickly jump to the room mix if need be. This functionality also aids those of us who cannot or prefer not to work with SQ MixPad to run monitors and ensures a good monitor mix can be set prior to dialing in the room mix. The SoftKey can be remapped after it is no longer needed to switch between the two buses.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
in more then 10 years i never met anyone who uses a listening wedge when doing monitors from FoH, neither ever wanted one myself.
but to hell with it, why not.
1 Like
During soundcheck when initially setting the monitor mixes it can be useful to have the same type of amp and wedge as those on stage. Personally I’d strike the listening wedge setup after soundcheck - you would probably only reference AFL over headphones during show. I agree that the setup is unorthodox, but this may prove useful to some and seems to me like a simple enough feature to implement. Hopefully it is as simple as I hope it is.
the more i think about it, the less it makes any sense.
the position at FoH is most likely acoustically very different from any position on stage where monitoring via wedges happens. you don’t have neither the drums, nor the bass amp or the trombones right behind you. most likely, the channels are equalized for the PA, not for the wedges. appart from troublesome vocals, hardly anyone ever splits ALL the channels for different processing for the monitors when doing foldback from FoH. Because it is hardly ever necessary.
The time setting up a listening wedge (with the amping :D) on FoH is better spend with correctly positioning the microphones, setting up a router to go with an iPad to the actual stage, or getting a coffee.
but for the sake of it, implement that button, it’s still more interesting then 90% of the options the softbuttons on the SQ currently have.
There are several scenarios where a separate monitoring at the mixing console makes sense, e.g., a kind of “personal delay line”, if the listening conditions at the FOH aren’t ideal.
Unfortunately, the Listen level fader can’t be simply assign on a specific layer for this.
But until such a switchover is implemented, you could also assign the Main mix fader to a specific layer(s) and then have both faders available at the same time.
That’s true: It should actually be possible to assign almost any function to a soft key or rotary.
You don’t have to use them, but everyone would have the opportunity to do so if it made sense for.
1 Like
a “personal delay line” at FoH is a different story, imho. that can be seen a lot, actually. but that’s something quite different from a “listening wedge” for monitors.
i’d put the delay line on a matrix, like.. well, most delay lines. and the matrix master fader can be put on any layer.. any channel strip. all of them.
A really great thing of SQ is that it’s so flexible that everyone can set it up and use it differently, depending on their needs.
For me, it’s practically the same as for the OP - it’s a monitoring.
The big advantage for me is that I can also listen to individual channels and different mixes at any time without having to specifically reach for my headphones.
And for that I have that very important Listen Level Fader available separately all the time.
I usually don’t need the Main control at all, or only rarely, so it doesn’t bother me to briefly switch to a different layer for it.
But I respect the OP’s wish for easy switching between the two “Master” controls.
(And of course, I know that you can’t or shouldn’t do it that way in every situation.)
Just run your wedge directly off of your headphone out, where you have the volume knob available for volume control. Wouldnt that solve your issue?
