After months of reading the manual, watching tutorials and trying the demo apps, I have finally purchased the CQ18T 3 days ago.
Having prepared the scene at home, yesterday I finally rehearsed with my group and I am super happy about the results!
Of course while putting into practice what I read/watched, I have now some questions I hope you can help me with (I also accept a “RTFM” answer - with the page number - if by chance I missed that part).
Scenario:
we are a rock group composed of 5 elements.
I want to record in multitrack each line but I’d like to have, at the end of the rehearsal, also a single stereo track of the recording, so that I can listen at it at the end of the session and if the take is really bad (i.e. too many errors), I can dump all files without having to master each track into a single file.
Questions:
As we use 5 (in-hear) monitors, can I use the spare monitor line to create a kind of acceptable mix of each track and pass the output back to an empty track (I guess with a simple jack jumper from, let’s say, monitor 6 to input line 18) which will be saved as separate track during the multitrack recording?
If this is possible, would this output provide a stereo result or just mono?
Should I rather use the Main L+R or the headphone output (already in stereo) to do so, if this is actually possible?
I have all volume set while we are playing (including monitor).
If I want now (i.e. after the take) to re-listen at the recording, can I safely adjust the volume level without impacting the other volumes (as I just switch input from analog to digital)? If so, how to do so? Would this change the pre-set scene? Should I create a separate scene just for listening back?
Can I ex-post (i.e. while I am listening the multitrack recording) record the output into a new stereo track once I set all volumes, as in the point above, correctly?
You can absolutely multitrack all your inputs plus your LR Mix to SD card, or from the USB B port to a computer.
When using SD, we recommend the use of an SDHC card with UHS-I and Class 10 markings.
A lot of this is referenced in the manual from page 131.
Personally I wouldn’t go about routing outputs to inputs as you run the very real risk of accidentally creating a feedback loop which, frankly, sounds hideous! The outputs on CQ are balanced Mono, although can be stereo linked (config>outputs)
In answer to question two - you can absolutely do this, just some care is needed in how you go about it.
Be aware that input routing (including selection between USB/SD and Analogue input sources) is stored in Show memory, so you’d need to save your complete Show to a USB stick to save manually re-assigning your inputs.
There is, however, a dedicated USB channel for listening to stereo USB sources.
Re 1), indeed I notice now that I can also arm Main LR R and Main LR L. Assuming that I have nothing that should use those channels (i.e. in case where we are all playing with in-hear monitors during rehearsals ), we should be good. Of course different may be the case where we have a love event. In this case he Main outputs will be used for a different purpose (i.e. giving the required balance of sound to the public), so it may not work.
Re 2), I am not sure I got your answer. Do you mean I need to save the same scene as during the take in a separate show (on a USB) to be able to switch each channel from analog to SD card and play and remaster track levels)?
If you’re using the physical main LR outputs during a live show, recording won’t affect this - you’ll simply get a copy of that LR mix recorded also.
Apologies if the answer to question two was unclear :- you can of course manually switch each channel’s input source from Analogue input to SD card (Config-> Inputs), and switch them back when you’re done listening/mixing your tracks. Tapping ‘Multi Select’ and selecting all your channels, then changing the input source in the bottom left corner is a quick way to do this.
Alternatively you could save one Show with USB inputs selected (your ‘Mixing’ configuration), then save another with Analogue inputs selected (your ‘Live Recording’ configuration) so you can easily go back and do another take.
If I have already recorded a multitrack song on the SD card, can I then play those tracks back and record them again (with different volumes) as MainLR L and MainLR R without using an external DAW?
In practice I want to reset all levels from the CQ18T of an existing multitrack recording and save the LR output directly in the CQ18T…
And additional question: if I want to add a new track to an existing multitrack (e.g. record again the bass track), can I do it if I playback the other tracks from SD? In practice, can I add a new track directly from within the CQ18T?