SQ6+ Vocal Tuner – better live workflow for changing Global Key/Scale?

SQ SQ Troubleshooting
1

Hi,

I’m using multiple Vocal Tuner instances on an SQ6+, all following the Global Key/Scale.

I’m trying to find the best practical workflow for changing the Global Key and Scale between songs during a live show.

I have tried using the Vocal Tuner in Chromatic mode, but I don’t find this reliable enough for natural correction. As I understand it, in Chromatic mode the tuner simply corrects to the nearest semitone. This means that if a singer is far enough away from the intended note, the tuner can potentially correct perfectly to the wrong note.

For that reason, I think using the correct Key + Major/Minor scale for each song is really necessary when the tuner is intended to help with more than very small pitch deviations.

The problem is the live workflow.

On the SQ6+, the Vocal Tuner parameters currently available for assignment to the Soft Rotaries are only:

  • Correction
  • Retune
  • Transition
  • Reference Pitch

Global Key and Global Scale cannot currently be assigned to the Soft Rotaries.

During a show I normally spend most of my time on the Processing/PEQ screen. Having to go into the RackUltra FX/Vocal Tuner screen before every song, change Global Key/Scale, and then return to Processing is not very convenient.

So my question is:

What is the intended live workflow for changing Global Key and Scale quickly between songs without having to open the Vocal Tuner screen every time?

If there currently isn’t one, I would really like to see Global Key and Global Scale added as Soft Rotary parameters.

There is one complication with using a rotary directly: when changing, for example, from G to D, I would not want the tuner to become active successively in G#, A, A#, B, C, C# etc. while turning the rotary — especially if somebody is still singing or speaking into a tuned microphone.

Perhaps the button underneath the Soft Rotary could be used as a confirm/apply function:

Rotate = select the next Key/Scale
Button = apply the selected Key/Scale

That would make it possible to prepare the key for the next song safely, while remaining on the normal Processing screen.

I’m curious how other engineers are handling this with Vocal Tuner during a live show.

Thanks!

2

Personally I use a Streamdeck running Companion. I’m using a DLive system however and the Companion module has been updated with a lot of the RUFX settings including a direct command to change the key/scale (either per RUFX or globally). I have set up a series of custom keys - one of each possible key/scale - to change the global key to the selected key. I have the Streamdeck XL which has enough keys that I actually have the layout like the keys on a piano would appear making it very intuitive to choose the right key (natural keys on second row with the top row representing sharp/flat keys with blank keys where appropriate).

I don’t use the SQ/SQ+, so I don’t know if there is a Companion module that has been updated to work with the RUFX card or not. Unfortunately I could not find an updated module when I looked quickly, so you might have to wait for it to be updated before you could implement a similar solution.

That being said, Google says the A&H SQ+ MIDI protocol has been update with a global key/scale setting, so you could always “roll your own” solution that sends out the proper MIDI command to change the key/scale if you didn’t want to wait for the Companion module to be updated.

If you use backing tracks (we don’t), you could always automate this key change process using MIDI to change the key automatically at the beginning of each song/track.