Hi all,
There are quite a few points here, so I’ve tried to group some and apologies if I miss any…
they expect us to buy an entirely new console now?
Worse, you can’t even transfer your existing plugin licenses over, so inevitably we have to pay for plug-ins we already paid for.
- No. The new ‘+’ models are an addition (hence the tag line) to the range, as an option for those who want/need the extra processing power or RackUltra FX. And no - one of the main reasons for the PlusPack offer (which includes everything you could have possibly purchased and more) was so anybody who does want to upgrade to a ‘+’ model and already purchased Add-Ons, wouldn’t have to purchase those Add-Ons again.
will the ‘old’ SQ still get feature and firmware updates? Is the original SQ range still an actively developed professional platform, or is it now mostly a maintenance branch? Will original SQ continue to receive meaningful non-hardware-dependent feature and workflow updates?
- We never promise updates or give ETA’s and obviously cannot update consoles forever. However, we support consoles for as long as we possibly can with hardware and software, for example, there was a fairly recent GLD maintenence release, and GLD has been discontinued for quite a few years.
With feature updates it’s slightly different, and depends on what’s actually possible. Specifically with SQ - as an example it would have been in everyone’s best interest if we could have offered the CompStortion Add-On, but with the number of cycles available in the hardware it was not possible to add the extra processing in every channel that it requires. If we do somehow find a way to achieve this in the next few years then, we would absolutely add it in a feature update, but what we didn’t want to do was say ‘here’s a version of CompStortion that’s not quite as good as the one from dLive/Avantis’.
One of the reasons for SQ+ firmware ‘jumping’ to V2.0, was to allow space for updates to the original SQ if and when possible.
Also worth noting that SQ+ has been in development for almost 2yrs and we worked on and released V1.6 for the original SQ during that time, so there has never been any thought of abandonding original SQ users.
is there going to be a firmware upgrade path, or another long wait for the SQ+RACK?
- SQ-Rack is built on the original SQ hardware, there is no way to add the extra processing or RackUltra FX without changing the hardware. There is no current plan to release an SQ+Rack - the SQ-Rack was an addition to the range in the same way as the + models are, and most of the extras in the ‘+’ are suited to larger productions or situations with a FOH position that the Rack isn’t really ideal for either.
If we hear of demand for the + features in a rack model then we’ll of course look at it, but not sure what we’d do about the screen!
Will there be an interchangeability in the near future? (of SQ ↔ SQ+ Shows) What is the intended long-term show and scene compatibility between SQ and SQ+?
- It works in the same way as when firmware is updated, you can open Shows created on older firmware with new firmware, but not the other way around. SQ current firmware is V1.6, SQ+ initial firmware is V2.0
People were encouraged to spend money again. Absolutely predatory business practices. Thank God I didn’t fall for the plug-in plot on my SQ (on SQ Add-Ons)
- The 30% offer for SQ users is ongoing and we put it in place because we didn’t want original SQ users to feel left out when we did the PlusPack offer. We sent it out to all registered users, even if they’d already used their 10% original discount as we didn’t want them to be annoyed that new users were offered a larger discount. We even then offered 30% off to new Qu users, because we didn’t want them to be annoyed that SQ users got an offer!
So it was quite a shock when I saw people now saying it was some marketing trick or cash grab.
In hindsight, we should have perhaps launched all offers at the same time.
…updated the SQ to allow for the new features? Which SQ+ features are genuinely hardware-limited, and which could realistically be backported? Was any upgrade path for existing SQ owners considered, such as a processing card, service upgrade, discounted add-on bundle, or other goodwill option?
- The reason for the extra SQ+ models, was to add the hardware necessary for the new features. Those features are - The Source Expander, Dual Threshold Expander, CompStortion, All RackUltra FX engines and and the extra busses, channels and routing surrounding those. Yes, we did consider a lot of options for update and upgrade paths, the PlusPack for SQ+ and 30% off for SQ are all part of this.
Will SQ MixPad and SQ+ MixPad now develop separately, or will original SQ users continue to benefit from app improvements?
- Ultimately, we’d like there to be a single app for both, but I understand from the app and test teams that this requires a lot of work.
Is Feedback Assistant being considered for SQ / SQ+, especially since CQ and the new Qu range already include similar assistive tools?
- It’s not possible for SQ, but the extra hardware in SQ+ might allow us to implement there - FBA was planned from very early on with CQ and Qu which are more commonly used in situations where FBA is useful, with SQ I imagine we’d get a split of users saying ‘great! yes please’ and ‘I don’t need FBA, please don’t waste development time on it!’.
So we’ll monitor demand and if more users want it than don’t, we’ll investigate.
To SQuser’s points about a redesign and what’s subjectively still missing.
- SQ+ is an extension of the SQ range, initially conceived because we wanted to offer RackUltra FX not only to dLive and Avantis users, but for smaller shows too. As we were reworking boards and needed the extra screen real estate, we took the opportunity to add a few more things and rebuild the GUI at the same time. But you’re right, we did stop short of adding some things that ultimately would have pushed the price up too much and we wanted to get as close as possible to the original SQ price points.
Thanks,
Keith