Updates for the CQ

I wonder if there are any updates planned for CQ in the near future and which feature on the wishlist has a chance of being selected.

3 Likes

Allen and Heath rarely gives out that type of information. Understandably so because they have nothing to gain from releasing that information, but everything to lose because people will start demanding more and more updates, etc.

The only thing you can typically do is wait patiently. With the announcement of the newly updated QU consoles, I think we can safely say that A&H hasn’t been focusing all their resources on the CQ series recently, so it might be awhile before we see the next update.

1.2.1 is the latest that I know of.

Really needs an update. There are simple quality of life things that are still omitted. One example being that on the CQ20b, I have no clue what scene is selected at any given time. It doesn’t say it anywhere.

1 Like

Agreed. It’s understandable when it comes to unrealistic feature requests, but not when it concerns issues that affect daily usability—especially compared to similar products from other companies in the same price and form factor range. I’m considering switching back and acknowledge that small mixers may not be A&H’s primary focus. However, we still need more attention and clearer communication, even for these products.

1 Like

With the last update over a year ago the mixer feels like it may be abandoned.

After thoroughly evaluating the mixer for one week, I’ve located three moderate to critical issues are currently unresolved:

  1. CQ-Mixpad app EULA agreement buttons are not visible on some devices/android versions, and so it cannot be accepted and the app cannot be used without changing display resolution as a workaround.

  2. The only way to rename the bluetooth and usb inputs are from the CQ-Mixpad app, using a “hack” where you select one of them on the processing page, then tab back to the config/inputs page where you can rename it. There is no other way to rename them and this cannot be done on the device.

  3. If you change the name of one of the aux outputs, then tab to the usb/sd assignment page to set your custom returns to PC, the name of the outputs in the drop-down list will not be updated, it will be the old name. You must stereo link and unlink the output pair to update the name.

Hopefully at a minimum A&H pushes an update to address these major issues ASAP, and it would be nice to see them also add any other widely requested features that are possible within the constraints of the hardware.

  1. The only way to change the input source of the BT and USB channels is to use the app and go to the processing page, select the channel, then tab back to the config page. Most people would be lucky if they ever figured this out. EDIT: This can be changed from the preamp section of the processing page in complete channel mode.

I Agee well feel abandon these days.
With the competition these days you think there would be better communication.

I figured this out by accident. When I contacted A&H about this and the inability to set the input trim on the BT channel directly from the console, my understanding of their reply is that they plan to correct this in a future firmware update.

Whilst we do not have any imminent plans for a feature release, we are working on a maintenance release. As with all firmware updates, we cannot provide an ETA, as this depends on the test/development cycle, but the CQ is far from abandoned!

With regards to switching the source and control of trim on USB and Bluetooth channels - this has always been possible on the unit from the preamp section of the processing screen when using a Complete Channel (as opposed to a Quick Channel).

Thanks,
Keith.

3 Likes

Good to hear! It’s only a couple of years old and there’s still room for a few useful features that can be implemented via software/firmware.

1 Like

As always, communication is key. Besides from some missing (basic) features (like a ‘solo’ button), the bugs listed in this topic should not exist in a product that has been on the market for this long.

My personal wish is that some day, somebody will start an open project which everybody can contribute to and which will have a clear roadmap.

I really enjoyed this video where Linux was booted on a X32 console, which could be the start of a community that will add big value to the aging console: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CfLC5xVy90

EDIT - I had not seen Chris’s video about expanding the X32 using his DIY expansion card when I first made this post. Given this “revelation”, my comments below are probably not accurate. It seems that Chris does have some access to the X32 OS (it seems that it is not encrypted during transmission) and therefore he may have the potential to add the type of functionality to the X32 that people are hoping for.

I am leaving my original comments below for transparency reasons…

Original Post:
I have also seen that video and I’m thrilled that people are doing things like this.

That being said, the work that is being done will likely NEVER result in anything useful. This all started with a guy who saw the USB port and said, “What is that for, and what can I do with it?” That led him to being able to hijack the chip/bootloader and load his own OS. But without the ability to run the stock OS, there is no basic console functionality. Without basic console functionality, it is a useless device. It will likely never be anything more than an overpriced, 15 year old computer inside of a non-functioning X32 shell.

Unless the OEM Behringer software is open source, there will be no way to legally incorporate the stock OS into what he has done. Furthermore, the stock X32 firmware is likely encrypted which means that even illegal hacking of the software is likely impossible (or certainly not worth the extensive effort it would take to break the encryption).

So while it is cool to see how far the guy was able to get in his hack, I don’t think anyone (including the guy doing this) has any reasonable expectations that this will lead anywhere else. His goal was never to make something useful, he just wanted to see if he how far into the system he could get.

1 Like

It’s possible with the X32 because its controls are based on a PC platform - unlike CQ, or also SQ, for example.
It would be a dream to at least be able to customize its GUI, but even that would require a special editor.
But since it’s not technically impossible, and A&H is encouraging everyone here to express any kind of wish, be sure to write it in the suggestions.
One justification would be that anyone could immediately fix bugs or issues they find themselves.
Should actually be a boon for A&H! :person_cartwheeling:

I fail to understand how booting Linux onto an X32 fixes the grainy, whingy audio ADCs that console uses… Those are popular because they were relatively cheap so they ended up everywhere. Doesn’t matter much to the A&H community, though.

  1. If you stereo link a channel pair in the windows app, it becomes un-selected and you must re-select it.
  1. Entering ascii characters in the mixer address on the android app causes the app to freeze/crash.

Why in the world would you expect that to work? IP address are numeric. Of course putting in an incorrect IP address is going to cause the software to stop functioning properly.

Because I work in software development / networking. It absolutely should work. It’s called a domain name:

2 Likes

It’s also a very poor way to handle invalid user input to just crash.

2 Likes