I just received my QC last Friday, just in time for the v2.0 OS. I’m finding it to be an amazing machine and a worthy upgrade from my beloved Fractal AX8. The UI is especially impressive. Very intuitive!
To my question…I would like to set up one pair of sends to feed the PA mixer and the other pair (with global GEQ assigned) for my FRFR cab(s) and be able to set either, to stereo or mono, depending on the venue and whether I’m running one cab or two. I don’t see a mono/stereo switch or pan controls on the I/O settings pages. Could any of you experienced tone gurus offer suggestions on ways to easily switch either set of sends to mono or stereo?
I use out 1/2 to FOH and IEM, and out 3/4 to Powercab 212 or 112+ depending on the venue. When using Powercab 112+, I still run two TRS cables from QC out 3/4 to Powercab in 1/2 and let it sum to mono. But I have also used just one cable and let the Powercab just the QC left channel output. That seems to sound fine too as long as the patch doesn’t depend that much on stereo.
Thanks for your input, Jam. You’re right, for most stereo effects, like reverb, it probably wouldn’t matter but I’m concerned about things like rotary or ping-pong delay, it might. Wouldn’t want to end up with just pong delay. The manual doesn’t say so but, since it senses the inputs and outputs that are in use, maybe it automatically sums to mono if you only use one side of a pair. I’ll have to try that.
It doesn’t auto sum to mono. Have to build presets with that in mind. You could drop a mono block onto a Lane to sum it, but there’s no global function- you’d have to do that per preset
While I do run QC stereo into Powercab 212, FOH, and IEMs, I don’t generally rely on it for specific effects. For example, I wouldn’t use a ping-pong delay because it relies on stereo. Stereo can be a problem in gig situations. Too much back-and-forth swirl in IEMs can be confusing to follow. People near only one speaker will not hear the stereo and will get only one side of the ping-pong.
So I keep my patches mono compatible and use the stereo mostly to make IEMs sound a bit more open.
Yes, I agree about ping pong delay or any other “hard panning” effect. I certainly wouldn’t use it at a large venue where spacing between mains is significant. Could create sea sickness in IEMs, I suppose.
