I really wish there was a switch or check box in the input block of each preset to send the incoming dry signal to one of the FX sends without needing to drop in a block for my external tuner. This is a solution for always on tuning during live playing. The normal work arounds all have cons with my current setup.
I play guitar and bass. My current pedal board has a small patch bay mirroring Inputs 1 and 2. Guitar always goes in Input 1 and bass always goes in Input 2. There are a couple of pedals in between the patch bay and the QC on the guitar side, but bass goes straight in.
I want the tuner to work for both instruments. The bass has active pickups and I can’t go into the same input without adjusting gain. That’s annoying. So running the tuner in front does not work well.
With my guitar presets, I am trying to get lowest latency possible and avoid core-to-core buffer penalty. This drives me to build on row one only. I do not want to use up valuable space for an FX send block. I know I am taking a hit on the FX send, but this seems the only way to accomplish my goals.
If not running the side chain, I use row 2 as a straight through from the appropriate input to Send 1. This is what I have been doing most of the time. However, It would be nice to not lose that for parallel effects.
Open to already available solutions I have overlooked. Thanks.
I am not trying to discourage your request (which, BTW, you should probably vote for), but there may be a work around for your specific situation. Can you have the guitar row and bass send to another output that just goes to the tuner. E.g. guitar row 1 goes to both row 3 (guitar effects continued) and to send 1 (tuner); row 3 would then send to output 1 (guitar amp or PA). Bass row 2 outputs to both output 2 (bass amp or PA) and send 1 (tuner).
The tuner would always receive the guitar and bass signals.
Keeping guitar on Row 1 and bass on Row 2; single rows to keep latency down as you mentioned.
At the beginning of Row 3, set up Input 1 again for the guitar. On the same row, add a Transparent Blend block.
Inside the Transparent Blend block, set the Source to Input 2 (for bass). Set the Blend parameter to 50% so that either guitar or bass can pass through. Set the Output knob to taste.
At the end of the row, set the output to Send 1.
This should allow you to bypass all of the amp/effects processing and send either the raw guitar or bass signals directly to Send 1. I hope this helps.
That said, I’m not trying to discourage this feature request.
The options just mentioned are definitely the best for your use. Realistically you could even simplify that routing more and use Input 1-2 on one row that sends to the tuner, instead of a separate row for each instrument.
I would also suggest just having the signal from your patch bay setup just split to the tuner and avoid even routing anything with the QC. Realistically you need the dry signal going to the tuner and not anything with your pedals, or using up certain routing in your QC.
Of course this would require a little bit of wiring, but bypasses all the workarounds within the QC if you’re really concerned with your signal flow. But since you have some sort of patch bay, I’m assuming you or someone else wired it up. You could also use a JHS Splitter micro to merge the two bass and guitar signals into the tuner after they split from the patch bay. But also just wire it however you need without that.
Thank you both for spending time on my little niche item. However, I think I have failed to properly explain my situation. I am either playing Guitar (mostly in my basement) OR playing bass with bands. It is easier to find gigs with a bass in my area. haha
In my mind, my request is essentially this. As an external tuner user, I can live with losing a physical port, but I wish I didn’t lose one block space or one of the side chains. That being said, if you tell me this is essentially hiding a block in side the input block, and the architecture wouldn’t readily support it, I will live with it.
Right now, my block space issues are self-imposed by me wanting to stay on one core. However, if I were to be a more ambient player in the future running more full presets, I will always get one block less than everyone else because of my unhinged obsession Peterson Stobo Tuners. (unpaid endorsement) haha
The split in the patch bay isn’t a bad thought. I will talk to my friends at Saturnworks to see if that is doable. I really do appreciate the feedback I get here.
Here’s some more context on the rig for reference.It is meant to be as travel friendly as I can afford.
When I play guitar, I like to run in gig view and use scenes. The DMC.micro serves as the clock and tap tempo in this mode. This keeps my QC foot switches from needing to do double duty.
When I play bass, it’s cover band stuff. The DMC.micro cycles through the set list while setting tempo at each change for the song.
I have a Saturnworks patch bay routed to inputs 1 and 2.
Guitar goes into the BD-2w, then the Decibelics Golden Horse, then input 1.
Bass goes straight into input 2.
All preset are just set to the appropriate input, so no cables ever need to be rerouted.
Lastly, the DMC.micro is working as a second expression input for the Hotone. It then sends it via MIDI to the QC.
