Using QC with backing and click tracks - how I do it

[littlespaceman]

I seem to spend a lot of my time being frustrated at the number of workarounds us QC owners need to come up with, to address the many shortcomings the QC has (some, like the preset MIDI out has at last been addressed in 3.0.0, and it’s an absolute game changer for the way I use the QC)

However, having recently started playing live again, but as a duo rather than with a full band, I’ve started looking in to how to use backing tracks and click tracks with the QC. The obvious way is to use a mixer, but I’m all about having the most streamlined rig possible, and a big part of the reason I bought a high-end unit like the QC is because I really want a device that is the best possible one-box solution. Although the QC is still a long way of this, IMHO, I was really pleased (both with myself and the QC! ) to find while I was playing around with it the other day, a really good way to add backing/click tracks.

My backing/click tracks are all recorded with the backing panned hard left and the click/voice prompts panned hard right. Cleary you don’t want the click going to front of house, so here’s my solution;

1. I’m using either a mobile or tablet, and streaming backing tracks to a bluetooth receiver dongle (loads of these on Amazon, usually for people to plug in to their car audio if they don’t have a Bluetooth system in their car) plugged in to Return 1 and 2, using a splitter cable to breakout the stereo signal in to left and right.
   Alternatively you can connect with a y-cable (mini stereo or USB C from the phone, to dual 1/4" mono inputs) in to the Return 1 and 2.

Another way I do it is to use a Boss RC5 looper pedal as a backing track player (I’ve saved all my backing tracks in the RC5 as wav. files). The Boss is controlled by MIDI using the Preset Midi Out functions to select the Boss backing track I want on selecting a preset in the QC. I then assign MIDI commands to a footswitch on the QC to play/stop the Boss (this is one of the most useful additions to the most recent QC firmware update, IMHO).

2. I then connect everything else, like this;

Note that the although I’ve got the backing/click track going in stereo to Return 1 and 2, I’ve only got a cable plugged in to Send 1 for the sound coming out; this goes to your PA/FRFR and means that you only get the backing (ie panned left) part of the backing track going to FOH, as the other channel, the side with the click on it, isn’t connected at all.

3. On the grid, this will look something like this;

In this picture;

• Input 1 is guitar

• Input 2 is mic/vocals
  Both of these go to Output 1 and 2, or 3 and 4, whatever you prefer, but to separate speakers, to get a stereo output.
  You could of course run Input 1 to Output 1 / 2 and Input 2 to Output 3 / 4, but this gives you 2 cables per speaker, so you may need a small mixer to sum those to a single output, unless the speaker can take more than one input (for example the Line 6 Powercab Plus has two inputs, whereas the Fender FR10/12 only have one)

• Return 1 is the left channel of the backing track, which is the backing itself with no click. This has a Gain block and nothing else, which allows you to pan LEFT, and goes to Send 1, so FOH only has backing.

• Return 2 is the right channel, so this is the click track. This has a Gain block and nothing else, which allows you to pan RIGHT, to keep the click track of the main feed to the speakers. There is no speaker output for Return 2 as you don’t want anyone else hearing it.

Now you’re are going to monitor the click track by plugging your IEM in to the headphone output, and you can even add a y-cable here to allow you to give an IEM mix for two people (eg if you’re a singer / guitarist duo).

4. And here’s the best part, which I’ve only just discovered! You can use the headphones at the same time as Output 1, 2, 3, 4, without muting those, and on the I/O page, you get something that basically works like a small mixing desk for the headphone output, which is a fantastic feature. This looks a bit like this;

So now you will get only the backing track through your speakers, and the click track will be in your right IEM, but nowhere else.

The main downside I can think of is you’ll need to use quite simple guitar rigs, as you only get one row each (8 blocks) unless you remove the mic/vocals on row 2, but then you’d only be able to use a splitter on the grid to increase the number of blocks for the guitar, as you can’t otherwise go from Row 1 to Row 2 (no, even though I posted about this recently I still don’t understand why you can’t!)

You can’t really remove either Row 3 or 4, because you need the backing / click coming in stereo, so you can split them.

I was really pleased when I worked out this was all possible on the QC, so I hope that’s a helpful write-up - and if anyone has any suggestions of how to streamline this set up that would be great to hear about!

(ps, I’ve just realised that you could actually change the output at the end of the Return 1 from Send 1 to Output 3 / 4; this means you don’t need to run a separate cable from the QC in to a speaker to get the backing tracks, as the guitar/vocals and backing are all combined on the same output…)

[Wywm]

Could also check out Idoru P-1 for multichannel backing track and midi playback. It can also be triggered via midi: https://idoru.live

[littlespaceman]

Yes but it’s crazy expensive, no?

[PickinPete]

Very ingenious, Spaceman! I’m sure others will find this very useful. Thank you for sharing your alien technology!

[littlespaceman]

Another afterthought, if you switch the output from Ret 1 (in Row 3) to Out 3/4, to combine the backing track with the guitar and vocals you’ll need to make sure the backing track volume is set properly when you mixed the backing track, or adjust the Ret 1 Input Gain, because as soon as you remove the ‘Send 1’ from the grid then you also lose it as an option on the headphone I/O page, so you can’t adjust the backing track volume separately in your IEMs.

Obvious when you think about it really, but sometimes you don’t see the wood for the trees I guess…

[littlespaceman]

Of course the Platinum solutions would be;

1. They enable the Bluetooth module in the QC (lots of chat on this forum about this). Then you can stream direct, and ideally this would not be considered a Row on the Grid, so it frees up physical inputs. Also ideally you could split the left/right paths of a BT audio input, and assign left channel to outputs and right channel (click track) to headphones only.

2. Something else I’ve been asking for, is the ability to save loops. You can then use the loop library for backing tracks, and similarly this would not be seen as input on the Grid and you could split left/right channels…

Wouldn’t that be great?

[Tjevans74]

I’ve been using a 1010Music Blackbox for my multi-stem backing tracks… (panned right) typically pads, acoustic guitar, maybe keyboard, along with (panned left) cues and clicks. I use midi to select presets on the BB, as well as a “play” command. Unfortunately, and stupidly, there is no midi command for “stop,” on the BB, so I always have a 2nd empty “scene” added and “play,” that one when I want to “stop,” playing.

It does amaze me how companies view things like loopers. In both the Helix world and the QC world, the looper is a “block,” that needs to be assigned on the grid. Even the HOTONE products have the looper as a completely seperate “section” of their devices. I love the looper on the Ampero products. Likewise, Headrush has probably the best looper I’ve ever used on a multi-effect. I had a Core prior to the QC. In each of these products, you can program midi commands to “open looper/close looper,” as well as all of the functions of the looper. With the looper being seperate from the preset, patch, rig, what have you, the recorded loops stay there until deleted, regardless of scene changes, preset changes, etc. So you can be in preset 1, record a loop, then switch to preset 2 and the loop remains.

The other great detail of the Headush units is the “practice utility.” You can load MP3 files saved on the unit, from a usb stick, or dropbox, and play them through the device…and set the output of the tracks how you want. you can send them out through the headphone jack…

In a perfect world, the 3 units would be blended together…Helix for command center, Headrush for looper/playback, and the QC for just about everything else.

Sorry, rant over

[littlespaceman]

I agree 1000%. In fact, I’ve just got a Headrush Core, with a view to possibly ditching the QC. The implementation of the Practice Tool on the HR is superb, but for me that’s not for the ability to slow down sections you’re trying to learn etc (even though that can all be controlled by your feet) but the fact that you can choose tracks in the library (mp3, WAV etc) also controlled by your feet - which means you have a whole library of backing tracks contained within the unit, so no need for cables / Bluetooth etc (even though the HR does have BT)

And I agree, in a perfect world we’d see the best elements of this in the QC. Which is all possible of course, if NDSP want to do it, it appears the hardware isn’t limiting at least…