ALLEN&HEATH No.44 - Using Waves Plug Ins with your SQ (without extra server)

[@62twinturboImpala]

Andre, I'm Mike and thought id give you a shout out from USA. I too use Live Professor 2 live, with an SQ7, Waves SoundGrid interface and a Windows based computer I purpose built for this application. I use 6 different plugin manufacturers and three to seven plugins on seven to ten channels. I have 6ms or less latency (as measured with SMAART) and love Live Professor. I could have used a Waves Server and lowered my latency a bit but felt too restricted to just Waves plugins. Not that Waves plugins are bad, quite the opposite. I felt constrained by not being allowed to use my Eventide and other cherished plugins. Those I'm either more familiar with or don't find and adequate Waves substitute for my workflow. I believe I'm using either 64 or 512 samples at 96K, and load on my computer is 20-30%. I've had no complaints about latency from crowd or musicians. I have a mix or in-ears and wedge monitors. I use a series of plugins from PSE's to gates to delays and reverbs and other special effects and at usually no more than about 6ms. My inputs come from a GX4816 at 96K over a 250ft digital snake. I also use the on board effects for general effects where different settings are not require per channel or group. I follow you a bit and saw you asked a question on A&H's last SQ Q&A and Keith's plug for your channel. So shout to you for taking time to help others. Cheers!

[@AndreSchaier]

Thank you for your kind words! Really, really appreciate it!!!

[@blesslam]

but i just wonder is it prossible to run live professor with no waves card?

[@dendwled]

Hello Andre! A few weeks ago I’ve purchased an SQ 6 console and your video are very useful to me! Thanks a lot! Would you, please, make a video about connecting some System Tuning software such as SMAART or similar to the SQ. I’m interested in routing via usb and via external sound interface such as Behringer or like that. It would be nice🙏

[@dutusplaymusic]

Hey andre, i have one question. can u use live professor along with Multitrack recording via DAW? thank you

[@CTS2022]

The waves card only uses Gigabit Ethernet (aka 1G), so you can do this setup but deffo don't need a 10G adapter... Don't get me wrong, that'll be absolutely solid, but 90% of its capability isn't being used currently! I think there have also been compatibility issues with 10Gb Ethernet on Dante networks with them not being recognised too, so watch out for that if you also use Dante for anything... it may however be very useful in the future for connecting to a 10G network if audio goes that way, or a NAS etc... ie it isn't a bad thing to own at all, but if someone is looking at doing this from scratch then a cheaper one can do the same job at 1G etc :) But yeah, really nice setup none the less!!

[@AndreSchaier]

Hi Chris, thank you very much for your input. Very interessting. I bought the 10G - thunderbolt adapter for 3 reasons: a) my m1 macbook does not have an ethernet port and while purchasing one I thought I could buy the 10G version because of b) the recommandations on the waves website regarding soundgrid networks on mac www.waves.com/support/thunderbolt-to-ethernet-adapters-for-soundgrid-networks-on-mac c) when trying to connect my waves card with my m1 via a CalDigit mini dock (which has a Gb E-LAN port) I couldn´t establish a connection at all. If it works without hickups with a "normal" gigabit adapter (other than my CalDigit), that would be great news for everybody who wants and/or needs to save some money! Cheers!

[@tony8236]

HI. Unfortunately I don't have waves card on my sq7. Have you done any tests with Waves Rack via USB? I tried with some plug-ins only on master bus it seems to work better at 96000/128. using a good PC do you think I could add some plug ins on drum bus, bass and vocals

[@mdemartial2670]

HEllo and thank you for your good expérience. So basically it is not needed to have a soundgrid DSP server while have the adaptator to RJ45 / USB3 thunder ? right ? Also , can you then RECRD and do FOH in the same time without much latency. ? , At no point it is required a DANTE CARD or INTERFACE ? .... Final Question, tou also insert in live professor other effectcs on any channel (voice, drums, guitars. .. etc .. ???) Thank you again

[@karolandres4195]

Wow, could you tell me how you insert the plugin into sq5 via insert on a different way? Can you use uad plugins or diffrent once or just waves? Tempting 😈

[@igorsim8170]

Hi Andre. Thanks for the video. Do you thing that would work with dante card as far as low latency? Does Waves card in SQ do any actual processing of the VST or processing is done all in laptop? Thanks.

[@JosPurvis]

This is really neat; thanks for posting! So you're using the Waves network connection for pushing audio back and forth between the SQ and your laptop. If you're using LiveProfessor (instead of, say, SuperRack) to host plugins in that scenario, can you use third-party/non-Waves plugins in LiveProfessor or are you limited to just the Waves-compatible plugins?

[@AndreSchaier]

Yes, that´s the beauty of liveprofessor. You are not limited to Waves Plugins.

[@christjo4440]

Hiya. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. If that ok, are you able to make a video from Scratch , hoo to install the app on a laptop and how to get the mixer to work with the Wave? Many thanks

[@tony8236]

Hi Andre. Is it possible with pc (no mac)? Is there a similar device with usb 3.0 or usb 3.1?

[@asumoftwobusses6304]

I love this! Thanks for sharing dude!!!!

[@AndreSchaier]

Wow, Drew, thanks a lot. That means so much to me!!!

[@humbertoalcala1311]

Hello sir, Love your channel and all the info you share. One question for you. The USB is linked to channels 1 and 2 by default. Therefore I have to record starting with Channel 3 and so on. Because if I record starting with one and play back for virtual sound check my channels 1 and 2 are tied to the main somehow? I have the SQ5. Is there a way to change the default channels on the USB playback? And be able to use all my channels to multitrack?

[@AndreSchaier]

Hi Humberto the first two channels of USB recording are set to main LR just as a starting point. You can easily change that to record your input channels 1 and 2. Go to the i/o tab, click on tie Line on the left side, Local (if the mics are connected to your mixer, or slink if you use a stagebox and then USB in the top row of that screen. Now you can patch local 1 to USB 1, local 2 to USB 2, etc. There is also the possibility to record not via tie lines but via IP direct outs. Go to the i/o tab, click on OUTPUTS on the left side, then IP direct outs. and finaly USB in the top row of that screen. Now you can patch channel to USB 1, local 2 to USB 2, etc. One more thing: When you record via IP direct outs, you can choose, at which point of the processing direct out takes the signal to USB. If you select an input channel, then hit the routing under the screen, you´ll find "dir out" and a little gear icon. Click on it and choose your direct out source: post pre amp, post HPF, post gate, post insert return, post eq, post comp and post delay... Hope that helps

[@humbertoalcala1311]

Awesome! It worked, for some reason I couldn’t figure it out. You made it that much easier. Thank you and keep up the good work. I’m starting to watch all your videos.

[@emmanuelmuzambi8123]

Do you have any challenges in terms of drag or latency without the server ?

[@nikolaosgrigoriadis]

Hi, can I do the same thing but with the waves super rack program? the will have limitation

[@hillde5699]

Hey Andre, Latency is > 9ms? Thats still a lot, even with a waves card. Do you know how much it is, if you use the usb-interface?

[@AndreSchaier]

Hi Hillde, It's not that bad for FOH purposes. In smaller venues I delay the PA anyway to the drumset. Lately I dare to run Waves Qrec at 96kHz and the lowest samplerate possible. I am down to 4ms by now. If I rarely use plugins that have more than 2ms latency and if I do so, I don't insert them on a channel, but on a group or mainLR if I do Monitors from front of house.

[@hillde5699]

Ich schreib mal auf Deutsch weiter... 😄 Danke für die schnelle Antwort! Ja das stimmt natürlich. Praktisch müsste man dann nur immer Zugriff auf die Delay-Zeiten der Pa haben, um das zu kompensieren, was leider nicht in allen Venues der Fall ist. Ich wundere mich nur über die doch beträchtliche Latenzzeit, weil ich dasselbe schon mal mit nem X32 und der eingebauten USB-Karte probiert habe und da auf ähnliche Werte gekommen bin. Dann kann man sich die teure Waves-Karte eigentlich auch gleich sparen....

[@AndreSchaier]

@@hillde5699 Wie gesagt, ich hatte das System (aus Angst vor Aussetzern) noch lange nicht an den Grenzen des Möglichen gefahren. Ich mache lieber kleine Babyschritte von Show zu Show und schaue wie weit ich mich auf´s Eis raus trauen kann. Die Waveskarte erlaubt mir übrigens den USB Port als unabhängige Recordinglösung frei zu haben und so Waves Plugins und 32 Spur Multitrack Recording gleichzeitig zu nutzen... PS: Als ich die Waves Karte kaufte, kostete sie übrigens knapp 400Euro. War ein gutes Investment damals, in der guten alten Zeit. 🙈

[@hillde5699]

@@AndreSchaier Ja das verstehe ich, würde ich auch nicht anders machen. Hast du eine Notfall-Szene, die die Inserts einfach rausnimmt, falls mal irgendwas schief läuft? Und wie ist generell so deine Erfahrung mit LP2, läuft die Software stabil? Kann man, wenn man die Waves-Karte im Einsatz hat, nicht gleichzeitig per USB-Stick multitrack aufnehmen? Jaja..die gute alte Zeit.. geht mir ähnlich mit meinem x32 Rack von 2017 😄

[@simonm2115]

What about using the built in usb-b port with live-professor? Do you have any latency differences by using either waves card or the built in usb-b port?

[@AndreSchaier]

Hi Simon, of course you can use the usb-b port with LiveProfessor. I´ve tried it and it works, but I couldn´t get the latency low enough to insert it into a mix or even a channel. And when the latency was close to a useably amount, I had audio drop outs. Not so with the 10G ethernet adaptor. Hope the helps! Cheers

[@PatrickHinton-ks3kb]

Have you found a way to make a scene that only changes the insert state to In or out on SQ?

[@AndreSchaier]

Havn´t tried it, but I probabely would save said scene with all inserts in and a second time (into the next scene slot) with all inserts out... Hope, that helps!

[@robertbobotkac7914]

Nice setup. I am just puting my together. Will be the same, just the thunderbolt - ethernet will be 1G not 10G … on waves site the say it needs only 1G. Do you think its gona be enough?

[@AndreSchaier]

Hey Robert, that I don´t know exactly. On my previous macbook (which had build in ethernet port), the speed was not sufficiant. But that could have also been the fault of the older computer...

[@robertbobotkac7914]

@@AndreSchaier ok, so i will find out :) waves says the speed of the card is 1G… i will write after testing :) thanks

[@MT-ue3yc]

Could you do the same thing but just plug cat5 cable from waves card directly to laptop lan port?

[@AndreSchaier]

Yes, but my MacBook doesn´t have a LAN port. The big question is: how fast is the build in LAN port?

[@MT-ue3yc]

@@AndreSchaier That IS a great question indeed. I will test this out once my Waves card arrives....in 6 months :')))

[@tomazklancnik7760]

Nice video Andre. How much of total latency do you have (input-LP-output, around 8ms?)? I try to insert X-FDBK (via LP) on auxes on my SQ6, just for testing and it was working well, but latency was more then 12ms, via USB. It will nice to try with Windows laptop or PC.

[@AndreSchaier]

Hi Tomaz, I´ll do some measurements in the next weeks. Then I will see how my m1 MacBook handles 96k and a buffersize of 32 samples...

[@strikeee01]

@@AndreSchaier Awesome, we're looking forward to further updates! Could you also do a test with different sample sizes?

[@AndreSchaier]

@@strikeee01 Sure!

[@tomazklancnik7760]

@@AndreSchaier Great, love to see it. 👍

[@philhobbs7391]

Hi Andre....did you ever find out your latency?

[@murraywebster1228]

Clever solution!

[@ismscsim]

Is the SQ 5 any good as a tracking mixer in the studio?

[@AndreSchaier]

Well, I do it very often and like results. You can record via USB or Option card (like Dante or Waves). If you feel the need for "better" preamps, you can use any of the dx/gx stageboxe. Those have the flagship DLive preamps build in. And if you are very keen on the best of the best: prime input cards.

[@ismscsim]

Appreciated....Thanks for your helpful posts and your reply. The waves card seems like the way to go for several reasons. Thanks Andre.

[@MTU-qp5yy]

Hi Andre, We've just installed the SQ5 in our mosque and I'm reaching out for your assistance. Could you guide us on replicating the FX from the video linked below? Additionally, I've noticed that only some channels are being recorded onto the USB, not all. Could you help me understand how to ensure all channels are recorded via the front desk USB? Video link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJC2oIebeqdsotksi=Di2cPB-FYwaaKCSr Thank you for your support.