Yeah, but it's a sensible solution for someone who wanted the QC on the desktop and already had a MIDI controller on the floor. This arguably eliminates some redundancy.
On the other hand...
One major attraction of having the QC on the desk was all the encoders, and the QCM removes most of them. Yes, the touchscreen is fine 90% of the time, but still.
I'm looking at it and trying to find its pros and cons vs. full-fat QC. The price difference is pretty slim as we've noted, so I don't think people are going to tolerate much in the way of cons.
Pros:
-smaller, lighter
-better ergonomics for touchscreen-heavy use on desktop
-USB-C. I hate USB-B connectors.
-$400 cheaper, which isn't nothing, I guess. I sometimes forget how expensive the OG QC has gotten. Hopefully street price on the QCM will come down a little.
Cons:
-Fewer encoders. I'll be curious to see how 4.0 optimizes for the encoder placement.
-Input 1 is now 1/4" - no longer a combo jack. Probably fine since 99% of us are running at least one guitar into the thing.
-Input 2 is on the side. Ew, but I get it.
-MIDI is now on 1/8". I get it, but ew. I've got wireless MIDI dongles that pull power from the QC 5-pin.
-Send and return are ganged to stereo pairs. Again, I get it, but ew.
-Send and return are curiously distant from one another. Minor, but I'll be reaching for my reading glasses Every. Damn. Time.
Unknown:
-Maybe it will draw less current? I'd love to do a tiny QCM board with battery power, if I could use a lighter battery than the beast I use with my "live" QC.
