Allen & Heath, the company, was founded in 1969, but first rocked the audio world when they built a custom quadraphonic mixing console for Pink Floyd. The MOD1 board was used by Alan Parsons to mix the band’s live shows. British-built Allen & Heath boards were also used by The Who and Genesis, not to mention countless other groups. Since then, the company has earned an enviable reputation for delivering great sounding, rock-solid analog consoles for both studio and live applications.
Enter Digital
As digital mixers began to proliferate, Allen & Heath began producing consoles with its own signature of unique features and innovations. The QU-32 is one such console. There are so many features on this board I don’t think I have enough article real estate to cover them all. That said, I will cover the features I used during my time mixing with the console and other aspects of the board that I think are cool and useful.
To begin with, the Qu-32 has 32 mono channels and 33 automated faders (one per channel, plus master), which, with the three stereo inputs, 2-track input and four FX returns, provide 40 inputs to mix. Also standard are four stereo groups, four mute groups, four DCA’s, two stereo matrix masters, four effects sends, and stereo outs — XLR analog and AES digital. The dSNAKE (digital snake) port provides single Cat-5e cable interfacing to A&H’s line of outboard stage racks, monitor desks or the ME-1 personal monitor mix system. Up to 100 scene presets can be stored or instantly recalled; a Qu-Drive feature allows capturing/playback of 18 channels direct to external hard drive; and up to 32 channels in/out can be streamed to a Mac/PC DAW. A free Qu-Pad iPad app gives instant wireless control of the mixer for remotely tweaking the house EQ, adjusting monitors from the stage or mixing from anywhere in the venue.
In reality, no matter how digital the world of audio gets, I still have to use my old-school analog brain to figure it all out. Yet the console has a very analog look and feel. With that in mind, I think the Qu-32 (smaller Qu-16 and Qu-24 models are also offered) blends analog into a smooth, flexible and powerful digital package.
Going Inside
Let’s look at a channel strip. Top to bottom, we start with a Mute key that glows red when engaged, followed by the Sel key (select) used to access channel processing. The two Pre Fade and Assign keys open up the world of mix routing, pre/post faders sends, channel processing and copying among other digital tricks. The PAFL lets the user listen to the channel via headphones and see its level on the main meters. Of course, as we are in the digital domain, the PAFL key does a few other cool things but you will have to get your own Qu-32 in order to discover all of them.
I like having individual channel meters and each Qu-32 channel has a three-LED display to indicate signal presence (on at -26 dBu), 0 dBu (with an 18 dB headroom) and peak, which glows red 3 dB before clipping. The channel fader provides a variety of functions. It controls the channel level (no surprise there). Alternatively, it can control an FX or mix master assigned to it, depending on which Mix Select key is active in the Master strip. The faders also control the Graphic EQ frequency bands when in the GEQ Flip mode. This feature makes the fader surface a large Graphic EQ. I loved this feature and used it every time I mixed with the board.
Channel processing is very accurate, deep and generally fun to operate. Parametric EQ, compressor, gate, gain, plus a lot of other cool features are all built into this section of the mixing console. This same section is the home of the four onboard effects processing engines. Taken from the flagship iLIVE systems, the effects are really nice and diverse, with Spatial Modeling Reverb (classic, hall, room and EMT plate), gated reverb, standard and tapped delays, ADT/Automatic Double Tracking, chorus, symphonic chorus, flanger and phaser.
While the Qu-16 and -24 consoles have a smaller 5-inch touch screen, the Qu-32 has a 7-inch 800 x 480 pixel touch screen, which makes navigating, channel naming, setups and parameter control super easy. Actually the QU-32 is a very simple board to operate, considering how powerful it is. I used just a fraction of the features available, but still had great results.
I was impressed with all the mix options literally at my fingertips within the Master Strip. Like the individual channels, the Master sports a mute key, Sel key, PAFL key and mix meter. Then, along with a fader, there are the Mix Select keys. L/R, FX 1 and 2 along with mix 1 through 10 are in this master strip.
The back panel features with the 32 channel XLR inputs and 32 1/4-inch line inputs, along with a talkback input and lamp plug. The outputs of the board include left and right XLR outs and 10 XLR mix outs — four are mono and three are stereo pairs. The board sports an XLR AES digital out, a pair of 1/4-inch 2track outs and a pair of 1/4-inch Alt outs along with USB and Ethernet network outs. Lastly, there is the proprietary dSnake port.
Onto the Live Shows
I did not have the chance to use a digital snake or stage box. Instead, I simply plugged my analog snake into the XLR channels. As a matter of fact, for three days, I did all my mixing from the side of stage. The Sel key on every channel and the Master strip will send the signal to the processing section also known as the Super Strip. This section is where all — or a least most — of the action is. Here you get one function per knob. It just gives the processing a very analog feel. This section is super easy to operate in, and every processor sounded awesome.
For example, I routed a snare drum through channel 2. By engaging the Sel key, I could adjust channel input with the gain knob and the sound quality of the snare with the parametric EQ. After the tonality was perfect, I gated the snare and compressed it a bit. Then I added a little reverb to the now near-perfect snare sound. All of this processing is built into the Super Strip. Then, with another push of a key button, I could send my snare into any monitor mix I wanted. Every channel has this straightforward, easy way of mixing.
One feature that may appeal to a lot of house of worship users is the ability to set levels of user permission, ranging from full access to use of faders and mutes only. This could come in handy when dealing with non-technical volunteers who may need to use the sound system.
I will say that of all the digital boards I’ve used, (including other Allen & Heath boards), this has been my favorite. One of the reasons is that you get so much mixing power and sound quality for the money you invest. Another reason is that the mixer is super easy and fun to operate. My only regret is that I didn’t have a stage box and snake to play with for my review.
At A Glance
Digital Mixing, Made Easy
The Qu-32 offers sophisticated control and a powerful toolkit, yet is fast, great sounding and straightforward to operate — all in an affordable system that’s expandable with a variety of stageboxes, personal mix controllers and interface possibilities.
Allen & Heath Qu-32
PROS
Logical layout; excellent EQ and effects; nicely blends analog with digital; great pricing.
CONS
Audio networking based on proprietary dSNAKE protocol.
PRICE: $3,599
MANUFACTURER: Allen & Heath
MORE INFO: www.allen-heath.com
