Allen & Heath has built a good reputation and become popular with their larger digital consoles. Now they have taken a lot of the technology that has served them well with their iLive and GLD series mixing boards and incorporated it into the Qu-16 (and recently introduced 24-channel Qu-24) consoles.
The Qu-16, which streets at $1,999, is a whole lot of digital mixer in a compact rack mountable form. Its 19-inch-wide footprint makes it a good choice for theaters and clubs where real estate for tech equipment is often at a premium. There’s going to be a little learning curve to use the Qu-16, especially if you don’t have experience using digital boards. And even if you have, it would be wise to get to know some of the design features this mixer has to offer. The manual that comes with the console is a good start.
Getting to Know Qu
The Qu-16 has an 800×480 color touchscreen that lets users access and adjust all settings, from individual input channel processing, onboard effects and metering to real time analyzer (RTA), USB audio control and overall function set-up (and more). Phantom power is also accessed through the touchscreen. There are 17 moving ALPS faders (16 mono inputs and a stereo master) that allow accurate recall when different mixes are called up for monitors or scenes. The faders serve two layers and are switched by a button on the left side of the console, allowing additional access to the three stereo inputs, FX sends and returns as well as mix masters 1 through 10.
Around the back are the inputs and outputs: 16 XLR mic and 16 TRS line connectors. The mic preamps feature Allen & Heath’s AnalogiQTM total recall preamps on each channel. Analog signals are converted to 24-bit digital, and visa versa, at the various output stages. Other inputs include two stereo TRS inputs in back and a third stereo input on the front of the board in the upper right hand corner. There is a main stereo left/right mix out along with three other stereo mix outs, four mono outputs and an AES digital out.
The Qu-16 has Total Recall and can store and recall up to 100 scenes. Shows and scenes can be saved to a USB flash drive and be reloaded onto your or any other Qu-16.
One of the features that really stands out for me with the QU-16 is iLive FX. These are the same great FX that have been included with the iLive series consoles. By pressing the FX button next to the touch screen and pressing the function key to access the library, you can load four of the many onboard effects that include various reverbs, delays, ADT (automatic double tracking), chorus, symphonic chorus, flanger, phaser and gated reverb. You can swap out the different FX for different sessions. Even more FX will be able to be added to the library with future firmware releases. FX are fed back into the mix through the FX returns.
All standard processing is handled via the SuperStrip located in the upper left part of the board. The SuperStrip consists of a preamp gain, high-pass filter, 4-band parametric EQ, gate, compressor, graphic EQ and pan. By selecting an input or a mix channel, it appears in the touchscreen, where all parameters can be adjusted and tweaked.
Mute groups can be set up in the touch screen by selecting the function key while in any routing screen. Up to four mute groups can be assigned to the soft keys on the right side of the console.
The PAFL (pre/after fader level) buttons can be set for monitoring either way. By holding down PAFL button and pressing the select at the same time, you can switch between pre- and post-fader listening.
USB Audio Streaming and Beyond
The Qu-16 supports multi-track audio streaming of channels 1 to 16 along with the Main L-R mix and three selectable stereo pairs via USB or any Mac-based DAW that supports Core Audio. Also, the returns from the Mac can be assigned to the 16 mono channels plus stereos. MIDI control can be sent over the USB connection so you can easily map the faders to the tracks of your DAW.
Qu-Drive
The Qu-16 has an integrated multi-track USB recorder, providing 18 channels of 48kHz 24-bit recording and playback straight to/from a USB hard drive. Along with the Qu-16 I received for the review, I got a pre-formatted USB hard drive. I connected the hard drive through the USB A connector on the front of the console. I thought there might be a sample session already on it already, but there wasn’t, so I loaded a 16-track session in a wav format I had, so I could test out some of the functions. Besides being able to capture/archive recordings of shows, the Qu-Drive feature is ideal for virtual sound checking.
Options
While you can use an analog snake, the Qu-16 has the ability to add a Cat-5 digital snake utilizing the dSNAKE remote audio port on the back of the mixer. The dSNAKE port allows you to connect to one of Allen & Heath’s GLD series of stageboxes, such as the AR2412 or AR84. The dSNAKE format boasts a transport latency of only 105 microsesonds over cable runs of up to 390 feet. Another plus of the dSNAKE stageboxes is full control of the preamps, either remotely from the Qu-16 or via the Qu-Pad iPad app.
Both the Qu-16 and the dSnake are fully compatible with Allen & Heath’s ME Personal Mixing System. ME-1 personal mixers can be daisy-chained from the Qu-16 dSNAKE port or from an AR2412 Stagebox. The ME-1 is a system that allows each performer to adjust their own mix.
The Qu-Pad
Qu-Pad is a free iPad app that let you roam around the venue and make real-time adjustments to the Qu-16 setup. Qu-Pad connects to the mixer over a Wi-Fi network and gives instant access to all parameters and settings. Qu-Pad needs to connect to a Wi-Fi router or access point to the Qu-16 Network port on the back of the mixer. Using the Qu-Pad, it’s much easier to read the screen on the iPad when making adjustments than looking at the built-in screen on the Qu-16. Another cool function of the Qu-Pad is that it can be used at the same time as the mixer — say, one person doing monitors on the iPad while another engineer works FOH. The system only supports a single iPad, so don’t expect to have multiple iPads for each musician on stage.
Summary
I’ll admit, I’m hard pressed to find a lot of minuses amidst the many pluses. It definitely does have a bit of a learning curve (say, 20 minutes or so). Trying to learn about all that this mixer can do is really the only challenge, and some kind of quick-start guide would be a nice addition to the package. Sure, you can just use it without understanding what’s going on under the layers, but that’s like having an Indy race car and using it to drive to the supermarket.
There are a lot of great features that, until now, you could only find on much pricier digital boards. It’s solid. It’s packed with DSP. It’s ultra-clean sounding — notable are smooth EQs and the excellent AnalogiQ™ total recall preamps, which feature zero crossing detection and an advanced padless 1 dB/step gain stage, which are transparent and offer ample headroom.
At a Glance
Rack One Up for A&H
The Qu-16 is a compact, rack-mountable digital mixer in a small footprint featuring total recall of all console parameters, high-end preamps and DSP in a tough, roadworthy package that also supports dSNAKE stageboxes, ME-1 personal mixers, iPad control and simple direct multitrack recording.
PROS: Clean sound, solid build, excellent DSP, easy recording options.
CONS: Some learning curve required; no quick-start guide.
HOW MUCH: $1,999/street
MORE INFO: www.allen-heath.com.
