Qu-16 and Qu-24 now support USB streaming to / from Windows computers.

• ASIO 2.2 compliant – ASIO (Audio Stream Input / Output) is a protocol developed by Steinberg for interfacing sound cards and computer software. It has become the industry standard on Windows computers thanks to its low latency and high reliability. ASIO bypasses the audio services in Windows to allow a DAW application to communicate directly with the audio device. All major Windows DAWs support ASIO, including Pro Tools, Cubase, Sonar, Reaper and Digital Performer.
• Supports standard WDM / DirectX Windows interfaces – consumer applications such as Windows Media Player or Winamp typically use DirectSound (part of the Microsoft Direct X library) or now deprecated MME as the interface to sound cards. With the driver installed, a Qu mixer will show up as an audio device in Windows called Line (Qu-16) or Line (Qu-24), and can therefore be accessed by the Windows Volume Mixer.
• Windows compliant MIDI input and output ports – the set of MIDI messages as specified in the Qu MIDI Protocol is tunneled over the USB connection and available to Windows applications. Enable the mixer MIDI ports in your DAW to ‘learn’ MIDI controls from the Qu MIDI Strips or manually assign to software parameters such as track volumes, mutes and solos.

How to install

1. Download the Qu Windows driver from the Qu-16 or Qu-24 Software pages.
2. Power up the mixer and connect the rear panel USB port to the PC.
3. Run the installer, follow the instructions on screen and you are all set.

To learn more about V1.4 firmware and other new features included please visit the Qu-16 or Qu-24 pages on the main Allen & Heath website.

We will be exhibiting next week at the Prolight + Sound Show in Frankfurt, Hall 8 Stand C22.

Thanks to Oscar Söderlund of Swedish PA company Parashoot, a multitrack recording from recent Ane Brun’s live shows will be running on four GLD and two iLive systems. Visit us and mix multi-textured drums and Ane’s intriguing vocals with the help of new dynamic tools in soon-to-be-released GLD V1.4.

Also on the stand a preview of Qu firmware V1.4 with User Permissions, per scene Recall Filters, FX User Libraries and much more.

Several users had requested the ability to record more than one FX return on Qu-Drive, or a different combination of Inputs and Mixes altogether. Firmware V1.3 introduces a soft USB patchbay for this use. This is how it looks like on a Qu-24:

We have also made improvements to Qu-Drive file compatibility. Broadcast Wave (BWF) files are now supported, as are WAV64 files and generally WAV files with non standard headers. This should ensure that WAV files rendered / exported / consolidated with popular DAWs such as ProTools can be played back on Qu-Drive, provided they have valid sample rate and bit depth (44.1 or 48kHz, 16 or 24-bit for stereo playback; 48kHz 24-bit for multitrack).

Selecting an invalid file will now display ‘Unsupported file’ and disable the Play and Stop transport buttons.

Setting up booth #6464 at the NAMM Show in Anaheim. All ready for a sneak preview of GLD firmware V1.4 tomorrow.

Welcome scene crossfading, multiband compression, dynamic eq, and transient controller to the GLD family!

Note – we hope to release V1.4 by the end of February. Invitations for a preview webinar will be sent out nearer release.