Buttons send MIDI in 'Custom' layer

[Anonymous]

My new QU-24 works well as a studio tracking/mixing front-end, but it could be AWESOME with one small addition to the QU firmware:

When in the ‘Custom’ layer mode, all buttons should send MIDI (and respond to receive MIDI, where the button has an LED).

The A&H DAW Control utility could then easily be enhanced so that individual buttons could be assigned to Mackie MCU protocol actions, such as fader banking, transport controls etc.

The lack of fader banking is my biggest issue to using the QU-24 as a control surface for mixing in the box. I’ve got a setup working which uses a tablet with a MCU software emulation to give me the transport controls and bank switching, but the workflow would be so much better if it could all be integrated on the desk.

I believe this would make the QU desks a clear winner against Behringer/Presonus etc. for those of us who want a good digital mixer and control surface in one unit, and more than double the effective market for the QU.

[Anonymous]

Read USA’s post in this thread, https://community.allen-heath.com/forums/topic/qu-v1-5-firmware

I think you may have gotten your wish!!!

[Anonymous]

Fantastic! That will get me half the way there!…

…I will be posting lots more about the QU16 / QU24 as a studio centrepiece, as I think this use case is not well discussed online and may be putting people off purchasing the desk. I have learnt a workflow that is great for tracking but have not yet mixed a big ‘ITB’ project – I’ve only had my QU-24 since Saturday. Perhaps I will wait until firmware 1.5 and then post my thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Hang on… I just read it properly. If it really does fader banking and MMC transport control then I’m pretty much sorted…

…and I no longer need to GAS over an Avid Artist Transport…

[Anonymous]

Hello David
I have experimented using the QU with software in both MAC and PC
The MAC just runs and PC I programed the softkeys to…
1 Unmute all
2 Unsolo all
3 Go to start
4 start-pause
The LEDs do not relate as they are in latch mode on PC
I programed the channel select , solo mute all really well. No LED lights again on the QU
I did notice that the EQ knobs send midi data as well
I could not get the Master Vol fader (on the QU)to move sucessfully the Master volume on the software I use.
I did manage (quite by accident) fader flip to a second layer of 16 channels on the QU16

I guess the MMC for PC will support the LED’s on the QU as it does with the GSR24m is use but then there was a downside to being locked into MMC controls on the GSR24m but thats another topic

Can you tell me what software in your PC or MAC you are using?

At this moment I am using the QU16 as a DAW controller sidecar only in a 40 channel template i made up and the GSR24m is the front end.
However shortly I may swap the GSR24m out for a new QU32 (of which I have ordered) as…
In my experience with motor fader on the QU has just been so responsive compared to the GSR24M which I run in mode 5 being Reaper.

So i’m interested and waiting like others for firmware 1.5 and what options (if any) in the MMC A&H have to offer.

Hope you can comprehend what I’m gargling on about here
and maybe something to offer back?

dave NZ

[Anonymous]

Dave,

I’m using Cubase 6.5 on an Apple Macbook Pro (OS X 10.7). It works flawlessly (within its current limitations re: fader banking, and I guess touch sensitive faders would have been the icing on the cake). Basically, I absolutely love this desk in the studio, and it has transformed my workflow in a really positive way.

I haven’t done any investigation of the QU MIDI implementation beyond connecting via the A&H DAW Control utility, but it’s interesting that many of the knobs and controls send MIDI data – is this also the case when the Custom Layer is selected and set to MIDI? If so, then there’s future potential for control of DAW EQ and plugin parameters too, and this could be easily coded into the A&H utility (or indeed it would be fairly trivial to code a third party version).

I noticed that the 1.5 firmware is now out! I will upload it tonight and give it a whirl – very excited to be able to bank faders to access all of the tracks/channels in my projects, and also interested to try the MMC implementation (though I suspect it won’t really replace a dedicated transport controller).

…I’m also thinking of swapping my QU-24 for a QU-32… Although I would only really use the additional 8 faders for DAW control, £300 more for an 8 fader motorised control surface, two more groups and larger LCD seems like very good value to me… Plus, I think it looks the absolute business.

Cheers,
David

[Anonymous]

Good morning David.
That was one of those “grab a cuppa and start the days journey with new Firmware”
I emerged later about 3pm with the conclusion WOW
Replacing ASIO drivers in PC laptops.
Firstly I updated the QU16 and tried the variables with PC and Reaper.
It still worked FAB! No change however there were.
The transport controls ran the PC (laptop) except for the pause button.
So that great. MMC sitting alongside midi.
Still there are no midi controls for channel strips so I still had to use the midi controls in the Reaper “midikeymap” template I made which works great.
So the MMC screen controls now allow the Mute buttons to be used for other functions
.

So a big Thankyou to Allen-Heath for the MMC

As a DAW sidecar with MAC next to GSR24M I tried the QU16 before changing the DAW controller (within MAC book Pro) as it is a unique scenario where running 2 mixers into Reaper.
However that works great
So I replaced the DAW App in the MAC book Pro (with new version) and booted and woohoo that still works.
I notice there are 2 more DAW control lines within data being sent to the MAC.
I guess A & H are looking to the future and I do have a QU32 ordered.
The Transport controller in the QU16 works fine except for could not get the pause button to work?
However I use the GSR24m and external MAC key board for those commands here.

So conclusion, it is all sweet-az as they say here in NZ.
I’m sure looking forward to the QU32 to replace both mixers as a one stop shop.
Will have to wait and see on that one.

Yes the custom layer sends midi data and NOW I see the switch can lock the custom layer in/out if you wish.
However If I was using that as a solo mixer I would want to switch between layers.
Hope this helps.

cheers

dave NZ

The QU24 updated superbly.

[Anonymous]

I had a play with assigning the QU to Cubase controls via the ‘Generic Remote’ MIDI assign facility. I discovered something interesting – when all faders are assigned to MIDI in the custom layer, the EQ and other controls continue to operate on whatever channel was selected prior to flipping to the Custom layer.

I can follow the logic of this – often you may not want to assign all channels to MIDI – but would it not be great to be able to switch the whole console to a MIDI control surface in one go?

I did try to select an unused channel (one of the matrix mixes that I’m not currently using) prior to flipping to Custom Layer and assign the rotary encoders to Cubase functions via MIDI Generic Remote but didn’t have any luck with this – nor could I get the master fader to control Cubase’s main L/R level (though I could assign any other fader). However, I’m sure I was just missing something (I’ve not delved deeply within Cubase for a long time now) and I didn’t have long to play with it – as I had to pack up the QU-24 to return it. I’m now QU-less 🙁 and waiting for my QU-32!!

I’m building a new home studio, and am feeling very happy about using the QU-32 as the centrepiece – I love the QU-24, and doubt I’ll ever need 32 inputs, but the relatively modest additional outlay for the larger LCD and an 8-fader motorised control surface makes complete sense for my needs.

I’ll do some more investigation on the MIDI mappings when I get my console – and will share whatever I produce… but looks like QU-32 availability may still be a couple of months off…

[Anonymous]

Hi David
Yes I had similar thoughts and that was just getting the QU24 in order to order and 32 model.
So you were using Cubase and MAC. Did you get the transport controls working 100%. I couldn’t get the pause button to work.
However I did not connect the QU with MAC but as a side bus scenario. Its still brilliant.
One other thing I have noticed is the master fader not happening. I have not been able to get that mapped ok to the master Fader both in MAC and PC.
The QU master fader moves the software master fader only in one direction. I tried eveylitte trick I know.
ANy thoughts on this would be welcome.
Its not an urgency as I have a fader on the GSR24m mapped to the software fader.
will watch this space.

dave NZ

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