Channel Naming

[Anonymous]

Exactly.

[EricParticipant]

I expect to use tape to label the mixer. But it would be nice to have channel labels for remote mixing with an iPad which is available on every other digital mixer I have used by Yamaha, Presonus, Soundcraft, etc. None of the have scribble strips. I also agree that when you recall a scene for a different gig, it is nice to know what each channel was used for. I also like to label my sends so I know which monitor should go where. I know I can write all this information down but I don’t think I should have to. Plus, if I am letting band members mix their monitors, I wouldn’t trust them to do it without channels being labeled.

[GCumbeeParticipant]

Hard as it is to say, but everything is a ‘get what you pay for’. I would say to a customer if you want the features of a more expensive console then you are going to have to do that. Buy a GLD. It will do all that and more. Just the facts man.

I will agree that this could be implemented on the Ipad app. I think it is more important for that use that on the board since there is not real mechanical way to make that happen other than on the screen. Maybe the app could be written to allow adding names on itand saving that info somehow.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s about ‘get what you pay for’. Cheaper mixers have this feature. And considering how much the Qu16 is able to do, the naming of channels can’t be thought of as something difficult to implement.
And: even the smallest GLD isn’t rack mountable, it’s heavier, needs a stage box, etc. So if you’re looking for a ‘digital MixWiz’, a GLD wouldn’t be the right choice.

A digital mixer like this is being advertised as having scene recall capabilities. It would be very difficult to use different scenes if a ‘scene’ doesn’t include any kind of scene information. If a ‘scene’ is only the set of settings to a given point in time, I think it shouldn’t be called a ‘scene’. If a ‘scene’ doesn’t allow for even a comment field to write what channel was for what, then the advantage of having ‘scenes’ diminishes a lot.

The whole sense of a ‘scene’ is NOT having to write down settings. Now, it does look a bit strange if you don’t have to write down any settings but… the channel name??? Why that? You can store anything but not the channel name. This is at least disapointing.

If I were A&H I wouldn’t tell my customers to buy a GLD instead because that unit is not what people are looking for if they want something like a MixWiz or a Qu16. That would push them to buy from another company. If I were A&H I would just implement a name field in the channel strip because that’s something a lot of people is expecting to be possible as a matter of course. I didn’t even came to think that wouldn’t be possible when I bought the unit.

[GCumbeeParticipant]

Not meaning to be arumentative(if that is a word). I am just an old down to Earth matter of fact kind of guy. I have used and sold gear for over 40 years. I hear it all the time of people asking for this or that as a feature and I have to think of what I said about get what you pay for. I too asked for many features on the GLD’s when I first got one. I saw lots of areas for some improvements like what’s up with the contrast? You have to stand up to use the thing.

So I agree with you that it should be looked at with regard to the iPad. I don’t see a practical way of doing it on the board but maybe and have it appear on SEL functions then transmit to the iPad. I have not seen other consoles in this price point as to their iPad displays. Just have not used or sold them.

So don’t take my comments too seriously or is a bad way. It is just I presume they had to stop somewhere and figured on a 16ch board maybe it was not that necessary. Now they are hearing it is.

[Anonymous]

I understand your point. I too think that you can request features endlessly. There will always be something that can be done better, and when developing software it could never get ready. You have to stop somewhen.

As for this feature I do think that it is something that needs little resources and has a great impact. For example, a self-mixing band could have an iPad and when a musician is not working in a song he could go to the audience and do some corrections at least to the channel levels. But if you have to relay on everyone knowing the channels by their numbers that would be too error prone.

I see your point, yes. We shouldn’t be asking just for everything, that would be counterproductive. Everything could be implemented (how about an internet browser so you can download music on the fly 🙂 ), but we should take care to state what we would really need.

[MarkPAmanParticipant]

I’m more than happy to put tape on the desk – one of the reasons I got this one is that it does not have the dozen or so layers that my Roland has. (Anybody want to buy an M380 system? 😉 )

I got the Qu-16 before the iPad app was available, confident that it was coming soon. Which it did, good.

But I have to say I’m astonished that it dose not have any sort of naming. Even if I was happy to stick tape on my iPad, it would not work, because of the way the channels scroll left<>right.

[GCumbeeParticipant]

I now think this is something that A&H seriously needs to address. I can’t see any reason for it not being something fairly easy to do by just naming channels on the screen just like in GLD and iLive. This info would tranfer to the iPad when it is running the console.

[GangeParticipant]

Let me get this straight… (Never used a digital mixer, but I think about buying one)

I set up for the band, all gains, effects, levels etc and save it as a scene.
Next gig I can open up the scene and I will have it all as it was last time. But I have to remember myself what instrument I had on each channel???

Also when I leave the desk to use the iPad I need to remember what Instrument I connected to each channel?

Is that really correct?

[Anonymous]

Yes, correct 🙁

[GangeParticipant]

Ouch… Yes, that needs to be done.

[GR-PDXParticipant]

I agree. It clearly seems like this is not possible on the mixer hardware, but on the touchpad display and the iPad app, this should happen. It would have been VERY nice to eliminate the scribble strip and put a set of LCD displays there to allow this, too.

[GR-PDXParticipant]

…oh, and to be able to also color-code things in at least the app. The at-a-glance usability of color coded sections is really nice. For example, a future version of this console might include an RGB LED under the fader slot, so you could control the color there. This would be particularly useful if you could group channels.

[JimmydrummerParticipant]

I’ve mentioned this a few times on the A&H Facebook page. In fairness they have said it can and will be done, but not given any indication of time. In my opinion they need to do it right away as it’s essential!

It would be nice if Nicola or another member of A&H team would acknowledge some of these requests and let us know when to expect them. I think A&H are falling behind the competition with some of these important lacking features. As mentioned by other forum members, all the other manufacturers have got these features and much more. Just look at Mackie’s master fader – It’s great and feature packed!

[GR-PDXParticipant]

This also seems like it would fall under the category of “low-hanging fruit” for them. Relatively little investment in code would be a substantial delight for end users.

This coupled with the ability to group channels on a fader, at least for the iPad app, then “blow the group up if needed” would make the custom layers on the iPad particularly useful. Picture wandering around the house with the drums all on one fader, BGV’s on another, and adjusting the levels as you move. If you need to bring up the snare, just temporarily blow that group up, adjust the snare, and collapse the group again. But without names, yeah… that’s putting a lot of unnecessary cognitive load on the user. And yes, I do have magnetic tags for the hardware scribble strip.

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