Linking SQ7 to QU32

[Andy the newby]

Hello,
I am trying to accomplish a lot with a little. Instead of fronting the $14,000 for an Avantis, my church wants me to get creative in solving my hardware limitations.

I run an SQ7 that is almost full. We are maxed out on Busses and almost full on inputs. I have a QU32 that we upgraded from and it’s just sitting right now. Can you daisy-chain these two boards?
We run FOH off the SQ7 and I’d ideally like to mix Livestream off the QU32 while stealing some mixes at the same time. The SQ only has 12 Mix busses and we run 9 in-ear mixes off those, leaving only 3 busses left so i have no ability to group any of my inputs.
If there’s a way to bridge the QU32 over, I’m really interested in that.

[Heirloom AVM]

This may answer some of your questions: https://support.allen-heath.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4403618840849-General-How-to-connect-Qu-SQ

[IraBob]

The most straightforward way I can think of to solve your problem and to utilize the gear you have and know how to use is to get a simple analog splitter for the number of channels you are running. I believe ART makes a decent 1U, 8-channel splitter. You could get 4 of those for probably a couple hundred dollars each (or less) and then you can use your QU console just to do monitors and your SQ to do your FOH and streaming mixes. You could even get a volunteer/trainee/intern to operate the QU for you. Set them up side-by-side at FOH to keep your cabling simple and your communication with your monitor person easy.

[Heirloom AVM]

The digital link between the mixers is bi-directional. No need for an analog splitter unless you are already using the dSnake port for an i/o unit, in which case you could simply add another card to the board.

[IraBob]

Heirloom,
In that setup, would both mixers have head amp control, or would one console be reliant on the other for gain?

[Tobi]

Only one hast head amp Control.

[Heirloom AVM]

I have not actually tried this myself. From the video it looks the setting is sending Direct Out audio. In this case, it seems that using the SQ inputs would be best (better preamp) and then send audio to the QU. I am not certain if you use send Tie Lines instead to have input gain control on either mixer. Maybe another user has experience with this?

[Tobi]

You have only preamp control on the desk that has the preamps… so the local preamps of SQ can only be controlled from that SQ, the preamps of a SLink-connected stage box can only be controlled from the desk, that is directly connected to that stage box.

Best Regards,
Tobias

[Heirloom AVM]

Hi Tobias, what if the dSnake is connect from SQ to QU as shown in the link above? I do not think SQ can control QU preamp remotely, it is just sending the post-pre audio signal to the QU and vice versa, correct?

[Andy the newby]

That sounds like a solid solutions. Can I mix broadcast and Monitors off the QU simultaneously? What is the equivalent to I/O on SQ and QU? I’m still learning the terminology.

[drc_online]

Ok in terms of getting more inputs first thing to mention is that you can never get more than 48 input channels in your SQ7. You can have many more input sockets connected but only use 48.

So connecting the Qu32 will not automatically get you more inputs to mix at FOH.

I would approach this a different way:
I would go through your input list on the SQ7 and ask yourself ‘Do I really need this at FOH?’
So things like Atmos mics or anything else going straight to the live stream should be dropped off the SQ7 entirely.
I would be pretty brutal about this.

The next approach is to have more sockets plugged up but only 48 in use at any one time. You could manage this with the routing input library in the SQ7.
Of course there is more complex as you have to work out what is needed at the same time but at least you can have the other input sockets available if needed.

In terms of getting more mix buses yes it’s possible to use the Qu32 as a stagebox/mixer that feeds both FOH and monitors but of course that means you can never have more than 32 sources from the stage Qu32 and your remaining 16 inputs will have to be local on the SQ7.

In this config the mic gain control would be in the Qu32 but the SQ7 would have input trim control.

Hope that makes sense.

[Mike C]

The most straightforward way I can think of to solve your problem and to utilize the gear you have and know how to use is to get a simple analog splitter for the number of channels you are running. I believe ART makes a decent 1U, 8-channel splitter. You could get 4 of those for probably a couple hundred dollars each (or less) and then you can use your QU console just to do monitors and your SQ to do your FOH and streaming mixes. You could even get a volunteer/trainee/intern to operate the QU for you. Set them up side-by-side at FOH to keep your cabling simple and your communication with your monitor person easy.

I agree, analog splitters are not dead!! Plug and play set up, no tricky patching to get changed accidentally, each mixer is independent from the other.

[drc_online]

This is a valid option but the original poster didn’t say if they already have a digital snake or not?
If they have an analogue snake to FOH then this is valid option to put the splitters at FOH but if as is possibly more likely they already have a digital stagebox for the Qu32 that they are planning to reuse for the SQ7 then doing an analogue split onstage might require the purchase of another digital stagebox as well. Not a big deal but worth mentioning.

[Andy the newby]

Thanks everyone for your ideas! you all are certainly more knowledgeable that I. To answer your question about a snake, I am running dlink out of my SQ7to a AR2412 and an AB168. I have a 24channel analog snake that was used with the QU32 when that was my main squeeze.

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