New to QU-SB

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This topic contains 5 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of SteffenR SteffenR 3 years, 2 months ago.

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  • #97826
    Profile photo of ElJay
    ElJay
    Participant

    Hi, I am a performer and I’ve just bought a QU-SB. I haven’t done any mixing before so I am starting from scratch. Does anyone have any recommendations of tutorials on the basics? Preferably related to QU-SB because I’ve been watching tutorials from other desks and I can’t really work out how to do some things on QU-SB.
    Thanks for any ideas!

    #97827
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    The functions on the SB are more or less the same as they for the entire QU series.
    In your case you need to be on the QU Pad app for operation, personally I find many of
    the menus on the app or easier to use than on a QU surface.

    At this point have you set up the WIFI connection to the SB with an router?

    You need to set up a small system at home get a mic or connect a playback source
    to an input and start playing with the app to get the feel of the mixer and routing.

    Where are you located, it maybe worth it to bring in someone for some help showing you
    around the mixer, someone who knows A&H digital mixer set up would be a plus!

    What are your performances, solo, duo or a full band?
    Have you ever set up a system and a mix with any other mixer, digital or analog?

    As for as setting up input channels for instruments, vocals and actually mixing that is
    another topic in it self.

    #97835
    Profile photo of Alex A&H
    Alex A&H
    Keymaster

    Hi ElJay,

    Just to add to what Mike C has suggested and asked:

    I recommend having a read of the Qu-Pad getting started guide if you haven’t already, as this should help get you connected and show you where everything is in the app: https://www.allen-heath.com/media/Qu-Pad-v1.9-Help-Guide.pdf

    Thanks!
    Alex

    #97846
    Profile photo of ElJay
    ElJay
    Participant

    Hey Alex and Mike,
    Thanks so much for your suggestions. I’ve had a look at the getting started guide now, thanks Alex.

    Mike, it’s all set up & working. At the moment I’m doing solo performances and duos- but will be using for a full band before too long. I’ve done a couple of set ups on analog mixers but didn’t do much, the inputs/fx were pretty much set and my understanding is pretty basic.

    It’s the setting up of FX, mix routing and understanding concepts like matrix, DCA and groups that I’m not sure about. Has anything been written for QU-SB about this stuff? I’ve found online pages about some of these things but it’s always referencing a different mixer.

    At the moment I’m just adding Fx as inputs to channels but I don’t know how I could do more than 4 things this way. I understand the difference between the Fx send and return in terms of the signal path but don’t understand what to do with the levels of each. If I wanted to add reverb to all of the channels, would this be done with groups?

    #97847
    Profile photo of ElJay
    ElJay
    Participant

    Also, I’m curious about how you would apply the FX to an electric guitar. How is the sound amplified and what is the signal chain? I’m assuming you still need a guitar amplifier. So is the line in from the mic’d guitar amp and then that signal gets processed?

    #97857
    Profile photo of SteffenR
    SteffenR
    Participant

    Hello @eljay

    I will try to answer some questions and explain some things more detailed…

    Mixes

    Mixes or auxiliaries (auxes) are there to help with different tasks… they allow signal routing, with level control, to other destinations like hardware outputs (lets call this output sockets).
    Every mix has it’s master level control and some processing. You can add every input channel to the mixes with a dedicated level.
    By selecting a mix button on the right side the faders become the send levels and you get additional on and pre buttons. The master fader becomes the master for that Mix.
    On other consoles this is called sends on fader.

    The on button turns this particular send on or off and the pre button (it refers to pre fader or post fader) defines where in the signal chain is the signal fed to the mix.
    Post fader send get affected by the channel fader as well. Pre fader sends not. That means: if you bring your channel fader down the “pre fader send” will still send signal to the mix,
    the “post fader send” would send no signal like the channel fader. The channel mute button normally turns off all signals (the signals are muted in the “monitors” as well).

    Qu series has mixes 1-10 and FX (these are mixes as well) 1-4.
    Mixes 1-4 are mono, mixes 5-10 are stereo pairs.

    FX 1-4 have no real output (and no processing) and are mixes with direct routing to the FX engines. Every FX engine can hold one FX. And every engine has it’s own return channel.
    These Returns are basic input channels without a real hardware input (input is always the FX engine), without compression or gate. They have an EQ for tailoring the signal coming from the FX engine.
    But they have the same routing possibilities as input channels.

    Groups

    Subgroups, Busses or Summing busses have a master level and master processing like the mixes (auxes, auxilliary) but the level that is going to the bus is the same as the level that goes to the Main output.
    You can assign (route) the input signals to that Groups or not. That’s it.
    But the Groups can assign their output signal (remember they have compressors, EQ and an insert point) to the Main bus and have their own output sockets available.

    A common use case for a group is to sum up some signals and compress them together (often used on drums).
    You can leave your input channels without compression and send them to the stage monitors or IEM outs (they get fed from the mixes).
    Another common use case is to add all headset/lavalier mics to a group and to apply the same graphic EQ (to avoid feedback) to all of them at the same time.

    These things are the basic concepts of many mixers out there, analog or digital.
    The digital ones have menues and virtual processing blocks with virtual controls, sometimes mapped to hardware controls.

    DCA groups

    Many digital mixers introduce the DCA concept. This is based on the VCA concept from some expensive analog boards of the past.
    The need for a VCA was to control the level of a channel not only with it’s fader. So the introduced a control voltag that gets set by the channel fader and the VCA master fader.
    The DCA is doing the same in the digital world. You can control one or more channel faders with an extra DCA master fader.
    So the main advantage of a DCA group is to control many channel levels with just one fader. But this means the DCA group does not carry any audio signal.

    Matrix mixes

    The matrix is an additional mixer in the mixer…
    The matrix in the Qu series can take all bus signals and send them to extra matrix master busses.

    A common use case for matrices is to send the Main PA signal to some matrices and to assign these matrices to different parts of the PA system. A matrix for Main PA a matrix for near fills and a matrix for delay speakers or foyer feeds.

    So I think that’s enough for the moment.

    Cheers Steffen

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