Older Mac as DAW with QU-16 recording interface?

[Dags]

Hi all. I had a chance to use the qu24 up at a local venue and I really like this unit as a live mixer. I’m going to need to get more hands-on time with it to become faster at operating it but I can get through the basics pretty quickly after one session.
I am impressed that there is also the potential to use it as the front-end of a DAW to provide 16 channels of multitrack recording & playback.
I work with disabled bands and would like to put together a small recording rig comprising an old G5 Mac (power PC) and Logic 9 that I have lying around with a qu-16 as the mic preamps and A-D/D-A converter for recording and monitoring DAW playback during recording.
Would anyone happen to know if the QU-16 USB interface will work in this fashion with any USB 2.0 enabled computer or does it need to be an intel machine with a recent OS?

Thanks for any assistance.
Dags

[Dags]

….The Mac has OS X 10.4.(something) on it (Tiger) if that is any help.

[Nicola A&H]

Hi Dags,
As of V1.7 the Qu USB interface is supported on 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’ and higher. That being said, we have users happily using it on unsupported OSs e.g. Linux, so it might be worth a try.

[Anonymous]

It ‘just worked’ on my debian laptop – both recording (audacity) and multitrack playback (ardour).

If the older macs used core audio then it /should/ work…

[Dags]

Hmmmm…it does sound promising. Even if it can record a maximum of 12 tracks simultaneously it will get me started with the old gear I already own!

Thanks everyone

[Anonymous]

There is always the option to do multitrack playback on the mac and re-record it on Qu-Drive – even if only to line up the audio with the “new” audio

[Dags]

Update: it looks promising.
I lugged my G5 PowerPC desktop, screen and a bag of assorted bits & pieces up to the venue I freelance at occasionally before it got busy tonight.

Set up my computer rig and plugged the USB cable into the QU24 then the Mac.
Booted up Logic and yes, the QU24 interface was recognised!!

I created 24 audio channels, hit record and let the computer start streaming in 24 channels.
(NOTE: the software defaults to 44.1 and nothing got recorded the first time I tried this. Once I went hunting for the audio settings for recording & changed it to be 48kHz, subsequent tests all successfully striped audio to the HD. If anyone experiences audio not being recorded to HD, check that the session has been correctly set to 48kHz)
No crash. Excellent!
Plugged a mic into the console ch1 and did ye olde “1…2…” soundcheck and saw that there was audio reaching Logic.
Brilliant!
Tried the same with 2….nothing.
Tried 3….nothing.
I had to then pack everything up & put it away in order to set up the stage for the open mic & jam night, so I couldn’t troubleshoot.

So the good news is that the QU24 is recognised by a Mac running OSX 10.4 (tiger) with the core audio protocols that were kicking around way back then.
It *should*, therefore, be possible to use an older PowerPC for multitrack recording with the QU24 as the AD-DA converter (once I work out why I was only getting an audio signal in one channel – probably all DAW inputs were set to be 1 – user error)

Hmmm……methinks I need to break open my piggy bank 😉

Dags

[christiannokes]

I have the same/similar situation where I have PPC Mac G5 but I’m not able to get signal in or out of Logic Pro 9.

We are on V1.95 Now. Is there anyone out there that is in a similar situation that is able to make this setup work with QU 16?

[Alex A&H]

Hi Christian,

Please start a ticket at support.allen-heath.com and we can go through setting this up with you.

Thanks!

Alex

[christiannokes]

Thank you

[Nate Nagel]

I found that I like recording multitrack on the QU to a USB and then I import files from USB to the computer. I wouldn’t think this would have an effect on the fidelity. For some reason Logic X, on my 2012 MacBook Pro would crash while trying to multitrack. If we have a set tempo, I just run that from the computer into ST3 which goes into headphones/in-ears (or speakers if only recording instruments direct and not live)

[Author]

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