QU-16 lost moving fader functionality – all faders dead

[BillParticipant]

A very strange thing. I have a brand-new Qu 16 mixer that I took out to mix my very first live show. I was very excited because there was three bands and I was mixing the show entirely on the QuPad software. The good news, the software worked brilliantly and I was actually able to mix the entire show without ever touching the console. Wow!
At the end of the show, one of the audience members came up to me very curious as to how it was that I was mixing with an iPad. I brought them up to the console itself to give them a little “dog and pony show” by moving the iPad faders and having them watch the hardware faders move on the console simultaneously. To my surprise, the faders on the console weren’t tracking the iPad. For the life of me I couldn’t get it to work. A little embarrassing but I felt as though it must be my error so I powered the console down and waited until the next day to figure out what I had done wrong.
Well, to my surprise it is as it appeared. All 17 moving faders are no longer working. I did several hard resets, I updated to 1.82 firmware and still no luck. Every other function in the console seems to be working correctly but the faders are completely dead.

There are a couple of behaviours that may be helpful in the diagnosis:

1) The faders continue to “work” as non-motorised faders. If I set up a mix on say, MIX 1 across the faders, it delivers that mix. If I then switch to MIX 2, the faders remain in the same position and deliver that same mix to MIX 2 or for that matter, any mix that I select. In other words, any predefined mix that I switch to using the console itself immediately “erases” the fader settings for that mix and applies the current fader positions to said mix.

2) The only way I can utilize multiple differing mixes is with the iPad; this is accomplished by choosing an “unused” mix on the console itself and accessing active mixes through the QuPad software. Again, the minute I select one of my active mixes from the console itself, that mix is immediately “reset” to the wherever the faders on the desk happen to be at the time. Pretty scary actually.

3) If I select the same mix on the QuPad that I am viewing on the console, the QuPad mirrors the mix as defined by the current fader settings. So, the faders are still transmitting positional information to the console and the iPad. However, while I can raise or lower levels on a given input channel with the QuPad software, the new level does not come to rest at the point I choose on the iPad. Rather, the fader position and the actual audio level “snaps back” to the level defined by the lifeless faders on the console.

I have searched for someplace in the software where are user could turn off moving fader functionality but could not find such an animal. Has anyone seen this scenario and if so, how was it fixed? If not, is there a series of keystrokes that allow me to export log files from the mixer that might document errors that would lead to discovery of the issue?

When I first opened the box to this mixer, it was missing a screw in the front panel right from the factory. Perhaps this console was manufactured late Friday afternoon… In any case something just ain’t right. Thanks for your help!

[dpdanParticipant]

that mixer needs to be replaced with a new one.
It is brand new as you stated and you SHOULD NOT accept the offer for the dealer to repair it under warranty.
Demand a new one, and if they only offer a repair, then demand your money back, and buy a new one somewhere else.

So sad to read this.

Hang in there, and sorry this is your first post.
People from Allen & Heath do read these posts so you are in great hands in the event that the dealer does not give you a replacement.

[BillParticipant]

Thanks for your input dpdan. Yes, it is disappointing but I know A&H is a great company and if this is a bad console then I’m confident they’ll make this right.

[dpdanParticipant]

keep us informed here of your situation 🙁

[Author]

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