QU Pack as an audiorack?

[Mr. knobsParticipant]

I’m reviving this because…

We’ve been functioning in the Behringer X32 ecosystem for many years. I’m trying to figure out how to transition to an AH ecosystem.

The X32 Rack has been a very useful piece of kit for us. It can do a bunch of things including acting as a stage box. We have no Behringer stage boxes. The thinking was “why buy stage boxes when, for a few dollars more, we can get a standalone mixer that can do a dozen extra things?”. We only use them as stage boxes occasionally. The fact that the Qu-Pack can’t function this way, looks like a big drawback. It’s hard to justify a purchase of Qu-Packs (or Qu-SB) for the small jobs AND buying stage boxes and a bigger control surface/mixer for the big ones. It seems that even for 4-5 times the cost, I can’t replicate the functionality/modularity that we currently have.

I’m looking for suggestions and comments.

Btw, we do a lot of corporate AV so our needs are different than permanently installed churches or local/regional sound companies that only do music stages. One day the X-32 rack is a 5 input mixer for a meeting with front panel control. Another day it’s a recording interface plugged into a computer. Another day it’s mixing a few wireless mics outdoors for a wedding with ipad control. And on another day it’s adding 8 or 16 analog inputs and a handful of outputs at the end of a cat-5 cable run (or in the middle of the run) for a theater show or in a ballroom (putting the I/O where we need it).

[KalleParticipant]

Watch the YouTube video on Allen and heath channel: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfh6W13MchE&t=861s

Cheers.

[Lee7Participant]

@Mr. Knobs

You can use the QU-Pac/QU-SB in the same way, have either setup on stage or wherever you need it and operate remotely. What’s the problem?

[Mr. knobsParticipant]

@Lee7
So I can put a QU-Pac on stage and mix it at front of house from a QU-16 or SQ-5? btw, I would need inputs (and outputs) at both locations.

[Lee7Participant]

@Mr.Knobs

Sorry, you cannot do that but you can mix with iPads, that is what I do.

[KeithJ A&HModerator]

@Mr. knobs

You cannot connect a Qu digitally to another Qu, as the Qu does not have the ability to sync to an external clock source, meaning the connection will not be syncronised and you’ll get clicks and pops as frames misalign.

You can connect a Qu and an SQ as per the video linked and other documentation/articles
https://support.allen-heath.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4403618840849-General-How-to-connect-Qu-SQ
https://www.allen-heath.com/media/SLinkConnections_V1_5_0.pdf#page=8&zoom=auto,-274,99

This would allow you to use inputs and outputs at both locations with limitations
– preamps on the Qu are controlled only by the Qu (e.g. 48V and gain would need to be controlled remotely using iPad)
– outputs on the Qu could be fed from digital inputs from the SQ, but this will require using up input channels which will then be routed exclusively to mix outputs. In the case of a Qu-Pac this isn’t really an issue as it’s a 32 channel mixer with 16 local inputs, so because you’re already using the dSnake port to connect to the SQ (and therefore won’t have an expander connected), you’ll have at least 16 channels free for this.
– there will be extra latency in the system compared with just using an expander
– you will only be able to use 16 preamps at the stage unless you add an option card to the SQ, run a second cable and add expanders (or another Qu!) that way

Thanks,
Keith.

[JasonParticipant]

yeah thats a shame,would of been great to use its with a qu desk.

[Author]

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